The debut collaboration between AS Roma and New Balance see a vibrant red and yellow kit to mark a new era for the club
AS Roma and New Balance have unveiled the Giallorossi’s new home kit for the 21/22 season. After six years with Nike (see: Ranking all Roma Nike Kits), the Italian capital club made a bold new move to the US-based manufacturers. The new deal is worth approximately €4m per season across an initial three years with options to extend, plus a large percentage of shirt sales.
With the deal only announced in February 2021, New Balance were up against the clock to be ready for the new seasons, and they were always going to play it safe with the new Roma kits. It is also an important new deal for the Boston-based company, with a return of one of Europe’s top clubs to their portfolio, and one they didn’t want to take too many risks.
The famous red and yellow colour palette is presented in notably rich yellow and red shades which are synonymous with AS Roma. Its vibrant and clean and works very nicely with the New Balance branding and a smart looking new sponsor in Digital Bits, both in yellow, without being anything remarkable. A subtle tonal pin-stripe design is visible on the front of the jersey, which is the extent of the detailed design.
The shirt incorporates a v-neck collar which gives it a more casual look and feel, and ribbon cuff details in yellow, whilst an outer label bearing the words La Lupa – a reference to AS Roma’s iconic lupetto and a historic nickname of the Capitoline team is also added.
AS Roma’s traditional rich red socks are completed with coloured hoops to match the home strip design. The goalkeeper kit arrives in a classic black with a grey speckled graphic. Notable the New Balance logo here appears in white, which stands out a lot more compared to the main kit.
Speaking at the launch of the new kit, AS Roma Captain Lorenzo Pellegrini said, “It’s always exciting when a new kit is revealed, especially this season. The new design was popular with the team from the moment we saw it and we are all looking forward to wearing it”.
General Manager of New Balance Football, Kenny McCallum said: “New Balance wanted to fully respect AS Roma’s traditions with a classic, unique silhouette. The Club’s famous yellow and red palette is one of the most iconic sights in world football and this year’s bespoke design aims to celebrate that”.
The new sponsorship deal with blockchain fintech Zytara Labs (who owns Digital Bits) not only works well on the new home kit, it’s also hitting the right notes off the field as well. Replacing the unpopular Qatar Airways, the new agreement is worth a total €36 million, an increase on the previous sponsor. It is also described as a “first of its kind”, and according to a recent Forbes article, represents the most notable sponsorship deal between a soccer club and blockchain firm to date, opening up options to expand the brand further into the digital world.
With New Balance set to produce four kits for AS Roma for the 2021/22 season, we hope to see a bit more creativity brought into play. The away kit is set to be a white version, pretty much similar in design to the home, while the third is set to bring back the dark navy blue and yellow which worked so well for Nike in 2019/20. The fourth kit could be the real ace in the pack, with wide-open design and a rumoured return of Roma’s old ‘ASR’ crest. Time will tell, but there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about Roma’s new deal with New Balance.
