I like to look at Football Kits and Kit Stats in many ways, one way that I wanted to revisist for the previous seasons was a Top Trump format.
So for those of a certain age will know all about Top Trumps, so for this set I have looked at the kits of each of the 20 Premier League Teams, Home, Away and Third kits and stats around these kits, the stats I have picked are the following:
League Games Worn – How many league games was the kit (and variations) worn
Variations of Kit – The number of variations of that kit were worn
Games Won – Number of games won wearing the kit(s)
Points Won – Number of points won wearing the kit(s)
Points per game – The average number of points per game (total points / games worn) per kit
I have highlighted the “Top Trump” in each section in “Gold and Black”.
The cards by each team….
There they are, 60 Top Trump cards… any surprises there, Wolverhampton Wanderers points per game in their change kits, Tottenham Hotspur scoring 54 points in their home kit, Luton Town’s 4 variations of their 3rd Kit?
What would you consider as the overall “Top Trump” card, Manchester City Home Kit or something else?
Are there any other stats that you think I should haved used for future Top Trump looks at Football Kits.
Please let me know over at @Kit_Geek on Twitter or in the comments below.
The 2023 / 24 Premier League season ended on Sunday 19th May 2024 with Manchester City securing their 4th Premier League on the final day of the season, pipping Arsenal to title. At the foot of the table, the three promoted teams from last season Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United found themselves dropping back down to the Championship.
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 69% of the time (61% Default, 8% Variations)
Away Kit used 19% of the time (14% Default, 5% Variations)
3rd Kit used 12% of the time (8% Default, 4% Variations)
110 different Kit Variations worn by the 20 teams
Home Kits – 37.3% of total Kit Variations used:
21 Home Kits worn (1 teams wearing 24/25 Home Kit this season)
20 Home Kit variations used
Away Kits – 34.6% of total Kit Variations used:
20 Away Kits worn
18 Away Kit variations used
3rd Kits – 28.1% of total Kit Variations used:
16 3rd Kits used
15 3rd Kit variations used
4 Teams did not use default 3rd kit, Arsenal, Manchester United, Sheffield United wearing alternative socks and Brighton & Hove Albion wearing alternative shorts
Goalkeeper Kits:
61 Goalkeeper used
3 Teams (Arsenal, Brentford and Liverpool) in 4 different Goalkeeper Kits
Liverpool in 24/24 GK Kit
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:
One Team in 11 Kit variations
Manchester United: Home Kit x6, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit x3
Sheffield United: Home Kit x2, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
Tottenham Hotspur: Home Kit x2, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
West Ham United: Home Kit x2, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
Six Teams in 4 Kit variations
One Teams in 3 Kit variations (Home, Away, 3rd)
Most variations of Home Kit – 6
Manchester United
Most variatons of Away Kit – 4
Luton Town
Most variations of 3rd Kit – 4
Luton Town
Two Teams did not wear any Kit Variations, just default Home, Away or 3rd Kits
Burnley
Liverpool (also wore 24/25 Home Kit)
Most worn Home Kit – 30, Chelsea (2 Variations)
Most worn Away Kit – 15, Sheffield United (2 Variations)
Most worn 3rd Kit – 8, AFC Bournemouth, Brentford (2 Variations) and Manchester United (2 Variations)
Arsenal, Brentford and Liverpool used 4 Goalkeeper Kit variations including 24/25 GK Kit for Liverpool
Most worn GK Kit – 29, Everton (Green GK Kit)
Something new that I have created for this season is an overview of when each of the new kits were first worn, for example… Aston Villa four different kit variations in their opening four games, two Home Kits and two Away Kits…!
Match 1 to Match 19
Match 20 to Match 38
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.
Please also note, as these are the match performances in each kit, I have not taken into account the points deductions for Everton and Nottingham Forest.
Home Kits
No surprises at the top of table, with Manchester City heading the table up with 2.37 points per game in their Home Kit, followed by Arsenal (2.32) and Liverpool (2.22). Manchester City scoring 64 Points in Home Kits.
Only the three relegated teams scored less than a point a game when in their Home Kit.
Away Kits
Arsenal are the stand out team in their Away Kit this season, 2.58 points per game and huge 31 points in total (out a possible 36), Manchester City the only other team above 2 points per game (2.33).
Wolverhampton Wanderers ended the season with 1.67 points per game in their Away Kit are another team to call out, finishing with the 4th best performance here, after having the 4th worst performance in their Home Kit!
There were only 8 teams with a better record than a point per game, Sheffield United who wore their Away 15 times in 19 Away games, only managed 6 points here at 0.40 points per game!
3rd Kits
Champions Manchester City were the only team to have a 100% win record in a kit, with 6 points from the 2 games in their 3rd Kit!
Another 4 teams managed to scored over 2 points per game and over, with Liverpool 2.25, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers all scoring 2 points per game!
Manchester United managed 14 points in their 3rd Kit, the most points scored here.
We also had 3 teams that failed to score a point in their 3rd Kit, relegated teams Sheffield United and Burnley were joined by Premier League Runners Up Arsenal, only wearing their 3rd kit once and losing at Fulham.
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 for the second season in a row wore a staggering 6 different Home Kit Variations, again like last season this mainly due to the socks worn, with 3 different pairs of black socks worn with the Home Kit this season, with the default pair (white cuffed with pattern), and 2 pairs of Teamwear socks, one with Adidas wordmark and one with just Adidas “3 Stripes”
And with 5 different change kit used as well, makes a total of 11 Different Kit looks used this season, this includes two different looks of the 3rd Kit, however they were one of the four teams that did use their 3rd Kit in it’s default look, which was with red socks.
Although Luton Town ended the season relegated from the League, they have provided football fans with plenty of entertainment through out the season, including us Kit Lovers… Their three kits were proved to be very interchangable and they ended up using 10 Different Kit Variations this season, with two Home Kit Looks, four Away Kit and four 3rd Kits, all maintaining the overall Luton Town feel to the kits… thank you to Denis at Museum of Jerseys for this wonderful overview of the kits, which can also be found here.
The most worn outfield kit look was Brighton & Hove Albion’s Home Kit which was worn 28 times out of the 38 Games, this kit was also worn once with white shorts and socks at Luton Town, so Home was worn 29 times in total. Chelsea did wear their Home Kit 30 times in total, with 26 in it’s default look and 4 times with alternative blue socks but as a single look the Brighton Home Kit takes it!
Arsenal ended the season wearing their Away Kit 12 times in their 19 Away games, and amassed 31 Points out of 36, winning 10 of the games in this wonderful kit..!
Liverpool were unbeaten in their Away Kit, playing 7 games winning 3 and drawing 4 of those matches.
The single most worn kit of the 2023/24 Premier League Season, was a goalkeeper kit and the first choice kit of Everton, which was worn in 29 of the 38 games this season!
Sheffield United gave us one of my favourite kit “Easter Eggs” of the season, they wore alternative red socks with Home, Away and 3rd Kits this season, with none of the kits having red socks as part of their default look!
Compared to previous seasons it was a fairly uneventful period for goalkeeper kits in 23/24, no mash ups, no unusual elements to the kits and with 15 teams in the expected 3 goalkeeper kits, there were two clubs (Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest) who used just 2 kits all season and another two clubs, Arsenal and Brentford who used 4 kits… Liverpool also used 4 Goalkeeper kits, with their 24/25 Kits being used in the final game of the season.
Arsenal – used 3 different templates, but one with Black Shorts (the default look for The Gunners) and Green Shorts, as seen by several other Adidas Supplied clubs.
Brentford – were the only team to use 4 different kit looks for their goalkeepers.
There we have it…
The Premier Leagues’s End of Season Kit report for 2023/24, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek
You can find other End of Season Reports below and of course the Matchweek Kit Reviews from each of the 38 Matchweek’s of this Premier League Season!
So that’s it, Matchweek 38 and in turn the Premier League has been completed for another season! Manchester City lifting their 4th Title in a row on the final Matchweek, and Luton Town joining Sheffield United and Burnley in dropping out of the Top Flight. These fixtures being the reverse games from Matchweek 5 from back in September.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below.
Matchweek 38
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 110 (+1 new kit from last Matchweek)
Goalkeeper Kits – 61 (+1 new kit from last Matchweek)
New Kits this Matchweek
There was just the one new kit on show in the final round of fixtures, with Liverpool showcasing their new Home Kit for 2024/25 Season.
And of course, their new first choice goalkeeper kit, which is the new Nike Goalkeeper Template in Black.
Kit Highlights
In the final games of the season, there was a record made for this season… with 8 teams in different variations of kits and all 5 Away kits on show were alternative away kit looks for their default looks!
The only two teams not in alternative looks were Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United.
Tottenham Hotspur, started and ended their season in Away Kit with Home Socks…
My favourite Kit Match Up of the weekend was the game between Chelsea and AFC Bournemouth, the Chelsea home kit has grown on through out this season and the AFC Bouremouth Away kit with alternative navy socks is a great look and this match up works well for me.
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 15 Home Kits and 5 Away Kits in action.
As mentioned above, there were 8 Kit variations used in this Matchweek
Everton, All Blue Home Kit, 4th time used this season
Newcastle United, Away with white socks for 3rd time
Manchester United, Home with white socks for just 2nd time
Nottingham Forest, Away with alternative white shorts & socks, 2nd time
AFC Bournemouth in Away with Navy socks, 2nd time this season
Aston Villa, All white away kit, 3rd time used
Fulham in Home Kit with alternative white socks, 8th time
Tottenham Hotspur in Away with white (home) socks, 4th time
Kit Grid – Final Grid
Kit News
A couple of next season’s kit have been offically launched in the week, with Arsenal and Manchester City however due to Premier League rules (apparently) with the title winners not confirmed in the final games teams will have to wear their default registered kits
Arsenal’s 2024/25 Home Kit is wonderful, bringing back the “Cannon” for the Home Kit for the first time in 30 years, it is the same template we have seen with the International Kit releases, with navy blue being used across the “shardes” in the shirt and shorts, giving a nice overall balance to the kit.
Manchester City’s new Home Kit also has navy detailing, within the collar and cuffs, which contain a motif of “0161” the phone area code of Manchester. Navy Blue is more prominent in the over kit, with the socks being Navy Blue and alternative shorts also being in navy!
And there we have it, the weekly Kit Reviews for 2023/24 Season, hopefully you have enjoyed them and would like them to return next season!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Matchweek 37, the penultimate week of the season has now been completed. These fixtures being the reverse games from Matchweek 4.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below.
Matchweek 37
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 109 (no new kits)
Goalkeeper Kits – 60 (no new kits)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were no new kits on show this Matchweek, which is no surprise… we are waiting to see if we will have any 2024/25 kits on show in the final round of fixtures this season.
Kit Highlights
Brentford won for the first time this season in their Away Kit, this was the 7th time the kit was worn this season with 1 draw and 5 defeats in the previous 6 outings this season… the Kit was alao worn 6 times in Premier League last season with no victories, so it looks like in it’s last usage in its 2 year life cycle it was finally worn in victory.
Brighton & Hove Albion wore their 3rd Kit for just the second time this season (last season’s Away Kit) both occasions have been with alternative white shorts.
Liverpool remain unbeaten in the League in their Away Kit, playing 7 times with 3 wins and 4 draws.
My favourite Kit Match Up of the weekend was the game between Manchester United and Arsenal, an all Adidas affair and seeing the Arsenal Kit on show for probably the final time is reason enough to be my favourite kit match of the week, a modern classic in my eyes!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 12 Home Kits, 5 Away Kit and 3 3rd Kit in action.
There were 2 Kit variations used in this Matchweek
Luton Town, Away Kit with Home shorts & socks, the 4th time this look has been used
Brighton & Hove Albion in 3rd Kit with white shorts, 2nd time
Kit Grid – Up to 14th May 2024
Kit News
Burnley have annouced their new kit partnership with Castore, as previously reported Castore have taken over the licence to supply kits to a number of British Clubs from Umbro, so this appears to be the first of these changes.
The club announced it was a multi-year deal with Castore starting from 2024/25 Season, full details can be found on the club’s site and it’s offical annoucement here.
It has been reported that Chelsea have missed the deadline in confirming their front of shirt sponsorship for their 2024/25 kits. This means that the initial launch of their new kits are likely to be blank much like this season where they only confirmed “Infinite Athlete” once the season had kicked off… one to keep an eye on over the next few weeks.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek I will be back next week with the final weekly review and of course the big one, the full season report…!
Matchweek 36 has now been completed, and we are that stage of the season where most teams have just one more Home Game Each.. so a chance of new kits on show in the coming weeks (more on that below). The fixtures from this weekend are a mix of games from Matchweek 7 (7 games from there) and Matchweek 2 (3 games from there).. the fixture computer must of had a funny turn when coming this round of games!
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below.
Matchweek 36
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 109 (+1 from Matchweek 35)
Goalkeeper Kits – 60 (+1 from Matchweek 35)
New Kits this Matchweek
There was one new kit on show this weekend, with Nottingham Forest using alternative socks with their 3rd Kit, we have seen these socks before but they were worn with alternative shorts as well, interesting against Brentford who wear the same colour combination as Sheffield United… so I guess they did not like the look of the shorts to use them again!
In the Midweek Game between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur (delayed from MW26), Tottenham used the Green Nike Goalkeeper Template for the first time this season.
Kit Highlights
This matchweek saw five teams in 3rd Kits, the joint most worn in one round of fixtures, however this was the first time this season where we saw three teams in 3rd Variations with Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.
My favourite Kit Match Up of the weekend was the game between Luton Town and Everton, a nice balance between the two kits and likely the last time we will see this wonderful Everton 3rd Kit in action!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 14 Home Kits, 1 Away Kit and 5 3rd Kit in action.
There were a total of 4 Kit variations used in this Matchweek
Fulham, in 3rd Kit with alternative pink shorts & socks, 2nd time this season
Nottingham Forest, 3rd Kit with alternative orange socks
Aston Villa, Home Kit with alternative claret shorts & socks, 4th time seen this season
Manchester United in 3rd Kit with white socks, the 7th time used
Kit Grid – Up to 7th May 2024
Kit News
The first offical Kit Launch for 2024/25 has happened and there is no surprise that it is Liverpool. Their much leaked home kit is now available for Pre-Order for 16th May, this suggests that we will see this kit in action (a regular occurance for Liverpool) with the likely game being the final game of the season against Wovlerhampton Wanderers. I will be interested to see the kit in action and initially quite like the yellow / white side flashes, which are also on the shorts’ side panels, an element of the kit that was not seen in the leaked images..!
Another club that may debut their 2024/25 Home Kit before the end of the season is Manchester City who are making plans to wear the new kit against West Ham United on the final game of the season, HOWEVER… it has been reported that they will ONLY wear their new kit if… the Premier League Title has been secured at that point either by themselves or another club, if the title race goes down to that final round of fixtuers then they will wear this season’s kit.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
The Midweek Fixtures taking place on 23rd to 25th April 2024 are all fixtures from Matchweek 29, this was due to the FA Cup Quarter-Finals, and given that over half of MW29 fixtures were taking place this midweek, a Part II of that Matchweek was needed as a special round up…!
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below.
Matchweek 29 Fixtures (Part II)
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 107 (+1 from Matchweek 34)
Goalkeeper Kits – 58 (No change from Matchweek 34)
New Kits this Matchweek
There was one new kit and it was the final kit of the 60 Premier League Kits to be used this season, with Manchester City in their 3rd Kit for the first time in the League this season.
Kit Highlights
My favourite Kit Match Up of the remain Matchweek 29 Fixtures was the game between Manchester United and Sheffield United, a nice and clean Kit Match up, pleasing on the eye!
Kit Stats
Looking at Matchweek 29 as a whole we have seen 13 Home Kits, 6 Away Kits and 1 3rd Kit in action for the four games in this Matchweek.
There were a total of 2 Kit variations used in this Matchweek (all 10 fixtures)
Tottenham Hotspur in Away with Home Socks, 3rd time this season (From originial fixtures)
Chelsea, in Home Kit with alternative blue socks.. 3rd time
Kit Grid – Up to 26th April 2024
Kit News
Some interesting Kit News coming out of Liverpool this week, it has been reported that Adidas will be returning to be Kit Manufacturer for third time from the 2025/26 Season in an initial Five Year Deal, if true this would mean next season will be the last with Kits provided by Nike.
Adidas previously supplied the Liverpool Kits between 1985 & 1996 and then between 2006 & 2012… we await offical communication but so far this has gone down very will with Fans and Kit Lovers alike, full details can be found here…. (Image Credit to @TheShirtUnion)
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Matchweek 22 was the second round of Midweek fixtures (outside the Christmas Period), with all 20 Teams in action across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (30th January to 1st February).
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 21 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 94 (+3 from Matchweek 21)
Goalkeeper Kits – 58 (+1 from Matchweek 21)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were three new kit looks on show through these fixtures and one new goalkeeper kit!
Brighton & Hove Albion wore an alternative white shorts and socks with their Home Kit for the first time, a nice overall look that still keeps the overall classic Brighton feel to the kit!
Everton used their Away Kit just the second time this season but this time with alternative “salmon” shorts and socks for lovely looking overall Kit… I think I might even prefer the look here than the standard navy shorts and socks.
Brentford wore their 3rd Kit with alternative navy socks, this was the first kit variation worn by The Bees this season but thats not all from this them this week….
There was also a new Goalkeeper Kit on show for Brentford, the first team to wear 4 goalkeeper kits this season. This was a purple version of last seasons keeper template which has also been worn by Luton Town this season!
Kit Highlights
An “interesting” Kit Stat from the game between Aston Villa and Newcastle United, the result of Newcastle United winning meant this was the first time Aston Villa had suffered defeat in their default Home Kit this season as well as being the first League victory for Newcatle United in alternative Black Socks with their Home Kit….!
Brentford became the first team to wear four goalkeeper kits this season, with their use of the purple template from last season’s Umbro catalogue.
My favourite Kit Match Up of these midweek fixtures has to be Fulham and Everton, the use of red and white details in the Fulham Home kit is one of favourite little details this season, paired with cracking Everton away kit with what is arguably better alternative shorts and socks is a winner for me!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 13 Home Kits, 4 Away Kits and 3 3rd Kits in action in this Matchweek
There were five Kit Variation on show this week.
Brighton & Hove Albion in Home kit with alternative white shorts and socks
Everton in Away kit with alternative “Salmon” shorts and socks
Newcastle United in Black socks with their Home Kit for the 3rd Time this season
Brentford, 3rd kit with alternative navy socks
Manchester United in all off white 3rd kit, 4th time this look has been used
Kit Grid – Up to 23rd January 2024
Kit News
With Paris St. Germain’s Jordan Kit “deal” coming to an end this season we thought they may be the end of the “Jumpman” logo featuring on Football Kits, however it has been reported that a London Club is being looked at to take up the logo moving forward… with currently Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur being in the Nike camp, it likely to be one of these clubs with Chelsea being rumoured as the preferred option.
Matchweek 21 is a unique Matchweek in the Premier League season, with the fixtures being split over two weekends to give each of the teams a mini “mid-season” winter break, there was five fixture played over the weekend of 12th to 14th January and the remaining five fixtures on 20th to 22nd January.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 21 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 91 (+2 from Matchweek 20)
Goalkeeper Kits – 57 (No Change from Matchweek 20)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were two new kit look on show through these fixtures.
Crystal Palace have worn their 3rd twice already this season, including the opening fixture back in August, however this is the first time that the kit has been worn in default look of all black, with the black socks getting the debut outing!
Nottingham Forest used their 3rd Kit with bespoke alternative orange shorts and socks for the first time this season in their game against Brentford, the overall look worked well with amount of orange in the shirt… a nice alternative and opens up more opportunities for mix and matching with the default navy blue shorts and socks.
Kit Highlights
Manchester United “Sock Watch”, it was the 2023 Adidas Teamwear socks again in the home game against Tottenham Hotspur, this seems to be the go to sock now for The Red Devils…
Wolverhampton Wanderers wore their away kit for only the second time this season and the first time since the third game of the season back in August against Everton, this also means they have worn Home, Away and 3rd Kits in their last three games!
My favourite Kit Match Up of this week was the match up between Brentford and Nottingham Forest, the alternative look against the classic Brentford kit worked well for me, I have seen comments that considered this to be a kit clash but I think there is enough destinction between the light and dark shorts and socks and in the shirts that this worked well under the lights of Gtech Community Stadium!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 14 Home Kits, 3 Away Kits and 3 3rd Kits in action in this Matchweek
There were four Kit Variation on show this week.
Luton Town, Away Kit with Home Shorts and Socks, this is the 3rd time this look has been used
Manchester United’s again in Black Teamwear Socks (with updated Adidas Logo), the 8th time they have been worn
Aston Villa, Home Kit with alternative claret shorts and socks, the 2nd time for this look
Nottingham Forest’s 3rd Kit with alternative shorts and socks (see above)
Kit Grid – Up to 23rd January 2024
Kit News
It is being widely reported that Aston Villa have signed “Major” Deal with Adidas, replacing Castore from next season. Aston Villa have been supplied by the many kit manufacturers over the years, however this would be the first time that they have worn the “Three Stripes” of Adidas and will be the second club to move from Castore to Adidas with Newcastle United also making that change from 2024/25 Season – Image from @TheShirtUnion
Manchester City have released a “Year of the Dragon” shirt to celebrate the Chinese New Year and it has been reported that this kit will be worn by both Men and Women’s teams at some point this season, with the kit having its own designed nameset I wonder if it will be a cup game that we see this kit, however with the Men away at Tottenham Hotspur in the 4th Round, its not likely to be that game.
Another interesting story that was being report at the end of last week was the potential introduction of “4th” Kits from 2024/25 season. It is not clear if this will be for every team but the reports suggested that one of Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea will have a 4th Kit available for regular use and not seen as a “Special Kit”.
So what we have seen with Crystal Palace and Arsenal this season may become the norm in future season within Premier League!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
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.
The Christmas fixtures are now in full swing with Matchweek 17 being completed over this weekend, however due to the abandonment of the game between AFC Bournemouth and Luton Town there was only nine completed fixtures.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 17 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 81 (No Change from Matchweek 16)
Goalkeeper Kits – 55 (+1 from Matchweek 16)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were no new outfield kits on show this week, this is the first time this season that we have had no new kit looks in a Matchweek.
However, there was one new Goalkeeper kit, with Brighton & Hove Albion using the yellow version of their goalkeeper kit template (last season’s Nike Keeper Template), which also means the three goalkeeper kits used by Brighton this season are the same three kits used last season by the club (Black / Orange / Yellow).
Kit Highlights
Sheffield United wore their home kit away from Brammall Lane for the first time this season when they visited Chelsea on 16th December.
There were 15 Teams in their default Home Kit this matchweek, this is the highest number of default Home Kits on show in one week this season so far and with the abandoned game between AFC Bournemouth and Luton Town, this meant only three teams were in change kits this weekend…. Fulham (Away Kit), Aston Villa (3rd Kit), Manchester United (3rd Kit / Alternative Socks).
My favourite Kit Match Up of this week was at Anfield, with Liverpool playing Manchester United, with an all red versus all white look, there is something very classic looking about this Manchester United kit and although being used with alternative white socks, the overall match up looks somewhat classic in terms of colours and shirt design!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 15 Home Kits, 1 Away Kit and 2 3rd kits in action in this Matchweek (one match abandoned)
There were just the one Kit Variation on show this week…
Manchester United in their 3rd Kit with alternative white socks, creating an All White look. 2nd time this has been used this season.
Kit Grid – Up to 18th December
Kit News
We wish Tom Lockyear all the best in his recovery from his cardic arrest in the game between AFC Bouremouth and Luton Town.
The Premier League fixture will come thick and fast over the fesitve period, we will try and keep on top of things at Kit Geek Towers!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 