If football is the most important of all the unimportant things, the football kit is the least important part of the game. It doesn't technically matter what you wear, so long as you know who is a teammate and who is an opponent.
But even if it is not a necessity, it is the part of the game that has grown the most, well beyond the markings of the pitch and the seats in the stadium.
The football kit is identifier. The football kit is culture. The football kit is style. The football kit is community.
You see it at the music festival, you see it at the ground, you see it on holiday, you see it down at the shops.
As the football kit industry has taken on a life of its own, the aim of a good jersey hasn't really changed.
Anyone can wear a jersey, but offering up a design people care about is the magic designers and clubs are chasing. Creating the visual aid for your club's greatest moments, allowing fans to pick out their comrades in the crowd or get lost in the swell of a thousand identical shirts is the goal.
Every year clubs try their best to sell the story of the kit. How did the teams in heading into the new the A-Leagues seasons?
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13. Newcastle Jets
The Jets' kits for the 2026-27 season feature the classic gold home shirt, fitted out with a navy collar and red and navy sleeve details. The away kit is a white number with gold details. Neither is bad, but neither is particularly awe-inspiring either.
12. Macarthur FC
A remix of the Bulls' traditional thick stripes, Macarthur's kits now feature pinstripes. Both the home and away shirts are the same design in complementary colourways: the black home kit has white pinstripes while the subtle apricot away shirt has black pinstripes.
11. Central Coast Mariners
The kit collection leans heavily into the coast part of the Central Coast Mariners with the "sand" yellow home kit, the "tide" dark blue away kit with royal blue details circling out from around crest, and the "coast" cyan third kit with a sublimated palm tree graphic. They tick all the boxes for what a Mariners shirt should look like.
10. Auckland FC
Auckland return to the thicker blue and black stripes of their inaugural kit. In this season's rendition, the stripes are made up of smaller ones and paired with a white collar, white piping, and the gold champions logo. The away kit is all white with royal blue detailing.
9. Western Sydney Wanderers
The Wanderers will don red and black hoops in season 2026-27 with the red specifically taken from the club's logo for the first time in the team's history. The side panels on the home kit and the entirety of the cream and white away kit feature a beautiful Japanese air-inspired illustration.
8. Wellington Phoenix
In their 20th year, the Nix are throwing it back to the beginning with their home kit. While it doesn't have the yellow and black stripes that have come to define Phoenix kits, the predominantly black shirt with yellow and white details is smart homage to the club's first-ever kit.
7. Sydney FC
The Sky Blues' home kit is, you guessed it, sky blue with a layered pattern elevating it above just a plain blue kit. The real winner in this collection is the white away kit which features a light blue pattern inspired by the Sydney Harbour Bridge and reminiscent of the Arsenal bruised banana pattern. While not yet released, Sydney will be hoping to continue their streak of producing stunning third kits as well.
6. Perth Glory
In the club's 30th anniversary, they've thrown it back to 2000-01 with a striking take on an old classic. While this new version is missing the cool of the collar and the kappa details, the purple base, white stripe, and orange details of the home kit are quintessentially Perth. A sublimated swan pattern is a nod to Western Australia's state bird. Throw in the Chicken Treat sponsorship on the men's kits and it's another win for the nostalgia merchants.
5. Canberra United
Canberra's lime green home shirt and forest green away shirt are inspired by the flagpole that juts out above Parliament House -- a landmark that also features on their crest -- and the way the light reflects off the stainless-steel structure. A simple set of beautiful kits.
4. Melbourne City
City's kit collection features a light blue home kit with red and yellow details and what has become the customary nod to the Melbourne Heart days with a red and white third kit with heartbeat details and the heart logo. The standout kit is the away strip which features a purple and pink pattern with shimmery baby pink details, logos, and sponsors.
3. Brisbane Roar
Brisbane Roar have once again put together a kit collection worth investing in. There's a classic orange and black home number and a collared cream away shirt with maroon detailing in a nod to Queensland's state colour. Then there's the vintage-inspired blue third kit that bears the original Queensland Roar logo that will no doubt become popular among A-League kit collectors.
2. Adelaide United
Inspired by a glasshouse imported from Germany in 1875 that now sits in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, the Reds' home kit for the season is classy. With a navy collar and red and yellow details on the navy sleeve piping inspired by the Palm House, this is a winner.
1. Melbourne Victory
Victory may have lost the Australia Cup final to South Melbourne on Saturday, but their first title of the season has been secured with this set of beautiful kits. A new take on the classic Big V, Victory's home kit features a white chevron and white piping on a navy shirt. The away kit is a win for the nostalgia merchants and the highlighter enthusiasts, bringing back the fluoro away kit of the early 2010s and 2020s with a slightly muted version and a navy chevron.