The Shirt That Never Was: Outrageous Adidas Nigeria 1994 Prototype Kit

An incredible Nigeria prototype shirt was brought to our attention by @footballkitpod, so we did some digging to find out more about it.

Nigeria 1994 Prototype Home Kit

The USA 94 World Cup had plenty of fantastic kits, with Nigeria's being among the most eye catching. Making use of tribal patterns, their home shirt was predominantly green but with a white semicircular section around the collar containing tribal patterns in black and green, with the whole look mimicking traditional clothing styles. The motif was repeated on the cuffs and the collar had some patterning of its own.

It could all have been quite different however, as Adidas had created an alternative home shirt for the Super Eagles, one that was decidedly more garish. Using a similar template, this prototype was a softer shade of green, replaced white with washed black, while the tribal elements were enlarged and coloured orange. The pattern also occupied the entirety of the sleeves rather than just the cuffs, as well as the shorts, which would easily have won Nigeria the prize for the loudest full kit at the tournament.

There are no doubts that this kit was actually the work of Adidas designers as it even featured in a 1994 catalogue, although there seem to have been a couple of slightly different versions produced. One bears the green triangles from the final design on the collar and has white crest, while the other (which was produced in Argentina) had a more basic collar and a black Nigeria badge. Both are surely extremely rare nowadays.

What do you think of this Nigeria prototype kit from Adidas? Did the Nigerian FA make the right move in choosing the tamer version that was worn at the 1994 World Cup? Comment below.