The brand worn by Roberto Baggio and the priests

Probably few know that, in the depths of the vast panorama of Italian sportswear, there existed a brand called ABM, which dressed both the Italian Selezione Sacerdoti and Roberto Baggio. It takes a significant mnemonic effort to remember the undulating logo of the brand born in Fontevivo - a small province near Parma - in 1981. One can start with the fact that ABM-branded shirts were worn by multiple Serie A clubs between the 1980s and 1990s, such as Palermo, Fiorentina, and Torino, for which the brand always stood out for its simplicity and elegance. For this reason, jerseys characterized by large vintage-inspired patterns and textures have become elusive relics in the mentioned cities, although unfortunately, the good craftsmanship of ABM products was not enough to allow the brand to survive in top-tier football, eventually fading away.

ABM History

Tracing the rise and fall of ABM is not simple. The information available online is very scarce, but putting together in chronological order the moves of the mysterious company in Italian and European football and evaluating its aesthetic approach represents a small but significant step. ABM made its debut in Italian football by producing the home jersey for Udinese and the away version for Venice during the 1986/1987 season. It was a timid debut for the brand, which initially failed to stand out with any particular detail. Even during the following season, ABM did not excel from this point of view: the home jersey for Udinese and the away jersey for Barletta still had a rather anonymous design.

The turning point came in the 1988/1989 season when the Italian company became known for collars and sleeve edges (like those of Palermo's home jersey), adorned with patterns that, for the time, were entirely innovative. Among the most iconic jerseys produced by ABM, special mention deserves to be made of the away version of the 1991/1992 season for Torino, characterized by a diamond pattern in shades of garnet on both the right and left side of the chest. ABM also managed to consolidate its reputation beyond national borders by sponsoring two Canadian clubs: North York Rockets and Toronto Blizzard, as well as the Brazilian club Sport Recife. Among the most iconic jerseys, however, is the one made for the Ivory Coast National Team in 1992, on which ABM operated with its distinctive motif, namely the diamond pattern that appeared a few years earlier on the garnet jersey.

Other curiosities about the brand

Despite the uniqueness of the patterns on the aforementioned jerseys, most nostalgics remember the sponsor primarily on Fiorentina shirts (from 1988 to 1991). As often happens, some jerseys remain imprinted in collective memory because they were worn by top-level sports icons. For example, in those years, among the ranks of Fiorentina, Roberto Baggio stood out: the rosters of the clubs that made up ABM's roster did not boast names of that caliber. The Italian company, bankrupt in 1997, was not only known in football but also in hockey, sponsoring the Innsbruck team, IBK Eken. Following the bankruptcy, the brand continued to exist under the name ABM Diffusion, making its last appearances in football on the shirts of the French Guiana National Team and sponsoring the Italian Selezione Sacerdoti founded by Don Antonio Mazzi, as well as on that of Pyramids F.C., a club in the Egyptian Premier League.