The Top Five AC Milan Jerseys

Welcome to Jersey Week! For our first article of three, we take a look at some of AC Milan's best jerseys in history. Logically, we start considering the shirts from the 1980s onward where the shirts came from specific suppliers and featured sponsors. To make things interesting, I only picked one jersey per supplier to make the top five. The shirts are in no specific order but are some of the spectacular designs donned by the Rossoneri over the years.

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1984-85 - Home - Rolly Go

For the 1984-85 season Milan were supplied by Rolly Go for just one season after the end of contract with Ennerre. The supplier opted for thin red and black stripes coupled with black border lines on the sleeves and collar as well as a solid black collar. The shirt was a stunning and threatening combination on the pitch. The jersey featured the logo of Rolly Go and the single gold star of Milan with an off white sponsor from Arnoldo Mondadori Editore advertising their Oscar Mandadori series of paperback books. The ‘O’ in Oscar features the logo of the series while the Mondadori is tightly tucked in under the Oscar print. Milan finished fifth that season but made it to the Coppa Italia final thanks to English duo of Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley. More importantly, a 16 year old Paolo Maldini made his debut for the club off the bench against Udinese in a 1-1 draw.

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1986-87 - Home - Kappa

The 1986-87 season was one of huge changes for Milan. Silvio Berlusconi took over the club and Milan entered a new era of shirts with Kappa for the next four years after going through 4 supplies in the 5 seasons prior. Kappa went with thick red and black stripes for their first Milan shirt and reverted the from sponsor to plain white text without a background frame contrary to the previous season. The sponsor was Olivetti advertising their Fotorex U-Bix. As with shirts at the time, the sponsor is placed quite high up about an inch below the Kappa logo and Milan’s gold star. Milan finished 5th that season but the likes of Pietro Virdis and Daniele Massaro impressed the league with the latter finishing as the Capocannoniere.

1995-97 - Away - Lotto

For their third season with the club, Lotto launched one of the most iconic Milan shirts in the club’s history with a striking away jersey. The classic white shirt featured a strong pair of red and black stripes at the centre of the shirt. The solid block lettering and the Opel sponsor rounded off a classy look as the sponsor was placed in a gap between the stripe. The shirt is topped off with a classic collar with red lined borders on the arms. The shirt was worn for the Scudetto winning season in 1995-96 and the following year as well. The shirt rose to prominence as it was worn by two of Milan’s best strikers in George Weah and Roberto Baggio.

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1983-84 - Home - Ennerre

Ennerre Italia was the brand of Nicola Raccuglia hence the NR, was the infamous technical sponsor for the Italian national team and some high profile Serie A sides in the 1980s including the iconic Napoli side. NR supplied Milan’s shirts for two seasons, 1982-83 in Serie B and 1983-84 in Serie A. The thick font used by Cuore Oil stands out and the white provides a good contrast with the rest of the jersey. The shirt features the single gold star and no logo across from the iconic NR logo. Milan wore this shirt in their first season back in the top flight of Italy where they managed to finish in 6th place. The likes of Luther Blissett, Eric Gerets alongside Franco Baresi and Mauro Tassotti donned the incredible shirt.

1999-00 - Home - Adidas

Adidas produced a number of stunning kits but they really blew it out of the water for AC Milan Centenary shirt. In 1999, Milan wore an incredible home jersey with thin stripes for the first time in over a decade. The shirt featured the cross of St George as a call back to Milan’s first ever kit but this time featured a star in the top left corner signifying the 10 Scudetti wins. The Opel sponsor was enlarged and prominent in the centre of the jersey while the famous three stripes of Adidas featured strong in white. The kit was rounded off with a formal collar that blended in the red and black stripes. Milan finished third that season but more importantly celebrated a century of existence with a flurry of silverware!