Ranking the worst new Premier League kits for 2025-26

Last week, we rated the best-looking new kits for the upcoming English Premier League season. Now it’s time to flip the script and peruse the shirts you’ll want to avoid. They range from a nausea-inducing pajama top to a messy mauve muddle.

5. Crystal Palace home

We usually dig Palace’s home jerseys. The red and blue stripes have consistently slapped over the years. But this season’s kit is a rare exception. There is way, way, way too much going on with this shirt. We legit feel a migraine coming on if we look at it for more than a few seconds.

First, it’s got red, blue and white stripes on the body. But the blue stripes on either side of the body look narrower than the others? Then it’s got a wide white stripe on each shoulder. Add the narrow red, white and blue stripes on the collar and sleeves, and it creates visual chaos. 

And, as one fan pointed out, this kit won’t exactly flatter those of us with a bit of extra padding around the middle.

It’s really a shame because last season’s Crystal Palace shirt was one of the best-looking jerseys in the league. Maybe their designers felt that kit went a little too far down the unstructured path, so they decided this season’s shirt was going to look like our grandfather’s pajamas.

4. Manchester United home

Man United’s new home kit makes this list not only because the design stinks, but also because of the immense hubris it represents.

Following the club’s worst-ever campaign in the Premier League, maybe the Red Devils should have announced they were running it back in last year’s shirt. This would have been a huge favor to fans, instead of forcing them to pay $115 for a new jersey that looks suspiciously like both the 2018 and 2011 kits.

The fact that United seem to continually clone their jerseys from one season to the next isn’t lost on their supporters.

On top of that, United have decided this shirt honors their home ground, Old Trafford. We’re still not sure how the strange graphics on the sleeves and the dots on the torso represent Old Trafford, but whatevs. The real paradox is the club announced a few months ago their plans to demolish their 115-year-old stadium — one of the most historic soccer venues in Europe — to make way for a 100,000-seat monstrosity that looks like a circus tent. 

Perhaps United need to figure out how to finish ahead of the likes of Everton and Crystal Palace before they build a new stadium. Right now, we’re not sure 100,000 people want to see the Red Devils lose to West Ham again.

3. Tottenham Hotspur away

We can only assume Spurs were thinking that a plain black jersey would be too mundane, so they decided to add “interesting” features. The problem is they added too many.

Looking at the pics, the new kit seems to have vertical stripes, some sort of grid pattern and a very weird fish-scale design on the chest. So Tottenham have succeeded in creating a jersey that is simultaneously incredibly dull and, upon close inspection, extraordinarily busy. 

Some fans are not impressed.

Doubling down on their poor design, the inner neck sports the word “SPURS” surrounded by little swoops. Couldn’t they have come up with something more creative than “SPURS”?

Ironically, Spurs have produced some very sharp dark kits in the past, like this midnight blue beauty in 2016 and this black-and-yellow stunner in 2014.

2. Brighton & Hove Albion away

At this point, we’ve given up complaining when clubs create jerseys with colors that have nothing to do with their long history and traditions. Remember when red and white Arsenal dropped this neon-yellow and black horror? Or when red and blue Crystal Palace decided that the key to finishing in the top half of the table for once was to dress like Man City?

We know whining about this is the equivalent of an old man yelling at clouds. But can we at least insist that if a club is going to burn its brand guidelines and introduce a jersey with a one-off color, that they bring some creativity to the finished product?

To make this mess of a jersey, it looks like Brighton’s designers literally went to the list of Pantone’s colors of the year and picked one at random. This hue is from 2022, and it’s called Very Peri — as in periwinkle. Then, instead of creating something interesting, they borrowed the look of wallpaper in a dentist’s office with wide vertical stripes. 

Some fans consider it a crime against good taste.

Also, placing the club crest and manufacturer logo in the center? No, just no.

1. West Ham away 

It would be an insult to ChatGPT if we accused West Ham of asking the AI, “Can you make me the most boring soccer kit imaginable?” No self-respecting bot would design something this poor. Seriously, what were they thinking in East London? 

This looks like a $3 t-shirt from Temu with a few iron-on transfers pressed on. But West Ham have the gall to charge $100 for it. Maybe their designer was just too depressed after the club sold Mohammed Kudus to North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur a few weeks ago and gave up on this shirt.

Understandably, some supporters are less than pleased.

And just when you thought things could not get any worse…keep in mind the new away kit looks almost exactly like the away kit from two seasons ago. Ugh.