The FA Cup 3rd Round, one of the highlights of the Football Season for many of us, the round that sees teams from the Premier League and Championship join the competition, often with several “Non-League” teams still involved, the dreams and hope of a New Year replicated into Footballing dreams both big and small!
In it’s 143rd season, the oldest competition in Football initially had 732 teams enter with qualifying rounds starting back in the summer of 2023, with 32 teams from these fixtures reaching the first round, where the EFL Teams first join the Competition.
A recap of the previous rounds…
1st Round
1st Round Replays
2nd Round
2nd Round Replays
The 3rd Round of The FA Cup took place over 5 days of the first weekend of 2024, between Thursday 4th January and Monday 8th January, the fixture between Crystal Palace and Everton the first to be played on Thursday of this weekend!
3rd Round Kit Log
64 Teams kicked off the 3rd Round in 32 Fixtures.
3rd Round Replays
There were 14 different Kit Manufacturers seen in this round of the FA Cup, with Macron having the most teams with 11 and Umbro with 10, the only two with double figures… four Kit Makers, Kappa, Kelme, New Balance (all Championship Clubs) and VX3 (Newport County) with just one club.
Kit Highlights
Crystal Palace kicked off the 3rd Round of the FA Cup on Thursday by wearing a special charity / 4th shirt, containing a sash something that The Eagles are well known for doning on their kits over the years. This shirt was paired with Home shorts and socks and with Everton in their 3rd Kit, it made for one of my favourite Kit Match Ups of the season so far.
For the 3rd Season in a row Arsenal used an all white kit, labelled as “No More Red”, highlighting teenage knife attacks in London. The shirts will not be for release and will sold for charities supporting the local communities. This season is different as the previous incarnations were used away from The Emirates Stadium, at Nottingham Forest in 2022 and Oxford United in 2023, so this is a rare ccurrence of Arsenal not in red at Home, Liverpool joind the No More Red theme by wearing their 3rd Kit for a unique look for one of the historic fixtures in English Football!
Maidstone United the lowest team left in the competition, continued to the 4th Round with their victory against League One Stevenage, The National League South (6th Tier) Kent Team have a kit which is based in design on the final Maidstone United kit from 1992 before the club folded and withdraw from The Football League.
An interesting Kit Match up with the Tyne / Wear Derby, in recent years when the clubs have played each other change kits have been worn to avoid a clash, this was not the case in this FA Cup game, with Newcastle United wearing alternative white shorts and socks with their Home Shirt to give a more traditional look to this fixture, something that raised mixed views across Social Media with both those glad to see this and those that called it out as a kit clash!
Blackpool are the only team that have worn three different kit looks in the opening three rounds of the Competition, having worn all Tangerine Home Kit in their opening round against Bromley, then their default home with against Forest Green Rovers and their Away Kit against Nottingham Forest.
Manchester City had one difference in their kit from any of the other competing clubs… as they continue to not use the offical FA Cup sleeve patches, due to the current sponsors of the competition, they do not use the patches as it is direct competition to their own principle sponsor. It is likely, as in previous seasons that will be fined for this action but that does not stop them! It also means the holders patch (which is silver not red) will not be seen this season.
Being a Cup competition meant that lots of clubs, introduced their own “Cup” Namesets instead of the standard league names and numbers that normally used, some stand out ones that we wanted to call out are the following…
Any of your FA Cup hightlights that I have missed or stand out, let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Something new for 2024 is my Facebook Page, which you can find here so please give have a look and give me a follow / like.
On Wednesday 13th December, the Group Stages of the Champions League wrapped up for the final time, with 32 teams becoming 16 for the Knock Out Stages starting in February.
The format of the competition is changing from next season will see the removal of the group stages as we know them.
In true Kit Geek style I wanted to take a look at the kits worn by the 32 teams competing in these group stages.
Overall Kit Stats:
90 Kits worn in Group Stages – 96 games
38 Home Kits (27 first choice / 11 variations)
22 Away Kits (19 first choice / 3 variations)
21 3rd Kits (18 first choice / 3 variations)
9 “Cup” / 4th Kits (7 first choce / 2 variations)
Group A
11 Kits worn in the Group
Manchester United the only team to use Home, Away and 3rd Kits, with 2 Home variations used 4 variations in total (joint highest in Group Stages)
Bayern Munich and FC Copenhagen in just Home and Away Kits
Galatasaray in two variations of Home Kit (one with Alternative Shorts)
Most worn Kits in the Group Galatasaray Home and Bayern Munich Away – 4
Group B
11 Kits worn in the Group
No team wore Home, Away and 3rd kits, just two kits with some variations!
All teams wore alternative white socks when playing at Sevilla, all the only alternative worn by that team
All teams wore change kits in away games
Most worn Kit was all Home Kits (Cup Kit for RC Lens) and Sevilla 3rd Kit – 3
Group C
10 Kits worn in the Group
No Team wore Home, Away and 3rd Kits
Two Home Kit Variations worn, Napoli and SC Braga with Alternative Shorts
Real Madrid in 3rd Kit in all Away games
Most worn Kit, All Home Kits and Real Madrid Away, Union Berlin Cup Kit
Group D
12 Kits worn in the group
Inter Milan and Real Sociedad in Home, Away, 3rd Kits
RB Salzburg in Home Kit for just one game, wearing Cup Kit 5 times in 2 variations
Real Sociedad only team to play in change kits in all away games
Most worn kit in the group, Inter Milan Home – 4
Group E
12 Kits worn in the group
Celtic and Atletico Madrid only teams to wear 3 different kits, Celtic (H, A, 3rd) and Atletico (H, 3rd, Special)
Atletico Madrid in Special Kit against Celtic
Celtic wore plain teamwear socks with Home Kit (x3) and Away Kit (x1) meaning 4 different kit variations used (joint highest in Group Stages)
Most worn kit in the group, Lazio Home – 5
Group F
11 Kits worn in the Group
PSG and AC Milan used Home, Away and 3rd Kits
Borussia Dortmund in just Cup Kit in all group games, using alternative yellow shorts in all away games
Newcastle United in alternative white shorts in 3 games, including one home game and only used change kit once
Most worn kits in group, PSG Home, Borussia Dortmund Cup kit (both variations), AC Milan Home, Newcastle United Home with white shorts – 3
Group G
9 kits worn in the group (lowest in Group Stages)
BSC Young Boys in Home Kit in all games, only team to do so in Group Stages
RB Leipzig only team to wear Home, Away and 3rd Kits
Red Stat Belgrade in 2 variations of Home Kit, Red shorts and socks (4), White shorts and socks (1)
Most worn kit in Group, BSC Young Boys Home – 6
Group H
14 Kits worn in the group (Highest in Group Stages)
FC Barcelona only team in Group Stages to wear Home, Away, 3rd and 4th Kits, a different change kit in every away game
Shakhtar Donetsk in Home, Away and 3rd Kits
FC Porto in 4 different kit variations (joint highest in Group Stages)
Most worn kit in the Group, Shakhtar Donesk Home Kit – 4
Matchday Breakdowns:
Match Day 1
Match Day 2
Match Day 3
Match Day 4
Match Day 5
Match Day 6
Kit Highlights:
Looking at some of my favourite Kit highlights of the Group Stages.
In Group B, Sevilla’s default look with black socks with their white home kit meant that each of the teams visiting The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium wore alternative white socks with their change kit!
When Atletico Madrid visited Celtic, they wore a Special All Red Shirt with Home Shorts and Socks. It is the same as the special kit from the 2021-22 season, with a different sponsor and without the 75th-anniversary logo. The red also means Atletico pay homage to the red kit worn in the famous battle away against Celtic 50 years ago.
When Manchester United visited Galatasaray, they wore their 3rd kit with alternative red shorts… this gave us a unique look of White / Red / White for The Red Devils, Red shorts not being used since 1956/57 season when an all red look was used by Sir Matt Busby – Details about this can be found on Museum of Jerserys here
FC Barcelona used four distinct kits within the Group Stages, using a different change kit in each of their away games, this included their 4th Kit (Senyera Kit) which has been used by the club since 2022/23 Season.
The only team in the Group Stages to wear just one kit (with one variation) was BSC Young Boys, their home kit being worn in all six group games.
There we have it, my round up of this season’s and the final ever (?) Champions League Group Stages, let me know you favourite kits, kit highlights and kit match ups in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek
The 2023 Rugby World Cup held in France ended with South Africa taking a record 4th Title with an 12-11 Victory against New Zealand.
The tournament was held between 8th September and 28th October 2023, with 20 teams playing in total of 48 games during 7 week Tournament.
I shared some regular updates on the Kits used during the competition, but wanted to consildate this in one place for your perusal.
Overall Kit Stats:
20 Teams
37 Kits worn in the Tournament
2 Teams in 3 Kits
13 Teams in 2 Kits
5 Teams in just the 1 Kit
Pool Stage, there were four Pools containg Five Nations, with the Top Two Nations moving to the Knock-Out Stages.
Pool Fixtures Overview
Knock-Out Rounds
Knock-Out Rounds, this consisted of Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, 3rd / 4th Place Playoff and of course the final, so a total of eight fixtures in the final stages of the Tournament.
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals / 3rd & 4th Place / Final
Looking at the Nations in more detail, I will look at each Pool and the Kits worn by the Nations here!
Pool A
Pool A provided four Nations with Blue as their Primary Colour and New Zealand in their traditional “All Black” look, so there was plenty of Alternative Kits on show from this group, with a total of 9 Kits seen in the Pool Stage here.
Uruguay and Italy both used their Alternative Kit in 3 of their 4 Pool Matches, with Namibia using their two kits twice each and Tournament Hosts France only using their Alternative Kit once, in the opening game of the Competition against New Zealand.
New Zealand who reached the final ended playing all seven of their games in their Primary All Black Kit
Pool B
Pool B provided the most Kits used in the Pool Stage, with a total of 10 Kits used by the Nations here.
South Africa were one of two teams to use three kits through the tournament, and the only Nation to use three different shirts, with their Alternative Shirt deemed to contain too much green when they played Ireland, this also meant they wore three different kits in their opening three games.
Ireland, Romania and Tonga all wore two kits in total, with their Primary used three times and their alternative kit worn just the once.
Scotland the other team in the group only appeared in their Primary kit, unusual as even in the 6 Nations Tournament they are one of three teams who play in Blue but with Pool A taking a large portion of the teams in Blue meant it was only the Primary Kit this time around for the Scots.
Pool C
Pool C was another Pool with 9 Kits used, however only 8 were used in the Pool Stage with Fiji being the only Nation to use a kit in the Knock-out Stages that was not previously used in the Pool Stage, with their Alternative Kit used in the Quarter-Final game against England.
Along with Fiji, Georgia, Portugal and Wales all used two kits, with Georgia and Portugal going with Primary and Alternative kits in two games each and Wales just the once in their game againt Portugal.
Australia were one of the five Nations to use just their Primary Kit after failing to progress from the Pool Stage.
Pool D
The final Pool, Pool D was one of the most interesting in terms of kits used.
In total their were 9 Kits used by the Nations here, however it was the only Pool that had two Nations that used just the one Kit, with Chile and Japan playing their four Pool games in their Primary Kits.
Argentina and Samoa would use both Primary and Alternative Kits in their Pool matches, with Argentina also using their alternative kit in a later game (we will come on to that below).
England however were the second team in the Tournament to use three different Kit Looks, this one being a little more subtle than the South Africans, as the Alternative red socks were used with the Primary shirts / shorts to create the only Kit Mash up of the competition, this look was used twice, once in the Pool game against Samoa and then in their second meeting against Argentina in the 3rd / 4th Placed Play-Off.
Kit Highlights
As mentioned there were two teams that used three different kits in the tournament:
South Africa Kits – Primary worn 5 times, Alternative worn 1 time and White Alternative shirt worn 1
England Kits – Primary Kit worn 3 times, Alternative Kit worn 2 times and Primary / Alternative socks worn 2 times
Argentina v England – The two nations met twice in the Tournament, in their opening game in Pool D and then in the 3rd / 4th Place Playoff game, so their final game of the tournament, each game game was played in different kits….
There we have it, the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Kits and congratulations to South Africa on their Record Victory.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek
The 13th Cricket World Cup will be “kicking off” on Thursday 5th October, being held in India who are hosting the tournament on their own for the first time, previously “Co-Hosting” in 1987, 1996 and 2011.
England will be kicking off the competition at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad where they will play New Zealand, who they beat by the “barest of margins” in the 2019 Final.
I want to take some time to look at the “ODI” (One Day International) colours worn by England through-out the tournament’s history, from 1992 up to the current 2023 competition and will rate each kit out of 5 Stars!
1975 to 1987
First, a quick overview of the those earlier tournaments, there were four competitions here with England hosting the first three (1975, 1979, 1983) and India / Pakistan hosting in 1987, These tournaments were all completed with Countries wearing the traditional whites, with the England Team barely changing their look over these 12 years!
1992: Australia / New Zealand
Welcome to modern cricket, coloured clothing, the return of South Africa, new ways to calculate rain effected matches… the Cricket World Cup was about to change!
The Biggest Change was the introduction of coloured kit for each country, there was a nice uniformity to the kit with all countries having the “rainbow” element across the shoulders of the shirt and names were introduced to the back of players shirts. The shirts were produced by Australia Manufacture Hogger Sports.
Each Country was a different colour and England were in Sky Blue, a colour used before the country in their tours of Australia and the ODI Competitions on those tours of the late 80s and early 90s.
England CWC Performance:
Runners Up
2nd in League Phase (9 Countries)
Total Games – 10 (6 Wins, 3 Lost, 1 No Result)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
1996: Pakistan / India / Sri Lanka
The second Cricket World Cup that saw a uniformity in the kit design of coloured clothing, with all Twelve (increased from 1992) Countries in the same “Template” with each country in it’s own colour. Again a “Rainbow” element was part of this design, this kits were produced by Rolex Hosiery a Delhi based clothing company and Wills was a brand of cigarettes made by the India Tobacco Company who sponsored the 96 World Cup – thank you to Andy Rockall (@Statto_74) for this information.
England had a darker shade of Blue for this tournament not quite a Royal Blue but certainly darker than England had been seen in before with coloured cricket clothing becoming more and more common place in the International matches, again there were player names on the shirts.
England CWC Performance:
Quarter-Finals
4th in Group B
Total Games – 6 (2 Wins, 4 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
1999: England / Wales / Scotland / Ireland / Netherlands
The Cricket World Cup returned to England but this time with 5 Countries in Total hosting games across Europe. The 1999 Tournament was the final time that there was just one company making all the kits for the 12 countries participating in this competition, with Asics. The Japanese sports manufacturer produced bespoke kits for all Nations, each using elements of their National Crests into the shirt desgin.
Another first in Cricket World Cup History was Squad Numbers, which paired with player names on the shirts were used in this tournament, the numbers used were just 1-15 (as we see in Internation Football tournaments), rather than the free for all with numbers we see now.
England’s blue kit was another shade of blue, not as dark as the previous World Cup but it was the first time red was included in the kit as additional detail, something that would be part of the England kits for the next 12 years in World Cups.
England CWC Performance:
Group Stage
4th in Group A
Total Games – 5 (3 Wins, 2 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐
2003: South Africa / Zimbabwe / Kenya
2003 Tournament was the first to be held in Africa and became the first tournament when countries could use their own Kit Suppliers in the competition, as well as players using their own numbers from ODI Cricket, so numbers 1-99 could be used by players.
Another first was that the Country names appeared on the front of the shirts, something seen in tournaments to this day and probably linked to the introduction of sponsors being front and centre of cricket playing shirts (as we see in football), having the country name across the chest and sponsor moving to the sleeve, reduced the visibility of sponsors to International Shirts.
England had moved on from Asics and were supplied by Admiral, the first time Admiral had supplied kits for England in a World Cup since the football team in 1982! A return to darker blue, probably the darkerst blue used up to that point by the team.
England CWC Performance:
Group Stage
4th in Pool A
Total Games – 6 (3 Wins, 3 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐
2007: West Indies
The Cricket World Cup Circus moved to The Caribbean for the first time and it was the second tournament where the England ODI kit was supplied by Admiral, meaning the classic football kit manufacturer made more appreances in the Cricket World Cup than the Football World Cup for the English National Team.
The red of this kit was a more prominent feature of this kit’s aesthic increasing more the previous two incarnations, this kit was paired with asymmetric red sleeves and trousers.
For me the most dull ODI Kit seen in World Cups for England and what would be the end of the England x Admiral Relationship.
England CWC Performance:
Super 8 Stage
2nd in Group C
5th in Super 8 Group
Total Games – 9 (5 Wins, 4 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐
2011: Bangladesh / India / Sri Lanka
In the years between 2007 and 2011 World Cups the England team moved kit manufacturers and were now with Adidas, not necessarily known for the work in the cricketing world but produced some wonderful kits for the team, including a shift to a very dark shade of blue, a colour which was worn in the team’s first victory in an ICC International Tournament winning the T20 World Cup in 2010.
For this World Cup which returned to the Asian Continent, the dark blue was paired with Red Sleeves providing a new look in design for the English Team and one of the best seen in The Cricket World Cup.
England CWC Performance:
Quarter-Finals
3rd in Group B
Total Games – 7 (3 Wins, 3 Lost, 1 Tie)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2015: Australia / New Zealand
The pattern of going darker and darker with the shades of blue used by the English Team was broken in the 2015 Tournament in Australia and New Zealand, with a return to Royal Blue shirts, not seen since 1999. Again partnered with Adidas, the shirt also included a pattern of one the “Three Lions” of the National Crest, similar to what we have seen with 1992 England Football 3rd Shirt.
However, there was a change to overall look with the shirt paired with navy trousers and caps, to provide an overall two-tone blue ODI Kit, something not seen before in World Cups for team, another win for me of the England x Adidas years, in their final collaboration for World Cup ODI Kits.
England CWC Performance:
Group Stage
5th in Pool A
Total Games – 6 (2 Wins, 4 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐
2019: England / Wales
A return to Sky Blue for England, who hosted the tournament for the 5th Time and manufacturers New Balance pulled off a wonderful homage to the kit worn in 1992 with a shoulder design reminciant to that kit but using various shades of blue with red trim to deliver one of the most iconic England kits in any sport (yes the result also might have something to do with that!!)
The Sky Blue look was only ever used for the World Cup, the shirt was paired with Navy Trousers after this tournament.
A first of this tournement was the introduction of “Alternative” Shirts / Kits for colour clashes, something not normally asscioated (or needed) with cricket, it did provide a new talking point for Kit Lovers like ourselves! India, one of the teams that changed when they played England.
England CWC Performance:
WINNERS
3rd in League Phase (10 Countries)
Total Games – 11 (8 Wins, 3 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2023: India
For this World Cup the English Team will be doned in a Castore Kit, the 5th Kit Manufacturer since 1999 and their 3rd different one in the last 3 World Cups. It is a return to Royal Blue and back to some red detailing within the shirt and to give us an overall look that was reminiscent to what was seen in 2015.
It will be interesting to see if we see “Away” kits used in this tournament, and if England do use one would they use the current Red T20 Shirt which is paired with Navy Trousers as well.
As no performance stats can be shared yet, I will just provide my rating of the Kit.
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐
Cricket World Cup Kit Firsts…
1992 – Coloured Clothing and Player Names
1999 – Squad Numbers, 1 to 15
2003 – Countries own Kit Manufacturers
2003 – Player numbers could be anything between 1-99
2003 – Country Names on Front of shirts
2019 – Away Kits for Colour Clashes
2023 – ???
So there we have it, my deep dive into England Cricket ODI Kits of the World Cups, did my ratings line up with your views of these looks, let me know your thoughts and comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Hummel is a sports brand that has had a resurgence in the footballing world over the past few years and the manufacturer is celebrating their 100 year anniversary by producing one their and football’s most iconic kit designs.
The “Mexico” template, most famously worn by the Denmark National Team in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico was also worn by several teams in the late 80s includng English clubs Southampton, Coventry City, Aston Villa and Pisa in Italy.
Several teams across Europe currently supplied by Hummel are being given their own version of the kit this season to celebrate the 100 year anniversary, so I wanted to collect them all in one place… well just because I thought it is only right to have that one place to visit them all in one go!
Denmark
I will start with the spiritual home of the kit design, the Danish National Team who first saw a return to this template with “Red Out” version most famously worn in their Euro 2020 Semi-Final Against England in 2021.
The team have had several Hummel Templates of the 80s and 90s revisited over the past three years, so it was no surprise when there was a return their iconic away kit from 1986 earlier this year and kicked off the 100 Year Celebrations.
Brondby IF
One of the most well known clubs in Denmark, supplied by Hummel, it was always going to be on the cards that Brondby were one of the clubs to showcase the 100 Year Celebration Kits. The design is more a sublte one with slighlty different shades of yellow to give us that iconic striped look.
Coventry City
Coventry City have one of the key clubs in the return of Hummel to the football kit mainstream world, and had versions of this template in 2019/20 seasons with home and away kits using a modern twist to this look.
However this season it will be their 3rd Kit that is part of the celebrations, with this Green and Black version of the kit… at the moment the latest of the kits to be released.
Everton
Everton have been in a partnership with Hummel since 2020 and this is the first time we have seen Grey used as a change colour for The Toffees in this time, a colour that has been used several times over the years since 1980s. This 3rd kit uses a two-tone grey in its design to give a nice look for the template!
FC Koln
The first of German teams to have the kit, FC Koln are using this red version as their away kit this season. It is very similar in design to the “Red Out” kit used by the Denmark team but this one with a round collar, the only playing version of the shirt to do so with more white detailing in collar and chevrons.
Southampton
Probably the most classic in design of all the 100 Year Kits, this kit, like the Denmark Away shirt is a remake of the same kit worn by the club between 1987 and 1989, the remake also goes for the shorts and sock here as well, this is also one of three home kits to use this design.
Malaga
The Spanish Second Division team probably have the boldest designs in terms of colour with their Away and 3rd Kits this season.
Away, combines Purple and Green for what would be an outstanding choice in colour design if it was not for their 3rd Kit…!
3rd Kit uses Neon Green and Neon Yellow, combined with Neon Pink details with Club Crest, Hummel Logo / Chevrons and Sponsor, absolutely my favourite of the 100 Year Celebration Kits!
Real Betis
Real Betis and Hummel is another relationship that goes back to the 80s and 90s, so no surprise when they had their own version of the template for this season. Much more subtle in design than Spanish compatriots Malaga, this all black version is a classic looking kit and with its Green detailing is wonderful looking kit.
St Etienne
Another low key version for French Ligue 2 side St.Etienne, with a predominantly white shirt with a very pale green strip used within the shirt for their away kit, green being the club colours being used here gives a great alternative kit for the team to use on the road.
Werder Bremen
In their first season with Hummel, Werder Bremen will have this home kit. The green and white look for this kit is a look also harks back to the 80s, with rumours of a similar Green Verison of this kit created for Denmark to be used as a 3rd Kit back in 1986. The look perfectly ties in with club colours of the Bundersliga team and finally gives kit lovers the opportunity to see this kit in action.
Wycombe Wanderers
One of four English clubs to have their kits supplied by Hummel, each of them having their own version of this kit. Wycombe Wanderers, also in their first season with Hummel have the “Red Out” look as their away kit, this one does have a similar collar to the Danish version of the kit used in 2021 and Red Chevrons are included!
Equality Shirt
Released on 26th September the Hummel Equality Jersey was created as a limited edition shirt to celebrate equality and inclusion in the world of sports and will be worn by several of the teams mentioned above.
It is yet to be seen how this will be worn but based on last season’s Equality Shirt it is likely to be a “Pre-Match” shirt.
There we have it, 12 shirts from 9 Clubs, 1 Nation and a Pre Match shirt all pulling from an iconic design. It raises as many negative comments as it does positive comments but it drives conversation about kit design and for me that is a positive thing and using templates in football kit design is not a new thing and will always be with us, so lets celebrate when there is a good one and join Hummel in celebrating their 100 year Anniversary.
Let me know your thoughts or if I have missed any kits in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek I will update the post with the kits missed and of course give you credit for my oversights!
On Tuesday 12th September Scotland will host England at Hampden Park in the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match to mark the first meeting between the two sides in 1872. This is part of the year of events from the Scottish FA to celebrate the history of the association.
The original match is recognised by FIFA as football’s first-ever international match, at The West of Scotland Cricket Club in Glasgow, in front of a crowd of 4000 People.
The kits of the first match set the tone of majority of the 115 meetings between the two nations with Scotland in dark blue shirts. (however, not the origin of the blue Scotland shirt) and England wore white shirts. England wore caps, while the Scots wore red cowls.
When you think of England v Scotland in terms of kits the traditional look is often considered as the following…
Scotland – Navy Blue Shirts / White Shorts / Red Socks (occasionly Navy Socks with red turnovers)
England – White Shirts / Navy Blue Shorts / White Socks
However….
As part of the qualification of the 2018 World Cup, Scotland and England were drawn together in Group F and the Kit Designs of that time from Nike (England) and Adidas (Scotland) were the following…
Scotland’s Primary Kit was paired with white sleeves and navy socks, with England’s Primary Kit having “Sky Blue” sleeves and Red socks… and created what was considered to be a sleeve clash between the two kits
So when the two teams met in their group games, secondary kits were used by the Away Country to give a new look for both games of this most historic of International fixtures…
On 11th November 2016, the match at Wembley (3-0 to England) gave us Scotland in their Pink Secondary Kit, with Black Shorts and Socks…
The return fixture at Hampden Park on June 10th 2017 (finishing 2-2), saw England in their secondary kit paired with Red Home socks to give an all red look for The Three Lions.
Both fixtures proved controversial in terms of kits, traditionalists on both sides expressed their disappointment on the choice of kits of the countries, however given the kit guidelines of the time there was no option for the primary kits to be used in this campaign.
An “honourable” mention to when the two countries met in Group D of Euro 2020 at Wembley on 18th June 2021, in the goal-less draw the teams wore just a single colour each, with England in All White and Scotland in All Navy, this due to the default Scotland look being all Navy at this Tournament, but those complaining at what happened in 2016/17 should take comfort in the fact that both nations wear in their Primary Shirt Colours.
For the match on Tuesday 12th September 2023, Scotland will wear their special 150th Anniversary Kit which was first worn in the Euro 2024 qualifying match against Cyprus on 25th March 2023, this will be the second and final appearence of this quite wonderful kit.
England, although wearing their current default Primary Kit from Nike for the actual match, they will be wear a one-off Pre-Match Shirt containing the National Crest worn in 1872…. many fans commenting that should this kit be worn in the actual game… I will let you decide your opionion on that one!
There we have it, England v Scotland, not looking like England v Scotland, let me know your thoughts in the comments below and of course all shares of this post are appreciated.
Matchweek 2 of the Premier League is now completed. This weekend only saw nine games completed with Luton Town’s ground Kenilworth Road not yet ready to host games after the developments to the ground following their promotion via the Playoffs in May.
If you missed the First Week’s Kit Review, you can find it here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we have seen 53 out of the 60 Kits released so far…
Matchweek 2 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 33 (+13 from Matchweek 1)
Goalkeeper Kits – 29 (+9 from Matchweek 1)
New Kits this Matchweek
As we are only in the second week of Premier League this season, there were a high number (13) of new kits on show.
Nottingham Forest Home Kit (first home game)
Sheffield United Away Kit
Brentford 3rd Kit
AFC Bournemouth Away Kit
Tottenham Hotspur Home Kit (first home game)
Manchester United Home Kit with alternative Black Shorts
Manchester City Home Kit (first home game)
Newcastle United Home Kit with alternative Black Socks
Aston Villa Home Kit in default look (first home game)
Everton Home Kit with alternative blue shorts and socks, all blue look
West Ham United Home Kit (first home game)
Crystal Palace Home Kit (first home game)
Arsenal Away Kit
Kit Highlights
Lots of new kits and kit looks on show this weekend so plenty of kit talking points.
I will start with my favourite Kit Match up of the weekend which was Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United.
Spurs in All White is a favoured looked of mine and same goes for Manchester United, the Red / Black / Black look is one I always enjoy seeing so it was a no-brainer this week for the Kit Match Up of the weekend in my eyes.
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton and Hove Albion was not only the fixture with the most letters in it was also the only fixture this weekend with both teams in kits also worn in the opening weekend with the other eight games having at least one new outfield kit on show.
Four Teams have used two different Home Kit Looks in their opening two fixtures…
Aston Villa and Everton
Manchester United and Newcastle United
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 14 Home Kits (11 default and 3 variations), 3 Away Kits and again just the one 3rd kit used this weekend.
Due to the postponement of Luton Town v Burnley it meant that there were only 18 kits on show this weekend.
Kit Grid – Up to 22nd August
Kit News
As expected there was some Kit Releases this week…
Arsenal 3rd Kit was something that we expected to see and did not disappoint, one the kits of the season in my humble opionion.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3rd Kit, an interesting choice of colour for Wolves and another “jazzy” design from Castore.
West Ham United 3rd Kit, a blue 3rd kit for Europa Conference Cup Holders and shirt that takes some design inspriation from London Stadium’s (Olympic Stadium) floodlights.
It looks like the rumoured Newcastle United deal to return to Adidas was inadvertently leaked in the latest episode of their Amazon Prime Documentary, this meant Adidas released the below tweet…. so watch this space on 1st September 2023.
Was there another accidental kit release this weekend when Sky Sports showed Chelsea’s new away kit in the advertising graphic for their game this weekend with West Ham United… oops! (unsure of where the picture came from for credit) Will this be offically released with the Club’s new rumoured shirt sponsor this week?
I will be back again next week with Matchweek 3’s Kit Review, will we see any teams going for the Home, Away and 3rd Kits in their first three games, there are nine teams in Home and Change kit so far, with five of those teams (Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and Manchester City) all playing away from home!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek and Matchweek 3 Review will be published after next weekend’s games.
The 2023 / 24 Premier League Season has now kicked off and as mentioned here I will be taking a more in depth look into the Kits each Matchweek from my usual update via Social Media.
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we have seen 50 out of the 60 Kits released so far…
Matchweek 1 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 20
Goalkeeper Kits – 20
New Kits this Matchweek
Of course all kits this week are being used for the first time this season, more details will appear in this section as we move through the season and new kit looks / variations are used.
Kit Highlights
The New Premier League Namesets got their first full outings and visually worked well I believe, they certainly appeared to be a lot bigger and clearer than their predecessors, so a thumbs up from me on those changes (apart from the bespoke colours, I would still love to see more colour options available to teams).
There were two Kit Mash ups used in the opening weekend of fixtures…
Firstly Crystal Palace who combined their 3rd Kit with their white Away Kit Socks, this look giving two shades of Blue on the kit, with the lighter shade of blue being used with the Away Kit this season.
The second Mash Up was with Tottenham Hotspur, who not only launched their beautiful Navy Blue Away Kit this weekend, they then used it at Brentford with Home Socks (White)
There was a potentially a third Kit Mash Up used with Aston Villa using alternative “Claret” Socks to their trip to Newcastle United, however we do not know what their 3rd kit looks like, so not sure if this is a mash up or just use of alternative home socks, my feeling is this will be an alternative sock but time will tell!
Some more investigation is needed on Brighton & Hove Albion’s Goalkeeper Kit, the black kit worn by Jason Steele this weekend which appears to be same black kit used in the 2022/23 Season, its been difficult to get a clear image of the kit to be 100% certain… so watch this space about this one!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 15 Home Kits (12 default and 1 variations), 4 Away Kits (3 default and 1 variation) and just the one 3rd kit used in these opening games
Kit Grid – Up to 15th August
Kit News
In the coming week we expect to see the lauch of Arsenal’s 3rd Kit which has been well documented as a return to the green / navy sleeves, which is rumoured to launched on Friday 18th August 2023.
That is this Premier League Matchweek Kit Review, 10 games down… 370 to go!!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek and Matchweek 2 Review will be published after next weekend’s games.
The 2022 / 23 Premier League season ended on Sunday 28th May 2023 with Manchester City securing their 3rd Premier League in a row with 3 games still to play. At the foot of the table, Everton survivied with a final day victory which means that Leicester City and Leeds United will be joining already relegated Southampton.
As the season has ended, I will follow my tradition of taking a more in depth look into the kits worn through this season, some stats and information behind these kits.
Kit Stats
760 Kits worn (380 Games)
Home Kit used 73% of the time (67% Default, 6% Variations)
Away Kit used 15% of the time (12% Default, 3% Variations)
3rd Kit used 12% of the time (9% Default, 3% Variations)
109 different Kit Variations worn by the 20 teams
Home Kits – 43.1% of total Kit Variations used:
25 Home Kits worn (5 teams wearing 23/24 Home Kit this season)
22 Home Kit variations used
Away Kits – 29.4% of total Kit Variations used:
19 Away Kits worn
13 Away Kit variations used
Aston Villa did not use registered Away kit, wearing 2 different variation
3rd Kits – 26.6% of total Kit Variations used:
19 3rd Kits used
10 3rd Kit variations used
Manchester United did not use registered 3rd kit, wearing alternative shorts
Goalkeeper Kits:
68 Goalkeeper used
2 Teams (Liverpool and Manchester City) in 5 different Goalkeeper Kits
4 Teams in 4 Goalkeeper Kits (Arsenal / Leicester City / Liverpool in 23/24 GK Kits)
Overview of Kits Used
Kit Overview
Kit Log, Match 1 to Match 19
Kit Log, Match 20 to Match 38
Kit Variations
Looking in more detail at the Kit Variations worn by the Premier League Teams:
Two Teams in 9 Kit variations
Manchester United – Home Kit x6, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
Newcastle United – Home Kit x3, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit x2, 4th Kit
Two Teams in 8 Kit variations
Leeds United – Home Kits x2, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit x4
Southampton – Home Kit x4, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit
West Ham United in 7 Kit variations – Home Kit x3, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit x2
Arsenal – Home Kit x2 (including 23/24 Kit), Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
Liverpool – Home Kit x2 (including 23/24 Kit), Away Kit, 3rd Kit x2
Four Teams in 4 Kit variations
Four Teams in 3 Kit variations
Most variations of Home Kit – 6
Manchester United
Most variatons of Away Kit – 3
Newcastle United
Southampton
Most variations of 3rd Kit – 4:
Leeds United
Six Teams did not wear any Kit Variations, just default Home, Away or 3rd Kits
AFC Bournemouth
Brentford
Leicester City (Including 23/24 Home Kit)
Manchester City (Including 23/24 Home Kit)
Nottingham Forest
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Most worn Home Kit – 31, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Most worn Away Kit – 9, Nottingham Forest
Most worn 3rd Kit – 9, Brentford and Manchester City
Most worn 4th Kit – 1, Newcastle United
Liverpool and Manchester City used 5 Goalkeeper Kit variations including 23/24 GK Kits
Most worn GK Kit – 31, Tottenham Hotspur (Yellow GK Kit)
Kit Grid
Below is a graphic of what kits where worn against what teams, its one that I share on a weekly basis on my Twitter Account – @Kit_Geek
Kit Tables
One area I like to look at is a team’s performance in their kit, I have created the below tables (Home, Away and 3rd Kit), all shirt variations are included in each section, e.g. Manchester United’s 6 Home Kit variations are all included in the “Home Kit” Table and based on “Points per Game” used ratio.
Home Kits
No surprises at the top of table, with Manchester City heading the table up with 2.48 points per game in their Home Kit, followed by Arsenal (2.31) and Manchester United (2.21). Both Manchester Clubs scoring 62 Points in Home Kits.
Chelsea can sum up their disappointing season by scoring less 1 point per game (0.93), only managing 28 points in their 30 games in their home kit, one of four teams (Everton, Leicester City and Southampton) in managing less than 1 point per game.
Away Kits
Newcastle United’s Champions League qualifying season was supported by their performance in their Navy Away kit, worn in 3 different variations The Magpies managed 2.67 points per game in their 6 games.
Arsenal scored the most points in an Away Kit, they managed 18 points in their two away kit looks which was used across 10 games in total.
Only 7 teams managed more than 1 point per game, with Everton who only secured their Premier League status on the final game scored 1.4 points per game in their away kit and remained unbeated in their two away kit looks this season.
Fulham, who used their away kit 3 times, did not manage to score any points in these games.
3rd Kits
Rumour has it that Mikel Arteta did not like the Arsenal Pink 3rd kit this season, however in its two appearences they won both games giving the kit a maximum 3 points per game.
Champions Manchester City, who were the joint highest wearers of a 3rd kit this season score 20 points in total, finishing 2.22 points per game.
Fulham were more productive in their 3rd kit, were the 4th highest points per game scorers in 3rd kits, with a total of 9 points won in 5 games wearing 2 variations of their 3rd Kit.
There were 3 teams that did not score any points in their 3rd Kit (Leeds United x5, Southampton, x5 and Nottingham Forest x2).
Summary and Highlights
There were plenty of discussion points through the season with the kits used, some of the highlights for me are the following:
Lets start with Manchester United, who wore a staggering 6 variations of their Home Kit, the key to this was the socks… they started the season using alternative black away socks and it was not until teams returned from the World Cup on 27th December where the default Home Socks were finally used… see the difference in the socks below? One of the Kit Mysteries of 2022/23 Season
The other four looks for Manchester United were…
As briefly mentioned above, another Kit Mystery for the season is Arsenal 3rd Kit, initally popular with fans when it was first released, however it only made two appearences this season (both victories) and was used in two of Arsenal’s first three games, so its final use in the Premier League was on 20th August in the game against Bournemouth… rumour was the Mikel Arteta did not like the kit but there is no confirmation of that!
Newcastle United ended the season unbeaten in their change kits, they played a total of 12 games in change kits.
6 games in Away Kit (3 Variations)
5 games in 3rd Kit (2 Variations)
1 game in 4th Kit
Leeds United, ended the season with the most variations of a 3rd Kit, using 4 different looks in just 5 games unfortunatley not scoring a point in any of these looks but as a Kit Geek, I did enjoy they use of this kit!
This season was the first since 2019/20 where a 4th Kit was used. However Newcastle United’s 4th was not a traditonal 4th Kit but a training shirt that was matched prepared and partnered with Home Shorts and Socks, the reason being that their designated kits of this season were all considered to clash when they visited Brighton & Hove Albion in just the second game week of the season and their first away game!
Crystal Palace did not use their 3rd Kit in the Premier League in 2021/22 season and it took until their 23rd game of this season against Brentford in February to wear one this time, a total of 651 days and 64 League games between wearing 3rd Kits (both Black with Red / Blue details).
There were some interesting Kit Mash Ups used this season…
Arsenal, using grey Goalkeeper Socks with their Black Away kit… a look they used three times against Manchester United, Liverpool and Brentford!
When Manchester City visited Crystal Palace, their goalkeeper socks were considered a clash with Crystal Palace’s, so Ederson took to the field in white outfied away socks of Palace!!
Leeds United, followed a similar look to Arsenal when they played Manchester United with their Goalkeeper look using grey socks with their black keeper kit, they wore this look in both games against Manchester United… which were in the space of 4 days!
There we have it, The Premier Leagues’s End of Season Kit report for 2022/23, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek
On Saturday 28th May 2022, Real Madrid won their 14th Champions League (European Cup) against Liverpool in the Final at Stade de France in Paris. I wanted to follow my overview of the kits worn in the Group Stages with a Kit Overview of the Knock Out Stages of the competition, as well as a final overview of the competition from The Group Stages
Knock Out Round Kit Stats
30 Kits worn in Knock Out Stages – 29 games
17 Home Kits (13 first choice / 4 variations)
5 Away Kits (3 first choice / 2 variations)
8 3rd Kits (7 first choice / 1 variation)
7 New Kit Variations used in Knock Out Stages
Overall Kit Stats (Including Group Stages)
96 Kits worn in Group Stages – 125 games
48 Home Kits (30 first choice / 18 variations)
30 Away Kits (21 first choice / 9 variations)
17 3rd Kits (15 first choice / 2 variations)
1 4th Kit used
Kit Overview
Group A / Group B
Group C / Group D
Group E / Group F
Group G / Group H
The 7 “New Kits Variations” seen in the Knockout Stages:
Atletico Madrid – Home Kit, with red shorts and socks at Manchester City
Real Madrid – Home Kit with away socks at Chelsea
Real Madrid – Away Kit at Manchester City
Benfica – 3rd Kit at Ajax
Benfica – Away at Liverpool
Lille OSC – Away with black socks at Chelsea
Chelsea – Away with alternative yellow shorts (at Lille OSC and Real Madrid)
Kit Variations Stats
Looking in more detail at the Kit Variations worn by the Champions League Teams
Four Teams in 5 Kit variations
AC Milan (6 Games) – Home Kit x3, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
Manchester United (8 Games) – Home Kit x3, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
Atletico Madrid (10 Games) – Home Kit x3, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
Villareal wore their home kit in 11 of their 12 fixtures
Atletico Madrid wore three different home kit variations in the Champions League all against English opposition.
Borussia Dortmund were the only team in the competition not to wear a change kit, only wearing their home kit with two pairs of shorts, default black and alternative fluro yellow.
There we have it, the final kit report of the 2021 / 22 Season, congratulation to Real Madrid on their victory.
Let me know you favourite kits, kit highlights and kit match ups of the 2021 / 22 Champions League in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 