Top 10 Kits from France World Cup 1998

Vive la France! The 1998 World Cup hosted by France was iconic.

It had everything. 32 days of footballing wonder, the longest world cup of all time. France lifted the trophy for the first time. Croatia qualified for the first time and their beast of a striker Sukor took home the golden boot. R9 was still rampaging around. Prime Viera bossing the midfield. Bergkamp, Baggio and Batistuta all banging in the goals.

The youngest player in the tournament was Samuel Eto'o, who was a mere 17 years of age back in 1998. Which might make some of our readers feel longer in the tooth. But undoubtedly, the best thing about the France World Cup in 1998 was the kits.

Here's how the manufacturers split across all the nations:

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This could be the greatest world cup of all time for iconic kits. There are some real screamers in here. Lets jump in as we rank them from 10 to 1 👇

10 - Croatia Home

The world's most famous check-pattern got a chance for a world cup debut in 1998. This is a cracker of a shirt, made famous by golden boot winner Davor Suker who racked up 6 goals beating Batistuta and R9 to the accolade.

[Shop this rare Croatia 1998 World Cup shirt]

9 - Cameroon Home

Classic Cameroon kits are in high-demand. This 1998 beauty from Puma just looks better with age. We love the golden panels under the arms and the lion crest. Samuel Eto'o was the famous face in this shirt at 17 years of age.

[Shop this rare Cameroon 1998 World Cup shirt]

8 - Scotland Home

Scotland pushed prime Brazil all the way in this shirt, narrowly losing out 2-1 in a group stage match. Its a clean Umbro shirt, the strong collar, central badge and chunky-subtle-stripe work wonders.

[Shop this rare Scotland 1998 World Cup shirt]

7 - Brazil Home

This could be one of the greatest Brazil kits ever. Its incredibly hard to track down from a collectors point of view. Its a testament to how many incredible kits there are in the 1998 world cup that we're talking about Brazil in 7th place.

[Shop our Brazil collection - Shirts Less than £30]

6 - Jamaica Home

We don't always get to feature Jamaica world cup shirts but this one deservedly sits in 6th place. It's a super shirt. Arguably this is Kappa in their prime and the quality of this shirt holds up to this day.

[Shop this rare Jamaica 1998 World Cup shirt]

5 - Mexico Away

This is an iconic shirt, no two ways about. The home is excellent too but we could only feature 10! For us, the Mexico away nudges it. The face detailing is so unique.

[Shop our Mexico collection - Shirts Less than £35]

4 - England Away

There was a time when England x Umbro didn't miss and this away shirt is another in that string of bangers. It's clean, it's a classic. Michael Owen is fresh faced and he won the best young player of the tourney in this away shirt.

[Shop our England collection - Shirts Less than £20]

3 - South Korea Home

Surely one of the greatest football kits of all time? Are we exaggerating? Possibly. But there's an argument to make this was Nike's real breakthrough on the international football scene. There's something about the South Korea x Nike combo that's become so desirable.

[Shop this rare South Korea 1998 World Cup shirt]

2 - Japan Home

It's all about the flames. This shirt is a lesson to modern manufacturers that sometimes its OKAY to go rogue and break away from the templates. This Japan home with the fire sleeves has become a classic. Japan didn't make it out the group stages in '98 but this shirt lives on in our hearts.

[Shop this rare Japan 1998 World Cup shirt]

1 - France Home

It just had to be. And its nothing to do with this being France's first world cup triumph, or Zizou delivering a masterclass. This shirt is an absolute killer piece. It comes in at number 1 for us.

[Shop our France collection - Shirts Less than £60]

Which is your favourite 1998 World Cup Shirt?

We could easily have done a top 20 kits from this world cup. There are so many stunners that didn't even make the cut. Netherlands, anyone? But the real question is - which is your favourite 1998 world cup shirt?

Let us know on our Twitter poll: