Summary
The worst-rated Premier League kits of all time have been revealed due to an online fan survey.
Some designs look like training clothing, while others break from club tradition.
From strange soundwave patterns to mismatched color combinations, these kits constitute a fashion faux pas, with Puma being the most common kit supplier on the list.
Football kits are no longer just one hue, serving just to enable fans and referees distinguish between two sides. In today’s Premier League, modern-day kit providers pull out all the stops – and all the designs and colorways – to increase sales and make the clubs they represent as appealing as possible.
Sometimes the designs become famous, while other times they resemble fashion malfunctions. And now, the worst English top-flight kits in history have been ranked, using Football Kit Archive’s fan-voted five-star grading system to distinguish between fashion classics and fabric faux pas.
It is significantly more difficult for manufacturers to get it wrong when creating a home shirt, which is why just one of the 12 lowest-ranked kits comes from a team’s primary strip. However, regardless of intent or design, some of these initiatives are unmitigated disasters, the kind that should have resulted in the person who signed them off being fired before the ink dried.
12-9
Kicking things off in 12th place is Arsenal’s 2023/24 away shirt. It looks like Adidas simply repurposed a neon yellow PE bib, added some odd squiggly black lines, and replaced the trim for sky blue – so it’s hardly strange that it wound up on this list. Meanwhile, Fulham’s dull yellow 2020/21 away shirt received only 2.16 out of 314 votes.
Any garment that looks like it belongs on the training pitch merits criticism, and Manchester City’s third shirt from their Premier League-winning season in 2021/22 is a great example. Instead of the immediately recognisable City symbol front and center, the shirt merely says “Man City,” giving the impression that the team has completely lost its identity under Puma. With a £100 million annual contract, they are unlikely to change partners – but this isn’t the only time Pep Guardiola’s club has appeared on this list.
Huddersfield Town spent only two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to League One, demonstrating that top-flight status does not ensure long-term stability. Perhaps it was payback for Puma’s mistakes, as their third kit contradicted all the team had known up until the 2017/18 season.
Instead of blue and white, they chose black and red; horizontal stripes replaced vertical stripes. And to really push the boat out, they added a strange “soundwave” effect to the stripes, giving it the spooky feel of a Joy Division album cover.
The worst-rated kits in Premier League history (12-9)
Rank
Club
Kit
Rating
12.
Arsenal
2023/24 away
2.18
11.
Fulham
2020/21 away
2.16
10.
Manchester City
2021/22 third
2.16
9.
Huddersfield Town
2017-18 third
2.13
8-5
If a member of Sam Allardyce’s 2020/21 West Brom club approached you in McDonald’s wearing their third shirt, you wouldn’t blink an eye, and you might even request some extra ketchup. That’s how terrible their orange-and-red color scheme was that year, making them look like fast-food workers. Puma were at a low point once more, and their rating of 2.09 is nothing more than they deserve.
At first sight, Blackburn Rovers’ 2006/07 away shirt does not appear to be terrible enough to make this list, but the unnaturally huge front-of-shirt sponsor and the dreadful Lonsdale logo provide more than enough justification. The same might be said of Wolves’ 2009/10 away shirt: while it looks nice, the red trims don’t seem required. Le Coq Sportif would have had significantly more success with a simple all-white look.
Hummel’s eyesore cannot be overlooked with Southampton’s 2019/20 black-and-yellow lollipop-lady away kit. The only consolation is that much of the season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so fans didn’t have to witness it in person as much.
The worst-rated kits in Premier League history (8-5).
Rank
Club
Kit
Rating
8.
West Brom
2020/21 Third
2.09
7.
Blackburn Rovers
2006/07 away
2.07
6.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
2009/10 away
2.07
5.
Southampton
2019/20 away
2.06
4-1
Tottenham’s 2022/23 away kit has a rating of just 2.04 out of 3,264 votes, making it a little too out of place for most people’s fashion taste. Black, neon yellow, light purple, and white do not work well together, and Hull City’s all-pink third kit for the 2016/17 season is no exception. That being said, we believe it would be far more recognized in today’s bizarre world.
Nike comes in second place with their 2008/09 Aston Villa home shirt design, the only home shirt on our list. To be fair, there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with it, but its blandness may explain the low rating of 1.81 from an incredible 10,311 votes. It’s forgettable, which may be its problem.
The worst-rated kit of all is a recent release. Puma, as expected, designed Manchester City’s 2025/26 third kit, which is influenced by Manchester weather and has an early rating of 1.57. It needs no explanation; simply look at it.
The worst-rated kits in Premier League history (4-1).
Rank
Club
Kit
Rating
4.
Tottenham
2022/23 away
2.03
3.
Hull City
2016/17 third
1.94
2.
Aston Villa
2008/09 home
1.81
1.
Manchester City
2025/26 third
1.57
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