While not quite as prevalent as in previous years, several top European clubs have marked the upcoming 2025 Lunar New Year by turning out in special commemorative kits and jerseys.
According to the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar, the Lunar New Year begins on Jan. 29 as we head into the Year of the Snake.
Paris Saint-Germain were the only major European side to actually play in their Lunar New Year kit this weekend, with the Ligue 1 giants donning a designer shirt before facing Reims at the Parc des Princes.
The front of PSG’s home jersey remained untouched, but the reverse vantage revealed that the back panel had been reworked in collaboration with designer Jay Chou and his Phantaci streetwear label to include a unique “Year of the Snake” typeface. As such, all the players’ names were written in Mandarin script.
Elsewhere, Barcelona have confirmed that their men’s and women’s teams will be wearing unique pre-match Lunar New Year kits when they face Alaves and Levante respectively next weekend. The shirts will also feature the players’ names written in Chinese on the back.
Over in the Premier League, Tottenham wore a limited edition pre-match shirt, which included a golden serpent slithering up a column of Chinese-inspired tiles. Unfortunately for Spurs, good luck and prosperity was scarce on the ground as they subsequently went on to lose their fourth league game on the bounce, this time falling to a dismal 2-1 loss at home to Leicester City.
Chelsea were also furnished with a Lunar New Year pre-match shirt for their trip to face Manchester City at the Etihad, with the Blues warming up in a suitably scaly black and gold design.
City themselves have made a habit of marking the Lunar New Year with a one-off kit in recent years, but it would appear that the club haven’t produced one this time around. Instead, fans were treated to a pre-match show on the pitch that included martial arts displays and a traditional dragon dance.
Manchester United have also been known to create bespoke shirts to usher in the Lunar New Year, but this year’s utterly bland design was quietly released in mid-December and wasn’t worn at all during their 1-0 win at Fulham on Sunday.
However, Championship club Sheffield United deserve a special mention after going above and beyond to design their own tribute to the Year of the Snake with a Lunar New Year kit so garish and ornamental that it’s actually fairly difficult to look at for more than a few minutes without inducing a migraine.
That one can slither back where it came from.
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