As a monumental year of football kits draws to a close, GOAL takes a deep dive into all the very best kit releases of 2022. In one place.
From statement shirts to fashion collabs. World Cup kits to the Premier League. Bundesliga to Serie A. Delivering the best of the best in the matter of kits. We've got 20 categories to present, so strap in and prepare to bare witness to the best 2022 had to offer.
Without any further delay, we introduce to you the GOAL 2022 Kit Awards.
Honourable Mentions: Athens Kalithea Home, Japan x Nigo “For Japan”
It’s something of a cliche to call Venezia the coolest club in the world now, but the team’s 2022-23 home kit only reinforced its credentials.
Designed alongside fashion consultancy Bureau Borsche, the shirt combined a black base with orange and green stripes before metallic gold detailing took it to another level.
The long sleeve version, in particular, has proven itself to be just as at home as a statement shirt as it is on the pitch.
Honourable Mentions: Stone Island x New Balance, Daily Paper x Ajax
Building on its long-standing work with London-based label Aries, New Balance invited the brand to collaborate with AS Roma.
The resulting capsule focused on a new home shirt for the Italian club – which was worn in a friendly against Yokohama F. Marinos – mixed the traditional Giallorossi colour scheme with a yellow stripe in a marbling effect.
2022 was the year that football and fashion collaborations reached a new level, but it was Aries’ work with AS Roma that set the standard.
Honourable Mentions: Real Madrid x Marvel, Arsenal Jamaica
While initially a shock, Jordan Brand has proved itself to be one of the best kit partners a team could have through its work with PSG.
This season, the highlight of the partnership was the pre-match shirt, which came in a sleek black design. The jersey was covered with an abstract dark grey pattern while white detailing – including the iconic Jumpman logo – helped to finish the design.
Honourable Mentions: Germany, France
The 2022 World Cup has been packed with some of the best designs in recent tournament memory, but it's Japan who ran away with the award for the best home kit.
The country’s traditional blue design is covered with origami cranes, reflecting the national belief that making 1000 origami cranes results in a wish being granted. It clearly worked for Japan, who recorded historic wins against Germany and Spain during the World Cup.
Honourable Mentions: England, Mexico
Whereas Argentina played it relatively safe with their home kit, the adidas-designed away kit was a departure.
A purple base was used – as an expression of support for gender equality – but the stand-out detailing was the flame pattern.
The huge print was a nod to the Sol de Mayo at the centre of the Argentinian flag, a motif that also repeated on the back of the neck.
Honourable Mentions: Man City, West Ham
Arsenal may have emerged as the surprise Premier League leaders, but the North London club has also established itself as the kit champions this season. Arsenal’s home shirt is the pick of the bunch.
The key feature is the addition of a white collar, contrasting against the red of the body, and finished with a lightning-style pattern. Maybe they can win it, after all.
Honourable Mentions: Aston Villa, Man Utd
With their 2022-23 away kit, West Ham showed exactly how to twist an otherwise classic shirt.
For the most part, the shirt is a minimal black design – so far, so simple – but West Ham and Umbro added a bright graffiti print around each sleeve in a nod to the club’s East London roots.
All in all, it's just the perfect amount of abstract detailing needed to level up the club’s away shirt.
Honourable Mentions: Leeds, Wolves
Arsenal makes it two out of three with their third kit, which arrives in a pink colour inspired by the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse in Woolwich.
The pink is combined with a dark navy and a thin, light blue line around the neck. The subtle details continue with the return of the club’s ermine pattern, not seen since the late 1990s, as an all-over print.
Honourable Mentions: Vallecano, Valencia
There’s not much you can do with Real Madrid’s classic white home shirt, meaning that there’s a lot of scope to get it wrong.
This season, though, the Spanish club added a purple trim across its shoulders and collar. The incorporation of purple – their traditional away colour – perfectly shows how such a subtle change can make a big difference.
Honourable Mentions: Real Madrid, Athletic
Barcelona have nodded to the 1992 Olympics with their kits for this season, with this theme best showcased by the gold away kit.
The colour is, unsurprisingly, a nod to the medals won at those games. Other details reinforce the theme, including a subtle map of the city and brightly coloured stripes around each sleeve – one in each colour of the five Olympic rings.
Honourable Mentions: Almeria, Mallorca
Atletico Madrid’s home kit this season led to outrage amongst its fans, but the club has managed to claw back some accolades through its third kit.
Gone are the jaunty red and white stripes, replaced by an innovative new colour combination that mixes orange with red.
The design is apparently inspired by the fruit of the strawberry tree, which is also referenced on the club’s crest. It’s a bright and bold new direction for Atletico, and it’s paid off.
Honourable Mentions: Fiorentina, Lazio
Not content with delivering the best collaborative home kit this season, AS Roma also have the best general home kit in Serie A.
The home shirt is covered with a half-and-half design, combining two slightly different shades of red. Running across the entire shire is an interlinked series of circle badges – a nod to the club’s 1930s crest – creating a monogram effect.
It’s rare to describe a football kit as classy, but there’s no other word for this one.
Honourable Mentions: Inter Milan, Sampdoria
Sometimes a black kit really is the best option. Juventus stuck to the tried and tested formula with their away shirt for the 2022-23 season, mixing black with subtle Anthracite detailing.
The design is a nod to the famous nights under the floodlights at Juventus’ Allianz Stadium, with the pattern a nod to the stars in the night sky. The theme continues to the Jeep sponsor’s logo, complete with a lightning pattern.
Honourable Mentions: Atalanta, Juventus
Fiorentina is rightly known for some of the all-time great home shirts complete with the iconic Viola colourway. This year, though, they repeated the trick with their third kit.
The shirt comes in a navy and gold colourway inspired by Florence’s Hall of the Lillies, and the regal theme continues onto the pattern. Arriving in tonal blues, the all-over print is based upon the team’s new crest and – just like Hall of the Lillies – sees the Fleur de Lis repeated across the design.
Honourable Mentions: Werder Bremen, Borussia Mönchengladbach
For their first home shirt with Castore, Bayer Leverkusen proved that simple can be best.
At first glance, the stand-out feature of the shirt is the nice way it combines a red base with a smart black and white trim on the collar and cuffs. Closer inspection, however, reveals a tonal red-on-red soundwave style pattern running horizontally across the shirt.
The resulting design is set to be a classic from the club.
Honourable Mentions: Borussia Dortmund, SC Freiburg
Bayern Munich kept things simple with their away kit this year, opting for a white shirt finished with gold details. Those gold elements were a nod to their footballing dominance and, in particular, last season’s tenth successive Bundesliga win.
That feat is obviously worthy of celebration, and so is the kit they released to mark the occasion.
Honourable Mentions: Bayer Leverkusen, Union Berlin
Another win for Bayern Munich, who follow up the year’s best away kit with the best third kit. This design is also a simple option, with only subtle detailing on the dark grey shirt.
The muted base colour is offset by bright red, while a hardly-visible monogram pattern runs across the entire shirt. The pattern is a tribute to the popular Bavarian card game of Schafkopf, tying the design to Bayern’s home state.
Honourable Mentions: Nice, Nantes
Lyon took a shot at PSG with their 2022-23 home shirt, incorporating something that looks similar to the Parisian club’s Hechter stripe. The risk paid off for Lyon.
The white shirt is the perfect base for the half-red and half-blue stripe, while other details – including the alternating red and blue adidas Three Stripes – play into the theme.
Honourable Mentions: PSG, Lyon
Nice also opted for a central stripe for this year’s away kit, once again positioning it against a white background. The thick stripe – made up of three separated stripes – reflects the black and red stripes of the club’s traditional home kits.
The understated away shirt is finished with the same black and red stripes, this time in a different formation, running down each side.
Honourable Mentions: Marseille, Lille
Toulouse have paired back their traditional purple colour on their home shirt, leaving it to take centre stage on their third kit.
A range of different violent tones are used across the shirt, overlapping and interlocking to create an abstract pattern that makes it easily the stand-out third kit from Ligue 1 this season.
