2023 Football Kit Preview: Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer will kick off its 28th season on Saturday, February 25, with a full slate of matches starting with Nashville SC — who move back to the Eastern Conference this year — hosting New York City SC at 4:30 p.m. Los Angeles Football Club begin their MLS Cup defense with an “El Tráfico” derby against LA Galaxy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, that evening. And expansion franchise St. Louis City SC open their inaugural season with a visit to Texas to face Austin FC.

MLS clubs all unveil one new jersey each offseason, rotating between primary and secondary kits, and keep them for two seasons. If you like what you see here, there’s good news: Adidas and MLS announced on Wednesday, February 22, that they’ve extended their sponsorship contract through the end of the 2030 season.

Here’s a rundown of how each team will look when they take the pitch this season:

Atlanta United’s new home kit is dedicated to their supporters, the “17s.” Broad black vertical stripes run down the front of the red jersey, mimicking the club crest.

Austin FC’s new primary kit features green and black vertical stripes of varying widths run across the front and sleeves. The back is solid green while the Adidas shoulder stripes and side/hem stripes are white.

Charlotte FC’s new secondary kit is predominantly purple, with a pattern of embossed crowns isolated from the club crest all over. The Adidas logo, club crest and sponsor logo are all rendered in monochromatic bright blue.

Chicago’s new secondary kit is the first kit designed specifically for the club’s new crest, which was unveiled in June 2021. The club crest and Adidas logo sit in the center of the chest — the first time the Fire has used this orientation.

FC Cincinnati is drawing inspiration from the Ohio River that runs through the city for their new primary kit. The front of the kit is royal blue, with a tonal water graphic running across the chest. The back collar features a graphic of the word “CINCINNATI” shaped like the city’s famous Roebling Bridge. Another depiction of the bridge appears in the jock tag position.

The Colorado Rapids’ new secondary kit was designed in collaboration with local artist Pat Milbery, who specializes in large-scale street art and murals. It’s inspired by sunrises and sunsets in Colorado, and is designed to raise awareness about mental health issues. The tonal blue geometric pattern on the front and sleeves mirrors Milbery’s style and radiates out from the club crest, which is rendered in two-tone blue. A custom sunset icon on the back collar “serves as a reminder of a new day on the horizon and that the possibilities for a better tomorrow are infinite.”

The front and sleeves of Columbus’s new secondary kit are predominantly black, with the same tonal “isometric checkerboard” pattern found on their primary kits, but streaks and grain added to represent “speed, velocity and movement.” The yellow taping down the sides is embossed with the club mantra, “Never Stand Still.”

FC Dallas announced in January that it had signed a multi-year deal with Children’s Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center to be their new jersey sponsors. As seen above, UT Southwestern Medical Center’s logo appears on the away kits, while the Children’s Health logo will appear on the home kits. The new away kit is inspired by the club’s old Dallas Burn identity, which they used from MLS’s inaugural season in 1996 to 2004.

D.C. United are jumping on the cherry blossom bandwagon for their new secondary kit. It features the capital’s famous pink cherry blossoms across the front of a white shirt. The side and hem striping is black and embossed with the club mantra, “All are Welcome, All are United.”

Houston’s new orange primary jersey features a pattern of large hexagons on the front and sleeves; inside of each of those are squares that get tonally darker as you reach the center. It “celebrates the energy, light and guidance sourced by the Sun with a Texas twist.”

Sporting Kansas City aren’t straying far from their traditional hoops for their new primary kit. The front of the kit features broad navy blue horizontal stripes running across a light blue base. The henley collar, Adidas shoulder stripes, sleeve cuffs, side panels, side/hem stripes and sponsor logos are all navy blue. An argyle “SKC” monogram appears on the back collar.

LAFC are bringing the smoke with their new secondary kit. The base is a pale shade of olive green with a tonal smoke pattern on the front and sleeves. The side panels, Adidas shoulder stripes and collar trim are all a darker shade of olive green. The sponsor logos and side/hem stripes are black, as is the “LA” monogram on the left chest that is isolated from the club crest.

The Galaxy’s new secondary kit is inspired by the colors and design of the Los Angeles city flag. The body of the jersey is solid teal, with gold Adidas shoulder stripes and side/hem stripes and red side panels. The collar and sleeve cuffs feature a teal, yellow and red zigzag pattern.

Inter Miami’s new secondary kit features an embossed wave pattern in hoops across the front of the black jersey. It also introduces a new shade of pink, “Bliss Pink,” which is brighter than what the club has used before and reflects “the vibrant excitement of our fans and the City of Miami at night.”

Minnesota United’s new secondary kit is inspired by the Northern Lights. On the front, strips of color fade from white at the bottom to black, then pink, then light blue at the top. The loon from the club crest is isolated and rendered in black on the left chest — the first time it has appeared on an MNUFC kit without a shield.

CF Montréal announced earlier this month that they would delay the release of their 2023 primary jersey to allow for more consultation with Indigenous groups on an inscription in an Indigenous language to be included on the jersey. In the meantime, they’ll use their grey secondary kit as much as possible.

Nashville SC pay tribute to one of the greats of country music with their new secondary kit: Johnny Cash, “The Man in Black.” The solid black shirt has “iron metallic” and “dark graphite” accents; Cash’s signature adorns the back collar, while the jock tag contains an iconic photo of Cash at Folsom Prison.

New England’s new secondary kit is mostly white, with a solid red sash running diagonally across the front, mimicking the new crest that was introduced last season. Other broad diagonal stripes with varying degrees of speckling run behind the main sash at different angles.

New York City FC’s new primary kit is an ode to the “confluence of cultures that make up” their home city. The base is light blue, with a tonal print of a blown-up club crest made out of subway tiles.

The Red Bulls’ new secondary jersey was designed in collaboration with luxury sportswear designer Daniel Patrick as “a kit that fueled by the desire to innovate.” The front and sleeves feature a teal tie-dye pattern on top of a pale yellow base.

Orlando City’s new primary kit is inspired by The Wall, the safe-standing supporters’ section in Exploria Stadium. The front of the purple jersey is covered in tapering tonal lines arranged to resemble bricks.

Philadelphia’s new secondary kit is inspired by the club’s 2019 MLS Playoffs run, in which they won their first-ever postseason game. The tan and light blue camouflage pattern on the front and sleeves “mirror[s] the intensity with which the team approached all matches” in that run. On the right chest, the snake from the club crest appears on its own in navy blue.

The front, sleeves and side panels of the Timbers’ new green primary jersey are covered in a tonal plaid pattern “to reflect the tight-knit relationship between the club and the community.”

Real Salt Lake’s new yellow secondary kit features an embossed pattern on the front and sleeves of hexagons with tapering lines inside. It’s meant to resemble honeycomb and reference Utah’s nickname of the “Beehive State.”

The front of the Earthquakes’ new primary kit is blue, with a pattern of black gradient parallelograms running diagonally across the front. The pattern is very similar to the one found on Real Madrid’s 2022-23 away kit, though it’s recolored from purple to blue.

In January, the Sounders announced they had signed a deal with health care provider Providence to be their new front-of-shirt sponsor. The new secondary kit pays tribute to martial arts legend Bruce Lee on the the 50th anniversary of his final film, “Enter the Dragon,” and his death with a hand-drawn red-and-black dragon print across the front and sleeves that represents strength and power.

Expansion franchise St. Louis City SC’s inaugural home kit is predominantly “City Red,” and the right side of the front of the jersey features a pattern of tonal diagonal lines meant to mimic the “iconic geographic pattern” of the stainless steel plates on the city’s famous Gateway Arch. The away kit is “Arch Grey” with “River Blue” pinstripes and is “inspired by the metallic and modern design” of the club’s home stadium, CITYPARK.

Toronto FC is looking to capture the heartbeat of their fans with their new primary kit. Dark grey and light grey horizontal stripes run across the front of the shirt, with narrow red stripes at the top and bottom of the dark grey stripes. The stripes running down the sides and across the back hem are red, with a grey soundwave pattern running through them.

This is the first season of the Whitecaps’ new sponsorship deal with Canadian telecommunications giant Telus. The new primary kit retains a broad navy blue stripe across the chest, but adds red stripes within that and light blue horizonal stripes across the front. Names on the back will continue to be navy blue while numbers remain red.