As rumoured earlier this month, Celtic are supposedly set to extend their contract with kit manufacturer Adidas next season while likewise moving from a Premium B-tier side to a Premium A outfit.
In the process, the Scottish Premiership champions are expected to receive an official retro-style third kit, in the same vein as the brand's current elite teams – Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
Speaking very personally, I like the 2024/25 Celtic Adidas home kit, but I'm less enthused about the current sponsor. And while Celtic do offer a sponsor-less variation of the hoops, I do often think kits look better with something filling the space that advertisers invariably take up in the centre of shirts.
The popularity of retro kits has skyrocketed in recent years, not just among Celtic fans but in world football more generally.
By following a number of boutique outlets on social media, I became aware of the more recent trend of outlets taking current strips and applying old school sponsors to create a modern-retro hybrid.
OJ's Football Shirt Restorations, for example, has taken Man United's 2024/25 third kit and swapped the current Snapdragon sponsor for a more '90s-appropriate Sharp Electronics logo; while this Newcastle United kit has today's throwback colours with yesterday's iconic Newcastle Brown Ale branding.
Inspired by this post by The Glasgow Celtic Wear that pondered the current hoops with a non-conventional sponsor, I picked up iron-on CR Smith branding online and it applied the trend to this year's Adidas home kit.
Read more:
- This stylish retro Adidas Celtic third kit concept is as good as it gets
- 5 seasons of Adidas Celtic kits ranked in final year of bumper deal
This is almost certainly dewy-eyed nostalgia talking, but I like how it turned out – if not for something different until next season. It's worth noting that I have no ties to glazing firm CR Smith, beyond the fact it reminds me of the kits I wore as a kid growing up in the 1990s.
I know very little about the nuts and bolts of sponsorship deals in football admittedly, but I run on the assumption betting firms offer the most money, hence why there are so many gracing the strips of top teams all over the world.
As detailed earlier today on The Celtic Way, here's why Celtic wear different kit sponsors in Europe – having adopted the club's charitable arm, the Celtic FC Foundation while playing abroad in Europe in more recent years.
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