Professional soccer players don't just kick the ball - they try to look good doing it. Design students in Germany have ranked the jerseys in the Bundesliga, and their Professor, Martina Becker, tells DW who won.
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Best and worst jersey designs in German football
Bundesliga favorites Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have already lost just as the season opens - at least the fashion contest. Here are the 18 best and worst jerseys in Germany's professional football league.
Image: picture alliance/Sven Simon/F. Hoermann
Germany's football jersey champion 2015/2016
One title, 18 teams. Who has the most attractive jersey in Germany's professional soccer league, the Bundesliga? Dusseldorf's University of Media and Design has already picked a victor for the best jersey in 2015/2016. Here's a hint: The winning jersey is red and white, but doesn't belong to FC Bayern. The jury based its choice on design, material and fit. Here's the ranking.
Image: picture alliance/Perenyi
18th place: FC Augsburg
FC Augsburg takes up the rear in the ranking for the best soccer jersey for the upcoming Bundesliga season. Experts agree: It's boring. Hopefully the team will make up for their uniforms with spectacular kicks, passes and saves.
Image: picture alliance/Pressefoto ULMER/M. Ulmer
17th place: FSV Mainz 05
FSV Mainz 05 came in just shy of last place. Their jerseys are not innovative and have too much red and too few details in white, according to the jury. "They're too simple," criticizes sport designer Martina Becker, a professor at the Dusseldorf design school. The material resembles plastic and the look lacks passion, she adds.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J. Hübner
16th place: 1. FC Köln
Cologne's team is just shy of expulsion. "They tried very hard with the silhouette of the Cologne Cathedral integrated into the thin diagonal stripes. But even if you look closely, it's difficult to recognize," says designer Martina Becker. Did you find the cathedral?
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Unger
15th place: SV Darmstadt 98
Darmstadt hasn't come up with a particularly convincing jersey either. "The lilies on the lower right edge look like a water mark and seem too feminine, and the white-and-blue stripes on the sleeves and collar are too stilted," according to Becker. But perhaps the water mark disappears when the jersey is full of sweat?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. von Erichsen
14th place: Borussia Mönchengladbach
The team from Mönchengladbach in central-western Germany don't have it easy. Integrating their sponsor's yellow logo is nearly impossible, according to sport designer Becker. Framed in black accents on the collar, V and shoulders gives the jersey a rather sad appearance.
The VFB has hardly changed their jersey at all this season. Nothing new means number 13 on the list of most attractive uniforms. They came in 14th with their soccer skills last season - so let's hope they at least update a few of their moves on the pitch, if not on their backs.
Image: picture alliance/H. Rudel
12th place: SV Werder Bremen
Emerald green - symbol for renewal, rebirth and luck - is a new color for Bremen. That sounds promising indeed. But, even though white shoulders and sleeves relax the look a bit, the experts see room to grow. That should motivate the team for the upcoming season, right?
Image: picture alliance/M.i.S.-Sportpressefoto
11th place: VFL Wolfsburg
While green certainly proved lucky for Wolfsburg - second in last year's Bundesliga ranking - they've traded it for white this season. But Martina Becker and her design students feel the new jersey resembles that of Brazil's national team just a tad too much. Originality is key when it comes to stand-out designs.
Image: picture alliance/Sven Simon/J. Kuppert
10th place: Hamburger SV
Even though it's been a while since the HSV has reached the middle of the table with their playing, they've managed it with their jerseys. This season they've banked on a retro look that's more sporty than spectacular.
Image: picture alliance/M.i.S.-Sportpressefot
9th place: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
This jersey has gotten mixed reviews. Taste aside, the designers in Dusseldorf think Hoffenheim are courageous to wear the white shirt with staggered, fading blue stripes. At least it could double as a cycling jersey. And that's enough for Number 9.
Image: Getty images/D. Kopatsch
8th place: FC Schalke 04
Schalke have kept last season's jersey and stayed true to royal blue - which is also their nickname - combining it with pin stripes and a wide collar. Loyalty has earned them eighth place.
Image: picture alliance/N. Schmidt
7th place: Bayer 04 Leverkusen
The idea is good, according to the experts. But the wide block stripes in black and red are too cumbersome and the look could be jazzed up a bit more. Coming in fourth, Leverkusen did better on the pitch last season.
Image: picture alliance/Fotostand/Wedel
6th place: Hannover 96
Hannover 96 have gone rather frivolous this season. The white double neck line is classy, but the row of buttons and striped cuffs are perhaps just a bit too much of a good thing, according to the experts.
"Looking good!" The material is nice to touch and the mesh insert under the armpits are functional, says designer Martina Becker. The sponsor logo is well integrated, and the yellow jersey with the subtle black stripes works well. The overall impression of the away jersey was a good one - although it lost points for the black polo neck.
Image: Getty Images/D. Kopatsch
4th place: Hertha BSC Berlin
The blue-and-white team from the German capital is certainly an eye-catcher this season: classic blue with red accents, and longitudinal strips increasing from two to five. The additional color and flair has catapulted Berlin upwards to number four.
Image: picture alliance/Fotostand/Bansemer
3rd place: Bayern Munich
Indeed, Bayern is back near the top yet again. While they have a fairly plain jersey this season - red, with a white sponsorship logo - "it is in good taste," according to Martina Becker.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/D.Mouhtaropoulos
2nd place: Eintracht Frankfurt
Frankfurt only narrowly missed out on the title, winning over the experts with their 70s retro-inspired look of black with broad red pinstripes. Even the tight-fitting cut works well: "It simply looks great," concludes Martina Becker. That is, at least on the players: For those fans with beer bellies, the revealing cut doesn't exactly complement.
Image: picture alliance/H. Rudel
1st place: 1 FC Ingolstadt 04
This season, FC Ingolstadt takes the trophy for the most impressive jerseys. The jury had nothing to criticize on the traditional red-and-black shirt with wide vertical stripes. The black shorts and socks complete the outfit immaculately - an absolute eye-catcher. Now it just remains to be seen whether Ingolstadt can keep up on the pitch.
Image: picture alliance/Sven Simon/F. Hoermann
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Every year, at the start of the Bundesliga season, the Dusseldorf-based Media Design School selects Germany's jersey champion, based on the design, TV-compatibility, cut and material. Together with her students, sports designer and lecturer Martina Becker has chosen the most beautiful home jersey from among the 18 clubs in the league.
DW: Ms. Becker, before telling us who the German jersey champion of 2015 is, would you please first explain what makes a good jersey?
Martina Becker: To me as a designer, a good jersey must first of all have a good fit. That should by no means be too baggy. A jersey should have a tight fitting cut, but it should not be too oversized. In terms of its function, that would not be desirable at all.
Then, the material plays an important role, too. Jerseys tend to be worn a lot, and that's why they need to be functional. As a designer, you're also limited to the colors of the clubs, as well as the sponsors. You have to leave a lot of space on the front side for the sponsors, and on the back side for the number. That's a major challenge. But the sponsor logos need to be integrated into the jersey, while still producing a nice overall design. And I think a jersey should not come across as too playful.
Can you give us some examples?
Specifically, I can tell you that Hanover's jersey of the Hanoverians is too playful. As for the collar, there's just too much to it - a high collar and even a round neck. A beautiful neckline is simply a V-neck, for example in Eintracht Frankfurt's shirts. Their collar has an extra rib insert.
Can you, as a designer, discern a particular trend in this season's Bundesliga jerseys?
There's certainly a discernible trend. To start with, the jerseys are created by major sporting goods manufacturers which develop them together with the clubs. What has been done in recent years is mainly to improve the cuts.
Frankfurt, for example, has made a big step forwards in this regard and their cut has become relatively slim. We already witnessed that same trend with our national team during the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Needless to say, this tight fit looks pretty good on professional players as their bodies are very well built and muscular.
When it comes to the fans, I'm a bit skeptical, however. A slim cut in size XL - well, not exactly ideal for people who happen to be a bit chubby. Fashion rules do not always make sense in practice.
You've mentioned Eintracht Frankfurt several times. Should that team be Germany's jersey champion in your view?
In my personal view, yes. But as a group, we decided in favor of FC Ingolstadt which have also jumped into the first league this season. With their jersey, they've also risen from the second Bundesliga to the first, while also becoming our jersey champion.
The majority of the students opted for Ingolstadt with Frankfurt close behind. Ingolstadt's jersey has a clear design without many frills. Black, red, and white are very suitable for the media, since that choice of colors is very conspicuous. And they have perfectly integrated the logos: The white stripes on the shoulder, the white sponsor's logo, and their own. In terms of colors, all that fits together very harmoniously.
So a red-black jersey has made it to the top during this season. Would you say that the club colors determine whether or not one stands a chance at becoming the jersey champion?
The color alone is not decisive. Nevertheless, it was quite clear to us that most all-white jerseys were out of the race right from the start. They came across more like giveaways or promotional shirts - shirts that people can get as a souvenir. They all seemed to be pretty basic, almost a bit boring.
Do you, as a designer, recognize a German soccer jersey at first sight? Is there a fundamental difference between German jerseys and those of non-German teams?
I wouldn't say so. There certainly are jerseys around that I could not fathom to be German-made. For example, the pink jersey of Juventus Turin. This season, that one is their away jersey. This is retro - they already had a pink jersey a long time ago. Another jersey that I cannot imagine for Germany is the gold away jersey of FC Arsenal - that one didn't impress me at all.
Do you also have an UEFA Champions League winner?
The AS Roma is definitely my favorite in Europe. They have made a very tasteful choice with their Bordeaux-colored home jersey with sunny yellow accents.
How about women's soccer jerseys?
We actually thought about choosing a women's jersey champion for the first time. But unfortunately, nothing came of it. For a simple reason: Only few German women clubs have their own jerseys. Most of them simply wear men's jerseys. And what I find particularly misplaced is that the ladies, even more so than their male counterparts, attach too little importance to their appearance. That is mainly due to the fact that the producers want to sell the jerseys to the fans as well. There is indeed room for improvement.