All 24 EFL Championship clubs' 2025/26 kit ranked from best to worst | OneFootball

Who has the best home shirt out of the 2025/26 Championship clubs?

The new Championship season is less than a week away, and the anticipation is growing.

The English second tier looks to be as competitive as ever going into 2025/26, with plenty of teams vying for a place in the top two, even more looking to sneak into that top six.

For those looking ahead to a successful year, they'll want to do so in style, and what better way to win than in a gorgeous-looking kit?

All the home shirts have (finally) been released ahead of the new campaign. And now it's time for Football League World to rank which is the best, and which is the worst in the 2025/26 Championship season.

It is worth stating before we get into this, however, that this is in the opinion of the writer himself, who doesn't claim to be a fashion expert.

This list operates from best to worst, so Kieran McKenna's Ipswich side takes the cake for best Championship home shirt of the 2025/26 campaign.

They've ditched the white stripes for a pattern in the background, and it looks absolutely gorgeous, along with their new sponsor, Halo, decked out in white to match the hems on the sleeves and the collar.

The Tractor Boys will be hoping they can finish top of the tree when it's all said and done come May, but for now, they can revel in first place in the kit rankings.

Happy 150th anniversary, Birmingham City - you earned second place in the Championship kit rankings for 2025/26!

Whilst it seems the go-to over the past few seasons has been for a shirt with an underlying pattern in the background, the Blues have gone out for a simple, plain blue background, which looks so nice.

And as it is their sesquicentennial year, their sponsor, club badge and Nike logo are all decked out in gold, adding enough of a second colour which manages to stand out without detracting from the main colour.

Ipswich just pips it, in my opinion, but this Birmingham shirt is incredible.

3 Coventry City

I promise I'm not completely biased towards blue kits. Lighter-coloured shirts are among my favourites, and this one from Coventry is very good.

Once again, there's some pattern work going on at the front of the shirt, giving the kit a 90s feel, and you can just picture players wearing baggy long-sleeved versions of this on a cold January night, couldn't you?

And, strangely enough, whilst there isn't necessarily any extra white detailing on the kit this season, the patterning makes it stand out that little bit more compared to last season.

A bit of the ranking is based on whether it's an upgrade on the previous year, and Frank Lampard's side's shirt definitely is - and it's enough to place them inside the top three.

4 Oxford United

From blue to yellow now, and whilst the primary colour of an Oxford shirt isn't exactly my favourite, the clear two-colour combination in this kit makes it stand out as one of the better ones in the Championship.

I mean, there had to be some blue on there, but the dark navy on the sleeves and the collar just work so well in contrast with the yellow. The sponsor is the same colour as well (something which a few clubs could take note of).

Plus, a traditional collar is always going to rank high in my mind. This one deserves a place in the top four.

5 Southampton

Southampton's home shirt this season is a throwback to the one they wore back in the late 70s. Always good when there's meaning behind the shirt, and even better when the shirt looks as nice as this.

It can often be difficult to be imaginative with a home shirt, as the colours always stay the same, but Southampton's mix of red and white stripes here is different enough from their previous home shirts. I particularly like the small white stripes which interrupt the main white ones on the front of the kit.

It begins to lose its way a little with the sleeves - they should be kept one colour, personally - and the front of shirt sponsor stands out a little too much, but it's all little qualms in an otherwise great kit.

Rounding out the play-off spots on this kit list is Sheffield United, another red and white striped team.

Unlike Southampton, though, the Blades have almost gone back to basics with their 2025/26 home strip, after including some strange black lines down the white stripes in last season's shirt.

The black details are now a lot more subtle, and find their way into the hems and the collar, the latter of which I'm still undecided on whether I like.

It's a very solid shirt. Not one that's stood out to me as completely different, but sometimes simple is fine, especially a year after a 90s-inspired kit.

Just missing out on the top six is Middlesbrough, but there is very little wrong with this shirt.

What's stopping a higher ranking here is the white band across the middle of the kit. I really ain't a fan of it. However, unlike last season, where the band crossed the badge and the manufacturer's logo, it's across the middle, with the Unibet sponsor in black instead of white.

That actually makes it look quite clean, and the pattern of the gates to Ayresome Park in the background adds to the shirt nicely.

I feel that if the white band just disappeared, we'd be looking at a top-three kit here, but instead it's a still-admirable seventh place for Rob Edwards' side.

8 Derby County

Derby County's shirt last season was one of my favourites. Unfortunately, I like this throwback to Puma's original kit less, but that doesn't mean it's not a bad shirt.

The classic white body is still clean, and I like the black collars, but the striped sleeves just don't have me onside. And whilst the small gold detailing on the hem is tidy, I would prefer it to run around the whole sleeve.

Other than that, solid kit and one worthy of a top-8 finish for John Eustace's side.

9 Bristol City

This is the first of many clubs where the main takeaway from the shirt is: "Well, it's almost identical to the one last year." Having said that, the 2025/26 Bristol City shirt is very nice, and probably the least 'samey' out of the 'samey' shirts.

It is somewhat difficult to make changes to your home shirt year by year, and sometimes doing so can lead to a shirt that not many people like, so it's often better to stay with what works.

What works for me here is the collar. We're nine shirts in, and I've gushed over the collars of at least five kits by now, and this white one that the Robins have returned to this season is simply gorgeous.

The only other key difference in face value is some white side plates, which also add more quality than they take away. Overall, a very solid shirt.

10 Preston North End

Honestly, if it wasn't for the big red Spud Bros logo slap bang in the middle of this beautiful white shirt, Preston North End would easily take top spot in this list. Instead, they'll have to settle for 10th.

And whilst the jacket potato-making duo are local, lifelong fans, and their sponsorship of the club is pretty feel-good, it doesn't detract from the fact that it makes this otherwise great kit quite cartoon-y.

The full white shirt with the pattern that runs throughout the whole background, including the sleeves, is so clean. But the red sponsorship has a bad contrast in colour, meaning it stands out way too much.

It's not the worst sponsorship in the division, but it's up there. Even still, Preston rounds out the top ten for me.