Back for another year of footy, fun, and incredible kits, we take a look at our favorite designs from the 80-plus jerseys at the 2024 Icarus Cup.
Icarus Football has created something beautiful. This could apply to a particular kit, or the company itself, but specifically we mean its annual Icarus Cup. The brand has expanded to include tournaments in Austin and, for the first time in 2024, London, but the original and flagship locale is in Icarus’ home city, Philadelphia.
Eighty teams will descend upon the City of Brotherly Love this weekend to compete in several divisions of open, mixto, and women’s/non-binary, along with an all-new over-30s open division as well.
All 80 clubs receive an original kit designed by Icarus, with this year’s theme being global destinations. The Icarus design team picked their favorite vacation destination, and dropped Easter eggs throughout each design as nods to them. In Icarus’ words, they’re not just creating a soccer festival, but rather a World Fair for soccer.
Building off of last year’s success, Icarus teamed up with local Philadelphia restaurants, publications throughout the soccer-verse (like us!), and notable kit designers for front-of shirt sponsors, and as we’ve come to expect from the brand, every single design was on point. Selecting just 15 to highlight was no easy task, but one we nonetheless eagerly took on. It was a labor of (brotherly) love.
But first, it’s only right that things start off with the Urban Pitch jersey, which, maybe I’m biased, but is definitely among the top designs out of the bunch. A brooding maroon and black color scheme is accompanied by an offset stripe pattern that is complex without being busy. Bonus points for the striped polo collar and stripes on the sleeve cuffs.
This is now the third Urban Pitch jersey to feature an Icarus logo, and it might be the best one yet. OK, now on to the rest…
Death At the Derby
Destination Inspiration: Jakarta
It feels good to be early on a trend or topic. And I’m not one to brag much, but if you go back into the Urban Pitch archives, we’ve been rocking with the Death at the Derby crew for over a half decade now.
Cousin Feo, Lord Juco, and DJ Dubplates have been doing their thing infusing hip-hop with the beautiful game, two of the world’s most popular pastimes. Their various projects have been among our favorites over the years, and it’s only right that they get a kit to match their musical prowess.
The deep hue of green matches well with the gold accents on the Death at the Derby logo, and the sleeve design is absolutely out of this world.
La Chinesca
Destination Inspiration: Mexicali
Just look at this shirt. The deep chevron and oversized sponsor logo of Philadelphia Mexicali restaurant La Chinesca takes everything we know about kit design and throws it out the window. A striking color pattern and subtle graphic details make this a 10/10 shirt.
Worldie
Destination Inspiration: Palermo
A design befitting of its name, Worldie gets one of my favorite looks at the 2024 Icarus Cup. When done right, pink is an incredibly potent color for kits, and this one definitely hits the mark. While it instantly recalls last year’s pink shirt for Mundial (more on them later), there’s enough of a switch up to make this great on its own.
Shukyu
Destination Inspiration: Kamakura
There’s not too much to this kit design — a simple repeating geometric tile pattern with a striped polo collar — but it hits hard. Vibrant red and brown accents are visually striking, and for Japan-based soccer mag Shukyu, it’s a wonderful design that we’re frankly a little jealous of.
Indivisa
Destination Inspiration: Atacama Desert
Indivisa has some of the best coverage of the women’s game out there, so it’s only right they get a banger of a design from Icarus. A bleach tie-dye pattern with the Indivisa logo bold, front, and center makes for a fantastic look both on and off the pitch.
Nine
Destination Inspiration: Boston
Yet another footy publication, Nine Magazine gets a stunning kit with striking features. Most notably is the color scheme, which is far from a typical combination. The trio of primary colors on the color wheel — red, yellow and blue — mixed with black and white is spellbinding. It’s reminiscent of a Coogi sweater, or the colors of the rays of light emanating from a movie projector. The alternating stripe pattern also works well with the bold Nine logo to make for a tidy kit worthy of Nine’s fantastic work.
ZOA
Destination Inspiration: Alaska
The most striking part of this jersey save for the intergalactic gradient color scheme is that glorious neck cuff. I don’t know what happened, but the majority of contemporary kits have strayed from the thick neck cuffs that were once the norm, and in their place we’ve gotten thin, flimsy, pieces of fabric that more often than not are unflattering.
That’s far from the case here, and the fuchsia (magenta?) stripe running through the middle is exquisitely tasteful. It’s one of the simpler designs in the catalog, but easily one of the best.
Wavy Footy
Destination Inspiration: Sudan
Our friends at Wavy Footy got another banger of a design for the 2024 Icarus Cup. A crisp white collar is complemented by a vibrant pattern and color scheme that resembles a sound wave. Coincidence? Possibly, but I’ll choose to believe it’s not.
Porco’s Porchetteria
Destination Inspiration: Florence
One of several local food spots in Philadelphia that Icarus teamed up with, the kit for Porco’s Porchetteria features a wild pattern and color combination reminiscent of our favorite ‘90s jerseys. It’s like they took the throwback Toronto Raptors uniform and mashed it up with an Arsenal shirt from the JVC era.
We don’t get enough purple kits, and this one is one of the better executions of the color that you’ll ever see.
Saami Somi
Destination Inspiration: Tblisi
Continuing the gastronomical theme, Icarus and Philly-based Georgian restaurant Saami Somi give us one of the best designs in the 2024 Icarus Cup. This is maximalism at its finest, which has become a specialization of Icarus as the years have gone by.
A cream base, series of ribbons, red stars, and vertical stripes sounds like a visual cluster at first, but the design team made it all work quite neatly. The Georgian flag famously has five crosses, and this kit gets five stars.
Glory Mag
Destination Inspiration: Santorini
While maximalism has become Icarus’ thing, they can still do simple better than most. Exhibit A: this Glory kit, which features an aerial view of the iconic Greek domed architecture of Santorini overlaid on a white base. Fantastic stuff.
DARBY
Destination Inspiration: Mulberry
The DARBY kit from last year was also among one of my favorite 2023 Icarus Cup designs, but I daresay that this one outdoes its predecessor.
Checkerboard patterns are nothing new in the world of kits, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like this. The series of squares throughout the shirt evokes images of timeless mid-century design that continues to be the rage today. It’s a rare kit that you can dress up as well — it’s no coincidence Icarus styled its shoot with a suit.
Cuzzy’s Ice Cream
Destination Inspiration: Ibiza
Perhaps the simplest design on this list, this shirt is a benefactor of a fantastic sponsor logo courtesy of Cuzzy’s Ice Cream Parlor in Philadelphia. You could put it over a plain white kit and it would still go hard, but the subtle double helix-like strands going down the shirt add a nice touch.
Down North
Destination Inspiration: West Ham
If you were to distill the opening tracking shot scene of Boogie Nights into a football kit, this is what you’d get. The distinctly ‘70s pattern and Down North’s groovy logo are a match made in heaven, and the color scheme is something you’ll rarely see elsewhere. It’s kits like these that make the Icarus Cup so great.
Mundial
Destination Inspiration: Sarajevo
Another year, another Mundial x Icarus banger. This time having the vibrant pink play a supporting role, it’s a bit more subdued than last year’s design, but it’s still wonderful. It’s a real Godfather–Godfather 2 situation here.
