The national football team of Brazil beat Italy in the final of the FIFA World Cup in 1994. It was the first World Cup final ever to be decided by a penalty shootout. Roberto Baggio missed his penalty and Brazil got their fourth star on their shirt. In this blog, we are going to take a look at the famous and classic Brazil World Cup 1994 home shirt. You can also read where to find this beautiful Brazil shirt.
Design
Like many other Brazil home shirts, the World Cup 1994 home shirt boasts a yellow base. The green collar is prominent and has yellow details on it. It also has the abbreviation ‘CBF” on it, which means Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (Brazilian Football Association in Portuguese). The most beautiful part of the shirt are probably the 4 CBF crests on the front of the shirt. These 4 eye-catching Brazil crests are part of the shirt and make it look very recognizable. The CBF crest itself is embroidered, and the Umbro logo is integrated in the shirt.
It’s good to know that Brazil wore this shirt with 3 stars (as well as 3 watermarked CBF crests on it) during the World Cup 1994. This had to do with the fact that they still hadn’t won their fourth World Cup title. The home shirt with 4 stars and 4 watermarked CBF crests on it, was released after Brazil had won the World Cup in 1994.
Brazilian stars who wore this shirt
Brazil had one of the most memorable teams in their history during the World Cup 1994. The tournament took place in the United States. Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, also known as O fenômeno or R9 was part of the Brazilian team in 1994. He was an unused sub, so we didn’t see him in action. At that time, he was a teenager of only 17 years old.
One of the most famous Brazilian players who wore this shirt is Romario. He’s arguably one of the best strikers ever, scoring more than 1,000 goals during his career. O Baixinho, who got this nickname because he is fairly short, was of great importance for the Brazilian team. He scored 5 important goals during the World Cup 1994.
The next player you may think of is Bebeto. He will always be known for his special celebration as a reference to the birth of his son after he scored a goal against the Netherlands. The legend who played for Flamengo and Deportivo de la Coruña scored 3 goals during the tournament and is known for his goal-scoring ability.
Some other players I should mention are of course:
– Dunga, the defensive midfielder and captain of the team who won the World Cup in 1994 and 2002
– Raí, the PSG legend. He’s got an older brother, Sócrates, who is a very famous Brazilian football player too
– Cafu, the most Brazilian player with the most international caps for a seleção
Where can I find this shirt?
Since this shirt is about 28 years old, it’s quite hard to find nowadays. However, there are some websites on which you can still find this iconic yellow shirt (with 3 or 4 stars). At the moment, the Brazil World Cup 1994 home shirt is available on the following websites:
- Special Football Shirts: this is a Dutch online football shirt store that sells the Brazil 1994 home jersey in size XL. The shirt is in excellent condition and we are talking about the version with 4 stars, like I have.
- Classic Football shirts (CFS): Like I mentioned in my previous post, Classic Football shirts has a great variety of football shirts. The Brazil 1994 home shirt is no exception! You can find a few Brazil World Cup 1994 home shirts in size XL on their website.
- RB Classic Soccer Jerseys: this online football shirt store is run by Damien, a Belgian football shirt collector who is passionate about retro shirts. After explaining this, I probably don’t have to tell you that he sells this iconic Brazil home kit too (size XL). He even sells the blue World Cup 1994 away shirt, which is even rarer than the yellow home shirt in my opinion!
How to recognize fakes?
The older a football shirt, the rarer it becomes, right? Well, this is maybe not always the case, but the Brazil World Cup 1994 home shirt is definitely not very common. When buying this shirt as a collector, you want to make sure it’s original. In order to prepare you, I’m going to point out some things you have to take into account before buying this shirt.
- The sizing label: The original shirt will have a blue Umbro label with the letter of the size below it. Some versions of this shirt don’t have this, which probably indicates that it isn’t original. Underneath the sizing label, there’s another label with ‘Made in England’ on it. There are plenty of versions of this shirt that were made in Brazil, but the original version of the shirt was made in England.
- The team crest: Many fake versions of the Brazil World Cup 1994 home shirt got a heat pressed crest. The crest on the original shirt is embroidered, like you can see in the picture above. The same goes for the 3 or 4 stars: they have to be embroidered and well aligned, too. Keep this in mind when looking for this shirt. Also, the heat pressed crest will look too modern for this retro shirt. You will probably recognize it very easily.
- The Umbro logo: Unlike the team crest, the Umbro logo is printed within the material. Some (unofficial) versions of the shirt will have embroidered Umbro logos. Just like the crest, you will recognize this fairly easy now that you know the ins and outs of this shirt.
My thoughts and opinion
The fact that this is the oldest shirt in my collection makes this shirt very special for me. I’ve always been a fan of the Brazilian national football team and their passion for the game. I watched a lot of World Cup 1994 matches on YouTube and the design of this shirt has always surprised me positively. Besides that, this Brazil World Cup 1994 home shirt gives you good 90s vibes when you put it on; it’s very baggy. If you are a football shirt collector, and you don’t have this shirt yet, I’d definitely recommend you buying this! It’s an awesome addition to every collection, no matter where you are from.
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