Stained class: Aston Villa and adidas reveal 2025/26 third kit
Villa complete their set of second-year adidas kits and this time it's got a Trefoil
Aston Villa’s final new kit of the season has been released and everyone – everyone! – is stunned to see it’s the sort of cream and blue and pink and purple one. Stunned!
Villa have launched their adidas third kit for 2025/26 and it’s divisive. Or, it was when people first saw it absolutely ages ago. I hate the kit leak industry, by the way. Get a fucking life.
Anyway, the splodgy-looking colour design is in fact a tribute to a piece of Villa Park architecture, as is the club’s wont this season. I don’t mind it at all.
“The design pays homage to the rich history and unique architecture of Villa Park, drawing direct inspiration from the signature stained glass windows that have adorned the stadium since the stadium first opened in 1897,” reads the official bumph.
“Featuring a delicate blend of hues, a light base provides the canvas for abstract and swirling patterns in shades of soft blue, pink and purple to evoke the luminous quality of light filtering through stained glass.”
Aficionados of the Brand with the Three Stripes will notice that Villa have been adorned with the famous adidas Trefoil logo for the first time.
The club badge, shorn of yellow, looks just as terrific as it does on the away kit and the contrast between purple and cream should tell everyone involved that the solution to the yellow heap on the standard badge isn’t to add drop shadow, but to get rid of the damned yellow.
Please. Get rid of the damned yellow.
Anyway, I don’t love the third shirt and I don’t hate it either. I like the collar. I like the colours. I’m very much in favour of breaking rules in third kits and the obvious choice of claret trim on this one wouldn’t have added all that much.
I’m not getting a whole lot of stained glass window from it, but to get uptight about that would be to buy into the industry guff.
Not me, brother.
What’s the verdict?