BBC Sport rounds up 2026-27 kit releases and asks readers to vote
BBC Sport on 9 August 2026 published a non-exhaustive, alphabetically ordered roundup of new kits for the 2026-27 season and invited readers to vote for their top 10.
As the new campaign approaches, the article noted fans are tuning into kit launches alongside transfer rumours and fantasy-team changes, with collectors seeking both retro revivals and novel designs. BBC Sport highlighted a wide range of releases, from high-profile European clubs to lower-league and overseas outfits, and asked readers to scroll to the bottom of the page to register their choices.
Several shirts mark anniversaries and historical moments: AC Milan’s new away shirt is modelled by Filippo Inzaghi and Davide Bartesaghi and commemorates 20 years since the club’s last Champions League title, with Inzaghi having scored a brace in the 2007 final in Athens to beat Liverpool. Celtic’s home shirt celebrates 60 years since the Lisbon Lions’ European Cup win with a commemorative badge and an inscription inside the neck. Fiorentina’s centenary home shirt features an embossed pattern inspired by Florence’s Renaissance ornamental frames, while Napoli’s centenary blue includes a 100-year anniversary logo on the club badge.
A number of kits draw directly on memorable matches and stadium history: AFC Wimbledon’s red-and-yellow away strip uses the palette worn on the club’s promotion day on 3 May 1986. Brighton’s home shirt references the strip used in the 1983 FA Cup final, when they lost 4-0 in a replay to Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United. Coventry City’s new home kit takes inspiration from the team that beat Tottenham Hotspur in the 1987 FA Cup final, and Sunderland’s home shirt is informed by the strip worn in the club’s first FA Cup win at Wembley in 1937, incorporating a repeated jacquard 'S'. Wrexham’s home shirt pays tribute to the Racecourse Ground by embossing a pattern that reflects the old Kop’s barriers, which the article notes were demolished in 2023.
Commercial and supplier developments featured alongside design notes: Bournemouth struck a club-record deal with Hummel in May, Blackburn Rovers launched a new partnership with Umbro, and Hull City began a kit partnership with Oxen that the club says evokes late-1970s shirts. Brentford announced their home kit will also be worn during the 2027-28 season in a move described as a commitment to affordability and sustainability. The piece also noted Aston Villa were warned over sportswashing after revealing Visit Rwanda as their new front-of-shirt sponsor last month.
Manufacturers and stylistic trends were highlighted, including Adidas’s retro revival influence on multiple releases and Bayern Munich’s away strip, described as simple and clean with the traditional trefoil logo. The article referenced Hansi Flick as aiming for a third successive La Liga title since taking over as manager in May 2024. Manchester City’s new home kit uses a sky-blue gradient with a print inside the neck reading, "Not Your Typical City," and the piece posed the question, "Following the departure of Pep Guardiola though, will it be typical City under new manager Enzo Maresca?"
Other notable designs called out include Atletico Madrid’s home shirt, which combines the club’s stripes with a subtle trident motif linked to fans at Madrid’s Neptune Fountain; Chelsea’s home kit, which pays homage to their 1990s "Italian Renaissance" under Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola; Sampdoria’s 80-year-anniversary home shirt with an embossed logo across the chest; Strasbourg’s away kit using 1990s-style diamond graphics; and Liverpool’s away shirt inspired by European match ticket stubs from the 1970s and 1980s, alongside a home kit that nods to the Adidas design worn between 1989-1991.
Sergej Jakirovic’s team will return to the Premier League for the first time in a decade this season, kicking off their campaign at home against Manchester United on Saturday 22 August, a fixture noted in the article as part of the wider context for many of the clubs unveiling new shirts.
