CHAMPION VINTAGE FOOTBALL SHIRTS
Champion is better known for American sportswear than football, and its clearest football-kit moment is a short run with Parma right as Hidetoshi Nakata's arrival made the club a genuinely global name.
More information
An American brand's Italian experiment
Champion built its reputation on gym wear and college sports in the United States, not football, which makes its brief kit deal with Parma in the early 2000s an unusual entry on the brand's history. The three shirts here, all from 2000-01 and 2001-02, are the full record of that spell: a home and away shirt from 2000-01 and Nakata's own 2001-02 home shirt, cut to the same simple, uncluttered template across both seasons.
Parma's Champion years, and Nakata's arrival
Nakata's move to Parma in the summer of 2001 made the club a talking point well beyond Italy, since it opened the Serie A side up to a new following in Japan almost overnight. The 2001-02 home shirt in this collection carries his name and number from that first season there, sitting alongside the plainer 2000-01 home and away kits from the year before he signed.
Good to know
- Is Champion mainly a football brand?
- No, its main business is American gym wear and college sportswear, which is what makes its brief Parma kit deal unusual.
- Why is Nakata's shirt significant?
- His 2001 move to Parma opened the club up to a large new following in Japan, making the 2001-02 home shirt the most notable piece from Champion's short spell there.
- Is shipping free?
- Shipping is free within the Netherlands and Belgium from 100 euros, and worldwide from 150 euros. Everything ships with track and trace.
