The new Benfica jerseys arrived at the shop recently, and, through a couple of stylistic tweaks, Adidas greatly improved the jersey from last year, turning it into a simple, sleek shirt. If you’ll recall from last year’s jersey, the tmn sponsor logo had a seafoam green kind of horizontal stripe across the chest, and this unnecessarily clashed with the red of the shirt. Thankfully, that’s been rectified and the jersey is all the better for it.
Aside from the shoulders and abdomen, there isn’t a whole lot of action going on with the shirt, but that’s completely okay; the deliberate design of the shirt really shows. From the shoulders, you have classic white 3-stripes extending from the shoulder to the mid shoulder, where the stripes give way to an overlapping piece of red fabric, which in turn gives way to an underlying gold fabric cuff. The left sleeve has a pressed on “meo” logo as well. What I love about the shoulder design is the reserved class quality it exudes. Even with the sponsor logo on the sleeve, the style is there to soak up with your eyeballs. Connecting the shoulders is a somewhat wide white collar with a shallow V-neck. Stylistically, I like it because it gives the shirt a sense of balance. For comfort, the V-neck may rub your collarbone a little bit until you’ve washed it a few times, when it’ll soften. In any case, it isn’t a major issue for comfort, but it’s definitely necessary for the style. Alright, moving downward from the shoulders, we have a simple chest with the bare minimum elements—team crest, sponsor logo and brand logo. The Adidas logo is on the right chest with the Benfica crest on the left, all tied together with a tmn logo underneath. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, the seafoam green stripe is gone. The plain white text over red background is far better and appealing. Complementing the minimal chest design is the elegant abdomen and back design. On both sides of the abdomen, you have mesh fabric that runs from the ribs, curves around to the lower back and is reigned in by a gold strip that traces the mesh all the way around to the back. A final elegant touch is at the merger of the two mesh strips with the left side neatly tucking in underneath the right side. It’s a subtle touch, but it really makes the shirt polished.
So the shirt is stylish and reserved, but that means nothing if it feels like an Alpaca wool sweater, right? Good thing it’s nothing like that. Of course it’s made with Adidas ClimaCool technology and of 100% polyester. It won’t be the softest shirt in your wardrobe, but that doesn’t mean it’s the roughest. If you’ve ever worn a soccer jersey, this shirt is no different. After some careful washing, the shirt will get broken in so to speak, and it’ll definitely be comfortable. Expect to pay about $75 for a shirt, which is more or less the going price for a jersey.
Written by: Kris Dyer, leading ocelot specialist, soccerprose.com
