The Greatest France Home Kit 1964-2014: The Result

It was way back on December 23rd 2013 that we began our search to find the Greatest France Home Kit Ever. Thirty different kits were presented, and nearly 650 of you voted for your favourite from the last 50 years.

At midnight on February 28th 2014, the deadline for voting finally passed, at which point we were finally able to calculate the overall winner.

Having totalled up all the entries we received, we can now proudly announce that The Greatest France Home Kit since 1964 - according to visitors to The Football Attic's website - was Kit 13, made by Adidas and worn by the French national team between 1982 and 1983.

The kit, seen by millions during the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain, received over 21% of the 646 votes we received, and was a particular favourite among the many people visiting our website via cahiersdufootbal.net and slate.fr in France.

With 137 votes, Kit 13 was a comfortable winner ahead of Kit 14 in second place, which received 108 votes. Kit 14, made by Adidas and worn during France's first major tournament win at Euro 84, was the more preferential choice of voters in the UK.

In third place, you voted for Kit 30, a kit which hasn't even been worn yet. Nike's third outfit for the French team (and one that's set to make its début in the next few weeks) has obviously caught the imagination of many of you already with its dark blue shirt and restyled cockerel badge.

Kit 30 finished just one vote ahead of Kit 20, the Adidas kit worn during France's successful World Cup campaign of 1998 and one that stylistically takes its inspiration from Kit 14 (which finished second in our online vote).

At the other end of the scale were two kits that received only a single vote each. One of them, Kit 2, was the v-neck variant of France's plainly-styled outfit of the late 1960's while the other, Kit 7, was the first Adidas kit to be worn by the French team back in 1972.

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So there it is - the Greatest France Home Kit is now known, and at this point we at The Football Attic would like to give our huge thanks to the hundreds of you that voted over the last nine weeks or so. We'd also like to send our special thanks to Andrew Gibney from French Football Weekly for helping us promote our online poll, without whom it would have been far less popular!

We hope your favourite France home kit fared well in our vote-off, and we'd be interested to hear your views on the final result, so please do leave us a comment below and give us your thoughts.

In the meantime, thanks once again for your participation - we really appreciate it!

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The Greatest France Home Kit 1964-2014

In May 2013, The Football Attic spoke to you, the football nostalgia experts of the world, to ask what you thought was the greatest England home kit that's been worn since 1965. Your response was fantastic and left us in no doubt that your favourite was the Admiral kit worn during the 1982 World Cup.

Now it's time to praise and assess the first-choice outfits of France, the country that gave us Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Thierry Henry. Over the last 50 years, the French national team have worn 30 different home kits all varying in complexity and style, so we'd like you to tell us which ones you like best, which ones are an affront to human decency, and above all, which is your favourite by voting via the form at the foot of this page.

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The graphic above shows all of the 30 kits mentioned (clicking on it brings up a larger version - right-click and 'Save As' while it's on the screen to keep a full-size version). We've tried to get as much detail correct as possible using the information sources available, but if you do spot any inaccuracies, please let us know.

As you peruse the different designs shown, you'll probably spot an anomaly (by British standards, at least). Where the French national team is concerned, it was common for two or more home kits to be worn at any given time during any 12-month period up to Euro 84.

Whereas in Britain we're used to a system of 'Kit A' being replaced by 'Kit B' and then 'Kit C', in France 'Kit A' might be worn for a few games only to be replaced by 'Kit B', but after a few more games 'Kit A' would be worn again before 'Kit C' appeared a few months later, then back to 'Kit B' and so on. Why this is the case, we're not sure, but if anyone out there has any details, please let us know.

In addition to this seemingly random flip-flopping between kits, it's also worth mentioning the diverse number of times each kit was worn. Some, like Kit 8, were worn at various times over a 7-year period while Kit 10, for instance, was only worn twice - and that was with a one-year gap between the two outings.

As far as manufacturers are concerned, there are three that we're aware of: Le Coq Sportif (1970-72), Adidas (1972-2010) and Nike (2011 onwards). Adidas enjoyed the benefits of a 33-year association with the French team that undoubtedly covered it's greatest era, but Le Coq Sportif are responsible for dragging the French kit out of the old-fashioned 1960's just as Nike are designing some new styles at the present time.

But enough of all this technical information. We want you to pin your bleu-blanc-rouge to the mast and tell us which is your favourite France home kit...

SORRY - THIS VOTE HAS NOW CLOSED!
The winner of our Greatest France Home Kit vote has now been announced. Did your favourite kit win?

Further information:
To see all the above France home kits, plus many change kits and variations, head on over to Chris O's Kitbliss website.

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