Category: Kit History

Sergio Aguero – My tribute

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On Wednesday 15th Decemeber 2021 Sergio Aguero announced his retirement from professional football after being diagonsed with a heart condition.

Aguero was a player that I always enjoyed watching through out his career after discovering the “Wonder Kid” being one of those must have players in Football Manager 2004 and 2005 games as a teenager from Independiente.

Although retiring at the tender age of 33, Aguero’s career last 18 years where he played for four teams across three different countries but will always be remember for 10 successful years at Manchester City winning the Premier League five times including his first and last seasons, as well the FA Cup and six League Cups.

A selection of Kits worn by Sergio Aguero

Aguero played 685 club games, scoring a total of 386 goals which included a club record 260 goals at Manchester City, added this to International career with Argentina that spanned 15 years with 101 Caps and 41 goals at full Senior Level and representing the country at three World Cups on three different continents, as well as appearences and goals for his national team at Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23 level. This meant Aguero ends his career with well over 400 goals.

A wonderful career for World Class player…. some of Aguero’s Kit Highlights below.

442 | El día que Aguilar quiso llevar al Kun Agüero a River
Celebrating with Independiente
Atletico Madrid unearth new Aguero as they rest Diego Costa and Fernando Torres for Europa League
In the classic Atletico Madrid colours
Pin on Soccer
Manchester City’s Nike Vapor Template
Sergio Aguero next club: Transfer odds as Manchester City legend set to leave | The Independent
In Paisley in 2020
Barcelona forward Aguero taken to hospital for cardiac tests
In one of his final appearences, wearing Barcelona’s Champions League kit for 2021

What are your favourite Aguero Kit Highlights, let me know in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek on Twitter.

Champions League 2021/22, Group Stages – Kit Overview

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On Thursday 9th December 2021, the Group Stages of the Champions League wrapped up for another season. I wanted to take a look at the kits worn by the 32 teams competing in these group stages.

Overall Kit Stats:

  • 89 Kits worn in Group Stages – 96 games
  • 46 Home Kits (30 first choice / 16 variations)
  • 27 Away Kits (20 first choice / 7 variations)
  • 15 3rd Kits (13 first choice / 2 variations)
  • Just the 1 4th Kit used (but is it a 4th kit?)

Group A

  • 10 Kits worn in the Group
  • Manchester City only team to use Home, Away and 3rd kits
  • RB Leipzig in two home kit variations
  • PSG Home kit most used, 5 out of the 6 Group matches

Group B

  • 14 Kits worn in the Group, most in 2021/22 Group Stage
  • AC Milan wore 5 kits out of 6 matches, these were worn in first 5 games including 3 variations of home kit
  • Atletico Madrid used 4 kit variations, 2 home kit variations and Away, 3rd kits
  • Liverpool only used 2 kits
  • FC Porto used 3 kits with 2 variations of home kit

Group C

  • 10 Kits worn in the Group
  • None of the teams wore their home / away / 3rd kits
  • Borussia Dortmund only in home kit with 2 variations
  • Sporting Lisbon used 2 Home Kit variations
  • Beskitas used 2 Away kit variations

Group D

  • 8 Kits worn in the Group, least amount used in a group
  • Real Madrid only wore their home kit (2nd season in a row this as happened in the Group Stages)
  • Inter Milan only team to wear Home, Away and 3rd kits, each worn twice
  • Inter Milan away kit did not include the “snake” detailing that the away kit has in domestic competitions

Group E

  • 10 Kits worn in the Group
  • Barcelona in their “Senyera” 4th Kit twice, initially launched in 2019/20 season, this is the 3rd season it has been used in Champions League
  • Barcelona not using their Domestically registered Home and Away kits at all in competition
  • Bayern Munich only team to use Home, Away and 3rd Kits
  • Dynamo Kyiv using home kit for first 5 games

Group F

  • 12 Kits worn in the Group
  • Manchester United in 5 different kit variations, including 3 different home kits
  • Villarreal and Young Boys only wearing two kits
  • Manchester United only to wear a 3rd kit in the group
  • Villarreal wore home kit in 5 out of 6 games

Group G

  • 12 Kits worn in the Group
  • Each team in 3 different Kit Variations
  • Red Bull Salzburg only team to wear Home, Away and 3rd Kits
  • Sevilla in two home kit variations
  • Wolfsburg in two away kit variations
  • Lille in two 3rd kit variations

Group H

  • 13 Kits worn in the Group
  • No team wore all their Home, Away and 3rd kits
  • Zenit St.Petersburg used 4 kit variations, including 3 different away kits
  • Chelsea, Juventus and Malmo all used two home kit variations

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.

UEFA stopped the use of elements of kits for two teams, Inter Milan were not allowed to use the “Snake” in their away kit which they opted for a plain version of their white away kit and Ajax were not allowed to use “Three Little Birds” motif on the back of their Bob Marley inspired 3rd kit.

Why Inter Milan had to remove snake from away kit for UCL tie | JOE.co.uk
The two Inter Milan away kits for 2021/22 Season
Ajax fans go wild for new 2021-22 'Three Little Birds' Adidas third kit inspired by music legend Bob Marley
Ajax’s Three Little Birds, not included in Champions League 3rd Kit

There were lots of examples of “Kit Mash Ups” in the Group Stages this season, this is when elements of a club’s home / away or 3rd kits are used to create a look to avoid kit clashes, some of my favourte on show were…

Wolfsburg – Away kit with Home socks, worn against Sevilla in Match Day 5

Malmo – Home kit with away socks, worn against Chelsea in Match Day 3

One of my favourite Kit Match Up of the competition so far was included Chelsea again, the Chelsea home kit is unique design and really stands out from other teams for me, with it’s use of vibrant blue works well for me and when they played Juventus in a more classic design than recently seen over the past few seasons, however in this match paired with black socks gave us a nice balance and constrast in kit designs and looks which worked well for me.

Let me know you favourite kits, kit highlights and kit match ups of the Champions League Group Stages from 2021/22 Season in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek

Ballon d’Or Winners – Kit History

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The Ballon d’Or is an annual award presented to best player in the world of that calendar year. Orginally introduced and presented by French magazine “France Football” it is considered the most prestigious individual award for footballers. The award returned in 2021 after not being presented in 2020 due to COVID Pandemic, with Lionel Messi being named the winner for a 7th time.

First awarded in 1956, I thought I would take a look back at the kits worn by the winners over the past 55 years – I will take the kit worn by the winner when presented not the previous season and they club they were playing for when awarded, not country.

1950s

The inaugural Ballon d’Or was won by Englishman Sir Stanley Matthews in 1956, the following three years was won by players from the leading team of the early European Competitions Real Madrid, with Alfredi Di Stefano winning two of these awards. A simple look for kits in these early days but the Blackpool kit did provide a unique look for any winner so far of the award.

1960s

The 60s was the first full decade of the award, with the ten winners coming from eight different countries, with Manchester United providing three winners each from different countries from The United Kingdom. Lev Yashin was also the first (and so far only) goalkeeper to claim the award in 1963, famous for his classic all black look when in goal. Again a simple look to the kits used, Barcelona with their hooped socks being some that sounds out from the other kits used. Manchester United’s three winners all appearing in the same kit across the five years between wins.

1970s

The 70s was dominated by players from German Clubs, with 6 of years won these players, Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich) and Kevin Keegan (Hamburg SV) winning the award twice, of the other four years Johan Cruyff won three of these with both Ajax and Barcelona with Dynamo Kiev’s Oleg Blokhin being the other winner in this decade. This is the first decade where we see a significant change in kit design for one team, Bayern Munich’s first winners in a red / white striped shirt and then later in the decade a classic all red Adidas kit was now in use.

1980s

In the 80s it was Italian Clubs turn to dominate, with two clubs providing seven winners in the 10 years with two players Michel Platini (Juventus) and Marco Van Basten (AC Milan) winning 5 awards between them. Karl Heinz Rummenigge also claim two awards in 1980 and 1981 which completed 6 straight years if German Club dominance of the award until the Italian clubs won 7 of the next 8… the only difference being in 1986 when not who you would think would win in that World Cup year but Igor Belanov of Dynamo Kiev picked up the award. The Juventus kit used by their four winners was their classic kit of the 80s, which included its deep placket.

1990s

Although players from the Italian Clubs won six of the ten awards of the 1990s there seemed to more variety across the decade with no team having winners in consecutive years. There were winners from France, Germany and Spain and this was the first decade where we saw significant kits design changes with more regularity, this can be seen with the two winners from Juventus (Roberto Baggio and Zinedine Zidane) and Barcelona (Hristo Stoichkov and Rivaldo) appearing in very different looks for their respective clubs. Also Matthias Sammer’s win in the fluorescent yellow Nike kit for Borussia Dortmunt introduced a very different colour palette to the historical Ballon d’Or winners.

2000s

The first decade of the 21st Century again so a fairly even spilt of players across some of Europe’s largest clubs, Spain providing five of the winners from Real Madrid and Barcelona, a sign of things to come in the future years. English clubs provided winners for the first time since the 1960s with Liverpool (Michael Owen) and Manchester United (Cristiano Ronaldo). AC Milan provided two winners (Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka) but in very different looks for Italian giants.

2010s

The 2010s Ballon d’Or was dominated by two men, with Lionel Messi taking five award (making it six in total) and Cristiano Ronaldo winning the award four times (five in total), with the other award being that of Luka Modric in 2018 but this meant that the Ballon d’Or did not leave spain through out the decade. This is also showed the change in kit design for the big two Spanish sides, Barcelona changing their traditional stripes look with a variety of thickness of stripe, including one kit with just one central stripe and variety of shades of blue used, as well the one season with horizonital stripes. On the other hand, Real Madrid sticking with their classic all white look but changing the accent colours through the decade with black, orange, different shades of blue and pink all used for their winners kits.

2021

After being cancelled in 2020, and announced on Monday 29th November 2021 the returning Ballon d’Or was won by Lionel Messi, his 7th award overall and the first time he would have received the award not in the colours of Barcelona but of Paris St.Germain. Wearing a less than traditional PSG look but one based on their Air Jordan range with the shorts also designed in the iconic basketball shorts style.

Let me know your favourite kits worn by the winners of Ballon d’Or in the comments below or @Kit_Geek on Twitter.

Harry Kane / England…. 48 & Counting

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On Monday 15th November 2021 the England Captain Harry Kane led his team to World Cup Qualification with emphatic 10-0 victory over San Marino, who themselves sporting their 90th Anniversay Kit based on their traditional flag. In the process of this victory, Kane bagged himself a four goal “haul” and becoming the joint 3rd highest goalscorer of the England National Men’s team.

  • Wayne Rooney – 53 Goals in 120 Games
  • Sir Bobby Charlton – 49 in 106
  • Gary Lineker – 48 in 80
  • Harry Kane – 48 in 67

Now, with me enjoying Kits and the stats behind the kits, I wanted to see a breakdown of these goals and the kits that were being worn by Kane.

Overview

Harry Kane made his debut on 27th March 2015 against Lithuania and marked his debut by scoring within 80 seconds of coming on as a second half substitute. The Kit England where wearing that evening was the All White Kit first introduced for the 2014 World Cup.

Harry Kane scoring his first England Goal

In the six and half years (and 66 caps) since that spring evening, Kane has worn 9 different England Kits used in a total of 14 Kit variations, which include the controversial Nike Vapor Templates used for Euro 2016 – One I actually quite like and thought it worked well in both Home and Away forms (but thats a discussion for another time), one 3rd Kit and a variety of different variations of the Home and Away kits.

Breakdown

  • Home Kits – 4 Kits used, 21 Goals Scored
  • Home Kit Variations – 3 Kits used, 13 Goals Scored
  • Away Kits – 3 Kits used, 7 Goals Scored
  • Away Kit Varations – 3 Kits used, 5 Goals Scored
  • 3rd Kit – 1 Kit, 2 goals

Highlights

The Kit that Kane has scored the most goals in is the first choice Home Kit used between 2018 and 2019, including the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Kane netted a total of 12 goals in this kit, including three Hat-Tricks against Panama (in the World Cup), Bulgaria and Montenegro in the Euro 2020 Qualifying campaign. There were also another 4 goals scored with this kit being used with white shorts.

The England Captain scoring a Hat-Trick against Panama at Russia 2018

The Nike Vapor Template has seen 3 different incarnations for England with Kane scoring in all three kits and counting the variations of socks that have been used a total of 5 different Kit Variations. In total Kane scored 9 goals in these kits

The 5 variations of Vapor Template used by England, all of which Kane scored in

2021 has seen Kane break the record for the most goals scored by an Englishman in a Calendar Year, with 16 goals in his 16 Appearences, this included 7 goals in his last two appreances, the final two qualiyfing matches for World Cup 2022, both games seeing all his goals scored in the first half of each match. In total in 2021, Kane scored 11 goals in the home kit, 5 in the default look with navy shorts and 6 in the all white look, the popular all blue away kit has seen 5 goals netted by the England Captain.

Kane netting a first half Hat-Trick against Albania, November 2021

If Harry Kane keeps this level of scoring up, the record is surely insight within the next year, a World Cup year… I hope to update this when the record is broken.

What are you favourite Kits worn by Harry Kane for England, let me know in the comments below of over at https://twitter.com/kit_geek

Diego Maradona – My tribute

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Wednesday 25th November 2020 the footballing world lost one of it’s most iconic and gifted players to ever take to the field and I wanted to pay my own small tribute to him.

Diego Armando Maradona, as he was in my Panini 1986 World Cup sticker album was footballing royality, he almost single handedly won a World Cup for his country and a spearheaded Napoli to their only two Serie A titles.

His 21 year career saw play for six different clubs in three countries, making 588 apperances and scoring 312 goals, on top of that his 91 caps and 34 goals for his beloved Argentina and appeared in four World Cups.

Love or hate him, he was a player whose ability and impact to the game we love should be respected, thank you for memories Diego…..

Maradona lifting the World Cup at Mexico City 1986
Playing against Manchester United in March 1984 in European Cup Winner’s Cup
Playing for Napoli in one of the change kits from 1990/91

There has hundred’s of tributes to Diego Maradona, what are you favourite memories??

Same kit, different manufacturer

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One of the things in the kit world that catches my eye, is when we see a return or revisit to classic kit or design for a club (or country).  This is something that actually kicked off my twitter account and I put some examples out there with the first tweets sent out into the twitter-sphere, here and here .

I wanted to take some time to look at some examples of these kits here.  Now I what I look for here is something a little different that we do not see every year, that people link directly to a club, so there will be no Real Madrid white kits or Monaco’s home kit, in fact most of the examples we see here are change kits (away and 3rd kits), that have been produced by different manufacturers.

To start the ball rolling lets look at one classic example of what I am talking about.

Celtic F.C. – “The Bumblebee”

celtic_aways

A kit first seen in 1996/97 season when Umbro turned the traditional colour palette of Celtic’s away kits on its head with its fluorescent yellow and black hooped kits, since then we have also seen Nike and New Balance have their own take on this kit.

  • Umbro – 1996/97 and 1997/98 (Away kit)
  • Nike – 2009/10 (Away kit) and 2010/11 (Euro / 3rd kit)
  • New Balance – 2015 / 2016 (3rd kit)

West Ham United – “The Hoops”

whu_awaya

The famous West Ham United away kit is one that part of the club’s history, Bobby Moore and his teammates wearing a version in the 1960’s, for this article I am focusing on recent returns to this style under different manufactures, where we have seen four kit manufacturers produce their version of this Hammer’s Classic.

  • Pony – 1993/94 and 1994/95 (Away kit)
  • Fila – 2001/02 and 2002/03 (Away kit)
  • Macron – 2011/12 (Away kit) and 2012/13 (3rd kit)
  • Umbro – 2015/16 (Away kit)

Arsenal – “Its up for grabs now” kit

arsenal_away

This kit will be forever linked to climax of 1988/89 season when needing to win by 2 goals at reigning Champions and the biggest club of the era, Liverpool… Michael Thomas went through in the last minute to secure that 2-0 victory and in turn win the “First Division” Title.  Although Yellow is a go to colour for an Arsenal away kit, what I am looking at here are some of the details in the shirt, the blue sleeves and the red trim, since the original Adidas version, Nike and Puma have also produced this combination.

  • Adidas – 1988/89, 1989/90 and 1990/91 (Away kit)
  • Nike – 2008/09 (Away kit)
  • Puma – 2014/15 (Away kit)

Crystal Palace – “The Sash”

cp_aways

An Iconic Crystal Palace Shirt, this was first introduced in the 1976/77 season when switching their Red/Blue stripes, returned to using white has their home kit, however introducing red/blue sash for the first time.  That initial kit was manufactured by Umbro but since has been seen in several other manufacturers (five of which pictured above).

  • Umbro – 1976/77 (Home kit)
  • Admiral – 1977/78, 1978/79 and 1979/80 (Home kit)
  • Adidas – 1980/81, 1981/82 and 1982/83 (Home kit)
  • Hummel – 1984/85,  1985/86 and 1986/87 (Home kit)
  • Errea – 2008/09 (Home kit)
  • Nike – 2010/11 (Away kit)
  • Puma – 2018/19 (Away kit)

S.S. Lazio – “The Eagle Kit” 

lazio_kits

Something is not just seen in British Teams, Lazio introduce their unique “Eagle” kit in 1982/83 season, a design that was also used in change strips and goalkeeper kits – there is a fantastic article over at Museum of Jerserys which goes into more detail for the kits that season – click here for that article

The kit has been revisited twice in recent years both versions produced by Macron.

  • Ennerre – 1982/83 (Home kit)
  • Macron – 2014/15 (Home kit)
  • Macron – 2018/19 (Home kit)

There is a couple more kits that I want to mention here, where we currently have only seen twice but one’s to keep an eye on the future.

Southampton F.C. – The “Keegan” kit

soton_kits

  • Patrick – 1980 through to 1985 (*in the style of the old vidiprinter…. *FIVE SEASONS*) – (Home kit)
  • Under Armour – 2017/18 (Home kit)

Newcastle United – “The Rugby Shirt”

nufc_aways

  • Adidas – 1995/96 (Away kit)
  • Puma – 2018/19 (Away kit)

I am sure there so many more examples here but thought I would highlight some of the examples that spring to mind for me.

I would be interested to know if your team has one and are there any International Teams that have something similar (USA Sash immediately springs to mind), please let me know in the comments below or via Twitter here.

 

Real Madrid, 20 years of Adidas

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The 2018/19 season sees the 20 year partnership between one of the biggest clubs in the world with one of the biggest brands in the world, Real Madrid and Adidas.

I thought I would take a little time to look back over the kits worn through these two decades and some kit highlights.

Adidas became Real Madrid’s kit manufacturer in 1998 taking over from Spanish kit maker Kelme and last month signed the largest Kit Deal seen in the sport with a reported €1.1 Billion (£950 Million) 10 year deal extending their partnership to 30 years.

The Kit Overview

RM_1

Looking at the home kits, considering Real Madrid never deviate from their traditional all white kits, it is surprising how many changes there have been to the home kit through each season, only in the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons was a kit used for more than one season.

Over the years the famous all white has been trimmed with Black (the most frequently used), Shades of Grey, Yellow, Navy Blue, Royal Blue, Orange, Pink and Aqua / Turquoise, always given us that slight variation from the season before.

However, given the tradition used with the Home Kit, the away kit is different “ball game” altogether.  Real Madrid are team that often turn to away kits when playing away from the Santiago Bernabeu, they will always wear away kits when there are clashes of white shorts / socks, think European games at Manchester United for examples.

In the first few years of the Adidas relationship there were very traditional Real Madrid away colours used, Navy Blue, Purple, Black all playing a prominent part of alternative colours in away and 3rd kits.

There was a change in 2007/08 season, the home was highlighted with purple for the first time in this Adidas Era (previous Adidas kits in 80s, Hummel and Kelme had all used purple elements in their home kits), looking at the alternative kits of that season the away was Navy trimmed with Gold and 3rd was a charcoal grey trimmed with neon green.

RM_2

The next few seasons saw a return to navy, blue, black and purple rotation of away and 3rd kits.  In the 2011/12 season saw a new colour introduced by Adidas in the Real Madrid colour palette, red….

RM_3

In a kit that took inspiration from one worn in the early 1970’s and was a real change from the norm and the start of run of different colours used in Madrid’s alternative kits which with have also seen this season with another red 3rd kit being used.

  • 2011/12 – Red 3rd kit
  • 2012/13 – Green 3rd kit
  • 2013/14 – Orange 3rd kit
  • 2014/15 – Pink Away kit
  • 2015/16 – Two-tone Grey (with Neon highlights) Away kit
  • 2017/18 – Aqua/Turquoise 3rd kit
  • 2018/19 – Two-tone red 3rd kit

In the 2017/18, there was a running theme of aqua used in all three kits, with both home and away kits having aqua highlights on shirt, shorts and socks, the 3rd kit being a Aqua / Turquoise kits (mentioned above).

It seems there has been a shift in the kits created by Adidas and looks like we now always see the traditional all white home kit and then one of the traditional away palette colours (Navy, Black, Blue, Purple) used for one of the alternative kits and the other will be something completely different…. yellow, neon green… who knows what the future holds here.

My 5 favourite Real Madrid Kits

Home kit, 2009/10

RM_4

I do have this shirt in my collection, all the way from Bernabeu Stadium itself (my shirt below), I really like this shirt, nice collar, subtle yellow trim, it just all works for me.

rm_5

Home Kit, 2012/13

RM_6

A simple but classic kit for me, the navy and light blue trim complements the kit perfectly, there is also a shadow pinstripe on the shirt as well.

3rd Kit, 2003/04

RM_8

The third kit used in the 2003/04 season (David Beckham’s first season with the club) is one of my favourite alternative kits used, the blue/grey shirt, black short and socks, all trimmed with sky blue and gold, just a pleasing kit all round.

Home Kit, 2014/15

RM_7

This home kit was trimmed with pink and black across shirts, shorts and socks, there was also an additional pink stripe across the back of the shirt above the players name (we can just see it on the above image), another shirt with a shadow pattern, close examination and it is very similar to the pattern used on several Adidas shirts this season.

3rd Kit 2001/02

A kit that I am not sure was ever seen in action, as I can only find digital (Pro Evo) and pictures like the above but this kit from 2001/02 season was one that combined some of the “go to” colours for alternative shirts but the combination of kit, especially with the black socks really works for me.

Please let me know you thoughts of Real Madrid’s Adidas kits over this 20 year period, use the comments below or contact me on Twitter, @Kit_Geek

Black Friday, Black Kits….

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Today, Friday 23rd November 2018 is Black Friday.  Once just a tradition in US for sales this is now becoming more and more global.

This is something that we also see in Football Kit design, for a time Black was the rarest of kit colours due to Referees wearing black, floodlights not being powerful enough so black deemed too dark for teams to wear and probably many other reasons….

However that was all about to change, when in the opening game of the 1993/94 season Queens Park Rangers wore their black 3rd kit away at Aston Villa (thank you to Dennis over at Musuem of Jerserys for the information here), this was then followed by Manchester United (see Title Image of this post) introduced their new away kit from Umbro in the 1993/94 season.

So after posting the below this morning on Twitter:

BF_1

I though I would myself a little challenge, could I find Black away kits worn by the current Premier League teams…. so here we go, 20 Black Kits to look back on (please forgive me as I am not going into too much detail with each kit).

Arsenal:

BF_ARS

Arsenal had this Black/Grey kit last season (2017/8) from Puma, the kit was highlighted with Neon Pink.

AFC Bournemouth:

BF_BOU

Neon highlights seem all the rage in 2017/8, this kit with Neon Green for Bournemouth by Umbro.

Brighton and Hove Albion:

BF_BHA

Another 2017/18 Black and Neon kit, the 3rd kit from Nike for Brighton this one with yellow.

Burnley:

BF_BUR

Stepping back a bit further here with Burnley, to 2014/15 kit from Puma.

Cardiff City:

BF_CAR

Cardiff City had this black away kit in 2010/11 season from Puma, one of the clubs where a black kit was harder to find over the years.

Chelsea:

BF_CHE

Chelsea a team that see black used quite often in their away kit colour palette rotation, I went with this one from 2011/12 season by Adidas.

Crystal Palace:

BF_CRY

Black a popular choice last season, so back to 2017/18 season for this Macron kit for Crystal Palace.

Everton:

BF_EVE

This one is one of my favourites, proving that neon in kits is not a recent trend, Everton away from 2009/10 season by Le Coq Sportif.

Fulham:

BF_FUL

A simple but effective black kit for Fulham from Kappa in the 2011/12 season.

Huddersfield Town:

BF_HUD

Huddersfield Town, another team where a black kit was harder to find, they did have this away kit in the 2013/14 season from Puma.

Leicester City:

BF_LEI

Back again to 2017/18 season, this time Leicester’s away from Puma was Black and gold.

Liverpool:

BF_LIV

One of my favourtie Adidas Liverpool kits here, the 2009/10 away kit.  Although Liverpool are another club who we often see in black, this kit with its gold stripes and red trim works the best for me.

Manchester City:

BF_MCI

As the money rolled into Manchester City, a black kit from Umbro worn by the likes of Robinho and Carlos Tevez (Above) was used in 2009/10 season.

Manchester United:

BF_MUN

The original Black Kit team… Manchester United, again another club where we often see black as chosen kit colour, this one is the away kit from Nike in 2003/04 season.

Newcastle United:

BF_NEW

Newcastle United, the historic Black and White stripes, did also turn out last season (popular season for Black kits) in this all black kit, there are shadow stripes also in this 3rd kit giving it that distinctive feel for Newcastle, great kit here from Puma.

Southampton:

BF_SOU

Probably the least Black on show here but this is one I really liked from 2017/18 season, Under Armour produced this design for Southampton’s away kit.

Tottenham Hotspur:

BF_TOT

There are not many Black kits in the locker for Tottenham Hotspur, this 3rd kit from Puma was the first black kit in the club’s history from 2008/09 season.

Watford:

BF_WAT

Watford for me surprisingly have not had a many black away kits over the years, black also playing a prominent part in many of the home kits, but there was this away kit from Puma in the 2015/16 season.

West Ham United:

BF_WHU

Another Black and neon combo on show for West Ham from last season (2017/18), just to make sure we got the whole highlighter package, this time blue is the neon colour included by Umbro.

Wolverhampton Wanderers:

BF_WOL

Finally to Wolves and again to last season (2017/18) where their Championship winning campaign was supported by this away kit from Puma.

So there we have it, my challenge to find a black kit for each of the current Premier League teams is complete.

As it turns out, from being on of the rarest colours to find for a football kit, black is now probably one of the most common go to colours for kit manufactures when looking at club’s away kits.

Has your team or nation had a Black kit, let me know and let me know any other Black kits that work for you.

Remembering Ray Wilkins

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I was saddened to hear about the passing of Ray Wilkins, he was one of my first footballing heroes, as a child in the 80s he was one of the first players I knew that played abroad, the memories of Mexico 86 World Cup, seeing repeats of that Cup Final goal and career that went on and on both off and on the pitch.

I always enjoyed listening to him talk about the game and finding him insightful and felt like I learnt something from him.

So I want to pay my respects in the only way I know how to, in a selection of the kits he wore through-out his career, Rest in Peace “Butch”

RW_kits