The Italian club Maradona will always be linked to released a special shirt almost 9 years ago. The SSC Napoli 2013/2014 away shirt has a camo design that really stands out. On the back, we got the official name and number for Gonzalo ‘El Pipita’ Higuaín. Napoli are known for releasing beautiful shirts, which explains the design of this eye-catching kit. In this post, you can read more about this jersey, which might give you retro vibes!
The design
General
Gli Azzurri released this shirt, which is manufactured by Macron, in September 2013. Like I said before, the camo print all over the Napoli 2013/2014 away shirt really stands out. This is not a design we get to see often when it comes to football shirts. The print mainly boasts 4 types of green that create a transition from light green to dark green. The camouflage spots all over the shirt boast one of these 4 types of green. This way, the shirt boasts a camo design like we see on military outfits. Both sleeves are dark green. The Macron logo is white. The color white makes this logo stand out on this jersey. The sleeve cuffs and collar are light blue, just like the SSC Napoli team crest. It isn’t unusual for away shirts to have a monochrome team crest, but this kit uses the traditional team logo.
Sponsors and name set
Sponsor-wise, this shirt has a lot to offer. We can see the big red sponsor with ‘Lete’ in white on the front, as well as the smaller navy ‘MSC’ sponsor below it. The big red boxed sponsor stands out on this shirt, meanwhile the MSC sponsor seems to have the same color tone as the rest of the shirt. A nice detail on this jersey are the two light blue Macron logos on the sleeves. They match with the color of the sleeve cuffs and collar, which makes them look clean.
If we take a look at the back of the shirt, we can find the light blue ‘Higuaín 9’ name set. This number has some darker blue lines in it, to create a cool depth effect, as you can see in the picture. The number 9 also has the Napoli (N) team crest in it. When it comes to the name, the ‘Higuaín’ printing has the same effects that are used in the 9, in order to create the same effect. This light blue name set was used by Napoli for the Serie A competition in the 2013/2014 season. Their European name set (for Champions League games for example) has the same design but is white instead. Another small detail to highlight is the small Napoli (N) logo under the collar on the back on the shirt.
Gonzalo Higuaín
Club teams
The Argentine striker started his professional career as a footballer at River Plate. He made a 12 million transfer to the Spanish club Real Madrid, where he’d play for 7 seasons. At his time at Real Madrid, Gonzalo showed what he’s the best at: scoring goals. His trade mark is probably his physically strong way of playing the game we all love. Higuaín scored 107 goals in 190 appearances for Los Blancos. He also won three La Liga titles. These statistics show that El Pipita had been of great importance for Real Madrid.
In July 2013, Gonzalo joined SSC Napoli. This means that the shirt I’m describing in this post is one of the first Napoli shirts Higuaín actually wore. The team from Naples did a good job that season by winning the Coppa Italia. Two seasons later (2015/2016), Higuaín scored 36 goals in the Serie A, which led into him winning the Capocannoniere prize. This is a prize for top scorer of the Italian Serie A. One of Napoli’s arch-rivals, Juventus, signed him for 90 million euros. This transfer hurt badly in Naples, and the Napoli fans called Gonzalo a traitor.
At Juventus, he won the Serie A and Coppa Italia twice in a row during his first two seasons. He even reached the Champions League final in 2017. We probably all know how that ended. Juventus faced Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates ended up lifting the trophy. After this season, he joined AC Milan on loan in 2018. He scored 6 goals in 15 matches. In January 2019, he joined Chelsea on loan, even though he only scored 5 goals in 14 appearances for the Blues. After this period, Gonzalo joined Inter Miami in 2020, where he’s still under contract nowadays.
Argentinian national team
When it comes to the national team, Gonzalo definitely showed what he is capable of. He made his debut in February 2008 against Guatemala. 1 year later, he scored his first official goal during the World Cup 2010 qualifiers. Gonzalo had been selected to be part of the Argentinian squad for the World Cup 2010. He scored a beautiful hat-trick versus South Korea, giving Argentina a 4-1 win. In 2014, he was selected for the national squad again. Argentina would reach the World Cup 2014 final which they lost against Germany. Gonzalo’s most important highlight of that tournament was probably his goal versus Belgium in the quarter-finals. He scored the only goal, and Argentina qualified for the semi-final versus the Netherlands.
The World Cup 2018 was a tournament to forget for Argentina. La Albiceleste didn’t make it through the group stage and Higuaín didn’t score a single goal. He announces his national team retirement in March 2019. El Pipita scored a total of 31 goals in 75 games for Argentina.
Final thoughts and my opinion
This camo shirt is special because its design is not very common. The way the camouflage print covers the whole shirt is fascinating if you ask me. The light blue Macron logos on the sleeves look good too. These logos use the same color as the bold-looking ‘Higuaín 9’ name set on the back. This gives the shirt a fresh look. The effects in both the name and the number on the back make the shirt look a bit more unique too. Some football (shirt) fans may say that this shirt doesn’t have anything to do with the actual Napoli colors. Nevertheless, away kits are meant to be different from the home shirt. The SSC Napoli 2013/2014 away shirt is a perfect example of this.
If we keep in mind that this shirt was released almost 9 years ago, we can already consider it to be retro. The design of the name set and the camo print all over the shirt make it look vintage. Nowadays, most of the name sets are modern when it comes to design. Especially in Napoli’s case, in which the name and number have been quite simple the previous seasons. Considering the overall beauty of this shirt and its age, I give it an 8/10.
Are you looking for an SSC Napoli shirt?
If you made it this far, you maybe want to add a Napoli football shirt to your collection. I recommend checking out Classic Football Shirt’s amazing collection of both vintage and modern shirts!
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