AS Roma are blessed to have some of the most stylish football kits among major European sides. Every season, the Serie A heavyweights unveil unique attires that help them stand out from the rest of the Italian clubs.
It’s actually Roma’s historical significance that gives them this sense of uniqueness. The Giallorossi’s traditional yellow and dark red colours have been used since the club was formed in 1927. The colours are ideal representatives of the city of Roma, with the official seal of the Comune di Roma also having the same patterns.
Over the decades, the club’s shirt manufacturers have used these colours to create some beautiful attires. The Serie A heavyweights started being sponsored by Adidas in 2023 and their 23/24 home kit, which featured their iconic Lupetto (black wolf cub) symbol, has been a hit.
But it seems that the German manufacturers have created their first ‘flop’ with Roma’s upcoming fourth kit. The Italian heavyweights are reportedly set to unveil a brand new ‘fourth kit’ for the 2023/24 season in the upcoming Rome Derby against rivals Lazio. An early leak of this shows how similar it looks to the home kit, but with a twist.
It appears that Adidas has retained Roma’s iconic yellow and red colours in this one, although the red shade is a bit darker than usual. It features a yellow collar with similar yellow stripes above the shoulders. There are also black all-over zig-zag patterns, which seem to be ruining it.
Most of the complaints seem to be targeted at the black zig-zag design. Some feel it’s too dark and unnecessary. The design itself has also been labelled as lazy and there are examples to back that up. On a closer look, it seems like Adidas has basically copy-pasted designs from some of their past jerseys for this.
This AS Roma fourth kit has a similar design pattern as Manchester United’s 2020/21 away kit. It also has shades of the Wales’ home kit designed by Adidas.
As per Footyheadlines, this kit is reportedly inspired by Roma’s famous 3-1 win over Lazio on April 11, 1999. That match held special significance because it marked the Giallorossi’s first win over their arch-rivals since 1994! However, the kit Roma wore back in 1999 is quite different from this fourth kit version.
But this Adidas kit design is quite different to the one created by Italian manufacturers Diadora for Roma’s 1998/99 home kit. Moreover, that kit also had an orange pattern over the shoulders with the Lupetto logo all over it, which is missing in this ‘inspired’ version created by Adidas.
This AS Roma fourth kit is likely to be worn for one match only by Daniele De Rossi’s side. It is poised to debut in the upcoming derby against Lazio on 6 April. Footyheadlines also predicts the kit to be officially unveiled on April 2, giving fans some time to buy it just for the derby itself.
The official pricing of this kit is yet to be unveiled, but it’s unlikely to be cheap. Roma’s 23/24 home kit is currently priced at £85.3 on their official online store. With this fourth kit being a ‘special edition’ kind, it’s likelier to be much more expensive than that and probably well over £100.
Even though Football Twitter generally seems to dislike this kit’s design, some AS Roma matchgoers and ultras probably won’t care. This could add to their club memorabilia and something new they can wear when they go to war with Lazio.
The Giallorossi faithful will just hope that the players are spirited by this fourth kit and produce a similar performance as the side did in April 1999 to get a huge win over their arch-rivals and win them the bragging rights.