Sustainability and innovation are at the core of the 2020 Australia National Team Kits, which has been unveiled by Nike and Football Federation Australia. The kits will see both the men and women playing in the same designs, unifying the Matildas and Socceroos in key tournaments leading up to the biggest football events of 2022 and 2023.
Moving away from the separate on-pitch identities that have represented the nation over the last few years, Nike bring the Matildas and the Socceroos together with the same new home and away shirt designs for the 20/21 season. And at the core of the design is their sustainable nature, with the shirts again constructed with 100% recycled polyester from plastic bottles. Since 2010, more than 7.5 billion plastic bottles have been diverted from landfills and waterways and transformed into recycled polyester for Nike footwear and apparel.
The refined home jersey is a traditional Australian gold, elevated by a green colour blocked polo collar. The reintroduction of green shorts gives the athletes a classic home kit that embodies the DNA of Australian football.
The away kit then reintroduces a fresh water jersey, fresh water socks and deep obsidian shorts. The colour is a contemporary take on the 2004 Socceroos kit, which was the first official kit released by Nike for the Socceroos and debuted in Sydney when Australia played Turkey in front of nearly 30,000 fans.
Football Federation Australia Chief Executive Officer, James Johnson, believes the launch of the new kits is timely for the sport. “Australia’s new Nike kits – which will be worn by the Socceroos throughout their qualification path to Qatar 2022 and by the Matildas at the next Women’s Asian Cup in India – have been unveiled at a time when our senior national teams are readying to reboot post-COVID,” Johnson said.
“Both the Matildas and the Socceroos will have significant schedules of activity over the next two years, so these kits – both home and away – will feature in an array of significant matches in 2021 and 2022 as our players and teams aim to excel on the global stage.
“With a new Matildas Head Coach arriving soon, the Socceroos on top of their qualification group for Qatar, and a host of important national team fixtures and tournaments coming up over the next 24 months, the launch of these new kits represents another important milestone in the history of our national teams.”
Both the Australia 20/21 home and away shirts will be available from 18 September.
