Lazio Jersey 1996-97
The 1996–97 home shirt retained the same basic design used by Lazio the previous season. The most obvious change was the sponsor: Banca di Roma was replaced by Cirio, reflecting the club's new commercial partnership.
The shirts worn by the players also featured blue velvet-effect lettering for the names and numbers. Interestingly, two different fonts were used for the players' names during the season: one was more pronounced but used thinner characters, while the other was less pronounced with thicker lettering. This means that match-worn shirts from the same season can differ subtly depending on when and in which competition they were used.
There were also differences between match-worn shirts and those sold commercially. From this season onwards, the distinction between the Umbro logo on the retail shirts and the versions actually worn by the players disappeared. Both match and retail versions featured the Umbro and S.S. Lazio badges embroidered directly into the fabric rather than printed.
Perhaps the most historically interesting addition to the 1996–97 shirts was the introduction of the first fabric Lega Calcio patch.
The circular patch featured the league's football-and-tricolour emblem, together with the words “LEGA CALCIO” and “1946–1996”, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the organisation's foundation. Initially, these patches were sewn onto the shirts, either by hand or machine. Only in subsequent years did the system move towards heat-applied patches.
The introduction of patches and increasingly sophisticated player personalisation also changed the work of the club's kit staff. From the mid-1990s, the kit managers increasingly used a press machine to apply names, numbers and patches to the shirts.
Image Sources: Football Kit Archive except fourth player which was reproduced by AI
The 1996–97 season also saw the return of yellow as Lazio's away colour.
Unlike the home shirt, the away kit had a completely different design. It was predominantly yellow, with a large representation of the club crest incorporated into the front of the shirt. A dense repeating graphic motif covered the fabric, giving the shirt a distinctive appearance.
The collar was blue, echoing the home shirt, but featured a much wider opening. The sleeves were decorated with broad blue bands containing white and light-blue stripes, while the lower front of the shirt carried a small, centrally positioned embroidered “S.S. Lazio” inscription.
The player names and numbers on the away shirt also used a different personalisation system from both the home and third shirts.
The third shirt was arguably the most distinctive of the three.
It was blue and became known at the time as the “Nuvola” — “Cloud” — shirt, because of the graphic across the chest, which resembled a bank of clouds.
The design was produced with long sleeves, although that version was not commercially marketed. There was also another difference between the match-worn shirt and the official replica: on the match version, the small “S.S. Lazio” inscription at the bottom of the shirt was yellow and embroidered, while the Umbro logo was also embroidered rather than printed.
The “Nuvola” therefore provides a good example of how the shirt worn by Lazio's players could differ from what supporters were able to buy in the shops.
There was also a lighter blue version, more simple in design.
Image Sources: Football Kit Archive (first). Last two goalkeeper shirts which were reproduced with AI.
The goalkeeper designs were also products of their era.
They still showed the influence of the “Campos effect”, named after Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, who became famous for designing his own brightly coloured, surf-inspired goalkeeper kits. Lazio's goalkeeper shirts retained some of that flamboyant aesthetic, although by 1996–97 they were beginning to move towards a more restrained and sober appearance.
That made the goalkeeper kits an interesting bridge between the spectacular designs of the early 1990s and the increasingly streamlined goalkeeper shirts that would appear towards the end of the decade.
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