Ranking Soca Warriors Kits

Lets rank all the Trinidad and Tobago National Team Kits from this century

The overlords FIFA have graciously allowed football in Trinbago to continue, HOORAY!

Let us celebrate that and a potential new jersey from a kit deal which is shrouded in mystery and controversy with Avec (if this is even still happening) by looking at the kits from the past 20 years and trying to rank them. This does mean that the objectively best kit is not included in my rankings.

Now that we know what the gold standard, let’s see what else we got from the kits of the past 20 years (hopefully I didn’t miss any).

Detour produces better knockoffs than these originals tier (F-Tier)

Kits in this tier are um… bad.

2008 Adidas

Yoooo…. This kit is so plain. It doesn’t help that it coincides with some of the worst football T&T had in a while. Coming off of a historic 2006 World Cup campaign, many issues plagued the squad, including the squabble about bonuses. It didn’t help that I believe Adidas, quite frankly, didn’t care. This may be a recurring theme in this ranking

2019 Capelli

While still under contract with Joma, the 2019 Gold Cup had the national team kitted out in a different provider… Capelli. This kit was a colour swapped version of Guyana’s. It came and went as quickly as our Gold Cup campaign. Moving on.

2019 Nations League - Joma

We somehow used a different kit for each game against Honduras and Martinique. In a campaign I rather not talk about. I won’t even be putting pictures of these teamwear kits we got recently.

This isn’t good. It ain’t horrible but come nah man. Meh (C-Tier)

These are kits which are… football kits. Nothing really special about them.

2005 World Cup Qualifying Playoff - Adidas

I hate that these two kits are kinda iconic now. The away kit, in particular, will be etched into history and our memory forever, but it is plain. Adidas came on as a sponsor near the end of the Hex. A Hex campaign which was better than we ever got before and we mess with the juju for money? If the header in Bahrain didn’t happen, I would place the blame squarely on this uniform.

2015 Joma

This is the first of the three Joma kits. It is also the hardest one for me to rank because sentimentally, it was at a time where everything was on an upward trajectory for both the men’s and women’s senior teams. I only have it here because I would get slaughtered for what I am about to do next

2006 The World Cup Kit Adidas

I dislike these kits so much. The weird noose, only being red and white, and most of all, THREE OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE THIS EXACT UNIFORM.

It sucks that this is probably the most owned football kit. It is the one seen on the biggest stage and by a “big name” supplier. I contemplated putting this lower down. I really wanted to. But I also understand why people like this. Sentiment.

Hey, these are pretty nice! (B-Tier)

Ok, negative emotions out of the way, time to look at some enjoyable kits.

2017 Joma

I really like this kit. It has all the things which I enjoy in a T&T kit:

Has Red White and Black? Yes

Has an unconventional twist? Yes

The paint stripe is probably the oddest kit we have had in the past 20 years. Things are looking up from here.

2010 Adidas

It is a shame that the final Adidas kit was probably the best. This was the first kit from them which felt like OURS, it wasn’t a hand me down from Canada or Cuba, it was a kit which seemed very specific to T&T and it was wonderful. Love this kit, will be seeking one out online.

YES PLEASE! (A-tier)

These are my favourite kits. They have everything which I expect in a national team kit and then some.

2013 Joma

These are the first kits which I was able to purchase with my own money, and the only kits which I feel I can wear “out-out”. The collar is incredible, it fits well, Joma’s first endeavour with us was fantastic. It is also the first kit with the new badge (which looks amazing). This was all around fantastic

2002 NK/L-Sporto

BIG. THICK. STRIPES.

It is wild that we haven’t returned to a kit like this since. Even cooler when we had the stripes go all the way down to the shorts. It also has a fresh collar. I absolutely love it, I contemplated putting it as the best kit this century, but just couldn’t oust the safe pick coming up now.

The best National Team Kit this century (S-Tier)

2005 Finta

This is the kit we should have qualified for the World Cup in. The dominant red colour, the black sides, the white accents. Everything about this kit fit us and we played out best football in it. This is absolutely the best kit, and I am willing to listen to your disagreements on it. It won’t change my mind, but I am willing to listen kinda…

The Future?

I hope that the kit in the future is closer to the ones I ranked high, the worst thing it could be is generic teamwear. An ideal hope is a seatbelt design, for something so prominent in our flag, we haven’t had a diagonal stripe in the past 20 years. Let me know what you hope to see in our next kit.