Chile Kits
Since UKSoccershop were founded
in 2004, one of the jerseys which has experienced the biggest uplift in sales
has been those of the Chilean national team. Often overshadowed by their more
illustrious South American neighbours Brazil and Argentina, Chile’s back to
back Copa America victories in 2015 and 2016 have catapulted them up our
international football shirt sales rankings.
The emergence of exciting players
such as Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez have helped grow the popularity of La
Roja to soccer fans around the world, although in truth they have never been
short of a global superstar, having previously boasted two of footballs best
strikers in Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamarano. Their rise as a football power has
been a breath of fresh air and only a penalty shoot out defeat at the hands of
hosts Brazil ended their journey at the 2014 World Cup.
The Chile Home Shirt is made up of a deep red jersey and is generally
worn with blue shorts and white socks. This combination was first worn at the
1947 South American Championships and has been kept to the modern day although
for the 2016 Copa America red shorts were introduced at FIFA’S request as this
is apparently the most optimal combination for high definition TV.
The Chile Away Shirt is white. A little known fact about this jersey is
that the colour white was chosen to pay tribute to the beautiful snow-capped
Andes mounting which are one of Chile’s most famous features.
Between 2004 and 2010, the
national team kits were manufactured by local supplier Brooks Sports. However,
in an increasingly commercial and competitive market as well as (and believe us
– we speak from experience!) difficulties in co-ordinating international
supply, they lost the contract after the 2010 World Cup to Puma, who paid $3
million a year as official supplier to the national team.
Puma also failed to fully
capitalise on the opportunities provided by the rise of the national team and
after the 2015 Copa America, Nike took over the contract on a multi-year deal
which will run until the 2022 FIFA World Cup.