Historical Football Kits

The new Irish "home" kit was launched in February ahead of its first appearance at the Emirates' Stadium for the friendly with Brazil on 2 March. The shirt was in "St Patrick's green," a rather darker shade than the traditional emerald. The shoulder seam and neck ribbon were finished in dull gold while the hooped socks from the Fifties and Sixties made a welcome return. Attractive as the kit was, the publicity releases were typically over the top. "A fusion of anatomical design and traditional tailoring" was one of the less extravagant claims. The shorts and socks from the new away strip (launched in September) were teamed with the home strip against Slovakia in a European Championship qualifier on 10 October.

On 5 August the mobile phone network, 3 Mobile announced their sponsorship of the Irish team and their logo appeared on replica shirts sold to the public. Tops sold before that had the Eircom logo. Many supporters were profoundly annoyed by this switch that meant that the versions bought earlier in the year became out of date. Players' shirts were, of course, without sponsorship.

On 11 August, 2010, Ireland played in the brand new Aviva Stadium for the first time, a friendly against Argentina.

The new black change strip was worn in the final match of the Carling Nations Cup tournament against Scotland on 27 May 2011. The new home strip, the third in as many seasons, featured the latest in Umbro's range, with stripes made up of a fine zig-zag pattern edged in gold and was worn for the first time in a friendly against Croatia on 10 August.

The new away strip was introduced ahead of the Euro 2012 finals in Poland/Ukraine.

The new home strip was introduced in the Autumn of 2012 and marked a return to traditional emerald green albeit with some darker trimmings on the collar and socks. In 2013 the change strip reverted to black but this time without any green trim. There was also a minor alteration to the crest, which now bore the legend "Ireland" rather than the previous "FAIreland."

In 2013 Nike sold off Umbro after taking over their more lucrative contracts and allowing the rest to be picked up by the competition. The FA of Ireland, however, stuck with the English company and unveiled their new first choice strip in the Spring of 2014, with the new change strip following in the Autumn. White shorts are also available for the change strip.

The new first choice strip was worn at the Aviva Stadium in a friendly against Turkey in May 2014 and is the first time that all-green has been designated as the team's first choice, reflecting a trend for single colour strips prompted by new FIFA regulations. The body of the shirt has fine horizontal lines woven into the fabric.

Introduced in September 2015, Ireland's new strip marked a return to the use of grey and white, a theme that appeared twice in the previous decade. The shirt featured a subtle pattern embossed into the upper chest above a narrow lime green band. The new first kit appeared in March 2016 in time for the Euro finals and the change strip was launched a month later.

In 2017 New Balance took over as the FA of Ireland's kit partner and introduced their new sets in August. The first choice was a pretty safe interpretation of the traditional Irish look in emerald green and white with discrete orange trim. White is always a popular choice for the change kit and the new version was teamed with dark "eden green" shorts and trimmings.

The new change strip was revealed at the end of August and represented a modest evolution from the previous version with emerald replacing the dark green. The first choice strip appeared in the October internationals and basically reversed the colours of the alternative version with a green-on-green stripe on the shoulder and sleeves. The front of this shirt, in keeping with the trend for 2018-19, had an elaborate geometrical pattern printed into the fabric.

In an unusual step, the FAI launched both first and second strips together in March 2019, no doubt in anticipation of the play-offs that would settle the four remaining places for Euro 2020. Within a week, all competitive sport in Europe was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The strips themselves were elegantly simple, monochromatic designs with minimalist trim. The first choice was in "Eden Green" set off by gold applications. As usual, replicas sold to supporters were disfigured by a sponsor's logo.