Arsenal have unveiled their new Adidas home kit ahead of next season, but the players did not wear that new Arsenal jersey when the club hosted Burnley in their final home game of the campaign at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Standard Sport understood that Arsenal would not put the new kit into use for the Burnley match, and the club will continue wearing the current home shirt for the rest of the season. Instead, Arsenal confirmed they will wear red in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain on May 30 — a detail that makes the fixture notable in kit terms.
The numbers underline why the choice matters: May 30 is Arsenal’s first Champions League final in which they will appear wearing their home colours. The club’s only previous appearance in the competition’s final came 20 years ago in Paris, when they lost 2-1 to Barcelona while wearing their yellow away strip because they were the designated away team and the home kits clashed.
Context matters here. The new Adidas home kit has been unveiled well before its planned debut next season, and the club’s decision to keep the current home shirt for the remainder of this campaign means players will take to the field in familiar colours for what is the season’s biggest match. Paris Saint-Germain have also revealed a new kit, but they will play the Champions League final in their current home shirt rather than the newly announced design.
The situation contains an obvious friction. The unveiling of a fresh home kit usually signals the start of a new commercial and visual chapter, yet Arsenal have chosen to postpone any on-field use until after the season. That leaves two contrasting timelines running at once: a publicly launched product and a team that will finish its campaign in the kit supporters have watched all season — including in the continental final.
That contrast will be most visible on May 30 in Paris, where Arsenal will attempt to lift Europe’s premier club trophy in red for the first time at this stage of the competition. The club’s choice to delay the new kit’s debut preserves a continuity of image for the run-in and places the spotlight on the current shirt during what may be the most significant match in Arsenal’s recent history.
