The 2019-20 A-League season gets underway this Friday night and to get ready for the season ahead, we’re bringing back our always controversial kit rankings.
Many clubs this season have opted for the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) design and a few have changed manufacturers resulting in new takes on some classics.
Being the resident fashion expert here at Neds, I’ve studied the kits all eleven teams will play in this year and ranked which club has the best home kit.
Don’t be afraid to let us know what you think.
(11) – Melbourne City
City has gone from Nike to Puma and launched this boring, bland and unimaginative sky blue City Football Group generic kit that could easily get away with being something to wear to bed.
No doubt this will sell in the tens of twenties of fans at the Melbourne City Shop.
(10) Central Coast Mariners
The Mariners have a very plain kit with zero barcode (as we saw last season), plam trees or sauce bottles. The only thing that is iconic about the shirt is Masterfoods, which means (Hopefully) the sauce bottles are back on the Central Coast this season.
(9) Melbourne Victory
A navy blue shirt with a big bold white V is one of the finest designs any sporting club representing the great state of Victoria can have, however, Adidas and Victory have botched this one up.
With the insistence on tessellating patterns and a V pattern that would have been popular at Metro Nightclub back in the day, Victory has opted to basically keep the same kit as last season.
Not to mention the Adidas three-stripes are on the left and right sides of the kit, not the sleeves which loses any sense of being part of the iconic brand. Melbourne Victory can do so much better.
(8) Sydney FC
Under-Armour takes the reigns as Sydney FC’s kit supplier for the 2019-20 season and it’s a respectable effort.
The navy blue stripe up top adds the only touch that makes them different to Melbourne City even though, Sydney FC had sky blue before Man City took over Heart.
Either way, it’s a bit meh.
(7) Perth Glory
Perth Glory will wear their traditional purple kits at home and borrow their away kits from Brisbane Roar.
The goalkeepers are dressed by Melbourne City.
I think they are also sponsored by BHP but they’ve kept it very subtle.
(6) Adelaide United
Adelaide United refer to themselves as the Reds and they’ve gone with a full red kit.
This is hard not to stuff-up and they haven’t. Good for them.
(5) Brisbane Roar
The orange and black kit is distinct and unique to the Brisbane Roar.
A good effort from them and hopefully it will stand out from the bays and bays of empty seats at Suncorp Stadium this season.
(4) Newcastle Jets
When it comes to a great Football kit, stripes is always a winner and the Newcastle Jets haven’t let us down with this one.
Let’s hope that should Peter Beatie find himself watching them play, he doesn’t get it confused for Barcelona.
(3) Western United
In their very first season, Western United have delivered with both their home and away kits.
The Green and black stripes blend well and signing with an iconic Soccer brand like Kappa seals the deal.
When they wear this as a ” historic heritage kit” in three years time you’ll look back fondly at it when they eventually opt for something awful, as is custom with every A-League club.
(2) Western Sydney Wanderers
Along with the return to Wanderland, the West Sydney Wanderers have gotten it so right with their kit for this season.
The thick and light red hoops on the black shirt look outstanding and it’s a great comeback from their attempt at doing a fancy kit last year.
(1) Wellington Phoenix
Controversial call and the Nix have changed from Adidas to some random kit supplier I haven’t heard of before, but it’s still great.
Maybe it’s because the author of the article has a thing for teams in yellow and black but we also didn’t want to give it to the Wanderers.
With that in mind, the black stripes blending in are a good look in this kit and will be awesome when fans strip them off in the 80th minute at the Cake Tin during the season.
Honourable Away/Third Kit Mentions…
Melbourne City Heart Kit
Celebrating four wonderful seasons as Melbourne Heart, City return to their heritage with the red and white kit. It’s bound to bring a tear to the eye of the 50 people that supported Melbourne Heart back in the day.
Brisbane Roar “Event Kit”
This kit from Brisbane Roar where they basically reversed the colours of the home kit looks excellent. They should wear it more often.
Western United Away Kit
Cleary inspired by Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup kit Western United have not only brought their A-Game in the away kit stakes.
This could easily have gone to number 1 in the general kit rankings, but we decided to keep it all as home kits for the purposes of consistency.
West Sydney Wanderers Caramilk Away
The Wanderers have taken inspiration from the popular Cadbury block Caramilk for their away strip.
That’s our glass and a half-full attitude to it anyway.
Nix Black Away
Like the roar, the Nix have opted to reverse the colours in their away kit and it looks great.
The Nux have gone with a choice away kit.