Sleeve It Out
In March 2021, following the launch of the Los Angeles Galaxy's stunning new Community Kit inspired by the away jersey worn in the mid-1990s, we couldn't help but notice that a replica long-sleeved version had gone on sale in the MLS store. However, weren't long-sleeved jerseys, the ones we grew up with and that were worn for years by our childhood idols when temperatures got colder, gone for good from the global football landscape?
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Just two years ago, Jeff Rueter, a writer for The Athletic, asked the same question and recounted on The Athletic his desire to find out why Adidas, which produces the jerseys for all Major League Soccer franchises, had not only stopped selling long-sleeve uniforms but also banned teams from using them, even in inhumanly cold conditions, as happens at certain times of the year in the US. What is certain is that even in Europe, it has been several years now since we have seen them worn, so much so that we have become accustomed to the new combination: a short-sleeved jersey on top and a thermal, stretchy long-sleeved jersey underneath, possibly in the same color. The most nostalgic devotees of long-sleeved jerseys have never stopped wondering why they had gone extinct. After years of speculation and reasoning, it is possible to list at least a couple of reasons, among which the economic one stands out: the custom of wearing two garments instead of one forces fans, especially younger ones, to buy an extra product in order to look like their idol. Another reason to consider is the 'scientific-technological' one, since in modern soccer, which is increasingly obsessed with numbers and performance, the thermal jersey provides greater mobility and also a better ability to retain sweat, which helps quite a bit in the prevention of muscle injuries. What seems inevitable is that if new recruits start to get used to the double layer of fabric, a return to the use of long-sleeved jerseys in the future will be unlikely. This new habit, which over the years has affected everyone, has swept away any aesthetic heritage and also traditions, such as the one according to which the Arsenal team captain was in charge, before each match, of choosing which type of shirt all his teammates would wear, so as to take the field in a uniform manner. An unwritten rule that has been lost altogether over the years, starting with the time in November 2013 when, during an away match against Manchester United, Mathieu Flamini, a former Arsenal player, decided to object and play in a jersey whose sleeves he had roughly cut off with scissors. In continuity with what appeared on the official MLS store, Adidas had decided to sell online the long-sleeved jerseys of some big European clubs such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Arsenal. Among the Premier League teams, PUMA, Umbro, and Hummel, for Manchester City, West Ham, and Everton, respectively, had also added long-sleeved versions in the clubs' official stores. But, as pointed out in an interesting article in the Telegraph, it still seems to be more of a symbolic initiative than a real turnaround, likely a stunt that may satisfy the demands of some collectors.
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Apart from a small slice of the English market, in the rest of Europe, the return of the long-sleeved shirt on soccer fields still seems a distant phenomenon. To date, Nike has not planned it for any of its top elite clubs (Barcelona, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Tottenham, Leipzig, Inter, and Roma) except for goalkeepers. In Italy, for example, besides the teams of Inter and Roma, there is no long-sleeve option for any club, not even Milan and especially Juventus, the team that comes closest to European merchandising standards. However, a few isolated cases did exist in Italy, such as the former player of Sampdoria, Keita Baldé, who probably requested and obtained to play with an ad hoc customized jersey, as happened back in the days of Inter and Lazio. An item loved by fans, the long sleeves, which is slowly disappearing in modern football.
