Tag: Football Kits

EFL, League One 20/21 – End of Season Report

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The 2020/21 League One (3rd Tier of English Football) league season came to a close on 9th May, Hull City (winners) and Peterborough United (Runners Up) earning automatic promotion to The Championship, with Blackpool winning the the Play Off Final against Lincoln City for the final promotion place.

I wanted to take a look at the kits worn during the league stage of the season (not including Play Offs).

Kit Stats

  • 1104 Kits worn (552 Games)
  • 98 Different Kit variations used by the 24 teams.
  • Home Kits – 42% of Kit variations used
    • 24 Home Kits worn
    • 17 Home Kit variations worn
  • Away Kits – 39% of variations used
    • 24 Away Kits worn
    • 14 Away Kit variations worn
  • 3rd Kits – 19% of variations worn
    • 15 3rd Kits worn
    • 4 3rd Kit variations worn

Overview of Kits Worn

Kit Overview

Kit Log – Match 1 to Match 15

Kit Log – Match 16 to Match 30

Kit Log – Match 31 to Match 46

Kit Variations

Looking in more detail at the kit variations worn by the League One Teams

  • 1 team wore 9 kit variiations – Highest in the league
    • Oxford United – Home x4, Away, 3rd x4
  • 2 teams wore 6 kit variations
    • Accrington Stanley – Home x2, Away x2, 3rd x2
    • Blackpool – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd
  • 3 Teams wore 5 kit variations
    • Northampton Town – Home, Away x3, 3rd
    • Sunderland – Home x3, Away x2
    • Swindon Town – Home x3, Away x2
  • Most variations of Home Kit
    • Oxford United wore 4 variations of Home Kit
    • Yellow / Navy / Yellow – All Yellow – Yellow / Navy / Navy – Yellow / White / White
  • Most variations of Away Kit
    • 2 Teams wore 3 variations of Away Kit
    • Blackpool / Northampton Town
  • Most variations of 3rd Kit
    • Oxford United wore 4 variations of 3rd Kit
    • All White – White / Navy / White – White / Navy / Navy – White / White / Navy
  • Bristol Rovers only used 2 variations of kit, Home and Away
  • 6 Teams wore no variations of kit, just Home / Away / 3rd Kit
    • AFC Wimbledon, Bristol Rovers (Home / Away), Doncaster Rovers, MK Dons, Plymouth Argyle. Wigan Athletic
  • Most worn Home Kit – 37, Gillingham
  • Most worn Away Kit – 16, Plymouth Argyle
  • Most worn 3rd Kit – 11, Rochdale

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 – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

Kit Highlights and Summary

League One teams used 98 Kits through out 2020/21 season, this was the lowest amount of kits worn in the Top Four Leagues in England, it also saw a more classic look for teams in terms of kit usage, 7 teams only had Home and Away kits (Bristol Rovers, Burton Albion, Fleetwood Town, Gillingham, Shrewsbury Town, Sunderland and Swindon Town).

Lincoln City did not wear their full home kit in an away game, the only game they wore their Home Kit was at Plymouth Argyle and was worn with 3rd shorts (white).

Bristol Rovers wore their away kit home against Shrewsbury Town when the away team wore their all white away kit.

Doncaster Rovers worn a 3rd Kit at Home against Hull City, this kit was commerate the career of James Coppinger, who has spent 17 years at the club and made nearly 700 appearences for them. The player himself designing the kit with his sons to celebrate his time with club.

Accrington Stanley, who wore 6 kit variations in total wore 5 different kits in 5 games (Match 25 to Match 29) – All White (Away variation), Black / White / White (3rd), All Red (Home), White / Black / White (Away), Black / Black / White (3rd variation).

Oxford United, who wore the most kit variations in the league with 9 different kits used, started the season with 5 different kits in their first 5 games… this became 6 kits in 8 games and 7 in 16 games, 8 in 19 games and they wore their 9th variation in their 38th game.

There were some classic kit mash ups in League One in 20/21…

Gillingham at Portsmouth…

Swindon Town again at Portsmouth

Sunderland at Plymouth Argyle

There we have it, League One’s End of Season Kit report for 2020/21, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

If you have seen my End of Season Kit Report for the Premier League or Championship, please click on the link below.

https://kitgeek.wordpress.com/2021/05/24/premier-league-2020-21-end-of-season-kit-report/
https://kitgeek.wordpress.com/2021/05/26/efl-championship-20-21-end-of-season-report/

EFL, Championship 20/21 – End of Season Report

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The 2020/21 Championship (2nd Tier of English Football) league season came to a close on 8th May, Norwich City (winners) and Watford (Runners Up) bouncing straight back to The Premier League, with the Play Off Final to be played between Brentford and Swansea City for the final promotion place.

I wanted to take a look at the kits worn during the league stage of the season (not including Play Offs).

Kit Stats

  • 1104 Kits worn (552 Games)
  • 110 Different Kit variations used by the 24 teams.
  • Home Kits – 44% of Kit variations used
    • 24 Home Kits worn
    • 24 Home Kit variations worn
  • Away Kits – 32% of variations used
    • 24 Away Kits worn
    • 11 Away Kit variations worn
  • 3rd Kits – 23% of variations worn
    • 21 3rd Kits worn
    • 4 3rd Kit variations worn
  • Special Kits – 2% of variations worn
    • 2 Special Kits worn (Coventry City, Norwich City)

Overview of Kits Worn

Kit Overview

Kit Log – Match 1 to Match 15

Kit Log, Match 16 to Match 30

Kit Log, Match 31 to Match 46

Kit Variations

Looking in more detail at the kit variations worn by the Championship Teams

  • 3 teams wore 7 kit variations – Highest in the league
    • Luton Town – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd x2
    • Middlesbrough – Home x3, Away x2, 3rd x2
    • QPR – Home x3, Away x3, 3rd
  • 2 teams wore 6 kit variations
    • Barnsley – Home x3, Away x2, 3rd
    • Coventry City – Home, Away x2, 3rd x 2, Special Kit
  • 6 Teams wore 5 kit variations
    • AFC Bournemouth – Home x3, Away, 3rd
    • Brentford – Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
    • Bristol City – Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
    • Rotherham United – Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
    • Stoke City – Home x3, Away x2
    • Watford – Home x2, Away, 3rd
  • Most variations of Home Kit
    • 7 Teams wore 3 variations of Home Kit
    • AFC Bournemouth, Barnsley, Middlesbrough, QPR, Reading, Stoke City, Watford
  • Most variations of Away Kit
    • 2 Teams wore 3 variations of Away Kit
    • Luton Town, QPR
  • Most variations of 3rd Kit
    • 4 Teams wore 2 variations of 3rd Kit
    • Birmingham City, Coventry City, Luton Town, Middlesbrough
  • Special Kits
    • Coventry City Supporters Shirt
    • Norwich City Supporters Shirt
  • 4 Teams wore no variations of kit, just Home / Away / 3rd Kit
    • Huddersfield Town, Millwall, Preston North End, Wycombe Wanderers
  • Most worn Home Kit – 39, Norwich City
  • Most worn Away Kit – 13, Blackburn Rovers
  • Most worn 3rd Kit – 17, Preston North End

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 – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

Kit Highlights and Summary

Huddersfield Town wore change kits in all of their 23 away game this season, wearing their away kit 9 times and their 3rd kit 14 times

Several teams elected to use their 3rd more than their away kit this season. The teams are Barnely, Birmingham City, Cardiff City, Derby County, Huddersfield Town, Preston North End and Watford.

Queen’s Park Rangers used their away kit in three different variations – Black shorts and socks, white shorts and socks, blue shorts and socks.

Three teams did not have 3rd Kits, Blackburn Rovers (3 variations – Home x2, Away), Reading (4 variations Home x3, Away) and Stoke City (5 variations – Home x3, Away x2).

Coventry City played the first 14 games in their home kit, the last team in the league to use a change kit, they ended the season using 6 variations of kit – joint 2nd most in the league

Barnsley wore purple socks in their home game with Reading on 2nd April to raise awareness for Weston Park Cancer Charity.

Luton Town’s Umbro kits were the most interchangable of the season, by using 3 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and 3 pairs of socks in just three colours (Orange / White / Navy Blue) the team created 7 different kit variations (joint highest in the League).

MIllwall took inspriation from the main sponsor with their 3rd Kit, using the Huski Chocolate Mountain theme into their unique shirt.

There were two “Supporters” Shirts used this season, Coventry City released a navy kit for their club members which was used at home against Brentford and Norwich City used their supporters shirt as a thank you in their final league at Carrow Road against Reading.

There we have it, The Championship End of Season Kit report for 2020/21, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

If you have seen my End of Season Kit Report for the Premier League, please click on the link below.

https://kitgeek.wordpress.com/2021/05/24/premier-league-2020-21-end-of-season-kit-report/

Premier League 2020/21 – End of Season Kit Report

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Starting on 12th September 2020 and finishing on 23rd May 2021, the 2020/21 season was completed within the quickest amount of time in Premier League history, which we saw the 380 games completed in just 253 days and concluded with Manchester City winning their third title in four seasons.

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 71% of the time (63% Full, 8% Variations)
  • Away Kit used 16% of the time (13% Full, 3% Variations)
  • 3rd Kit used 13% of the time (11% Full, 2% Variations)
  • 109 Kits different Kit Variations worn by the 20 teams
  • Home Kits – 42% of total Kit Variations used:
    • 23 Home Kits worn (Brighton & Hove Albion, Leicester City, Liverpool wearing 21/22 Home Kits this season)
    • 23 Home Kit variations used
  • Away Kits – 31% of total Kit Variations used:
    • 21 Away Kits worn (Arsenal, Everton wearing 21/22 Aways Kits this season)
    • 13 Away Kit variations used
    • Manchester United did not use registered Away kit, only variations (x3)
  • 3rd Kits – 27% of total Kit Variations used:
    • 18 3rd Kits used
    • 11 3rd Kit variations used
    • Brighton & Hove Albion did not use 3rd kit in 20/21
    • Chelsea did not use registered 3rd kit, only variations (x2)
  • Goalkeeper Kits:
    • 66 Goalkeeper used
    • 5 Teams used 21/22 Goalkeeper kits (All teams that debuted their new kits)
    • Arsenal used Away Shirt as Goalkeeper shirt
    • Manchester United only team to use alternative socks with Goalkeeper kit (Home Kit with alternative socks at Leeds United)

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:

  • Manchester United in 11 variations of Kit – Home Kit x5, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit x3
  • Aston Villa in 8 variations of Kit – Home Kit x3, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit x 2
  • Two Teams in 7 variations of Kit
    • Everton – Home Kit x4, Away Kit, 3rd Kit, 21/22 Away Kit
    • West Ham United – Home Kit x4, Away Kit, 3rd Kit x2
  • Five Teams in 6 variations of Kit:
    • Brighton HA – Home Kit x2, Away kit x3, 21/22 Home Kit
    • Chelsea – Home Kit x2, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit x2
    • Fulham – Home Kit x4, Away Kit, 3rd Kit
    • Sheffield United – Home Kit, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit x3
    • Southampton – Home Kit x2, Away Kit, 3rd Kit x3
  • Most variations of Home Kit:
    • 5, Manchester United (Including 2 different pairs of Black socks used)
    • Everton, Fulham, West Ham United used 4 variations of Home Kit
  • Most variatons of Away Kit:
    • 3, Aston Villa, Brighton HA and Manchester United
    • Manchester United did not full Away (all dark green, only variations with white shorts / socks)
  • Most variations of 3rd Kit:
    • 3, Manchester United, Sheffield United and Southampton
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion only two teams not to use any Kit Variations, just their standard Home, Away and 3rd Kits
  • Most worn Home Kit – 32, Wolverhampton Wanderers
  • Most worn Away Kit – 12, West Bromwich Albion
  • Most worn 3rd Kit – 9, Burnley
  • No Fourth Kit used this season, first time since 2017/18
  • Arsenal used 5 Goalkeeper Kit variations, including away shirt as part of all white 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 – https://twitter.com/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 5 Home Kit variations are all included in the “Home Kit” Table and based on “Points per Game” used ratio.

Home Kit

As expected Manchester City head up this table with 2.28 Points, 0.45 points more than Manchester United. The three relegated teams within the bottom three positions, Burnley the only other team with less than 1 point per game in their Home Kit.

Away Kit

Liverpool head the Away Kit Table, with 2.25 points per game for their 4 uses of “Teal” Away kit, Leicester City and Manchester United both with 2.00 points per game but Leicester City in their away 5 times compared to Manchester United’s 4.

Newcastle United scored 13 points in their away kit, which was the highest in the league throughout the season but their 8 uses average 1.63 points per game.

Wolves only used their away kit once in 2020/21 and lost, so did not score a single point in their away kit, a total of 8 teams average less than point per game in their away kit, including West Ham who finished 6th in the League

3rd Kit

Manchester City finished the season with a 100% win record in their 3rd Kit, with 7 wins and maximum 3.00 points per game.

Sheffield United and Fulham did not score a point in their 3rd kits, with Sheffield United losing all 6 games in their Green / Gold Kit.

Brighton & Hove Albion did not use a 3rd Kit this season (their black away from 2019/20 was registered as their 3rd kit),

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:

Manchester United used two different pairs of black socks with their Home Kit, the original sold which had the same “flecked” pattern as the home shirt and contained the wording “Manchester United” and were only worn in the first game of the season at Home against Crystal Palace, the 2nd pair of black socks used were standard Adidas Teamwear socks and used throughout the rest of the season in the league

Arsenal first Premier League team to use an outfield shirt as a Goalkeeper Kit, when it was deemed that their 3 goalkeeper kit options were two much of clash for their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aresenal used their away shirt to create an all white goalkeeper kit

Leno using Arsenal’s Away kit as a GK Kit

When Manchester United visited Liverpool on 17th January 2021 they elected to use their dark green away kit, however it was consided that the two teams would be indistinguishable for those fans with colourblindness. Manchester United used white socks to break these colours up.

Aston Villa who used 8 Kit variations overall, at one stage used 7 different kit variation in 8 games which included 6 kits in 6 games.

There we have kit, the end of season report for 2020/21 Premier League season, let me know your favourite kit details and thoughts in the comments below or over at Twitter – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

Champions League 20/21 – Kit Overview, Group Stages

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On Tuesday 16th February we see the knock out phase of The Champions League start, so I felt it was a good time to look back at the Group Stages and kits that were worn by the 32 teams competing.

Overall Kit Stats:

  • 89 Kits worn in Group Stages – 96 games
  • 42 Home Kits (30 first choice / 12 variations)
  • 27 Away Kits (23 first choice / 4 variations)
  • 19 3rd Kits (15 first choice / 4 variations)
  • 1 4th Kit

Group A

  • Atletico Madrid using 4 different kits in first 4 games
  • Bayern Munich in 3rd kit mash up with home shorts at Atletico
  • Red Bull Salzburg used last seasons Euro away kit (Black)

Group B

  • Only 7 kits used in whole group
  • Real Madrid only team to wear just one kit in Group stages
  • No 3rd kit used in this group
  • Shakhtar Donesk used last season’s kits

Group C

  • Porto used home kit with white shorts not normal blue and all navy for away kit, instead of yellow shorts
  • Olympiakos used 4 different kit variations
  • No team wore a home kit away from home, change kits used in all 12 games

Group D

  • Only 8 kits worn in this group, 2 for each team
  • Ajax only team to wear change kit twice (x2 3rd kit)

Group E

  • 14 Kit variations worn in this Group
  • Chelsea, Krasnodar and Stade Rennes all wore 4 kit variations
  • Sevilla only wore home kit, using alternative red socks in last game at Rennes

Group F

  • Only kit variation used in group was Borussia Dortmund Home kit with alternative yellow shorts
  • Lazio wore 3rd kit at home to Zenit

Group G

  • Barcelona used 4 different kits (home, away, 3rd and last season’s 4th)
  • Dynamo Kyiv only used change kit once
  • Ferencvaros wore away kit at home to Dynamo Kyiv

Group H

  • 15 kit variations worn in the group
  • Manchester United wore 5 kit variations in their 6 games (only 3rd kit was worn twice)
  • Basaksehir / RB Leipzig both wore 3 varations of home kit in first 3 games

Matchday Breakdowns:

Match Day 1
Match Day 2
Match Day 3
Match Day 4
Match Day 5
Match Day 6

Some of my favourite kit match ups in the group stages.

Zenit St Petersburg v Lazio from Match Day 2 and Juventus v Ferencvaros from Match Day 3.

Any kit highlights from you from the Champions League within the Group stages, let me know on the comments below or over at twitter on https://twitter.com/kit_geek

FA Cup 2020/21 – Kit Log

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The FA Cup, the oldest club competition in the world, which was first competed for in 1871 a staggering 150 years ago.

The 2020/21 competition has now completed it’s 3rd Round (well apart from one fixture which is yet to be scheduled), I wanted to document the kits worn through this season’s competition.

Round 1 – 6th to 9th November 2020 (one fixture on 26th November)

The 80 teams playing round one, were supplied by 23 different kit manufacturers

  • 15 – Macron
  • 13 – Puma
  • 12 – Errea
  • 7 – Hummel
  • 5 – Joma
  • 4 – Nike
  • 3 – Adidas, Kappa, Surridge
  • 2 – New Balance

The manufacturers with one kit on show in Round 1

  • Admiral
  • Avec
  • Elite Pro Sports
  • FBT
  • Jako
  • O’Neills
  • Player Layer
  • SK Kits
  • Tag
  • The Terrace
  • Uhlsport
  • Umbro
  • Under Armour

Round 2 – 27th to 30th November 2020

20 Teams in Round 2, this round saw 17 Different manufacturers being used

  • 8 – Puma
  • 7 – Errea, Macron
  • 2 – Hummel, Nike, Surridge

The one kit manufacturers in Round 2 are:

  • Adidas
  • Admiral
  • Avec
  • Elite Pro Sports
  • FBT
  • Jako
  • Joma
  • Kappa
  • New Balance
  • Uhlsport
  • Umbro

Kit Stats

  • Tranmere Rovers two games so far were teams wearing the same kit
  • 24 Teams wore the same kit for both rounds (22 Home Kits / 2 Away Kits
  • 16 Teams wore different kits for both rounds (13 Home / Change kits and 3 Home / Home variation)

Round 3 – 8th to 11th January (one fixture to be played)

64 Teams in Round 3, 62 teams have played their fixture with 14 manufacturers on show.

  • 11 – Puma
  • 8 – Adidas, Macron, Umbro
  • 7 – Nike
  • 6 – Errea, Hummel
  • 2 – Joma
  • 1 – Elev8, Elite Pro Sports, Kappa, Kelme, O’Neills, Surridge

Kit Stats

  • Doncaster Rovers in 3 different kits in 3 rounds (Away variation, Home, Away)
  • Plymouth Argyle in 3 different kits in 3 rounds (Home variation, Home, 3rd)
  • 8 Teams worn same kit for all 3 games

Kit Match ups

I like to look at some of the best kit match ups in competitions, in this case I will pick one per round.

Round 1 – Port Vale v King’s Lynn Town

Round 2 – Marine v Havant & Waterlooville

Round 3 – Chorley v Derby County

Let me know you favourite kit match ups through out this season’s FA Cup over at https://twitter.com/kit_geek or in the comments below.

Premier League 2019/20 – End of Season Kit Report

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On Sunday 27th July 2020, 354 Days since the season kicked off on 9th August 2019 the longest Premier League season concluded with Liverpool winning their first top flight league title in 30 years.

This is time for me to look into some more detail the kits worn throughout the season and some of the information and stats behind these kits.

Kit Stats

  • 760 Kits Worn (380 games)
  • 113 Different kits worn
  • Home Kits – 45%, 29 Home kits worn (9 teams using 2020/21 Home Kit) and 22 variations of Home kit used
  • Away Kits – 30%, 21 Away kits worn (AFC Bournemouth and Chelsea using 2020/21 Away Kit) and 13 variations of Away kit used
  • 3rd Kits – 22%, 18 3rd kits worn and 7 variations of 3rd Kit worn
  • 4th Kits – 3%, 3 4th Kits worn
  • 73 Different Goalkeeper Kits worn (12 2020/21 GK Kits worn)

Two designated kits from 2019/20 season were not used, Liverpool Away was not used with the “halved” socks, only plain white and Southampton 3rd Kit was not used with is assigned navy socks but home kit socks.

Overview

Match Day 1 to Match Day 19

Match Day 20 to Match Day 38

Kit Variations

  • Manchester United wore 9 variations of Kits – x3 Home, x3 Away, x3 3rd
  • Four teams wore 7 variations of Kits (Chelsea, Everton, Sheffield United, West Ham United)
  • Chelsea – x3 Home Kits (inc. 20/21 Home), x3 Away Kits (inc. 20/21 Away), x1 3rd Kit
  • Everton – x4 Home Kits, x1 Away Kit, x1 3rd Kit, x1 4th Kit
  • Sheffield United – x2 Home Kits, x4 Away Kits, x1 3rd Kit
  • West Ham United – x4 Home Kits (inc. 20/21 Home), x2 Away Kit, x1 3rd Kit
  • Most variations of Home Kit – 4, Everton
  • Most variations of Away Kit – 4, Sheffield United
  • Most variations of 3rd Kit – 3, Manchester United
  • Three teams used a 4th Kit (Burnley, Everton, Southampton)
  • Norwich City only team not to use a variation of their kits (3 Kits worn)
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers only used change kits 6 times (x4 Away, x2 3rd)
  • Cheslea wore 6 different goalkeeper kits (inc 3 from 20/21)
  • Tottenham Hotspur wore 5 different goalkeeper kits all from 19/20
  • Southampton only wore 2 Goalkeeper kits

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 – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

Kit Tables

I also like to look at the points won by each kit, I have grouped these into (Home, Away and 3rd/4th “Kit Tables” so all variations of kit will be included in its group, the scoring is based on a points per game ratio.

Home Kit

No suprises here, with Liverpool heading the table with 2.66 “Points Per Game” in their home kit a massive 0.55 points more than Manchester City in 2nd place.

The three relegated teams are also at the foot of the table in the Home Kit usage as well.

Away Kit

The Away table does give us a different looking table, Chelsea heading up this group with Liverpool both scoring 2.60 points per game, with matching records of 13 points from 5 games.

Southampton, who achieved the most points in change kits in the Premier League are in 5th Place with 1.62 points per game.

Leicester City, who only used their away kit twice and managed just the one draw are 2nd bottom here, with Aston Villa with 0.14 points per game are at the foot of the table with just 1 point from the seven games in their away kit.

3rd/4th Kit

Liverpool complete the clean sweep, heading up the 3rd/4th Kit group with 2.25 points per game, here they tied with Manchester City, with identical records of 9 points from 4 games.

It’s a different story for Leicester City here, with their 3rd kit being much more successful than their away kit, coming in 3rd place here with 1.80 points per game.

Arsenal and Everton, only managed one point in their 3rd Kit (and 4th Kit in Everton’s case), scoring just 0.33 points per game and Norwich who did not score a single point in their 3rd Kit are bottom of the pile.

I always like to round these reviews up by looking back and picking the game that had my favourite kit match up, for the 2019/20 Premier League Season I have chosen a game that took place towards the end of the season during “Project Restart”, Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur. The overall look worked well, the details of the red numbers on the Newcastle Home kit is one that I will always enjoy and with Tottenham wearing their wonderful 3rd Kit (probably my favourite kit in 19/20 Premier League season), the whole look worked for me and was very pleasing to the eye!

What are your favourite kit match up of the season and your overal kit highlights, let me know your thoughts and comments below or over on Twitter – https://twitter.com/kit_geek

Premier League One Kit Wonders – 2019/20

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As we approach the final round of fixtures of the 2019/20 Premier League season, its always to time to take stock and look back the season and reminisce over the good and bad of the latest season.

There will be plenty of looking back at the season from me over the coming weeks but I wanted to kick this off by looking back at those kits that were only worn once this season.

So far we have seen 107 different kits worn in the Premier League and in this post I want to call out the 24 Kits that have been worn just once, our “One Kit Wonders”.

Arsenal

Southampton v Arsenal, 25th June 2020

Arsenal’s popular away kit, that pays homage to the classic “Brusied Banana” kit, was worn in their 2-0 victory at Southampton with yellow shorts, giving an all yellow look which was also used with the “Bruised Banana” kit against Southampton back in 1991.

AFC Bournemouth

Watford v AFC Bournemouth, 26th October 2019

Bournemouth’s draw at Watford saw the south coast team pair their home shirt with white shorts and socks, giving them a classic AC Milan look.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v AFC Bournemouth, 24th June 2019

One of the (minor) impacts of “Project Restart” was that some clubs had sponsorship deals ending, which in turn saw new kits launched with a significant number of games still to play. Bournemouth was one of these teams, who wore their 2020/21 Home kit from Umbro (with holding sponsor Vitality). This was worn with white shorts and socks in the 1-0 defeat at Wolves in June.

Manchester United v AFC Bournemouth, 4th July 2020

The visit to Manchester United saw Bournemouth use their 2020/21 away kit from Umbro, with a graphic of the famous Bouremouth Pier sublimated onto the aqua shirts, similar to the Manchester United umbro shirt from 1994/96 which had Old Trafford on their shirts. It did not prove a lucky shirt with The Cherries losing 5-3 in this kit’s only appearence.

Brighton and Hove Albion

Newcastle United v Brighton and Hove Albion, 21st September 2019

With Brighton’s away kit being all black it meant that The Seagulls reached into the back of the Kitman’s cupboard at The Amex to pull out 2018/19 away kit to be used as this season’s third kit. In this drawn game it was worn for the only time this season with white shorts.

Aston Villa v Brighton and Hove Albion, 19th October 2019

Brighton’s second “One Kit Wonder” was their home kit worn with blue socks in a defeat at Aston Villa.

Burnley FC

West Ham United v Burnley FC, 8th July 2020

When Burnley visited a fellow Claret/Blue wearing West Ham, it was deemed that their away kit (All Sky Blue) and 3rd Kit (Green/Black) were not enough of a contrast to hosts home kit, Umbro created a one off white shirt to be worn with white shorts and socks to make a “4th Kit”, one of three 4th Kits seen this season and has a 100% win ratio in its use.

Chelsea

Crystal Palace v Chelsea, 7th July 2020

Chelsea’s new sponsorship deal with “3” started on the 1st July, this meant the 2020/21 kits were brought into action at the end of this season. The pale blue away kit saw it first and only appearence of this season in the 3-2 victory at Crystal Palace.

Everton

Crystal Palace v Everton, 10th August 2019

Looking way back to first round of fixtures of the 2019/20 season, Everton were asked by the Premier League to use their third kit from 2018/19 as the “coral” away and navy 3rd kits supplied by Umbro were seen to be too much of a clash to their visit to Crystal Palace, the game ended in a draw and is the one of the three “4th” kits seen used this season.

Manchester United v Everton, 15th December 2019

Everton’s second “One Kit Wonder” was the variation of their home kit, worn with blue shorts that The Toffees wore in their drawn game at Manchester United.

Leicester City

West Ham United v Leicester City, 28th December 2019

Leicester City often use variations of their home kit to avoid unnecessary use of their change kits, their 2-1 win at West Ham saw using their home kit with white socks, a combination only used once this season.

Manchester United

Southampton v Manchester United, 31st August 2019

Manchester United have worn their 3rd kit three times in the Premier League this season, in three different variations, the first worn with white shorts (bespoke to this kit, not the home shorts which have red Adidas stripes) at the drawn game at Southampton.

Sheffield United v Manchester United, 24th November 2019

The second use of the 3rd kit was at Sheffield United with bespoke white shorts and socks, the game ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.

Arsenal v Manchester United, 1st January 2020

The final appearence of the Manchester United 3rd kit was its only use in its first choice all black variation, the game at Arsenal ended in defeat which means they did not win a single game using their 3rd Kit in the League this season.

Sheffield United

Chelsea v Sheffield United, 31st August 2019

Sheffield United’s versitle white away kit has been used in four different combination this season, the use of white shorts and red (home kit) socks was only used the once, to give us a nice looking kit, the red socks work really well with red Adidas stripes on side panels and shorts, the red flowing through out the kit. The game ended in a draw in what has been an inspresive return to the Top Flight for The Blades.

Newcastle United v Sheffied United, 21st June 2020

Sheffield United’s second “One Kit Wonder” was a variation of their home kit, combined with away shorts and socks to give us an overall “white” feel to their home kit. The kit did not prove a lucky one with the game ending in a 0-3 defeat.

Southampton FC

Newcastle United v Southampton, 8th December 2019

Southampton’s use of their 2018/19 3rd Kit at Newcastle United was called for due to the three kits registered for 2019/20 all clashing with Newcastle’s home kit, this is third and final 4th Kit used this season and the only one that was used by the losing team, the kit was combined with home shorts and socks.

Tottenham Hotspur

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 15th December 2019

Tottenham’s visit to Wolves in December saw them use their home socks with their away kit, to give us a Navy/Navy/White variation, tying in nicely with Nike’s Vapor Template’s use of contrasting socks. The game ended in victory for Spurs with an injury time winning goal.

Watford

Newcastle United v Watford, 31st August 2019

Watford are another team that used their away kit from 2018/19 as a 3rd kit for 2019/20, the only appearence of this kit was their visit to Newcastle United back in August. This is the least used 3rd in the League and its only use ended in a draw.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford, 28th September 2019

The second “One Kit Wonder” from Watford was a variation of their away kit used with white socks which was seen in their defeat at Wolves.

West Ham United

Wolverhampton Wanderers v West Ham United, 4th December 2019

West Ham’s home kit from Umbro was a popular one with fans, when worn against Wolves it was paired with sky blue shorts and socks for a variation that still gives a strong West Ham feel, this did not prove sucessful on the pitch, with the game ending in defeat.

Newcastle United v West Ham United, 5th July 2020

This is the 3rd variation of West Ham’s home kit, this time combined with sky blue socks was used in the drawn game at Newcastle United.

Manchester United v West Ham United, 22nd July 2020

In the final away game of the season at Manchester United, West Ham used their away kit with change Sky Blue shorts, to give us again an alternative but classic West Ham look. The game ended in a draw.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers, 23rd November 2019

Wolves’ home kit in 2019/20 was paired with black shorts and socks, surprisingly an alternative of the kit was only used once this season with “old gold” socks in the victory at Bournemouth.

The 24 games in which our “One Kit Wonders” were worn, saw 6 wins, 10 draws and 8 defeats.

There are still the final ten games of the season to be played, so there may be some changes to this final list, Brighton in particular I can see using their home kit with blue socks in their game at Burnley, Sheffield United may use a different variation of their 3rd kit in their game at Southampton and at the moment Manchester City have only used their 2020/21 Home kit once in their victory at Watford but with their final game being at home at likely to wear this kit again in this game which is why I have not included in them in this overview.

Let me know what your favourite “One Kit Wonder” of the 2019/20 Premier League Season at https://twitter.com/kit_geek

UPDATED – MATCH DAY 38

On the final round of fixtures of season, we saw six teams launch their new home kits…. increasing our “One Kit Wonders” to 30…. All fixtures took place on 26th July.

Arsenal

Arsenal v Watford

Arsenal’s victory at relegated Watford give us the first view of the new Adidas 2020/21 Home kit, a darker shade of red than 19/20 version with the use of red socks as first choice!

Brighton & Hove Albion

Burnley v Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton’s new home kit is a really interesting change from their traditional look, one the club has used in the past as points but something new and fresh for their 2020/21 Premier League campaign, its debut was victorious one with a 2-1 win at Burnley.

Leicester City

Leicester City v Manchester United

Leicester City revert to all blue for 20/21 season with this Adidas Convido 20 Template! Their 2-0 defeat cost the team and this kit a place in the Champions League next season.

Newcastle United

Newcastle United v Liverpool

Newcastle’s 2020/21 Kit sees the magpies use thinner stripes than 19/20, but the red numbers remain (something I love to see in a Newcastle Kit) and check out them socks…!!! Its first outing ended in 3-1 defeat to Champions Liverpool.

Southampton

Southampton v Sheffield United

Southampton are ditchng the stripes in 2020/21 in favour of a sash…. I love a sash, so this looks great in my eyes, Southampton ended the season in style beating high flying Sheffield United 3-1.

West Ham United

West Ham United v Aston Villa

West Ham are our final team introducing their new kit in 2019/20 season, a return to white shorts and socks paired with a more traditional looking shirt, the drawn game with Aston Villa saw the visitors stay up on the last day of the season.

So there we have it, the 30 “One Kit Wonders”, our final record sees 9 wins, 11 draws and 10 defeats!

Kit Log – Euro 2016

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To coincide with my “Debut” Podcast appearence on the latest Kitted Out Podcast talking the Nike Vapor Template and Kits worn at Euro 2016, I thought I would pull together a Kit Log from that Tournament, so look back at the kits worn and some of the stats behind the kits.

Euro 2016, was hosted by France and change of format saw it become the largest European Championships to date, with the tournament being expanded to 24 teams from the 16 team that had been in place for the previous 5 tournaments dating back to Euro 96.

In terms of kits, the “Big Three” manufacturers, Nike, Adidas and Puma supplied 20 of the 24 teams qualifying for European Championships!

Kits Stats:

  • 24 Teams
  • 55 Different Kits Worn
  • 7 Kit Manufacters (Nike, Adidas, Puma, Joma, Macron, Umbro, Errea)
  • Adidas – 9 Countries
  • Nike – 6 Countries
  • Puma – 5 Countries
  • 10 Countries wore three different kit combinations
  • Only 3 Countries wore the same kit in all their games

Looking at bit more detail into the Countries kit choices, taking each Group at a time and their progress through the Tournament.

Group A

Euro16_A

Hosts and eventual finalists France, one of the six countries to wear the Nike Vapor Template only change from their first choice “Home” Kit once, this was kit that we discussed at length on Kitted Out Podcast where they could not wear their initial “Away” kit which broke the UEFA Equipment laws by having two different colour sleeves.  The Kit worn in the tournament, had almost grey looking sleeves instead of the red / blue in the original design.

Albania, who in their first ever tournament appearence also created a first by wearing Home, Away and 3rd choice kits in their three group games, something that I do not believe we have seen in an International Tournament before with Countries normally having just two kit options.

Group B

Euro16_B

England, another team with Nike Vapor Template and one that was seen by many to be a controversial choice. I am probably in the minority of England fans that liked it, it was something different and I always like to see experimentation in Kit design and this was possibly Nike’s biggest risk in the International market. The Home and Away kits were both used through the tournament but unfortunately this kit will likely always be remembered for exit at the hands of Iceland.

Wales, who reached the Semi Finals had one of the standard Adidas Templates for their home kit, however their away kit was something different with the use of the fluorescent trim really popping from the two toned grey hoops.

Group C

Euro16_C

Ever efficient Germany wore their Home kit in all of their six appearances, with the only variation being the use of white socks in their Quarter Final match against Italy.

Ukraine, one of the three teams (All wearing Yellow) to wear the same kit throughout the Tournament.

Poland, wearing probably the least adventurous Nike Vapor Template, no risks in colour choice, no alternative sock choice just the standard colour choices in place and an away kit that many England fans would have happily swapped for one used by the Three Lions!

Group D

Euro16_D

Group D is all about Turkey for me, another Nike Vapor Template and one of the more interesting designs, with a mesh like appearance in the shirt blending to black shorts / socks. They wear also one of the teams to wear three different kit combinations in their three group games, mashing up home shorts and socks with their away kit, for me the best use of Vapor Template seen on show!

An honourable mention to Spain and their away kit which contains an interesting pattern on chest and shoulder, which is to reflect the heat map of their winning goal at Euro 2012 scored by Fernando Torres.

Group E

Euro16_E

It was all about Belgium’s away kit for me in Group E, my favourite kit of the tournament and one that paid homage to the Belgian cycling team with the Belgian Flag being used as a chest band across the cyan shirt! It was used three times in their six games with both black and cyan shorts, both looks working in my eyes!

Italy (as Belgium) used three different kits in their six games, with two home kit combinations used, their stylish away kit only used on their opening game.

Group F

Euro16_F

Tournament winners Portugal, the final team to wear the Nike Vapor Template kit, also wore three different kits in their six game with their home kit being one of the best fits in colour combination of the template.

Iceland’s kit produced by Errea deserve a call out, not only a tournament to remember for their progress to the Quarter Finals but a simple, yet unique kit with the use of a single stripe made their kits stand out from some of the generic templates used by several nations.

Austria wore three different kit combinations in their only three appearances at Euro 2016.

My favourtie 5 Kits worn

Belgium Away (with black and cyan shorts)

Turkey Home

Euro16_TURh

Italy Away

Euro16_ITA

Turkey Away with Black shorts

Euro16_TURa

Iceland Away

Euro16_ICE

Euro 2016 Fixtures

An overview of the kits worn by tournament fixtures.

10th June 2016 to 18th June 2016 (Group games)

Euro16_1

19th June 2016 to 3rd July 2016 (Final Group Games to Quarter Finals)

Euro16_2

6th July 2016 to 10th July 2016 (Semi Finals and Final)

Euro16_3

Well there we have, let me know your favourite kits worn through out Euro 2016 and of course make sure you check out the latest Podcast from Kitted Out discuss these kits and The Nike Vapour Template.

A final thank you to Ollie from Kitted Out for intiviting me on to his Podcast and giving me an opportunity to talk about football kits, please use the link above to check out Kitted Out back catalogue, some wonderful football kit conversations to listen too.

 

 

EFL, The Championship – Kit Log 2019/20 (So far)

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As the World focuses on more important issues, football it righly taking a breaking until things are safer for us all.  I wanted to take a little bit of your time in this period to look at the kits worn so far in the 2019/20 Championship Season (the 2nd Tier of English football league pryamid).

We are currently over three quarters of the way through the season, with each team playing 37 games, which gives us a total of 444 games and 888 kits worn in total by the 24 competing teams.

Kit Stats

  • 888 Kits worn
  • 115 variations of kit worn
  • 39% Home kits (21% Full Home, 18% Variation)
  • 40% Away kits (19% Full Away, 21% Variation)
  • 18% 3rd kits (10% Full 3rd, 8% Variation)
  • 3% Special / Commemorative Kits

Kit Variations

Barnsley – Birmingham City – Blackburn Rovers – Brentford

Champ_var1

Bristol City – Cardiff City – Charlton Athletic – Derby County – Fulham

Champ_var2

Huddersfield Town – Hull City – Leeds United – Luton Town – Middlesbrough

Champ_var3

Millwall – Nottingham Forest – Preston North End – Queen’s Park Rangers – Reading

Champ_var4

Sheffield Wednesday – Stoke City – Swansea City – West Bromwich Albion – Wigan Athletic

Champ_var5

The “Intereting” siutation that is seen in The Championship is use or more acuratley the lack of use of home kits, with only 21% of kits used in 2019/20 (so far) being a team’s full home kit, that means a staggering 79% of all kits worn being away kits, 3rd kits, Home kit variations and special commemorative kits, a great example being that of West Bromwich Albion who have worn change kits (19) more than their home kit (18) this season and have yet to wear their home kit in an away fixture this season, several other teams have only worn their home kits once or twice away from their home ground and in many cases with obvious kit clash.

Some Kit Call outs

Some things that I want to take some time to call out in particular with Championship team’s kit usage:

Luton Town have worn 9 different kits this season (3 Home variations, 3 Away variations and 3 Third kit variations), although they have worn 9 different kits, it also shows the mix and match flexibilty of their current kit range, with changes only using shorts / socks from their other kits not bespoke shorts / socks.

Four teams have worn 4 different variations of one kit, Blackburn Rovers (3rd Kit), Bristol City (Away), Reading (Away) and Sheffield Wednesday (Away), these kits all worn in different combinations with white shorts / socks.

The “Atheltic Effect”, Charlton Atheltic and Wigan Athletic are the only teams in The Championship to wear just two kits, only wearing their full home and away kits in their 37 games, Charlton even have a registered 3rd Kit that has not been used so far.

Nottingham Forest’s Away kit has been worn in three different variations, the full all blue kit and with two different pairs of white shorts, first worn against Luton Town were the shorts from the home kit (with red trim) and when playing against Brentford Macron supplied them with white shorts with a blue trim to match their blue away kit.

Special Kits

There have been three special commemorative kits worn by teams this season:

Brentford – Griffin Park Special Kit (which has been worn three time, 1 at home and 2 away as a 3rd Kit)

Brentford

Bristol City – 125th Anniversary Kit

Bristol City

Leeds United – Centenary Kit (1919-2019)

Leeds2

Kit Log

My kit log of every game in the Championship 2019/20 season, so you can see who as worn what against whom.

Champ_KitLog_MD37

Please let me know your Kit Highlights from The Championship, what are your favourite kits in the League, let me know at @Kit_Geek or via the comments below.

Champions League 2019/20 – Kit Log

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On Wednesday 11th December 2019 we reached the end of the Group Stages of the 2019/20 Champions League Campaign which means its time for me to take a look at the Kits worn within the Groups.

I have been sharing some stats via Twitter through the “Match Days” over at @Kit_Geek but here we will look at all the games and Kits used through this stage of the competition.

Match Day 1 (17th / 18th September 2019)

UCL_MD1

Match Day 2 (1st / 2nd October 2019)

UCL_MD2

Match Day 3 (22nd / 23rd October 2019)

UCL_MD3

Match Day 4 (5th / 6th November 2019)

UCL_MD4

Match Day 5 (26th / 27th November 2019)

UCL_MD5

Match Day 6 (10th / 11th December 2019)

UCL_MD6

Kit Stats

  • 83 Kits worn in 96 games
  • 48% (Home Kits – 31 Full Kits, 9 Varitations)
  • 30% (Away Kits – 19 Full Kits, 5 Variations)
  • 22% (3rd Kits – 12 Full Kits, 7 Variations)
  • 9 Teams wore Home, Away and 3rd Kits in their 6 Games
  • Lille OSC wore 5 different kits in 6 games – Home (x2), Away, 3rd (x2)
  • Club Brugge and Zenit St.Petersburg both only wore one kit
  • Liverpool only wore their home kit, however in final game at Red Bull Salzburg they wore solid red socks (have they ditched the half/half socks?)

Group H

As a Kit Geek I do feel the need to highlight Group H, this group contained Ajax, Chelsea, Lille OSC and Valencia, between these four teams we saw 17 different kits used, which is 20% of all the kits used in the Group Stages!

What did they wear:

Ajax – 4 Kits

  • Home Kit (v Lille, Chelsea, Valencia all at home)
  • Home Kit variation with Black socks (v Chelsea)
  • Away Kit (v Lille)
  • Away Kit variation with Orange shorts / socks (v Valencia) 

Chelsea – 4 Kits

  • Home Kit (v Ajax, Lille, Valencia all at home)
  • Home Kit variation with blue socks (v Valencia)
  • Away Kit variation all white socks (v Lille)
  • 3rd Kit variation all black socks (v Ajax)

Lille OSC – 5 Kits

  • Home Kit (v Chelsea & Valencia at Home)
  • Home Kit variation with white shorts (v Valencia)
  • Away Kit (v Ajax away)
  • 3rd Kit variation with solid white socks (v Ajax at home)
  • 3rd Kit variation with Navy socks (v Chelsea)

Valencia – 4 Kits

  • Home Kit (v Ajax, Chelsea, Lille all at home)
  • Home kit variation with Black socks (v Chelsea)
  • Home kit variation with Orange shorts (v Lille)
  • Away kit variation with Black shorts (v Ajax)

ucl_h

Group H also provided me with my favourite kit so in the Champions League this season, the Ajax Home kit with Black socks, something classic and clean about that look that just worked for me!

UCL_CHEAJA

Something else I like to consider is the some of the best looking kit match ups over the Competition and one that immediatley stands to me is the game at the San Siro on Tuesday 10th December where Inter Milan hosted Barcelona, the two kits looked great paired against each other.

UCL_INTBAR

Any stand out kits for across this season’s Champions League and any favourite Kit Match ups that you enjoyed seeing, let me know on the comments below or over at Twitter on @Kit_Geek