A new football season means new players, new managers and new dreams. But let’s be honest, what we all look forward to the most each summer are the much anticipated new kit launches.

Last week, Puma released the new template for their club’s third kits, and it’s fair to say the reaction online was somewhere between mixed and highly offended. Replacing the traditional crest of each club is large lettering spelling out the name of the respective club, squeezed between the logos of Puma and the respective principal shirt sponsor.

As part of the kit launch Puma clarified the lack of club crest in their tweet: Rewrite the rules. Introducing the 3rd kits of the FAM’ (Yes, the badges are there. All over the kits actually.)

 

Resembling something you might find on a market stall on your summer holidays in Spain, Manchester City, AC Milan and Marseille are just some of the unfortunate clubs that will have to wear these monstrosities this season.

But let’s be honest, Puma’s marketing team have played a blinder here. They knew outrage was forthcoming with these designs; it’s all we’ve seen on football Twitter in recent days. Retweets are the biggest form of free marketing available.

So, in honour of this heinous kit crime, we’re going to take a look at some of the kits doing the rounds this season. Some great, some good, and some just plain awful…

Juventus third kit

Is this a football shirt or a rugby league shirt? Either way, we’re not having it. We like that the Adidas logo is following the trend of the manufacturer’s other third kits this season at the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid by being two-coloured and showcasing the brand’s iconic 1990s look. Apart from that though we hope Ronaldo kicks up a real stink over this one.

 

Bayern Munich Champions League kit

Inspired by “mountain panorama of Munich’s surroundings”, this kit gets a thumbs up from us. With a clear and obvious mountain range graphic featured throughout the design, this Adidas effort is offering something unique but also tasteful. It’s here that we hand over to Bayern’s Thomas Muller (or the club’s marketing team) for his thoughts on the design: “Being a born-and-bred Bavarian, I particularly like this look. I love the mountains, I love my home, and I think it’s nice we can illustrate to the whole world this special attitude to life we have here with this jersey.”

Inter Milan home and away kit

Ok, we’ve cheated here by featuring two Inter kits, but there is so much going on across both efforts. We do have a couple of questions, though. Firstly, where have the stripes gone on the home effort? We like the snakeskin design, a lot, but it’s not Inter, is it? Secondly, did you know that Inter’s nickname is ll Biscione (The Big Grass Snake)? No, neither did we. Hence the inspiration for both kits. The new club crest looks smart. Admit it though – you didn’t even notice, did you? As ever though, a beautiful kit can be ruined by the sponsor logo that is plastered across its chest, and in this case it’s a complete horror show. Gone is Firelli, the tyre brand that has been synonymous with the club for 26 years, and in its place has come Socios.com with the brand-new Inter Fan Token. It’s like throwing a can of alphabetti over the Mona Lisa.

 

Tottenham Hotspur away shirt

First, an admission. The writer of this piece is a Spurs fan who has spent the last four years bemoaning Nike’s lack of creativity when it comes to their Tottenham kit efforts. Not any longer. A venom green cockerel sitting on top of a swirling galaxy? Count us in. It’s outrageous, ridiculous, marvellous and like something you’d dream up at 2am at Glastonbury. It’s total marmite, but an effort that will surely go down as a cult classic.

Norwich City away

We like this kit, a lot. Big Tron vibes with the black shirt and turquoise trim. More teams should have black kits. According to the Norwich City website, the sleeves apparently “take inspiration from the wings of the Canary”. Ok then, if you say so.

Hummel Rainbow warm-up kit

This might not be a playing kit, but it’s something much more important than that. Danish brand Hummel created warm up shirts for Everton, Southampton and Brondby IF to wear recently to show their support for the fight for diversity and inclusivity in sports. The kits are now being auctioned off to raise money for LGBT+ awareness programmes. Bravo to all involved!