A new study, conducted by AceOdds, has revealed which era of retro football shirts are the most profitable to own.

Recently, a mystery ex-England footballer put his collection of seven match-worn football shirts up for auction for a staggering £250,000. In 2023, the football sportswear market is worth £68 billion globally, and new Premier League replica shirts cost £80 as standard. But modern shirts often cost a lot less than some classic designs from the past.

In light of this, by analysing over 900 international football shirts for sale on the Classic Football Shirts website, AceOdds has calculated just how much fans could be sat on if they happen to have a retro shirt in their wardrobe. They have analysed shirts from every continent and also looked at how much actual match-worn shirts are priced compared to replica kits.

Revealed: 1970s football shirts sell for £557 on average - 149% MORE than any other decade!

New data from AceOdds highlights the 1970s as the most lucrative decade to own a football shirt. International 1970s shirts currently retail for a staggering £557.49- which is 149% more than any other decade.

The next highest decade was the 1980s when the average price of a retro football shirt is currently £371.93. The trend continues downward through the years to the 2010s, which is the lowest-valued decade with an average price of ​​£94.40.

Current price of retro football shirts

The most expensive international football shirt is from the 1990s

The most expensive shirt analysed came from the 1990s. An Egypt match-worn shirt from the 1990 World Cup is currently listed for £4,999- 250% more than any other international football shirt on the website.

There are only ten shirts currently listed for over £1,000, and the most popular decades for this price are the 1990s and 2000s. Eight out of the ten shirts selling for over £1,000 come from these two decades, with the other two coming from the 1980s.

Match-worn retro shirts are 65% MORE valuable than non-match-worn

Any football fans who have a match-worn football shirt in their wardrobe (a shirt worn by a professional player) are in luck. The average price of a match-worn football shirt is £464, throughout any decade.

This figure rises up to £689.99 for match-worn shirts from the 1970s, which is £180 more than non-match-worn (replica) shirts from that decade.

Match Worn

Replica shirts are still able to fetch good prices, depending on what decade they are from. The average price for a replica shirt is £281, but the lowest valued decade is unsurprisingly the 2010s, which has an average value of only £91.

The highest valued replica kit came from the 1980s, an Ireland kit from Euro 1988 that is currently listed for £1,999.

Non-Match Worn