The best football kits of this summer are already dropping, as clubs reveal new threads for the 2023/24 season – and there are some exciting designs this time around.
It's not just Premier League kits that are getting released, either. All over Europe, the giants of the game are dropping their new threads, with some of these potential options for you to buy if you're not a fan of whatever your team releases.
And boy, does 2023/24 have some nice shirts in store for us. Let's run through some of the biggest and best sides in Europe and what they'll be wearing over the next 12 months.
Best football kits 2024
Ajax
For the new Ajax home shirt, they've gone full classic. There was a retro Originals jersey that the brand released last season with an old-school badge in the middle and very little else. It appears that top is one of the biggest influences for this one, with not much else on the shirt itself.
Adidas have gone for their "Bold red" shade and white: nothing else. this one feels particularly minimal with very subtle stripes down the red block in the centre of the kit. The badge, Adi logo and sponsor are all sponsored, too. There's a red stripe down the side, too, while the collar just looks gorgeous. We're sticklers for the classics 'n' all – so that ABN-AMRO version that the women's team wear? Yes, please.
The brand-new Ajax away shirt feels particularly modern, especially with that subtle, all-over pattern in what looks pink and green up close, giving this one a slightly off-white look. These kinds of patterns have been massively popular in football kits over the last few years – and this is one of the nicer, more subtle we've seen in recent times.
Thought Ajax's away shirt was nice? Check out the glacial prematch top that blends Adi's Core White shade with a sublime, all-over cyan pattern. Simply unbelievable effort.
Arsenal
This new kit has been designed as a homage to 2003/04 shirt – celebrating 20 years since Arsenal's Invincibles season, which saw them lift the Premier League title after going a full campaign without a defeat. The round neck, white sleeves encroaching up to the collar, and gold touches are all references to that famous year – and that team's record of 26 wins and 12 draws features on the side of the kit.
When Bukayo Saka signed his long-awaited new contract at the Emirates Stadium, the news was presented with Starboy himself donning this prematch top. The lightning bolts that we've come to associate with Arsenal are all over: it's a very nice effort that we'll surely become accustomed to ahead of matches next season.
Barcelona
Nike have switched up the colours for the new Barcelona home kit – although only very slightly – opting for a more striking red and blue than they have in recent seasons. Last season's top saw very dark navy interspersed with the traditional colours, while pinker reds and lighter blues have been used of late.
This one feels genuinely fresh, with the traditional vertical stripes returning once more. It looks like the first time that this particular colour scheme has made an appearance since the early 2000s – and you could imagine a Louis van Gaal side in this.
Bayern Munich
This is going to take a little getting used to…
Bayern Munich are known as Die Roten in Germany – for those of you who didn't do GSCE Deutsch, that's the Reds. So this is some change to see them don white for 2023/24. The shirt takes its cues from the past, however, leaning on the club's old template to deliver something that feels modern and brand new. Wunderbar!
Benfica
To celebrate 120 years of being, current Portuguese champions Benfica are holding the party-poppers, updating their last shirt's collar. That's about it for the changes on this one, with a couple more touches of gold. If you like Benfica shirts, you'll love it.
Rather unusually, Benfica don't just have their shirt colours in their badge: they have the colours of their rivals, too. They're all on display here in vertical lines down the top, in a unique design from Adidas. This one would look great with the returning Angel Di Maria's name on the back, right?
Borussia Dortmund
Too jazzy? Puma like to think outside the box when it comes to football shirts, so printing a graphic of Signal Iduna Park perhaps isn't a surprise. It's a little divisive, to say the least.
Borussia Monchengladbach
OK – so here's one we didn't expect to love this summer. The Borussia Monchengladbach top for next season has polo shirt vibes with a stunning collar and very little embellishment. Very, very classy indeed.
Brighton & Hove Albion
For their first trip into Europe, Brighton's away shirt is something completely different… well, sort of. Former Sassuolo boss Roberto De Zerbi will feel right at home coaching a side donned in green and black stripes in what feels like at most, a big coincidence. It suits the Seagulls, mind.
Celtic
Celtic's away shirt for this season is a kind of charcoal – but while Brendan Rodgers' former side Leicester City were given one of these by Adidas with outrageous pink trim, the Bhoys have a much more palatable pale green flourish on this one. It's a stunning look.
Chelsea
A few things are obviously apparent with this the new Chelsea home shirt. Of course, there isn't a sponsor just yet. That will likely get announced in the next few weeks – but unfortunately, you can't buy the kit from nike.com in the meantime. That feels like a missed opportunity: plenty of fans would want to indulge in that retrotopia and purchase a logoless version of this.
And then there's the crest and Swoosh, which are both iridescent. That's become more and more popular in times – and it's genius here. There isn't any distraction from the club crest or Nike logo on this one, aside from some blocking under the arms and on the cuffs. It's an ever-so-slightly brighter blue rather than a deep, royal shade, too: it feels very modern, despite the callbacks to 30 years ago.
Crystal Palace
FFT loved all three of the scribble-heavy Crystal Palace tops from 2022/23 so imagine our excitement when we heard this new one would be Barcelona-inspired.
And yes – it resembles the iconic half-and-half Blaugrana from 2009's sextuple. But hang on… it's also very similar to Ted Lasso's AFC Richmond shirts from Season 3 of the sitcom. Coincidence? Well, the Greyhounds do film their match scenes at Selhurst Park. Maybe Palace have picked up the wrong tops by accident?
Everton
This is a great effort. Hummel have added the Goodison Park patterning to a stunning white collar, giving Everton one of their classiest tops for years. Shame about the sponsor but you can't have it all.
Fulham
Fulham in different sleeves. If you know, you know.
The west London whites have got different coloured Adidas stripes on either shoulder and it reminds us of the classic Dabs.com top of 04/05. It's something a little different, at least.
Galatasaray
You know what football shirt manufacturers are like. Anything to reinvent the wheel. Galatasaray have had their fair share of quirky riffs on the iconic home top.
Nike have brought it back to the classic look, though. If you've ever thought about getting one new, this is the one to buy, surely?
Juventus
When it first leaked that Juventus were to be given a zebra-striped shirt for next season, it's fair to say that eyebrows were raised. Remember that Manchester United third shirt that divided opinion?
This is quietly one of Juve's nicest tops for years, however. The gimmick is subtle while the yellow is regal enough while being a fresh shade. We like it.
The Juventus away shirt is bold, bright and actually, rooted in club culture. Juventus's customary stripes are turned 90 degrees for rugby-style hoops on this one – and if you look closely, they're actually mountainous-patterned bands across the top rather than thick blocks of colour. That's, of course, to represent the Alps on the outskirts of Turin.
The mixture of the white, the pale pink and the grey works wonderfully together on this one. The logos, piping and three stripes are black. It's everything you want from a Juventus away shirt.
Liverpool
It's a little similar to the last one but you can't deny it's a thing of beauty, can you?
Liverpool shirts simply should look like this. The Reds have brightened up the tone a little and gone back to the 70s. No hints of orange or teal like Nike have added in recent efforts, either.
The new Liverpool away kit is directly influenced by a 1990s classic: it feels like the perfect sweet spot, in many ways. It's fresh and modern while riffing on an old idea that plenty of Liverpudlians will remember the first time around. That pattern is pretty loud – though not as loud as last year's away kit – but it works.
The shade of green is particularly nice and the thick black cuffs and collar really do tie it all together – just as the white cuffs do on the home effort. Nike have released some nice jerseys since linking up with Liverpool but this is among the very finest, without doubt.
Olympique Lyonnais
Lyon's new shirt recalls the noughties heyday when the French side swept Ligue 1 every season, bringing back that vertical stripe down the left side of the chest. The gold in this one has quite the regal look, too. C'est tres bien, lads.
Manchester City
Manchester City have had some stunning kits under Puma thus far… and some that haven't quite hit the mark. The top that had "MAN CITY" written in thick letters wasn't particularly adored – while the centred badge and thick maroon collar has been a little marmite, to say the least.
With the new effort, however, City are taking things back to the early noughties with the lightly-striped sky blue and almost an identical collar to a shirt that Reebok produced for them in 2003/04. That's deliberate – since it's 20 years this year of the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester United
Let's get through the headlines on the new Manchester United home kit before getting to the lovely little flourishes that you only see up close. Yes, it's black stripes yet again. Yes, the iffy collar is gone. Yes, that TeamViewer logo is bigger than ever (eugh).
But it's a deeper red than recent Adidas iterations of the Manchester United colours, while the collar is simple and classy. White is, of course, used for the logos and three stripes. Now look a little deeper and see that stunningly intricate geometric pattern woven across the top of the material. Top marks.
Newcastle United
This might end up being the final Castore kit that Newcastle don. With rumours that the Toon will make a switch at the end of their deal, this is a high note to end on.
The thinner stripes are back for this one, with the Manchester-based manufacturers touting the 1980s retro-inspired collar to soak this one in nostalgia from some of the greatest-ever Tyneside getups.
Let's address the elephant in the room, here. Newcastle United have gone full Saudi Arabia with their new away kit, combining green shirts and white shorts for something that will trigger the "sportswashing" conversations once more.
But focusing purely on the football kit itself, it's an absolute triumph. The pattern feels fresh and different, the colour is rich and using black for the logos and badge is a nice change from seeing a green shirt with white accents. The colour and cuffs mimic the home.
Paris Saint-Germain
If you're anything like us at FourFourTwo, you look forward to the yearly dosage of PSG tops. As one of Nike's biggest clients – possibly their biggest pet project in the sport – there's usually something interesting to be gleaned.
With this new shirt, they're not trying to reinvent the wheel or give the biggest name in their handbook (Kylian Mbappe) something to stand out in. It's a fairly standard football shirt: but it's executed excellently and draws on the past.
C'est tres bien. The away shirt for Paris Saint-Germain is clean, classy and stripped back with the navy and red from the home top carrying through. Will they wear it much or will Nike give them Champions League special shirts in association with Jordan again? Who knows. Nice top, though.
RB Leipzig
It's a fairly standard design this time around for Germany's least favourite side, RB Leipzig, who have zig-zagged shoulders on white. It's straightforward and modern – and it's fairly inoffensive: rather unlike flouting the 50+1 law in the Bundesliga.
Nike have delivered some solid change strips over the years for Leipzig. These is another lovely design that you'd be more than happy to receive in a mystery shirt box, with nice colours. Decent effort.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid's new top uses that same yellow as Juventus's, adding some navy for good measure with a smart collar combining the two colours. There isn't too much embellishment elsewhere: that all-over badge pattern on last year's top really was a one-off.
Jude Bellingham is going to look stunning in this one. Perhaps the modern take on this one was a nod to some of the wonderkids coming through at the Bernabeu?
Roma
Roma's long-awaited move to Adidas is complete and this first home effort is understated, classy and… a little basic? There's no sponsor and this looks almost a carbon copy of the Spain shirt from the World Cup. Still, that's no bad thing: this is a stunning template and the use of that vintage Lupi badge is a fantastic touch.
Tottenham Hotspur
There's plenty to love with the new Tottenham home shirt. There's a subtle, ultra-modern pattern across the top itself, which looks pretty without drawing any unnecessary attention from the gleaming white.
The rest of it is extremely clean, with a rounded collar and basic navy cuffs. It's almost impossible to keep reinventing this wheel – and yet Nike have delivered something much nicer than last year's volt-flavoured home top and more interesting than the previous season's overly-simplistic white tee.
Surely this is a nice enough kit to convince Harry to stay?
West Ham United
West Ham have two home shirts for next season, apparently. Though the Irons are unclear as to what an "anthem shirt" is, we presume that the Conference League title holders have this plainer, vintage top with bubble-style circles over it for their jaunts in Europe next term. It's a lovely look: Umbro have done it again.
