Football is often considered to be the World‘s Game, a site of enjoyment that encompasses all and stops for nothing. Holidays included. During the 2022/2023 season French side Stade Reims went the extra mile to combine Christmas with football, and released a special edition kit in collaboration with Umbro, to celebrate the festive occasion. As seen below, the kit kept the club‘s traditional red colouring, however, the addition of white snowflakes, as well as differently coloured and patterned stars dotted across the shirt gave the kit its Christmas theme. The collar also was designed to match, with the white collar and thin red lines once more giving a candy cane-like Christmas appeal. This kit was debuted against Stade de Rennes on the 29th of December that season, however, with only 200 kits made and released, the kit is very rare today.
Nevertheless, the idea is a warm and festive gesture, and similar kits and themes have been previously tried and tested. For example, Bayern Munich often releases an Oktoberfest themed kit, with last season‘s maroon and gold kit designed to represent traditional Bavarian clothing. Similarly, Napoli last season released a Halloween themed kit, which took inspiration from the Fontanelle Cemetery in Naples.
(Left: Bayern‘s Oktoberfest Kit. Right: Napoli‘s Halloween Kit)
Regardless, given that Christmas is the time for giving, perhaps it is time a club releases another Christmas themed kit. Whether as a publicity stunt or a show of goodwill, football will always welcome the Christmas cheer.
