I’m a proud supporter of the South London-based soccer franchise Crystal Palace Football Club and have been for most of my life. Like pretty much every professional soccer club on the planet, Palace releases a new jersey at the start of each season. For most major soccer fanbases, jersey releases are big deal these days. Fans will eagerly anticipate the arrival of their club’s newest kit design, and then discuss, critique, praise, complain about the end product. Not me though. 

Modern soccer jerseys are one of the most perpetually disappointing elements of the Beautiful Game. What should be an aesthetically pleasing piece of designer sportswear is rendered ugly — and sometimes straight-up unwearable — as a result of sponsorship logo placement. Typically, although there are a few exceptions, modern soccer jerseys feature the logo of whichever company has been selected as the “shirt sponsor” smack bang in the middle of the jersey. It’s very easy to imagine what the jerseys would like sans the sponsor’s logo, which makes the whole thing all the more tragic. 

Fairly often, it’s obvious that the jersey was designed prior to a deal with a sponsor being reached. So the kit’s designer will have designed an elegant, tasteful piece of sportswear only to see it ruined by an ugly logo representing some American insurance group, bank, or car manufacturer, etc.

I’ve long argued that clubs should sell versions of their jerseys that don’t feature sickening corporate branding plastered over them. Failing that, fans should be paid to wear the jerseys that feature the sponsor’s logos. It is unacceptable that fans have to pay $100 to turn themselves into walking billboards … and yet this is what I do to myself. Every. Single. Season.

For the 2016/17 Premier League season, my beloved Crystal Palace released a yellow away kit (a backup jersey intended to avoid color clashes with opposing teams) with a cool-looking diagonal red and blue sash going from top to bottom. Tragically, this very good design was completely ruined by the blocky logo of a Chinese gambling firm called Mansion. Of course, I still bought it. 

Shirt sponsorship is a huge source of revenue for soccer clubs, which means the chances of them ever going away are very slim. But there is a precedent. Spanish soccer giants Barcelona famously didn’t bother with jersey sponsorship until 2006 when they agreed to include the UNICEF logo on their jerseys free of charge to help raise awareness for the charity. All goodwill from that noble gesture was eradicated five years later when they signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways and relegated UNICEF’s logo to the bottom of the back of the jersey. Barcelona shunned sponsorship for the 2016/17 season but went back to having a sponsor the following season. The club is currently in some dire financial straits, which means the chances of them releasing a sponsor-free jersey again any time soon are very slim.

Thankfully, international team jerseys are completely free of sponsorship. This means that every two years, when there’s a major international tournament, I can wear the soccer jersey of my nation and walk around with my head held high. Or at least I could if I didn’t support England, the most hated national team on the planet. 

[Whispers] It’s coming home. 

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