European Kits
adhering to UEFA kit regulations
UEFA's advertising regulations have been responsible for several United kit variations since the mid Eighties.
We are indebted to MUFC shirts and regular contributor Paul Jolley for confirming the information on this page and allowing us to reproduce players' shirts from their collections.
1982-84
As manufacturer's brand names were prohibited the word 'adidas' was removed from under the brand logo on the front of the shirt on United's European kits in 1982/83 and 1983/84. Perversely the use of the logo was not allowed on the shirt numbers and to meet the UEFA regulations United had to tape over the adidas logo.
The photograph show two match worn Arnold Muhren shirts from 1983/84. On the left the adidas logo has been taped over, while the shirt on the far right was worn in domestic competition.
Angelo Spampinato has Albiston's shirt from the 1983/84 semi-final against Juventus and told us "it has the Adidas logo (cut at the bottom of the number 3) which is covered with white tape." Angelo also confirmed the same is true of the goalkeeping shirt.
1990-92
United masked the adidas logo on the shirt numbers with ink on their change shirt in the early Nineties.
Paul Jolley has kindly sent us a photographof a shirt in his personal collection. The shirt was prepared for a match (either against Wrexham in 1990/91 or Athinaikos the following season) but was not worn.
1994-96
The 1994-1996 home shirts included a shadow print of Old Trafford which included both the Umbro diamond and the manufacturer's name on the Stretford End seats. Both were missing on the shadow print on the shirts for their ties in the UEFA Champions' League in 1994/95 and in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup.
The photograph to the right shows (from left to right): a 1994/95 European Home shirt, a 1995/96 Premier League home shirt and a 1995/96 UEFA Cup home shirt.
2006-07
United's shirts in 2006/07 included the word 'MUFC' towards the bottom of the shirt front. This infringed UEFA regulations which stated that the club name (or abbreviation) was permitted if it was at chest height and adjacent to the badge. United therefore always taped over the word in Champiuons' League games. We believe the FA regulations allowed for any one type (or a combination) of club identification to appear once on the front of the shirts.
The photograph on the left shows Ji-Sung Park's European shirt with the red tape masking MUFC (left) and John O'Shea's Premier League shirt (right) with MUFC visible at the bottom.