Czech Republic
Third; 2003
Having struggled to get excited about any Czech Republic shirt released in my lifetime, aside perhaps from the Euro ‘96 kits, I couldn’t help but be intrigued when I came across this blue beauty. Worn at home in Prague against Austria on April 2, 2003 , I struggle to understand why it was worn at all as there was no kit clash. In fact, as if to prove there is no clash, in the return fixture in Vienna, Austria wore the same kit as April but the Czech Republic played in their traditional red shirts, white shorts and blue socks. The only English-language match report I could find online for the Prague game, makes no reference as to why the home side lined out in all blue. I asked both the Czech Dresblog and Slovak Svet Dresov if they could shed some light on this, but neither were able to find any reason either in local reports. We also know that this was not intended to be an away shirt, because the Czechs wore a white version of this template in all the other games where there was a potential kit clash. I don’t believe I have seen this shirt in any other collections, so I am very happy to have it in mine. From my internet sleuthing, I can’t find any evidence that these were widely available for retail at the time.
I can’t find any evidence of the Czechs having worn any other third kit in the past, which is hardly surprisingly as only Croatia pose a difficult kit clash in Europe owing to their red and white checkerboard home shirts. On the three occasions I can find where those senior teams have met, Croatia have changed to blue twice, even at home, and the Czechs to white to avoid a clash. The other occasion I found was the 1996 Hassan II Trophy final in Morocco, a game which I simply cannot find a picture or video of. What can be found though is a game between Croatia and Morocco (who wear red at home) from that tournament, in which Croatia wore a white change strip so it can probably be safe to assume this would have been worn against the Czechs.
The shirt itself is a standard Puma template from the era, and this colourway was also worn by the Faroe Islands. Interestingly, the shirt the Faroe Islanders wore didn’t include the country name on the back of the neck like the others, and something even this Czech shirt was afforded. Including this on the neck shows it was planned as a Czech shirt, and not team-wear. Indeed, the logos here are exactly as they appeared on player spec shirts. This includes an embroidered crest, raised flock Puma logos on the front and sleeves, and heat pressed vinyl flags on the sleeves as well as the heat pressed ‘Authentic’ tag at the hem which notes it as an authentic Czech FA product.
For the record, the Czechs beat Austria 4-0 in the game where this was worn, with key involvement from some names that will make readers of a certain vintage feel nostalgic. Pavel Nedved had opened the scoring with an assist from Karol Poborsky, before two goals from Jan Koller (with assists from Milan Baros and Marek Jankulovski) and a converted penalty from Jankulovski after Baros was fouled in the box, saw off the Austrian challenge.
