Zimbabwe's Kit Ranks Among Best at AFCON Despite Criticism

Zimbabwe's football kit has received a positive assessment from global sports publication The Athletic, despite attracting negative reactions when it was launched last month. The Warriors' kits, designed by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), made it into the top 36 of strips worn at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.

The Athletic's veteran football writer, Nick Miller, ranked Zimbabwe's alternative kit in the top half of the best kits at AFCON, praising its nostalgic touch. Miller noted that while the yellow home kit had a "whiff of a 1990s Sunday league kit," the white alternative kit had enough nice touches to make it "loosely interesting".

Interestingly, Zimbabwe's kit was ranked above South Africa's jerseys, which were sponsored by French kit manufacturer Le Coq Sportif. The Athletic ranked Senegal, Tunisia, and Morocco in the top three for the best kits at this year's AFCON.

The ranking is a boost to ZIFA's strategy of using locally designed kits, and dispels some of the negativity surrounding the kits, which had been blamed on poor communication and a lackluster unveiling