Football Team Kits from EURO 2024 as CS2 Skins: Part 1
In the midst of the European Football Championship and during a long break in competitive Counter-Strike, we decided to get a little creative. The national teams of 24 countries have arrived at the main event of 2024 in new kits, which inspired us to write this article. Today, we draw parallels between the design of national football team kits and CS2 skins.
England
- Desert Eagle | Night Heist — $14.23 – $17.78
- UMP-45 | Arctic Wolf — $0.28 – $1.40
Let’s start with one of the favorites of the European Championship and the pioneers of football – the England team. Like all other teams, England presented two kits, and this time they decided to experiment with the away kit. Unexpectedly for everyone, it was made in purple with a golden emblem and other elements. This design reminded us of the relatively recent Desert Eagle skin from the Havoc collection. Its blue-purple chromed body is adorned with a contrasting pattern resembling a heist scheme. As for the home kit, it came out traditionally in white with dark blue inserts. We thought the UMP-45 | Arctic Wolf had a similar color scheme with a predominant white hue and blue outline.
Georgia
- MP9 | Airlock — $1.43 – $12.38
- Galil AR | Chromatic Aberration — $1.32 – $9.32
Next, we get to know the tournament debutant – Georgia. This team made it to the European Championship for the first time in its history, creating a real sensation in the qualifying tournament. It’s worth noting that in football, there is no “partner” system, and participants get to tournaments purely on sporting merit, without any invitations. This is what VALVE is currently trying to achieve, and we’ll see how it works out next season.
Georgia’s kit came out quite classic. The red and white home kit refers to the colors of the Georgian flag, and we decided to choose the MP9 | Airlock with a similar combination of white and red. The away kit is made in black with a red-pink collar and emblem. Here we decided to diversify the look slightly and compare the away kit with Chromatic Aberration, featuring many beautiful transitions from red to purple on a sleek black body.
Netherlands
- AWP | BOOM — $94.44 – $400
- P90 | Chopper — $0.53 – $1.98
The Netherlands team decided to stick to tradition and came to EURO in recognizable colors. They are called the “Oranje” for a reason, and it’s hard to imagine the Dutch team without the vibrant orange color. There aren’t many orange skins in CS2, but they do exist in the game. We chose the most recognizable one, much like the shirts of Johan Cruyff’s successors – AWP | BOOM. This skin was added to the game in 2013, so every generation of players knows it. In the away kit, we immediately saw the P90 | Chopper skin due to its orange flames and dark purple as the main color. It seems like a pretty close match. We think the legendary Dutch player Chris “chrisJ” de Jong, with his football surname, is watching the EURO with these skins in his inventory.
Croatia
- Dual Berettas | Twin Turbo — $0.84 – $5.38
- USP-S | Blueprint — $3.17 – $33.18
The finalists of the 2018 World Cup in Russia – Croatia, arrived at the next tournament as a dark horse. Their home kit underwent a slight change, moving from small checks to large squares. It was difficult to find something similar, but looking at the green goalkeeper kit, we quickly managed to tackle this tough task. Comparing two images, the puzzle fit together, and the choice seems quite justified. Speaking of the second kit, it was much simpler, and the large checks in different shades of blue quickly found their counterpart in USP-S | Blueprint.
Belgium
- P250 | Vino Primo — $0.62 – $6.95
- SSG 08 | Blood in the Water — $46.17 – $75.18
The Belgians introduced two new kits in rather rare colors for Counter-Strike skins. The home kit is burgundy, but there were no items in the game with exactly that shade. We noticed the darker collar and decided that it closely resembled the P250 | Vino Primo from the Inferno collection. The Belgian jerseys indeed remind us of young wine, but we gave them a bit of vintage and status. The away kit turned out to be quite experimental, with a bright blue top and dark brown bottom. All this blends very well together, so when choosing the item, we decided to keep the well-implemented contrast rather than focusing only on the shirt. In our opinion, we managed to implement this with SSG 08 | Blood in the Water, where a blue shark pursues its prey along a dark, bloody trail.
Italy
- M4A1-S | Blue Phosphor — $769.69 – $920.76
- P2000 | Dispatch — $30.42 – $32.11
The four-time world champions are the reigning champions of this competition, but most still remember their legendary 2006 final against France. Although there is no blue in the Italian flag, the blue color has always been present on the jerseys of the Italian national team. This year, the blue shade turned out to be quite rich and deep, but certainly not as spectacular as the expensive M4A1-S | Blue Phosphor. Nevertheless, there is indeed a resemblance, and we decided to stop and are satisfied with the result. The away kit also came out almost unchanged, but finding a pair in this case was the most challenging. Despite the difficulties, it seems we managed, and a rare guest in player inventories reminded us of itself in our experiment.
Germany
- M4A4 | Asiimov — $69.66 – $173.61
- MAC-10 | Disco Tech — $1.46 – $13.64
Again, a white kit, which in this challenge causes the most headaches. But here, we didn’t have to suffer for long, and we immediately saw the legendary Asiimov collection in the home kit. Looking at all the representatives of the collection, it turned out that there is the most white in M4A4, and its black and orange elements perfectly harmonize with the colors of the German flag on the shoulders of the jersey. Everything matched perfectly, and even the design of the away kit found its “brother” on the Steam marketplace. The ideal pink-purple gradient, both on the fabric and on the weapon, made MAC-10 | Disco Tech easily fit onto the German national team shirt.
Portugal
- P250 | Muertos — $4.85 – $9.22
- SG 553 | Waves Perforated — $0.03 – $0.08
The 2016 champions, led by one of the best players in the history of world football, arrived at the European Championship with an original away kit. Despite the intricate pattern and lack of a single color, we managed to find a perfectly matching skin. Probably every CS player has caught this item in a weekly drop and repeatedly sold it on the marketplace or used it in trade-up contracts. For the home kit, we decided to go with P250 | Muertos and have no doubt in our choice.