Sporting Clube de Portugal 2001/02 Home Shirt

If the 1999/00 shirt ended the drought, this one proved it had been no accident. In 2001/02, with László Bölöni on the bench and Mário Jardel in a state of grace that brought him 42 league goals and a second European Golden Boot, Sporting were crowned champions and added the Taça de Portugal, beating Leixões in the Jamor final to complete the double. Reebok designed a shirt with white panels running from shoulders to underarms cutting across the hoops, black piping and the PT square on the chest, with the tonal "Sporting" script and brand vector woven through the fabric. It was also the season of the crest transition: the new badge began appearing on shirts but coexisted with the old one, and this version still carries the classic shield with the SCP initials, the last to comply with the club's statutes for a decade. Nobody imagined then that this would be the last championship shirt for 19 years: the next title only arrived in 2020/21. A shirt of glory with an expiry date nobody read.

Here at Hoopster this shirt dressed 42 Jardel goals and a full double, then carried nineteen years of longing as the last champion. No lion's piece was so often reread while waiting for a successor.