Nigeria is well known worldwide for her rich cultural heritage and diversity with Lagos arguably the fashion capital of Africa.
This trend has since been exported to sports circles and football in particular as Nigerian jerseys have been one of the most sought sports apparel all over the world.
Of recent memory, the kit done by Adidas for the Super Eagles World Cup debut was quite flashy and caught the eye of sports kit aficionados.
Done by Adidas, the kit had some great patterns and motifs that represent Nigeria’s multicultural society and diversity.
The love for Nigerian kits reached a crescendo in 2018 when Nike released a kit for the Super Eagles. The beautiful design sold out in the first hour of its release as fans from all over the world copped all available stock.
The kit was a multiplication of different motifs in various shades of green in an embroidery-type fashion that was aesthetically satisfying to the eyes.
But before that, there was the little matter of the mock-up design done by a Nigerian journalist and Kit Designer Andrew Randa which stirred a lot of conversation on social media prior the the launch of the official kit by sportswear giant Nike.
He designed a prototype mock-up kit and posted it on his Twitter and it became a huge hit with fans who thought that the kit was the official Jersey the Super Eagles were meant to use in Russia in 2018.
The design went viral and caused a storm on social media until the Nigeria Football Federation had to clarify that it wasn't the official kit.
Lighting struck twice as this week a design surfaced again on the internet, five years after Randa’s version, with users and some news channels stating it was the kit that the Super Eagles were due to use at the 2023 AFCON.
The design, purportedly done by graphics designer Victor Nwokolo has the home kit look like the Nigerian green-white-green flag with the background emblazoned with green motifs while the away kit is white with shades of green splattered around the body of the kit.
However, despite the popularity of the design, the Nigeria Football Federation released a disclaimer to put paid to the hopes of many fans who had made plans to get the kit.
The Federation revealed via a statement on social media that there were no plans to launch a new kit for the AFCON and urged fans to ignore the rumors.
One thing is certain, Nigerians love their fashion and the Super Eagles being the biggest football in the country, it is easy to see why both kit designs have been well received by fans not just in Nigeria but worldwide.
There has been calls from many quarters for Nike to do a reproduce the Super Eagles 2018 World Cup kit five years after it was first released into the market.
For now, fans will have to make do with the current ‘adire' patterned template that Nike released in 2022 which has also been well received.
