Everyone loves a classic kit, and it’s a growing trend that football clubs return to the old days as they release fresh gear each year for the upcoming season.
Many have done so in the recent past, so it’s time to take a look at seven occasions where historic kits have resurfaced at top-level football clubs.
Arsenal captain Thierry Henry celebrates / Carl D’Souza / Getty Images
Despite the color being synonymous with red, Arsenal shook things up for the 2005/06 season by releasing a home kit in a color described as ‘redcurrant’.
Marking the club’s final season at Highbury, Arsenal have brought back one of the first shirts worn at the ground in the early 1900s, adding the iconic gold accents that make the kit feel It means something special.
It’s hard not to picture Thierry Henry and Robert Pires strutting their stuff in this stunning kit in the 2006 Champions League final, where they came on shortly after against Barcelona.
This centennial strip of Barcelona is famous / Clive Brunskill / Getty Images.
To celebrate 100 years of existence, Barcelona released a stunning centenary kit for the 1999/2000 season paying homage to some of the earliest jerseys in the club’s history.
The half and half color scheme was a staple of Barcelona’s early years, and the dates across the chest only added to the striking style. It didn’t actually prove too lucky for Barça, who lost their league title and sacked manager Louis van Gaal after all was said and done.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the one who donned this Inter away strip / Claudio Villa / Getty Images
Inter’s away shirt for 2007/08 came as a real surprise to fans, many of whom had never seen such a design before.
The white base was fine, but the red cross felt dangerously close to the colors of cross-town rivals AC Milan. Inter actually wore that strip in the 1928/29 season, when they went by the name Società Sportiva Ambrosiana. It was a one-season thing and was only implemented after Inter were forced to temporarily rebrand under Benito Mussolini.
Brought back to celebrate the club’s 100-year anniversary, it clearly proved lucky as Inter won the Serie A title.
Ronaldo scores plenty of goals in this throwback Real Away kit / David Ramos/Getty Images
After years of keeping their away kits predominantly black, Real Madrid shook it up in 2011 by releasing a red shirt – something a generation of fans had never experienced since the 1970s. It was Real’s only other return to red.
The design wasn’t lucky for Real at the time, enduring their first season without a trophy in nearly 20 years, but things went much better the second time around as Los Blancos lifted the La Liga title in record-breaking fashion.
Jose Mourinho’s side were the first to reach 100 points in a La Liga season and also set the record for most goals scored in a single year. They had Cristiano Ronaldo’s 46 strikes to thank for that.
Kingsley Coman recently scored in the Champions League final/TF-Images/Getty Images
One of the most iconic Bayern Munich kits in recent memory was the 2017/18 home kit, which reintroduced the white strips worn by the dominant sides of the 1970s.
Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, “I was lucky enough to wear the 1977 kit and even then I really liked the design.” “This kit marks the beginning of a great era.”
Bayern were already in the middle of their new era when they brought back the stripes, and the era is still going strong to this day.
Miroslav Klose rocks this cool Lazio kit in 2015 / Paolo Bruno/Getty Images
Midway through the 2014/15 season, Lazio unveiled a special 115th anniversary home shirt to be worn for the remainder of the campaign, bringing back the iconic eagle that symbolized Italian football in the 1980s. He was blessed.
It helped inspire Lazio on a run of form that saw them cement a place in the Champions League, and the design proved so popular that it was brought back just three years later.
During his second (or third) visit, the Eagles led Lazio to Coppa Italia glory in what was another disappointing season.
Chelsea’s one-off cut was stunning / Robin Jones/Getty Images
Instead of bringing back their historic kit for a full year, Chelsea opted to wear a throwback kit for their FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest in January 2020. It was a double for the Blues wearing the shirt that lifted the FA Cup back. 1970.
What emerged was a golden Chelsea lion, with blue against the backdrop of the sponsors, and it quickly became one of the club’s most popular releases of the modern era.
It was saved for subsequent games, but ever since it first came out, fans have been clamoring for its return.
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