From Sweden to Italy

Good day,

Today we start in Sweden then migrate across to Italy, Stockholm to Palermo, north to south, if only it was real life eh?

We start with AIK (Allmänna Idrottsklubben) which is located in Solna which in turn is a district of Stockholm, very interesting I am sure you'll agree. AIK are also considered part of the big three teams in Sweden along with Göteborg and fellow Stockholmers Malmö. They are also one of only a handful of teams to reach the Champions League group stage. I know a handful of football teams, you need pretty big hands.

One of the more interesting things about AIK, for me anyway, is that they are one of only a few teams in the world who wear black as their home colours, for reasons I do not know (it's not on Wikipedia), the only other teams I can think of that use black as their primary home colour is DC United and off course theirs are a more modern creation rather than the history which lays behind AIK's choosing of black. Actually now I have thought about it, and I really did think! Their is also Excelsior Rotterdam, if you know anymore, anywhere in the world please let me know, and it must just be plain black and not black striped with something.

Now onto my creation. I started making this with some inspiration from a Boca Juniors shirt I own, inparticular the shape on the sleeves and the cuffs, the collar is partially drawn from it, but I consider that more my idea, so there. I have also added the style of mesh from 2002 adidas kits which had the double layers with a different colour beneath which I though was awesome. The kit also has some wavy lines on it which is just something I tried out and like which fades out towards the top only to reappear and pass through the logo, possibly more suited to training wear, but my ideas are very sparse so allow me this one. I have also included all the sponsors that were included in their 2008/09 kit just simply because I wanted to highlight it's Swedishness and what better way than a bucket load of sponsors.


The away is exactly the same but in AIK's typical away colour scheme of white-yellow and a black tertiary colour.


Now onto the Italian team in this wee saga, Città di Palermo from the Sicilian region of Italy, never have they won a major title but they are becoming more of a force to be reckoned with in Italy and Europe with respectably high finishes and also atrracting many high profile players. Of course though they are another kit colour anomaly being one of only a few teams in the world to wear pink for their home colour and this time I really can't think of any others. A few have tried it for away kits but never for a home. For me Palermo are one of the most stylish teams in Italy thanks to this garish colour, even though I am not big on wearing pinks, I still think their training wear and casual wear from Lotto has been some of the best around incorporating their eagle motif.

My shirt is pretty much the same as AIK, using the same template, just this has the gradient of the fade reversed so that the chest band is bordered, I did try the chest stripe with gold instead of white but trust me it looked worse. To be honest I don't really think this does the team much justice at all style wise.


The away is just a reversal in black, pink with a gold trim and also with an asymmetrical style. I actually think this works quite well, with the colours fitting a lot better and the asymmetrical design owing a lot to the aestethic value.