Chelsea Turns Back the Clock to the ’90s with New Home Kit – Plus More Launches Across Europe

Like fellow English Premier League contenders Liverpool did with their away kit, Chelsea FC are turning back the clock to the 1990s for their 2023-24 home kit, made by Nike.

The kits are a throwback to the 1997-98 season, when Chelsea won the League Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with players like Gianfranco Zola, Dennis Wise and Roberto Di Matteo. They’re solid royal blue with white panels under the arms that taper to a point along the sides of the shirt. The sleeve cuffs are also white, but with black and gold trim.

The club crest and Nike swoosh on the chest are iridescent gold, highlighting “the prestige and glamour of the famous King’s Road in the ’90s,” according to the club’s announcement. “Shimmering in gold, the lion roars on the shirt — symbolic of Chelsea’s prestige and history.”

While the photos accompanying the announcement didn’t show a front-of-shirt sponsor, Chelsea did warn potential buyers that one may be on the way. The club had worn the logo of telecom company Three since 2020-21.

Chelsea begin a preseason tour of the United States on Thursday, July 20. During the tour, they’ll play friendlies against Wrexham AFC, Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United, Fulham and Borussia Dortmund.

WEST HAM UNITED – Home

Chelsea’s cross-London Premier League rivals West Ham United pay homage to a club legend with their 2023-24 home kits, made by Umbro. They feature the club’s traditional claret body and sky blue sleeves, but the front of the shirt includes a pattern of tonal bubbles with white highlights.

The bubbles reference the club’s anthem, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” for which there are a couple of different origin stories. Some say it started with Billy Murray, a West Ham players in the 1920s, who got the nickname “Bubbles” because of his resemblance to a curly-haired child in Pears Soap ads of the time. Others say it started with the Beckton Gas Works Band, who used to play it pitchside at West Ham’s old stadium, the Boleyn Ground. The song was also sung in London Tube stations during the Blitz in World War II, and it rang through the terraces when West Ham won the War Cup in 1940.

SSC NAPOLI – Home and Away

Defending Italian Serie A champions SSC Napoli are ushering in a new era with their 2023-24 home and away kits, made by Emporio Armani. The home kit retains the club’s signature light blue base, but adds white piping along the seams of the raglan sleeves and the colors of the Italian flag trimming the collar and sleeve cuffs. The scudetto — a shield with the Italian flag inside and bordered in gold denoting the previous season’s league champions — sits in the middle of the chest, between the club crest and the manufacturer’s logo.

The away kit has a white base and navy blue on the collar, sleeve cuffs and piping. The front of the shirt features a tonal print of Mt. Vesuvius in Naples, “a symbol of the city’s identity.” It also has an “all-over ‘N’ motif using a hot stamping technique on breathable technical material with Dry Touch technology.”

Both kits feature the logo of global shipping company MSC by itself on the front. In recent years, the MSC logo had appeared under the red script logo of sparkling water brand Lete, but now it flies solo after Lete’s partnership with Napoli — which had been in place since 1998 — came to an end.

JUVENTUS – Away

Meanwhile, another Italian club is looking to the mountains for their 2023-24 away kits. Juventus launched their new away kits on Monday, July 10, which feature a “craggy texture” that mirrors the landscape of Monte Rosa — a mountain in the Pennine Alps that towers over the city of Turin — in the grey and pink hoops that run across the white base. The club crest and Adidas logo on the chest are black, as are the Adidas shoulder stripes, the trim on the sides of the collar and the taping down the sides and across the back hem. The logo of sponsor Jeep on the front of the shirt has lightning bolts running through it, as it has since 2021-22, to promote the company’s line of electric vehicles.

HELLAS VERONA – Home

After ending their deal with Macron and signing a new one with Joma, Italian Serie A side Hellas Verona have unveiled their 2023-24 home kit, which marks the 60th anniversary of their home stadium, the Marcantonio Bentegodi Stadium. The front of the shirt features tonal blue vertical stripes, and in the lighter stripes are historical nicknames of the stadium. The crew neck collar and sleeve cuffs are yellow, as are the stripes down the sides of the shirt.

FSV MAINZ 05 – Away

After unveiling a red-and-white checkerboard home kit last week, German Bundesliga side FSV Mainz 05 carry that same motif over to their 2023-24 away kit, made by Jako. The kit is navy blue with a tonal checkerboard pattern all over the front, back and sleeves. Overlaid on that is another tonal geometric pattern that Mainz has used on almost every one of its kits in recent years. The club crest and sponsor logos are all rendered in monochrome gold.

1. FC KÖLN – Away

As they’ve done with other club teams they supply — like Werder Bremen — Danish sportswear company Hummel has outfitted Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln in kits based on Denmark’s national team jerseys from 1986. In Köln’s case, the kit has a red base, with lighter tonal narrow stripes on the right side of the shirt and darker tonal stripes on the left side. The crew neck collar is red with a white stripe through the center, and light red Hummel chevrons run down the shoulders. The Hummel and sponsor logos on the chest are white.

LILLE OSC – Home

The 2023-24 season marks the return of a familiar design element to French Ligue 1 side Lille OSC’s home kits, made by New Balance. A V-shaped chevron — known as “le scapulaire” — has appeared on Lille’s home kits in various forms throughout the club’s history, though it was noticeably absent in several recent seasons. It’s back in a big way this year, though, with tonal chevrons of varying widths covering the entire front of the shirt. The back and sleeves are solid red, with a white diagonal stripe on the right sleeve and a white horizontal bar on the left sleeve containing a New Balance flash. The V-neck collar is white except for the front right quadrant. The “LOSC” wordmark with a fleur-de-lis from the club crest is isolated and printed in white on the back collar. The only blue on the kit is in the crest.

VALENCIA CF – Away

Over in Spain, La Liga side Valencia CF is embracing the future with its 2023-24 away kit, made by Puma. According to the club, it “has been designed around two key concepts: design and creativity, with the Club’s youngest fans in mind and the digital era as its point of reference.” The shirt is navy blue with lighter blue pinstripes down the front, to which a glowing effect has been added. The V-neck collar and sleeve cuffs are solid navy blue, while orange is used as an accent color in the club crest and sponsor logos.