A good bit of news has filtered through from Italy: from the start of the 2020/21 season, Serie A is set to ban ‘block-logo’ sponsors on shirts, meaning each sponsor will be ‘cut out’ to leave a much cleaner design. Sure, it’s a change that will only affect a few teams, but it’s a move that will instantly boost the appeal of the league’s offerings as a whole.
If there’s one sure fire way to ruin a decent shirt design it’s by blatting an oversized sponsor on the front that not only clashes with the core colours of the kit, but that also takes all the focus away from what could be some beautiful aesthetics. Well now it appears that Serie A are taking steps that will stop that from ever happening again, with the news that they are set to ban ‘block-logo’ sponsors. Although their reasons are probably more to do with on-pitch kit clashes than anything else, the fact that we will be left with a better looking shirt at the end of it is just a happy coincidence.
The main team to be affected by the changes will be Napoli, who currently see their ‘Lete’ and ‘MSC’ sponsoring sitting on jarring red and navy backgrounds respectively. They have recently agreed a new deal with current kit suppliers Kappa, extending their current agreement for a further two years, but this new change throws the current sponsorship deal with Lete into doubt. The Italian company have sponsored Napoli since 2005, making them the second longest shirt sponsor in the league behind Pirelli on Inter.
Speaking of which, Pirelli and Jeep are two examples of sponsors that have already moved away from block sponsoring, offering up far better aesthetics on recent shirt designs. Inter saw a return of the block Pirelli logo on their third shirt this season, but that was part of the design choice – a choice that, as of next season, will not be allowed.
This move follows the news that Serie A will also standardise the typography across the league – something that has been done in the Premier League since 1997 – meaning all player names and numbers will have the same font going forward regardless of the teams.
Big changes for Serie A shirts then. But while a bad sponsor can undoubtedly ruin a shirt, the right one can also become iconic. See what we're talking about here.
