While North America’s May offers a relative void of new uniform unveils—we’ve already seen what NFL and MLB plan to offer and NBA, MLS and NHL are too busy playing games to give us anything new—we can turn to international soccer for some colorful interest.
As teams finish up their global seasons, offering a new kit for a final game or announcing next year’s look immediately following the season gives fans something to look forward to (and purchase during the off-season).
Let’s run down some of the big-name clubs to reveal new looks for the coming fall season, tossing in a couple of new cleats along the way.
England
To celebrate England’s Football Association’s 150th anniversary, the home look mimics classic uniforms of the past, with white and dark blue the key colors. The three lions crest was prominently featured in dark blue on the team’s first kit and, once again, has a focus on the white jersey with a gold border and a gold star above it signifying England’s lone World Cup win. A gold ribbon with the wordmark “150 years” flutters beneath the logo.
The blue on the new look is the same as on the first kit. The white shirt features a dark blue classic crew-neck color and the side vents on the hem of the shirt subtly offer St. George’s cross. The shorts are dark blue, with white socks adding a think dark blue band across the top.
Just days after the home kit reveal, England added to its wardrobe by introducing its red away uniform, complete with buttons. Yeah, buttons.
England first wore red in 1951 and then again when the team captured its World Cup title at Wembley Stadium in 1966. The new away shirt uses that same red and adds a throwback touch with a tailored color. The placket has two buttons—one red and one white. The jersey also features England’s three lions crest.
The away kit offers white shorts with another gold crest and red socks with a thin white band at the top.
Manchester City
Making a debut in Nike threads, Manchester City’s new kit continues to offer a sky blue body with a white ribbed crew neck and white ribbed cuffs on the sleeves. The collar and cuffs feature dark blue trim to represent the color of the socks City wore as part of one of their first-ever kits in 1892.
The club’s crest is inside a shield. Inside the neck is a label featuring the words “Pride in Battle.”
The new home shorts are white with a thin sky blue stripe along each side, and the socks are white with a sky blue band with dark blue trim at the top to represent the socks the club wore for more than half a century from 1892.
Barcelona
With the addition of Neymar to play alongside Lionel Messi, Barcelona revealed two looks for next season.
The traditional FC Barcelona red and blue stripes return to the home shirt with a graphic fade stripe feature on the sleeves. Also expect a yellow V-neck collar to represent the Catalan flag, the Senyera, which is also fully integrated into the back of the collar. Inside the back of the neck is a woven label featuring the club’s motto “Mes que un Club” (More than a Club).
The new home shorts are blue, and the socks feature a thin yellow stripe at the top and a graphic red-and-blue stripe repeated from the sleeves.
For the first time, FC Barcelona will play in an away kit featuring the red and yellow of the Catalan flag as the club’s traditional stripes.
The away shirt features a yellow-ribbed crew neck with red trim. Bold yellow and red appears as the traditional stripes on the body of the jersey and in the fade stripe on the sleeves.
The new away shorts are red, and the new away socks feature a thin red stripe at the top and the same yellow and red fade stripe from the sleeves.
Juventus
Don’t look much past tradition for Juventus next season. The fitted jersey features the club’s well-known black and white stripes, this time in a thinner style reminiscent of the kits Juventus wore during its dominant run in the 1980s.
The shirt has a lowered white V-neck collar—also inspired by the 1980s kits—a black stripe print on the cuffs and two side vents on the hem with a flash of black. The bold, bonded black tape at the bottom of the V-neck is a nod to Turin, home to Juventus and the industrial capital of Italy, according to press materials.
Inside the neck is a woven label featuring a shield with the club’s founding year of 1897. On the back of the shirt is the familiar black panel unique to Juventus to hold the players’ names and numbers.
The home shorts are black with a printed stripe along each side, while the socks are white with a black block on the back.
Flamengo
Brazilian club Flamengo offered up a home shirt with plenty of color, including thick black and red stripes with the team’s crest embroidered on one of the black stripes.
The away jersey is reminiscent of the one worn when Flamengo won the world title against Liverpool, predominantly white, with details in black and red on the shoulders.
The club’s anthem” Once Flamengo, always Flamengo” is on the back of both kits.
Paris Saint-Germain
The new Paris Saint-Germain home kit offers a navy blue jersey with vertical color blocking, a traditional look for the French club. The shirt also has a blue ribbed crew-neck collar and contrasting red ribbed cuffs on the sleeves.
The new home shorts are blue with a thin red stripe along each side. The socks feature blue with a white-and-red band at the top, along with the more traditional red-and-white stripe on the back.
Galastaray
Turkish club Galastaray combined its traditional design of red and yellow halves, but for the first time the cuffs and the crew-neck collar also gets divided equally in a new home kit.
The design is inspired by similar looks worn in the 1950s and 1960s.
The new home shorts are white with a thin yellow stripe along the side. The socks are red with a thin yellow band at the top and on the back is a yellow block.
Adidas Nitrocharge and Nike Hypervenom
Two new soccer boots were unveiled less than a week apart, adding new colors and footwear options to an already colorful on-pitch look.
