[Recent Acquisition] The 2012 Malaysia National Football Team Home Jersey by Nike

After much rumors and speculations, the latest Harimau Malaya’s home kit has finally been launched by Nike earlier this week. To debut at the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 in less than 2 weeks’ time, the home jersey will be the first one to be made available at major Nike stores and retailers across the country starting from tomorrow onwards.

Your truly in the new Harimau Malaya's home kit!

I was fortunate enough to be able to check out the launch event myself few days ago and also managed to obtain the jersey way before it hit retail store tomorrow. Now, let’s get through the changes that our new home jersey has to offer for fans of Harimau Malaya out there.

Nike's Harimau Malaya home kit: 2010 and 2012 side-by-side.

First, the pattern of Harimau Malaya’s signature black and yellow stripes has changed once again. While the previous jersey’s design was rather unique (I don’t know about you but it is to me, at least), the 2012 edition has a simpler design which resembles pre-2010 home jersey but with wider stripes. The new home jersey also featured a rounded collar as opposed to 2010’s V-neck collar.

The kit's collar area.

In addition to that, the Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku motif that first appeared in 2010 home jersey made another appearance in this year’s jersey as well. However, it is now located underneath the neck area instead of behind Jalur Gemilang as 2010’s jerseys.

Our Jalur Gemilang on the new jersey.

Tech-wise, the 2012 Harimau Malaya home jersey is created using the current generation of Dri-Fit fabric as per many other national and club jerseys that Nike crafted for teams throughout the world. Each kit is said to be made out of recycled polyester that comes from 13 recycled plastic bottles in average per kit and the fabric is 23-percent lighter as well as has 20-percent stronger knit structure as opposed to previous kit.

I was told that the jersey will come in this box.

How about the price? This year’s Harimau Malaya’s home jersey by Nike will be priced at RM 229 once it hit retails tomorrow - a slight increase from the previous jersey which was priced at RM 199. I don’t have much to say about the pricing; just that I wished it actually stays the same. Oh well...

So, what do you think of Harimau Malaya’s new skin? For a better look at it, do visit a Nike Store or authorized retailers near you and check out the new jersey in flesh together with other products under Nike’s new Harimau Malaya collection such as this Dri-Fit t-shirt and the new N98 Track Jacket. Hope to see you in the new Harimau Malaya kit at the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup to support our homeboys! :D