The greatest World Cup shirts - and what makes them iconic

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: The greatest World Cup shirts - and what makes them iconicByAlex BysouthBBC Sport senior journalistPublished43 minutes agoSome say you can measure a life by World Cups. Four-year notches on a timeline from wide-eyed kid to tuned-in teen and beyond. A showreel of footballing memories - teams you loved, heroes you worshipped, the iconic shirts they wore.

It is those shirts we're looking at today. The jerseys that tell a story. Timeless masterpieces.

The Details

But what is it that makes a kit's legacy so enduring? Matthew Wolff is best known for designing the hugely popular Nigeria outfits at the 2018 World Cup, as well as those for winners France. The American's portfolio includes Paris St-Germain, a host of Major League Soccer and National Women's Soccer League teams, and even the United Soccer League club he co-founded, Vermont Green.

So he knows his way around a kit. "Most of my favourite football kits are from my childhood in the '90s and early 2000s," explains Wolff. "That's the phase of life when the players really feel like superheroes and their kits feel so magical.

"Mexico 1998, USA 1994, Germany 1990 and 1994, Japan 1998, Nike's set from 2002, even Cameroon's sleeveless top in 2002. These are special kits in my mind because of how big and magnificent they felt to me as a young boy. "A shirt becomes iconic partly because of what happened while someone was wearing it.

What Experts Say

The passage of time also changes how we perceive and appreciate a football kit. "Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Japan and Mexico both sported memorable kits at the 1998 World Cup in FranceWolff, though, believes it is harder to achieve real "iconic" status these days. "The landscape has changed and the global market is saturated," adds Wolff.

"There are so many teams and so many new kits now - for both clubs and countries - that it's genuinely difficult for any single shirt to break through. "While it's inspiring to see nations' aesthetics and culture represented through uniform design, it does raise questions about consumerism, about how much is genuine cultural expression versus product cycles, and about the pace at which we're churning through these garments. "Pick your favourite World Cup kits Published22 AprilRanking the top 10 iconic World Cup kitsWith that in mind, we're going to be looking back.

And there is always a healthy dollop of nostalgia when reminiscing about kits - those hazy childhood memories relived through a golden filter. It would be tempting to go all in on a smorgasbord of '90s and early '00s bold prints and baggy jerseys, or late '80s designs that have reappeared as lifestyle staples. So to avoid a splurge of festival fashion/dad on school run at the first sign of summer, this is the criteria: no more than one shirt per World Cup, and one per country.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.