Chelsea 2022/23 kit update: Home, away and third kit information

It’s that time of year again. New kits are being released by all of the top brands (Adidas, Nike, etc.) and megastores are being stocked up with the latest looks. Chelsea would have usually unveiled its uniforms for the upcoming season by now, accompanied by a grand media campaign from Nike. However, sanctions have prevented that from happening. The Blues are a little late to the party this year, but that doesn’t mean the jersey release won’t feature images and videos of current players donning the latest and greatest from the American sportswear company.

The kit rollout is one of the many things to get excited about in the coming weeks. New owner Todd Boehly is looking to hit the ground running alongside Marina Granovskaia and Thomas Tuchel as they look to bring some new signings in the door. The Chelsea Megastore at Stamford Bridge and online is finally back up after being closed for three months, so there is now an abundance of fans waiting to snatch up their club’s memorabilia. We’ve gotten a look at some of the rumored looks thanks to Footy Headlines, but before diving into the designs, there are some sponsorship setbacks that need to be discussed.

Here are the latest updates on Chelsea’s 2022/23 kits:

Sponsorships

Trivago has burst onto the scene as one of the most beloved club sponsors in recent years. The travel company is the official sponsor of the Blues’ training wear, but they were also one of the only major partners to stick around by the club’s side during the sanctions imposed on former owner Roman Abramovich. Chelsea’s two shirt sponsors—Three UK and Hyundai—both distanced themselves from the Russian-owned team. They went as far as to ask that their logos be removed from the kits, something that wasn’t possible under the government sanctions.

These decisions have hurt both companies as Boehly and Co. have reportedly decided to seek their own sponsorship deals. While the club didn’t confirm or deny these rumors, it did remove title sponsor, Three, from its sponsorships page on the official website. This only served to add fuel to the fire. On a smaller, yet still noticeable, scale, digital investing platform WhaleFin will take over for Hyundai as the Blues’ sleeve sponsor beginning next season. The deal is said to be valued at around £20 million per year, which doubles the South Korean motor company’s contributions to Chelsea. The Hong Kong-based financial company is also notably the new title sponsor for European giant Atletico Madrid. The logo features a simplified profile of a whale with the company’s name below.

As for the club’s title sponsor, it’s unclear if Three will continue its relationship with the Blues. The United Kingdom telecommunications company has one year remaining on its current, lucrative deal with Chelsea. Goal’s Nizaar Kinsella revealed that Three was on the verge of triggering a clause in the agreement with the English club that would extend the partnership for two more seasons. The sanctions put a swift stop to those plans, and there has been no official communication since. Rumors are beginning to swirl that the Blues are in search of a new main shirt sponsor. While common with 12 months remaining on deals, the new ownership will likely take some time to evaluate the situation. Boehly could be keen on cashing in on a more wealthy American sponsor, only time will tell.

Chelsea fans have been using Trivago’s logo for concept kit designs, but as of now, there are no plans for the travel company to take over as the title sponsor. It’ll be an interesting situation to watch as the summer drags on as it will impact the fans more than any other sponsorship decision made by the Blues. Now, let’s discuss the things we do know about next year’s kits.

Home kit

There will be a lot of changes happening around Stamford Bridge over the next few months. American frontman, Boehly, has a lot of plans for how he wants to operate his newest asset. Supporters do not need to fret though, Chelsea’s kits will retain the classic look that they’ve had for decades. The royal blue threads return in a much less eye-popping fashion than the ones Nike released ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

The 2022/23 home shirt gives off heavy 2017/18—the Blues’ first season with Nike—vibes. The inaugural shirt from the Oregon-based company was a plain blue top with thread patterns up near the shoulders. Aside from the thread acting as a divider between the classic royal blue and a darker shade of the color around the shoulders, the shirt was nothing to phone home about. It ended up being one of the most hated kits amongst fans in recent memory. Luckily, Nike learned from its first mistake as the Blues’ newest top is more adventurous:

In addition to the traditional royal blue base, it features a unique pattern around the neck that appears to be white and a teal/aquamarine. It’s unlikely that we learn more about the design of the collar until the kit’s release. Early leaks of the kits appear to show emphasized patterns straight from the club’s badge along the collar. This is a concept that Nike experimented on a much larger scale with Barcelona’s 2021/22 home kits. It was not well received by the Blaugrana’s supporters given its wacky appearance, but it looks like it can be a nice secondary touch on the newest installments of Nike threads.

There is also a henley-style design on the home kits with one button at the top. Furthermore, the Three logo appears on the leaks (which came out December 31, 2021, before the sanctions), but there is no word yet on whether or not it’ll appear on release. The same green/blue hybrid color from the collar appears again on the outline of the Nike swoosh on the chest of the shirt. This is a nice added touch which teases at more continuity throughout the 2022/23 line.

There is no known information yet regarding the shorts or socks that complete the home look.

Away kit

The return of the iconic yellow and black combination in Chelsea’s away threads last season had fans jumping for joy. It’s incredibly difficult to appease an entire generation of kit fanatics. Regardless, it’s not a stretch by any means to suggest this shirt went above and beyond the expectations that Chelsea supporters had for an away kit. I would even go as far as to say this was the most well-received and popular jersey that the Blues have produced since ditching Adidas for Nike before the 2017/18 season.

It’ll be unfortunate in the eyes of some that this campaign came and went without the away threads making more appearances. However, some aspects of the shirt are here to stay in the 2022/23 away top:

Nike usually keeps it relatively simple with Chelsea’s away uniforms. From the white/grey jersey in 2017/18 to last year’s yellow and black look, the kit maker rarely ever gets adventurous with the away threads. This trend will continue next season, but Nike has taken more of a risk than in years past with the aforementioned collar design from the home kit appearing front and center on the white away shirt. The horizontal lines present in last season’s yellow kit are visible here too, they just appear to be more of a navy blue than a black. This has been confirmed.

The complete uniform will be white in the shirt and shorts, the socks will be the same navy that is featured on the stripes. Similar to the 2021/22 away kit, the club’s iconic badge will also take on the secondary color of the shirt, appearing in an all-navy shade. The collar design used on the home kit will take on a more prominent role on the away top. The teal will take over as the majority color here as the design appears in white. The design won’t be around the collar on this shirt though, it’ll coincide with the placement of the horizontal lines.

The henley-style won’t make an appearance on the away uniform, that’s a feature exclusive to the home kit. The collar on the away threads will also be normal, taking on the white of the shirt.

Third kit

As you can tell by the accompanying picture above, the third kit is where Nike really makes its money. The Blues’ alternate shirts are always the most daring of the three scheduled annual releases. This is where the clubs can rope in the supporters who care more about unique and fun designs than anything else. The cultural classics are more often than not the third shirts. It’s not since the 2016/17 line released by Adidas for the eventual title winners that Chelsea fans have been treated to a simplistic third kit—until now.

The Blues’ 2022/23 third threads won’t feature anything crazy, such as a black camo design, a city map on the chest, an extended collar, fading popsicle-colored stripes or an out-of-this-world color combination. Instead, Nike has decided to create a minimalistic shirt with some soothing colors to stand out from the intertwined designs of the home and away looks. Here’s your first look at the newest leaked images of the Blues’ alternate uniforms:

The base color for this kit will be gold. Seeing as Chelsea’s home and away threads will be blue and white respectively, it’s not farfetched to expect the Blues to wear this classy kit more often than in years past. The accent color in this shirt will be black, which will appear on the badge, the Nike swoosh, the sponsor logo and on the sleeve cuffs. An orange (slightly darker than the secondary color of last year’s third kit) stripe will sit on the edge next to the black stripe on the cuff.

The most distinctive feature of the newly leaked shirt is the design on the front and back collar. The front is masked by the fact it’s the same gold color as the rest of the kit. However, the back portion sees the black accent reappear in a design straight out of the Blues’ 2007/08 kit collection. It’s just one more classy touch to a classic that has the potential to be a timeless look once the official line is unveiled in the next few months. There is no information available yet about the shorts or socks, but it’s surely a great way to cap off three solid shirts for Chelsea’s debut campaign under new ownership.

Which of the three new threads is your favorite? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!