Quartet of Italian Clubs Headline Recent European Kit Unveilings

Italy’s Serie A leads the way in our latest roundup of recent football kit unveilings from across Europe’s top leagues, with four clubs releasing new jerseys over the past few days. Two French clubs and one each from Spain and Germany also showed up on our radar. Let’s take a look …

ATALANTA BC – Home, Away & Third

Atalanta BC hope to once again be near the top of the Serie A table in 2021-22 in new kits manufactured by Joma. The home kit takes Atalanta’s usual motif of blue and black stripes and adds some gold in between. The sleeve cuffs are blue with black trim, and the polo collar is mostly blue, with black striping near the ends.

The away kit is predominantly white, with alternating black and blue vertical pinstripes on the front and sleeves. The crest is a golden silhouette of the club’s namesake, a female athlete from Greek mythology, that was part of Atalanta’s crest from 1963 to 1984. The sleeve cuffs and collar carry over from the home kit.

Atalanta’s third kit is solid coral, with an embossed graphic of the Renaissance Stand of the club’s home, Gewiss Stadium, on the lower left corner. The name of Atalanta’s home city, Bergamo, is also embossed on the left sleeve. Sponsor logos appear in black, while Joma logos appear in blue. The sleeve cuffs once again carry over, and the collar has only a slight difference, with coral replacing black on the thickest stripes near the ends.

UC SAMPDORIA – Home

Italian Serie A side UC Sampdoria’s home kits for 2021-22 honour the club’s traditions without adding much in the way of bells and whistles. The jersey, made by Macron, is mainly blue and features white, red and black striping around the chest, as it has for decades. On top of the chest stripe is the shield of St. George, which is derived from the coat of arms of the city of Genoa, where the club is based. The club crest featuring a silhouette of a fisherman — the “Baciccia,” as he is known — is on the left chest, while manufacturer logos appear in white.

US SASSUOLO – Away

While they may still be dealing with last week’s news of Serie A’s new rules about green kits, US Sassuolo still has this season to worry about. They unveiled new third kits back in May, and then this week released their away kit for 2021-22. It is predominantly white, with a half-green, half-black chevron pattern on the chest. The crew neck collar and sleeve cuffs are green, as is the sponsor logo on the front of the shirt. Puma logos appear in black on the chest and sleeves.

HELLAS VERONA – Away

Like their home kits unveiled earlier this month, Serie A side Hellas Verona’s away kits for 2021-22 commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of death of poet Dante Aligheri, who penned The Divine Comedy. Dante fled to Verona after being exiled from Florence and lived there from 1312 to 1318.

The jersey is mainly white, with brush strokes in yellow and blue — the colours of Hellas Verona — on the bottom half of the front. The V-neck and sleeve cuffs are blue, as are two inserts on the shoulders and a stripe along the hem. The word “VERONA” is embroidered in white thread near the back collar. Printed on the inside of the jersey, near the hem, is a passage from the third cantica of The Divine Comedy: “Ch’in te avrà sì benigno riguardo” (“Who such benign regard shall have for thee,” according to an English translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow released in 1997). A tag inside the collar commemorating Dante’s death carries over from the home kit.

MAINZ 05 – Home

German Bundesliga side Mainz 05 have pulled the old switcheroo for their 2021-22 home kits. Whereas their 2020-21 home kits had a red body (with a tonal pattern) and a red-and-white geometric pattern on the sleeves, Mainz has flipped the script for 2021-22, putting the pattern on the body and making the sleeves solid red. The crew neck collar is red with white trim.

RAYO VALLECANO – Home, Away & Third

Fresh off promotion to Spain’s La Liga for the 2021-22 season, Rayo Vallecano and Umbro have teamed up for a fresh take on the club’s usual kits. Rayo has a long history of wearing a red sash on a white home kit, but this year they’ve pulled the lightning bolt from the club crest and splashed it across the front of the shirt. The sleeve cuffs are thick and black, with an Umbro double-diamond pattern on part of it. The collar is mostly black, with a white and red insert at the front.

The away kit sticks with a regular red sash on a black base, but adds realistic-looking lightning bolts down it and the sleeves. Red stripes are also present at the shoulders and hem. The collar and cuffs are the same as on the home kit, while the club crest is recoloured in red and black.

Rayo’s third kit brings back the lightning bolt sash, this time in white on a background that fades from light blue to a slightly darker shade. The sponsor logo is navy blue, and the club crest is recolour in blue, navy and white. The sleeve cuffs are white with a blue Umbro pattern insert, and the collar is blue with some white trim on the front.

MONTPELLIER HSC – Home, Away & Third

Navy blue with orange trim is a consistent motif for French Ligue 1 side Montpellier HSC, and one they and Nike are sticking to for 2021-22. The home kit features orange horizontal pinstripes down the front of a navy blue shirt. The V-neck collar and sleeve cuffs are also orange. Underneath the badge is the lettering “CHAMP10NS,” commemorating the 10th anniversary of Montpellier’s Ligue 1 championship in the 2011-12 season.

The away kit swaps in white for the base of the jersey and navy blue for the collar and cuffs, while maintaining the orange pinstripes and the “CHAMP10NS” lettering under the crest.

The third kit is an even bigger celebration of that championship anniversary, with gold accents on a black jersey. The V-neck collar, side stripes and shoulder inserts are gold, as are all the sponsor logos. The club crest is rendered in monochromatic gold. The only white elements on the jersey are the Nike logo and the “10” in the “CHAMP10NS” lettering under the crest.

FC LORIENT – Home & Away

Meanwhile, Montpellier’s Ligue 1 counterparts FC Lorient are also in on orange for 2021-22, though in a much bigger way. Made by Kappa, Lorient’s home kit is solid orange, with tonal diagonal lines down the front. Black panels appear under each arm, along with a black stripe on each sleeve cuff and black trim on the collar. Sponsor and manufacturer logos appear in white.

Lorient’s away kit is predominantly white, with orange and black brush strokes across the chest. Black and orange trim appears on each sleeve cuff, and the collar has orange trim. The main sponsor logo appears on the brush strokes in white, while other sponsor and manufacturer logos are black.