S25 WJC Uniform Rankings - Crossplay Edition

It took a couple weeks into the tournament, but I am finally here with the S25 edition of the WJC uniform rankings. With a full cross-play schedule and 32 unique countries to break down, this is going to be the beefiest ranking yet. Shoutout @Fascetti84 for helping get all of the managers to send pictures of their uniforms and to @Plymmy11 for compiling and sending all of them over to me while Fascetti was loopy.

A reminder on some of the usual caveats with these rankings:

- I am grading every team on one jersey. The intention was to get the home jersey for every team, but it’s possible an alternate snuck in there. If I was on the fence about what was a team’s home or alternate, I went with what I felt was the better jersey. So if I picked the wrong one, you’re welcome for helping you out.

- The entire uniform matters. A banger of a jersey will lose points if the socks or equipment detract from it.

- I am at the mercy of the picture quality that people sent in. An alarming number of people don’t seem to realize that Xbox has a screenshot button, so if we have a goofy angle of a tv where the color isn’t crisp then so be it.

And with that, away we go.

32. Great Britain




Great Britain was the only team to fail the assignment completely, neglecting the freedom to build custom uniforms. Instead of including a picture of the EA default Great Britain jerseys, I’ve instead included their alternate, this spiffy royal number.


31. Denmark




Denmark comes in with the bare minimum effort. Default jersey, default socks, at least they were kind enough to get the colors right and have the sock stripes match the jersey stripes. I understand that not everyone has a club to work with, you see it right here on the screen that this club has 0 games played at the time of uniform creation. But it’s August, pretty much any LG club that isn’t in playoffs is dormant now. Surely you could’ve taken over from someone and had more to work with.


30. Lithuania




We have a country with a unique color scheme in Lithuania’s red, yellow, and green, yet these assholes chose to use red, white, and black? *Googles Lithuania hockey team* Ok well my gripe is now with the Lithuanian hockey federation as opposed to this team’s management since this is apparently what they use. I won’t be too hard on this group; they went for realism over creativity. Unfortunately, the realism sucks.


29. Italy




There’s pretty much a 50/50 shot every season whether Italy is designed after the real national team or fashioned on racial stereotypes, and this season we see the latter. The pizza boys are fun, although anyone who has had the pleasure of playing against the Ottawa 67s knows the struggles of heavily striped jerseys. I will say that I’m very uncertain as to whether this is the alternate or the home, but the other dark jersey was a black one that looks even less like Italy, so I went with this one.


28. Switzerland




I kind of like the simplicity of these for the land of neutrality. The slightly darker red stripe is kind of a neat touch, although I wish they would’ve carried that down to the socks as well. Not very exciting, but nothing with Switzerland ever is. Oh, what’s that? You want to know why the crest has an I in the middle instead of an S? I have no fucking idea.


27. Hungary




The jersey itself isn’t bad. Using the Habs template is usually a safe bet to be at least a little bit interesting. I have 3 gripes though. Small gripe: I feel like the logo really gets lost in the center stripe, putting a white or black outline might’ve helped distinguish it a bit. Medium gripe: The sleeve numbers don’t match the captaincy font, which if memory serves is dictated by the back font. The stripe makes numbers difficult but there’s no reason the sleeve can’t match the back. Major gripe: How did you fail to match the socks with the sleeves? It’s right there, just swap the white and green and these are immediately much better. The socks get no respect.


26. Croatia




I think Croatia was dealt a rough hand here. Anyone who pays attention to international soccer immediately associates Croatia with one thing, and that’s their very distinguishable checkerboard pattern. You know what NHL 23 doesn’t have in the creation zone? A checkerboard pattern. This was an uphill battle from the start, and while the jersey is fine and the logo choice is good, it just doesn’t do it for me. I feel like the striping was made as busy as possible in an effort to simulate the checkerboard, but nothing can truly accomplish that.


25. Portugal




The land of CR7 is dipping their toe into the hockey world. I think my main complaint here is simply the colors. The green is way too bright, the red is also brighter than I’d like to see, and I don’t think black is needed on the jersey. A missed opportunity that would’ve spiced things up a bit would be to use yellow font as Portugal national teams often like to do.


24. Kuwait




I don’t exactly know how Kuwait of all countries made it into this tournament but here we are. Here we have the jerseys of the Hartford Kuwhalers and they’re not bad. Colors are solid, striping is pretty good. I think I would’ve liked to see a bit of black incorporated like the flag has, but it’s not a big deterrent. I’m not sure if the whale tail on the logo is supposed represent striking oil, but the imagination runs wild.


23. Norway





Norway went all in on the star theme here with the North Stars logo and the Caps throwback jerseys with stars on the sleeves. It’s a good logo choice, the sock cohesion is there, overall it’s solid. I do question using blue as the primary color here as Norway is pretty much always red. There is a red jersey that I saw, but given that the logo and striping is completely different from this one and the white, I’m left to assume that’s an alternate.


22. Ukraine




These uniforms from Ukraine are what I would describe as totally fine. I really don’t have any complaints on them, they simply don’t excite me. The socks are coordinated with the jersey, the colors are good, it’s a perfectly cromulent setup.


21. Russia




Team Russia comes back from hiatus/cancelation with a pretty active jersey. It’s a nice setup, I really like how the knight sword looks as if it’s stabbing into the downward curve on the striping. This is bordering on having too much going on with the striping, but it’s toeing the line enough where I won’t penalize that too harshly.


20. Belgium




I really like the jersey that Belgium has here. The colors are strong, the striping is really solid. I don’t know how I feel about the all black socks though. On one hand I kind of like that it’s a different look, but on the other I feel like this could’ve been a top notch total uniform if the socks synced up better with the jersey instead of the bottom half being a black abyss.

19. Romania




I will freely admit that I have no idea which of Romania’s jerseys is the home. They have a blue, a red, and a yellow, so I arbitrarily picked the blue as it was the one I liked most. This is another one where I’m a big fan of the jersey, particularly the logo here, but outside components dragged their ranking down. The socks being mismatched from the jersey stripes with an incredibly easy fix present hurts my soul. I think the gloves are too heavy on the yellow as well, this would’ve been cleaner with more blue.


18. Germany




Seasoned readers will know that I have high expectations for Germany every season. For the first time in awhile we see Germany actually take a different direction from the typical primarily black uniforms (they do have a black uniform but it looks more like an alternate to me). I think the gold in lieu of yellow is a nice touch. However, I think the socks could’ve been done better and I feel that black gloves and helmets would’ve been an improvement. I like the shot that was taken here though.


17. Jamaica




We have a very Pirates of the Caribbean type of look here, and it’s solid. I do think the sock stripes would’ve been improved if they were reversed, or if the jersey stripes were reversed. Either way, some method for those stripes to match up better. I wonder if the green font is difficult to see on the ice, but overall this is a good look.


16. Poland




We’ve hit the halfway point and we kick it off with Poland. The two-color countries are always a bit difficult to work with, but I think they did a decent job here. The red on red numbers are interesting, very much an Anaheim Angels vibe (RIP Ohtani). The font might not be thick enough for the white outline to stick out, but it’s different. Another star-heavy design with the Caps template, I think it’s acceptable.


15. South Korea




I struggled with where I wanted to place South Korea. On one hand, I think this is a really nice jersey, it’s very clean, and everything blends in pretty well. However, I think most people would associate South Korea as a primarily blue country in international competitions, so I would’ve liked to have seen a similar design for a blue primary jersey. I did not see a third jersey from them, so if there’s a blue one out there then I’m unaware.


14. Spain




We get to a country that I’ve never seen represented in WJC in Spain, and I think they did a pretty good job. The red and yellow color scheme is nice, the only quibble I have on the jersey is the hurricane flag striping being perhaps too heavy on white. It didn’t impact my ranking, but I would like to see this with blue pants like we see the Spanish soccer team use frequently, just to see how it would turn out.


13. Latvia




The image I received featured all 3 Latvia jerseys, and let’s just say they’re lucky I’m only grading off the home jersey because the other two are kind of a mess. The home though is nice and simple and uses the carmine red we see on their flag. There’s not a lot to say otherwise, it’s a very nice uniform.


12. Japan




Pretty much everyone seems to know that if you have Japan, you have to incorporate the best rising sun that you can, and once again we see that accomplished. The Coyotes kachina template is bordering on being overused in this tournament, but I think Japan did a nice job with it. The socks are also a nice match for the sleeve stripes. The gloves might be a little heavy on red, but that’s really the only negative I could express.


11. Austria




Another instance where I very well may have the alternate jersey represented here, but if that’s the case then I’m ok with it because this is easily their best uniform. We never really see Austria with a blackout look, but I think this one is really cool. The red font, the striping simplicity, I’m a fan of it.


10. France




The French poultry gang come through with a simple but really nice kit. France likes representing their international identities with a rooster, so keeping up with that here is a nice touch. The striping is clean but cohesive the whole way through, I have zero complaints on the jersey. Some may not be a fan of the white helmet, but given the popularity of white helmets on dark jerseys in international hockey it doesn’t bother me.


9. USA




The ol’ reliable screaming eagle makes its annual appearance as part of team USA. Going heavy on the eagle logos is never a bad idea, and adding the stars to the pants is a nice touch as well. It’s hard to truly stand out with USA at this point, but this is a nice uniform.

8. Estonia




Another new country to the WJC field, Estonia has some really nice colors to work with, even if it’s a little Finland-adjacent. A nice and simple jersey with a little flair on the shoulders, a nice logo, equipment that jives well together. These might not be the perfect socks but I can chalk that up to having limited options. Shoutout to whoever was taking these pictures taking all of them at a downward angle and making all of the players look like they’re 4 feet tall.


7. China




This is just a job well done with regards to making a nice uniform for China. The star is about as appropriate of a logo as you could get and the colors are pretty good. Maybe they could be a tinge more vibrant, but that’s a pretty minor complaint. Overall a job well done.


6. Belarus




The dragon crest is getting a workout in these rankings, but it’s a very nice logo so I can’t complain much. This uniform has a very nice balance of colors, the green was used as an accent extremely well in my opinion. Is this jersey better served for a Welsh national team? Perhaps. But they’re not competing so I’m quite alright with it.


5. Czechia




The Czechs come through with a very nice home uniform here. The white shoulders that we often seen on Czechia are done well, and the balance of colors between the jersey and socks was handled correctly. The chrome domes might be a tad excessive, but they work well enough. Since I was sent an image with all 3 images combined, I will shout out that the alternate is pretty badass, I’m a big fan of that.


4. Canada




Canada comes through with a very nice black jersey for this tournament. Grade A sock and jersey striping symmetry, using a Jets logo that works perfectly for Canada, and this logo really stands out against the horizontal stripe that can oftentimes get a logo lost in the colors. Canada is another one where it’s hard to stand out against the crowd just because of how many times we’ve seen them, but this is one of the better iterations I’ve seen from them.


3. Finland




Finland emerges victorious over Estonia in the battle of light blue. Yes, we see the dragon crest once again, but that’s actually about as reminiscent to the Finnish logo as you can get. The Habs template again is a safe bet, the socks match up well, I have no complaints here. I would question if the gloves and/or helmet would be better in navy blue or if the navy blue numbers on top of the navy blue stripe going around the back creates any visibility difficulties, but neither of those are enough to bring down the ranking for me.


2. Sweden




I give credit to teams that have a pretty safe and easy uniform when they make me stop and appreciate their jersey. We typically see Sweden with some sort of crown logo to mimic the real life Tre Kronor, or if that’s unavailable we end up with some generic S or something woodsy. The Kraken S logo is a nice change of pace though, and I really like the little touch of black accent added to the logo, I think that made it pop. The rest of the getup is pretty reliable, but it’s a job very well done. Of course the sock striping cohesion gets points from me as well.


1. Kazakhstan




Finishing up the longest of these rankings yet, the top spot goes to Kazakhstan. They do have an advantage of having a good color scheme to work with as I’m a sucker for light blue (shoutout Thrashers), but everything else with it was a home run. They went with a sort of royal theme, and while I’m not certain of its relevancy I am certain of its execution. The kachina template was used exceptionally to create a sort of castle walls look, we have the crowned lion crest, and the yellow and white accents really tie everything together. If I have one critique, and boy is it a minor critique, it’s that maybe a font that wasn’t monochromatic would’ve been an improvement so we could see a bit more of the yellow accent.

And there are your rankings for S25. I will say that every season I feel like managers have been stepping up their game, and in doing so it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish teams apart. I honestly debated doing a tier list instead of a full 1-32 ranking, but life is better when you can offend some people over their exact ranking. I think anyone in the top 10 though could make an argument for the top spot, and everyone between 11-24 is pretty interchangeable. Thanks to all who put in the effort on their uniforms to make these rankings interesting. Fuck you, Great Britain.

 

Italy's owner needs to be fired. I am ashamed of my past country wearing such ugly jerseys after the brilliance worn in the past.

 

Glad to see this back!

I mean, I disagree with like half of it, and you nearly invalidated the whole thing with your take on the Czechia alts, but I'm glad to see it back!

 

Good job Bick, nice ranking.

 

Thanks for the Czech Love my bratr!

 

Go Denmark!

 

Nice write up. Go go China. Thanks to GOCANES2006 / Karl_kungus for making the jerseys. We went off colors because bright yellow and red is too much. Cheers!

 

Only reason France went with the Rooster. Nice write up @Bicktacular

 

There definitely are blue jerseys for South Korea.

 

Awesome rankings my friend. Had a lot of fun reading through just as much as I did making the uniforms (China) and you're right, I could've used more vibrant colors. I knew I'd have to sacrifice that look for the sake of not burning our team's eyes out from looking at them each game lol. Thanks again for doing this.

 

This is my favorite and most anticipated read every season, thanks for putting this together.

Keeping with the theme, Canada not being in the top three is absolutely tragic and my day is ruined, thanks Bick.

 

We did what we could with only having 13 games played in the club so not many options to choose from for socks etc. shoutout to @H0ckeydude_15 for making the threads this szn

 

Lets go Japan!!!

 

Hell of a job Bick great work

 

i will say, i did update Italy's jerseys

 

Out of shame?

 

Yes. We were all mortified.

 

That's not my Norway, ours are red home white away blue alternates .. kinda look like the habs

 

its last season.