Bordeaux Unveils 2021-22 Kits Just in Time, Plus Other Recent European Soccer Reveals

France’s Ligue 1 started this past weekend, with two teams releasing kits just before kickoff, plus four clubs from Italy joined one from England and one from Germany in unveiling new shirts in recent days. Let’s take a closer look …

BORDEAUX – Home & Away

With their first French Ligue 1 match of the 2021-22 season on Sunday, Aug. 8, FC Girondins de Bordeaux snuck in just under the wire with their kit unveilings, releasing both their home and away jerseys on their web store with little fanfare on Friday, Aug. 6.

The home kit is solid navy blue with Bordeaux’s signature white chevron across the chest. This element pushes the sponsor logo down, almost to the stomach. The crew neck collar is navy blue, while the sleeve cuffs and adidas shoulder stripes are white.

Bordeaux’s away kit is solid white, with a navy V-neck collar and sleeve cuffs. The adidas shoulder stripes appear to be navy blue on the right side and dark red on the left. A graphic on the back collar reading “1881 – 2021” acknowledges the club’s history and lines up with the coloring of the shoulder stripes, with “1881” in dark red and “2021” in navy blue.

Bordeaux had adopted a new crest in June 2020 that proved to be unpopular with fans, and when new owners bought the club in 2021, they committed to restoring the old crest. However, the newer crest was still used on the 2021-22 kits due to production timelines and restraints.

LORIENT – Third

French Ligue 1 side FC Lorient pays homage to its hometown’s marine roots with its third kit for 2021-22, made by Kappa. The shirt is predominantly blue, with a tonal graphic on the front that is an abstract depiction of the cranes found at the commercial port, one of five seaports in Lorient. The collar and sleeve cuffs all have white and orange trim. Sponsor logos and the club crest are rendered in white.

🇫🇷 Click here for SportsLogos.net’s full 2021-22 Ligue 1 kit preview! 🇫🇷

NORWICH CITY – Third

After sticking with a canary wing pattern for both their home and away kits for 2021-22, made by Joma, Premier League side Norwich City switched things up for their third kit. The base is “fluorescent coral,” with black trim on the collar and sleeve cuffs. A stripe runs down the front of the short, which fades from coral in the center to black at the outer edges. The main sponsor logo and manufacturer logos are black, and the club crest is monochromatic black.

AC SPEZIA – Home, Away and Third

After surviving their first-ever season in Italy’s Serie A during the 2020-21 campaign, AC Spezia return with new kits made by Italian manufacturer Acerbis. All three follow the same template, with a black polo collar, black trim on the sleeve cuffs and hem, and two vertical stripes running down the left side of the shirt, under the club’s monogram. All three also feature tonal vertical stripes, with miniature versions of the monogram inside the stripes. The badge on the right chest commemorates Spezia’s Italian league championship in 1944, which was not officially recognized until 2002 since the league operated with a reduced number of teams and a different format that year due to World War II.

Left to right: Home, away, third. *(Photo courtesy **Footy Headlines**)*

CAGLIARI – Third

While we’ve yet to see Cagliari’s home and away kits ahead of the 2021-22 Serie A season, the Italian club have given us a look at their new third kit, made by adidas. The shirt is predominantly light blue, with navy blue panels curving along the sides. The sleeves feature a hexagonal halftone pattern that fades into zigzags as it moves toward the cuffs. The V-neck collar is light blue, while the adidas shoulder stripes are dark blue.

UC SAMPDORIA – Away

Italian Serie A side Sampdoria’s away kit for 2021-22, made by Macron, takes the striping traditionally found around the chest of the club’s home kit and turns it into something of a sash on a predominantly white shirt. The shield of St. George, which is derived from the coat of arms of the city of Genoa, retains its place in the middle of the shirt. The henley collar is white, while the sleeve cuffs have blue trim.

GENOA CFC – Third

Speaking of the Genoa coat of arms, it takes the place of the club crest on the 2021-22 third kit for Sampdoria’s crosstown Serie A rivals, Genoa CFC. The kit is mainly light grey, with a darker grey stripe running down the left side of the kit, under the badge, that is styled to look like the Lanterna di Genova, one of the city’s most famous landmarks. The sleeve cuffs have white and red trim to match the badge, while the collar features both shades of grey.

HERTHA BERLIN – Third

After unveiling their home and away kits in late June, German Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin debuted a new third kit made by Nike for their DFB-Pokal first-round match against SV Meppen on Sunday, Aug. 8. The shirt is solid red, with tonal diagonal stripes down the front. The club crest is in full colour, while sponsor logos appear in white.