Liverpool to make retro badge change for next season: report
Liverpool supporters may have already got a sneak preview of one of last year's kits
Liverpool are reportedly set to call time on their partnership with Nike at the end of the season, drawing a five-year deal to a close.
The club are yet to comment on these reports, but speculation is growing that the Reds will sign a new agreement with German manufacturer Adidas ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Liverpool’s recent kit history has seen some solid, if unspectacular efforts, with this year’s set of shirts all middle-of-the-pack when it came to FourFourTwo’s ranking this season. But could that be about to change?
Liverpool set to bring back retro badges from the early 1990s
Adidas have been heavily leaning into the retro market over the past couple of seasons, producing a number of crowd-please efforts that have taken iconic club badges of old and drawing inspiration from kits dating back 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years.
And according to kit site Footy Headlines, Liverpool's third kit next season will bring back the club crest that the team used between 1987 and 1992, during Adidas' first partnership with the club.
A 'modern twist' is set to be applied to the badge, which will see the current Liverbird inside the stripped-down old crest that features the words 'Liverpool Football Club'.
The leaked design also features the retro Adidas Trefoil logo and comes in a colour described as 'sea green' that matches up to the away kit that Liverpool used in the 1991/92 and 1992/93 seasons.
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This latest reported design comes after mock-ups for next season's home and away Liverpool shirts appeared, with the red home shirt using the club's current badge that features the initials 'LFC' below it, while the white away shirt has the Liverbird enclosed in a red background without any lettering.
No details of Liverpool's purported new agreement are likely to be confirmed until next year, but fans will hope these designs will bring about another golden age in the club's kit design as Adidas return for a third stint supplying Liverpool's kits.
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The Reds began their current deal with Nike in 2020, after ending their deal with New Balance. This arrangement with Nike sees the club bring in a flat fee of around £35million per year, with additional values seeing the deal worth almost £60million per season.
Should Liverpool's deal with Adidas be confirmed, they will join Arsenal and Manchester United in signing with the German company. The Gunners' deal is an eight-year arrangement with a reported £75million per season value, while the Red Devils signed up for ten years for a reported £900million.
For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.