Chelsea, Bayern Munich Headline Recent 2022-23 Kit Unveilings from Around Europe

Premier League side Chelsea FC are paying tribute to a club legend with their 2022-23 home kits, made by Nike.

The kits were unveiled on Thursday, July 7, and use Nike’s new Vaporknit template, with a geometric pattern woven into the fabric.

The kits are meant to honour Ted Drake, one of the most important figures in the club’s history. Drake was appointed Chelsea’s manager in 1952, and he led the team to its first-ever top flight title in 1955. Off the pitch, he changed the club’s nickname from “the Pensioners” to “the Blues,” and he introduced a lion to the club’s crest, which remains to this day.

The 2022-23 home shirt is solid blue, with a white henley collar. Tributes to Drake come in the form of “THE BLUES” inscribed onto the collar button, and a turqoise lion pattern woven into the white collar.

Irish telecom company Three remains Chelsea’s main front-of-shirt sponsor, despite almost terminating their agreement last season. The club has also brought on digital investing platform WhaleFin as a sleeve sponsor.

BAYERN MUNICH – Away

The kid is alright, Bayern Munich have decided. The German Bundesliga side’s away kit last season paid tribute to the city of Munich with the Münchner Kindl, a symbol from the city’s coat of arms, printed in gold on the black of a predominantly black kit. That detail returns on Bayern’s 2022-23 away kit, though this time the base of the jersey is white. Just about everything else on the kit is gold, too, including the club crest, the sponsor logos, the Adidas shoulder stripes, and piping on the sleeve cuffs.

*Photos courtesy **Bayern Munich** and **@FCBayernEN** / Twitter*

BORUSSIA DORTMUND – Away

Bayern’s Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund celebrate the return of fans to the stands of Signal Iduna Park with their 2022-23 away kit, made by Puma. The black shirt features an irregular grey checkerboard pattern on the right side, symbolizing the flags flown by fans in their home stadium. Yellow stripes go around the V-neck collar and sleeve cuffs.

WEST HAM UNITED – Away

Premier League side West Ham United are taking inspiration from the club’s “roots deep in the heart of [London’s] vibrant East End” for their 2022-23 away kit, made by Umbro. The kit is almost totally solid black, except for the thick sleeve cuffs, which contain a pattern of white, sky blue and pink shapes “inspired by the 100-year-old ship slipway at Thames Ironworks.” The logos on the chest, including the club crest, appear in one-colour white applications.

FC LORIENT – Home

French Ligue 1 side FC Lorient unveiled their first kit with new supplier Umbro this week. The club’s traditional orange base is augmented with a tonal wave pattern. Over top of that is a pattern of diagonal diamonds that contain thin black strokes to represent the nearby sea. The design is anchored by a black crew neck collar and sleeve cuffs, while sponsor logos are printed in white.

US SASSUOLO – Home

Puma and Italian Serie A side US Sassuolo have put a modern twist on the club’s home kit for 2022-23. Like other Puma kits unveiled this year (see: AC Milan, Girona FC and some national team kits), the black vertical stripes on the green base stop just below the club crest. A black panel runs across the shoulders. The crew neck collar and sleeves are solid green, while the sleeve cuffs are black.

DEPORTIVO ALAVÉS – Home, Away and Third

After harkening back to the 1920s to celebrate their 100th anniversary last year, Spanish ~~La Liga~~ (EDIT: Segunda División — didn’t catch that they’d been relegated) side Deportivo Alavés returns to their traditional blue and white vertical stripes at home in 2022-23, their first season with new kit supplier Puma. The crew neck collar and sleeve cuffs are blue, and the sleeves are solid white.

Alavés’s away kit is mostly white, with blue and black diagonal chalk stripes across the front. Like the home kit, the collar and sleeve cuffs are blue. The third kit is mostly grey, with a black checkerboard pattern on the right side. The left sleeve is grey and the right sleeve is black, with contrasting sleeve cuff colours, and the crew neck collar is black. Puma logos appear in “power blue,” and the club crest is rendered in black and power blue.