No-one seems to know who designed it. No-one knows what the main design on the shirt is. Few people seem to be aware of it, but the kit worn by Spain during the 1992 Olympic Men's Soccer tournament is as daring as the regular national team kit is conventional.
Made by Alicante-based Kelme, the shirt has a simple v-neck with yellow trim (replicated on the cuffs). There's also a centrally-positioned shirt number in a eye-catching bubble letter font, plus a small logo featuring the Spanish flag in a shield below the Olympic rings and the word 'España'.
With dark blue shorts and black socks, the kit would be fairly uninteresting were it not for the explosive shapes in dark blue and yellow on the lower half of the shirt. One has to wonder whether it's in some way connected with the fact that Barcelona were hosting the 1992 summer games... or perhaps it's an abstract depiction of an animal. Nobody knows.
The lack of an explanation will leave many feeling that the kit is weaker than it really is. Kit aficionados in particular like order and regularity, so the lack of reasoning for the blue and yellow splash is likely to frustrate. Such as it is, it makes for an exciting shirt that contrasts admirably from the corporate dynamism that Adidas were offering at the time. It was also worn by the gold-medal winning team on August 8th 1992 as Spain defeated Poland 3-2 in an exciting Final in front of 92,000 spectators.
Captained by future Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, the Spanish team promised much, but initially failed to build on the success of this competition. Despite featuring many familiar names such as Santiago Cañizares (Valencia), Abelardo (Barcelona), Albert Ferrer (Barcelona, Chelsea) and Luis Enrique (Real Madrid, Barcelona), they failed to progress beyond the quarter finals of the 1994 World Cup and 1996 European Championships. The 1992 Olympic Soccer Tournament subsequently remained only Spain's second tournament win (after the 1964 European Championships) until their long wait for further glory ended with the 2008 European Championships, 26 years after one of their most striking football shirts was worn and largely forgotten.
