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Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerDec 24, 2024, 04:00 AM ET
While most of the big clubs across world football’s top leagues have their kits supplied by global giant sports brands — such as Nike, Adidas and Puma — a less-known Italian company has been standing right alongside them with its own impressive lineup.
Having reviewed hundreds of this season’s jerseys — ranging from league and tournament kit rankings to uncovering the most stylish and wildest shirts — Macron consistently stood out, delivering some of the best, most imaginative, and expertly executed designs of 2024.
The Bologna-based manufacturer may not provide teamwear for many of the most illustrious clubs out there, but some of the home, away, third-alternate and special-edition designs that it has been cooking up are among the finest we’ve seen.
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Macron has successfully muscled its way into the professional kit picture and can now legitimately stand shoulder-to-shoulder with soccer’s apparel giants, who recently have often relied on producing multiple variations of the same template.
In addition to all of the Macron kits that have been featured in our coverage this year, here are some other top-notch jerseys worn by clubs outside of the elite.
AD Cueta (home)
This shirt was designed in collaboration with fashion label Pompeii. It proved to be an instant hit among footballing hipsters and it’s not hard to see why. With vintage checkerboarding and bold, gold-block lettering, the jersey is as stylish as it is distinctive.
Cádiz CF (home)
Cádiz have a true retro-modern classic on their hands. The angular, asymmetrical graphics are a visual nod to the home shirts worn by the Spanish side back in the 1990s, and the bright canary yellow is suitably fitting for a club in a city on Spain’s southern coast.
CD Castellón (away)
As part of a set of kits celebrating Castellón’s promotion to the Segunda División, the away shirt is inspired by the “essence of the earth,” with a tricolour band on the sleeves to represent the hues of the province — green for the pine forests, blue for the coastline, and orange for the Mediterranean orange groves. As if that wasn’t enough local flavour, a linear pattern taken from ceramic tile art can also be found in the fabric.
The Belgian club ran a preseason competition for young fans to submit designs for their 2024-25 fourth kit and the result is this rather unusual geometric effort. Here’s hoping it inspires a trend for more fan-designed jerseys in the future.
FC Basel (fourth)
Macron has been supplying Basel’s kits for the past three years and this season it cooked up a wild batch of designs — from the radical, flame-licked home and away kits to a bespoke prematch shirt featuring an aerial map of the Swiss city printed in silver on black. However, the gilded special-edition fourth shirt puts them right back in the room. The basilisk — a mythical half-rooster, half-serpent creature that once appeared on the city’s historic coat of arms — now graces the shirts of the local football club, featured repeatedly in the weave of the stunning gold jersey.
Miami FC (home)
While MLS club Inter Miami CF have got fans all over the world wearing pink jerseys with Lionel Messi‘s name on the back, their kit is put firmly in the shade by the city’s “other” team. USL Championship club Miami FC, founded in 2015, is wearing the “Predator kit” this year — an azure home shirt embossed with a reptilian skin print inspired by the Florida Everglades’ apex predator, the American alligator.
Real Sociedad obviously have a firm blue-and-white striped template when it comes to their home kits, but the same rules do not apply to their away jerseys which have been black, pink, grey, mint green and orange in recent years. The 2024-25 edition sees the Basque club going for gold with a lustrous design inspired by the beams and joists of their Anoeta stadium.
Ternana Calcio (third)
Superb stuff from the Italian second-tier side, whose nifty grey 2024-25 third kit is inspired by the colours of their home city’s municipal coat of arms (black, red and green) as well as the armoured scales of the dragon that appears on their club crest. If House Targaryen had a football team, they’d probably turn out in something like this.
Vancouver FC (Cherry Blossom kit)
Directly inspired by the vibrant pink blossoms of cherry trees that bloom across the Canadian city each spring, Vancouver FC’s special-edition shirt also supports Pink Shirt Day, a national anti-bullying campaign, with a portion of every sale donated to the cause.
Wrexham (away)
While the Welsh club’s red home shirt features a subtle dragon scale pattern, Wrexham’s grey away jersey brings the design to the forefront. The pattern is a tribute to the 266 people who lost their lives in a tragic explosion and fire at the nearby Gresford Colliery in 1934, which caused tunnels to collapse.
York United FC (away)
Eschewing the old adage that blue and green must never be seen together, Canadian side York United used their club colours to great effect to create this exquisite checkerboard jersey. The club’s away kit, with it’s thick green bars and pinstripes of green and gold, is worthy of inclusion here in its own right, but the home kit just about shades it in the style stakes.
Images courtesy of @adceutafc, @cadizclubdefutbol, @cdcastellon, @fcbasel1893, @macronfootball, @realsociedad, @ternana_calcio_official, @themiamifc, @vanfootballclub, @yorkutdfc on Instagram
