Attention’s firmly on the 23/24 season, with teams releasing their new kits for the coming campaign. And more often than not, they’re accompanied by the club’s prematch attire. Here, we round up the best of the early drops so far.
As we all know by now, prematch shirts are where things get really wild from a design perspective. Free from the constraints of tradition and expectation, what we often get are skewed versions of the on-pitch attire, ramped up to all-new levels of visually-pleasing brilliance. As we’ve said before, plenty of prematch shirt designs have been good enough to be on-pitch match options, and that trend carries right on for the 23/24 season. It’s still early days as far as kit releases go, but here’s the best prematch shirts so far for the coming season…
Juventus
This one was released along with the Bianconeri's new home shirt, and, like that shirt, was debuted at the end of last season, making it one of only a few on this list to have been seen 'in action'. And it didn't disappoint, with the zebra theme of the home shirt juiced up to new heights. Big fans of this one.
AC Milan
Following very much in the footsteps of the club's new home shirt, the prematch option also features the traditional black and red stripes, distorted by the 'M' pattern that nods to the city of Milan. A much cheaper alternative to the actual kit, but still looks as smart.
Bayern Munich
Another one that got its debut at the end of last season, the Bayern prematch shirt could well have been a more fitting home shirt option given the stronger influence of red on the design, compared with the slightly controversial design that the club went with, which featured white as the main colour over red.
PSG
The PSG prematch shirt has an all-over gradient design in the club's famous red and navy colours. Simple enough, but effective in its execution.
Ajax
Released along with the club's new away shirt, the Ajax prematch shirt features a unique all-over sky blue and white pattern, which has been inspired by the world-famous waterways in Amsterdam, where Ajax DNA runs through the canals.
Manchester City
The Premier League champions get a prematch shirt in the classic home colours, with a design that's inspired by the walkways of the Etihad stadium.
Arsenal
First seen on Bukayo Saka as he signed his new long-term contract with the Gunners, the Arsenal prematch shirt features a repeating lightning bolt graphic, partly reminiscent of the 21/22 third shirt design. Here though, it's presented in different red tones. Make those sleeves white and you have a winner of a home design...
Tottenham Hotspur
Some have compared the new Spurs prematch shirt to TV static... and you can sort of see where they're coming from. The distorted pixelated look is presented in purple hues, and you're either gonna love it or hate it...
Barcelona
One of the best on this list in our opinion, the Barca prematch shirt has a white base with a gradient effect disrupting the classic Blaugrana stripes. Yep, lot of time for this.
Real Madrid
Los Blancos get an abstract pattern across the white base of their prematch, with blocks of black, gold and purple linking it to the home shirt, while also possibly hinting at what we might expect from the away.
Plenty more prematch shirts to come...
Shop all 23/24 replica, including prematch shirts, at prodirectsport.com/soccer
