In S21 of WJC, times were tough. There were only 4 teams present in the tournament. On top of this, EA decided it would be fun to replace their shitty stock international uniforms with the actual modernized uniforms that teams were using in IIHF events. With both of these complications, tragically the uniform ranking had no place in the tournament. At long last though, we're back. There are 12 teams in the tournament and miraculously every single team is using a custom uniform. I'm going to drop my usual caveats before diving into the rankings: - I looked for the home jersey of every team on a stream. It's possible I may have inadvertently picked up your alternate if that's what you wore for a game, feel free to drop corrected images if that's the case. - Most of these images are screenshots off streams, so the image quality is what it is. Shoutout @Plymmy11 for sending over the couple teams I wasn't originally able to find on stream. - I understand that if you made a brand new club, you might not have a logo or many template options to work with. That being said, I'm here to judge the jerseys. If you didn't have customization options, then tough shit, should've bummed off an existing club that has unlocked a number of hockey bags. - The whole uniform matters. Sure, the jerseys get the most attention, but if your socks or equipment aren't gelling with the jersey, you'll lose some points. And with that, let's get into the countdown. 12: Sweden Sweden definitely looks like a team that was just created for this tournament, set their colors to the first blue and yellow they found, and rolled with it. No logo, using the default jersey and socks template, a highlighter shade of yellow. Not to mention that Sweden typically has no white in their uniforms, the white stripe in the middle of the yellow just isn't a good look, and neither is the white font. 11: Germany Much like Sweden, the German team looks like a freshly made club that added their colors and called it a day. They get a slightly higher rank just for their colors being better, but if you've read these rankings in the past you know I have high expectations for Germany. These do not meet them. 10: Norway Norway...tried? They didn't use the default template, which is progress, but these are just weird. There's red, white, and blue. Ok, sounds like Norway. Then a heaping dose of black for some reason. The striping on the jersey is kind of all over the place and has zero correlation with the socks that were used. It feels like a different person each designed the jerseys, pants, and socks without talking to each other. 9: Japan Going from 10th to 9th is where I feel like we see a jump in quality. The logo is exactly what you should be using for Japan, but I'm not a big fan of black being the primary jersey color. More importantly though, we have a case of socks that just don't really match the jersey, as we get red primary socks with a black primary jersey. These are the little nitpicky things that bother me. I'm not a huge fan of the striping on the uniform either. A solid effort was made, but these just don't do it for me. 8: Great Britain I'm not too sure what I wanted to see out of Great Britain, but it wasn't this. I feel like the colors are a bit too dark and I get more of a Slovakia vibe here. The black helmet and gloves don't really go with the rest of the setup either. Why is Great Britain emblazoned by a unicorn? I don't know, but I'm open to explanations. 7: Netherlands The Dutch team made a solid effort here. The opportunity to use orange is always a fun one, and I'm glad to see them take advantage. This orange looks a little on the reddish side to me, but that could be the stream quality or my old eyes, so I won't dock much due to that. The striping on the uniform is just ok to me, and the socks again are lacking in cohesion so some points are lost there. Overall though, a solid kit. 6: Jamaica I think these jerseys were well on their way to being one of the best ones in this tournament, but it's missing just a little bit for me. The viper logo is sexy as hell, regardless of its relevance to the country, but I'm just not thrilled with the horizontal stripe template of the jersey, I think a cleaner striping pattern would've done them better. This is a case where black gloves/helmets/pants would've benefitted the team instead of going heavy on the green. And as has been a running theme so far, the sock stripes being the inverse of the jersey stripe just bothers me. 5: Ukraine I feel like now in the top 5, we've made another jump where I don't really have major qualms with any of the uniforms, I simply have to decide which I like better. And in 5th I'm going with Ukraine, who has a strong setup. I would've liked to have seen a lighter blue used that goes better with the Ukrainian flag and their national teams. Had Sweden not royally screwed the pooch, it would be easy to confuse the two. Really though the shade of blue is my only complaint, strictly off aesthetics this is a nice uniform. 4: Switzerland You might be noticing a trend here, as we have 3 teams in a row rocking a horizontal stripe on their uniform. It's not a bad look by any means, but as we've seen in the past with the gradient sleeves, it's hard to separate yourself from the pack when a number of teams are going with a similar style. I'm declaring Switzerland the champions of the horizontal stripes with a strong and cohesive setup. Going with black as the primary is a bit bold as typically we'll see Switzerland in red, but those neutral bastards need a little darkness in their lives so I'll allow it. 3: Canada Team Canada has a very solid and very Canadian jersey setup in this tournament. The maple leaf is always an easy choice for the logo, there's no confusion over who this team is. My only knock is that these are a bit stripe-heavy for me, I think a template with less going on might've been better, but for those who like an active jersey you'll like these. Side note since I was sent the image of all jerseys, the alternate is sexy as fuck, but unfortunately I'm only ranking the home jersey. 2: Poland This is just a nice, clean setup here from Poland. Throw an eagle and some simple white striping on a nice shade of red and you have a nice uniform. I give some leeway to countries that really don't have a lot to work with. It's a red and white flag, what can you truly do? But I feel they did a nice job with these, they would make Sault Ste. Marie proud. 1: USA At the top of the ranking, I'm going with ol' reliable Team USA. The options are just too good, the screaming eagle and the weagle alternate logo make for a nice jersey. I've gone down the screaming eagle route in my WJC past and it just comes out so well. I really don't have a complaint on this setup, the socks go with the jersey, the colors work well, the branding is nice. Just a job well done.
They are all using custom because I decided that we are not using stocks and that each team would be responsible and have the right to be creative with their uni's. It just makes for a more entertaining tourney. Their only restriction is that the uni had to have on it the teams colors, Home had to be Dark and Away had to be light. Alternates were team choice.
@Bicktacular i failed you. Also I found out I was owning like 2 days before the draft so I just made a club. Elite level 5 club jerseys
Mr. Bicktacular, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. Also Poland over Switzerland is an awful, awful take. 0/10 will not read again.
Always love this stuff @Bicktacular !! Thanks for taking the time to do these things and even write about the jerseys that dont deserve any comments at all. Canada Jerseys are FIRE !!
to me , best part of WJC is the uni ranking , thank you for doing it . I am gonna have to say tho , Jamaica should've received a much better rank if not the 1st place !
After playing 3 games Tuesday night with those previous monstrosities that were created for Sweden, I took it upon myself to make some J’s for the fellas.
im a bit late to this but i will say japans goal song (which my linemate has on his soundboard) is fire af and makes up for the jerseys also black is the new home jersey color for actual japan
