Rating this year’s Christmas sweaters from top soccer teams

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and football clubs have once again piled the shelves of their online stores with a wide selection of festive knitwear.

In the past, many clubs had taken a cheap and cheerful approach to their seasonal apparel, but the bar has been raised for Christmas 2023 with some legitimately stylish efforts available.

In some designs, clubs pay tributes to their stadiums, statues and home cities, while others are based on classic kits. Inevitably there are some that fall firmly into the category of ugly sweaters, with varying results.

After delving into the vast smorgasbord of Christmas sweaters released by some of the biggest clubs in the game this year, we have selected the standouts and given each a rating out of 10 to separate the ones with the most seasonal style from those that should be sent back to the North Pole.

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AC Milan

Hailing from the fashion capital of the world, Milan are treading a fine line between stylish and kitsch, but the result — a pattern featuring tinsel and tin soldiers from Tchaikovsky’s classic Christmas ballet “The Nutcracker” — is rather refined compared to some of the more garish designs on here.

Rating: 7/10

Rating: 8/10

FIFA

As the most un-Christmassy entity on the face of the planet, it’s unclear as to why FIFA felt the need to produce their own official Christmas jumper or exactly who they think will buy it. The design is smart enough — to the point that you could probably, at a push, wear it outside of the house (though trying to ensure no one clocks the large FIFA logo on the sleeve). The only downside is that you won’t be able to look any of your nearest and dearest in the eye while wearing it.

Rating: 8/10