The Shirt That Never Was - Beautiful Adidas Flamengo Prototype Kit That Was Never Released

@Mourasportflamengo on instagram has brought an interesting story to our attention.

Unreleased 1992 Flamengo Prototype

Sometimes a great shirt can slip through the cracks, and this is one of those cases. The shirt seen above was produced for Flamengo by Adidas for the 1992 season, but was never actually used or released. Adidas had been Flamengo’s kit suppliers for years, and in preparing for the upcoming season, they created this beautiful prototype from a template that had been used most notably for Germany’s 1992 kits.

Germany's 1992 kits which used the same template

The jersey is white with an Adidas Equipment v neck collar (which made a comeback in recent seasons), black and red diagonal stripes across the shoulders from front to back, and of course the Adidas trefoil logo. Flamengo's larger than life badge completes the look, with long term sponsor Lubrax plastered across the chest.

However, Flamengo signed a deal with Umbro which started in 1992, so this third kit never saw the light of day. Flamengo’s colours really lend themselves well to an already great design, so it's a real shame that this shirt never got released. Anyone who managed to get their hands on one of the prototypes should consider themselves very lucky.

Can you think of any other great shirt designs that almost were? Have you got any prototypes like this in your collection? Let us know in the comments.