Chelsea reveals its new sponsorless retro home kit for season 2023-24

• The new kit for Chelsea is a retro update of the 1997–98 shirt.
• It features white underarm panels and yellow gold sleeve cuff embellishments.
• It is currently without a sponsor’s branding on the front.

The home kit of Chelsea for the 2023–24 season has been unveiled, and instead of the complex designs and prints of recent years, they have opted for a more straightforward update of one of their most well-liked retro jerseys from the 1990s.

It’s a 90s thing. 🥶

Pay tribute to our 1997/98 season with our blue, white and gold 2023/24 home shirt! 🔵 #ItsA90sThing #ThePrideOfLondon pic.twitter.com/Z1dUs2cKiW

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 10, 2023

The retro new uniform’s somewhat paler blue color was directly influenced by the shirt Chelsea wore in 1997–98. Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo, and Dennis Wise were on a squad that year that won the League Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.

After 25 years, the Blues have brought back the white underarm panels and yellow gold sleeve cuff embellishments from that iconic shirt.

The 2023–24 edition also features some more contemporary accents, such the manufacturer’s mark and crest, which are both made of shimmering iridescent gold. The shirt’s shape is a touch more streamlined (as opposed to the baggier style that was popular in the mid-90s), and the fabric has a ripple weave that resembles a grid, giving it a suitably contemporary appearance.

The new shirt was unveiled alongside some of the club’s top players today by midfielders Di Matteo and Wise, who also helped Chelsea win the FA Cup twice, the Charity Shield, and the UEFA Super Cup between 1997 and 2000.

Di Matteo notched goals in both of those FA Cup finals as well as the League Cup victory before taking over as interim manager in 2012 and leading the team to Champions League success. He was given the post full-time, but he was only able to hold it until November of that year. It’s still encouraging that, ten years later, he can still visit the club and be remembered as a legend.

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Chelsea Champions. Chelsea Legends. 🏆

Roberto Di Matteo and Dennis Wise reliving the 90’s in our new strip.
#ItsA90sThing #ThePrideOfLondon pic.twitter.com/vOHAkEyGQf

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 10, 2023

Fans who pay attention may also notice that Chelsea’s new home jersey has been unveiled without a sponsor’s branding on the front. This is because the club’s previous sponsorship agreement with mobile phone network Three expired last month and they have yet to reach an agreement with any new principal sponsor for the 2023–24 season.

According to reports, the Blues and streaming service Paramount+, which currently sponsors Inter Milan, the team that won the Champions League last season, had reached an agreement for Paramount+ to become their new jersey sponsor. The Premier League, however, rejected the agreement because it thought it may annoy other overseas Premier League broadcast rights holders.

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