The 9 most controversial football kits ever released | OneFootball

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Considering football clubs have to create and release several new kits every single season, it's impressive how often they nail the new designs each year.

There have been some incredible-looking shirts over the years, which fans continue to wear long after they were introduced, but on the flip side, there have also been some truly wild, ugly and downright controversial kits released too. Sometimes, clubs just get it very, very wrong.

Whether it's a questionable design or truly awful colour clashing, there have been a number of kits released over the years that have lived long in the memories of fans, but this time for all the wrong reasons.

9 Manchester United 1995-96 away

SOUTHAMPTON - APRIL 13: Matthew Le Tissier of Southampton shoots at goal as Ryan Giggs of Manchester United makes a challenge during the FA Carling Premiership match between Southampton and Manchester United held on April 13, 1996 at The Dell, in Southampton, England. Southampton won the match 3-1. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

While it was worn just five times, the impact that Manchester United's away kit from the 1995-96 season has been immeasurable. The grey, ugly strip has lived long in the memory of anyone who was unfortunate to see it.

The kit's biggest moment came during the Red Devils' match against Southampton where the club found themselves 3-0 down at half-time to the Saints.

Apparently, the kit blended in with the crowd and made it almost impossible for United players to spot their teammates and the club made the historic decision to ditch it during the interval and returned to the game in the second half in a different kit. It was never worn again and is infamous for the club's horrendous form while wearing it, with the Red Devils losing four of the five matches they played in it.

Not only was it hard for the players to see their teammates in, but there's simply no denying just how ugly the kit actually was, so no one complained when they got rid of it.

8 Huddersfield Town 2019-20 home

Huddersfield Town's home kit in 2019-20 shocked just about everyone due to its sheer disregard for football's long-standing rules. The FA's sponsorship rules dictate that a club's sponsor should be located in “one single area not exceeding 250 square centimetres on the front of the shirt," but the Terriers ignored that completely with this design.

Instead, they wore the Paddy Power logo as a sash, stretched diagonally across the front of the shirt and taking up a third of it. The club wore the strip just once in a pre-season friendly against Rochdale before it was banned by the FA.

Eventually, it was revealed the design was just a publicity stunt, and the club never intended to wear the kit throughout the season, always intending to sport a shirt without a sponsor. The stunt worked as well, with the infamous design still remembered today, but the FA weren't impressed, charging the club with misconduct.

7 PUMA 2020-21 third kits

What's extra unique about PUMA's infamous design in 2020-21, was the fact it actually stretched across to a number of different teams. The kit made the wild decision to remove the clubs' logos from the strip, instead replacing them with their names, placed inside a small rectangular strip across the middle of the shirt.

Instead, the PUMA logo was the most prominent one on the shirt, which seriously angered fans following the clubs. Another issue was the design, worn by several different clubs including Manchester City, Marseille and AC Milan gave the impression the clubs were all linked to one another, which simply wasn't the case.

Fans loathed the design, but surprisingly it was worn throughout the entirety of the 2020-21 season, with no team actually scrapping the design, despite the negative reactions it received.

6 Cameroon 2002 home

One of the most unique designs in football history, Cameroon's decision to unveil a shirtless home shirt made headlines and had fans split. Some thought the design was cool and different, while others hated it.

The nation wore the shirt, or vest, during the 2002 African Cup of Nations and actually won the tournament, but were forced to add black sleeves to the kit when they took part in the World Cup later that year. Apparently, there's actually a rule that means football shirts are required to have sleeves, something Cameroon may have overlooked or just ignored when creating the shirt.

The kit is still one of the most memorable designs of all time, with fans today still debating whether it was actually a glorious masterpiece, or an awful attempt to be unique.

5 Cameroon 2004 home

Just two years after they revealed their sleeveless kit, Cameroon was at it again with their unique designs, unveiling a brand-new home kit that actually came as a kind of onesie, with the shorts and shirt attached to each other.

This time, FIFA were much stricter and acted quickly, incensed at the country's new kit and after just one game in the 2004 African Cup of Nations against Tunisia, the governing body's president Sepp Blatter released a statement stressing how shirts and shorts must be separate items in a kit and promising to fine Cameroon over £100k for every match they continue to wear the kit.

He also claimed the country would be deducted six points in the 2006 World Cup group stage if they continued to wear it. It's safe to say, Cameroon never wore the kit again, but you've got to hand it to them, they were never afraid of thinking outside the box, coming up with two of the most infamous, controversial and unique kit designs in as many years.

4 Barcelona 2020-21

One shirt that never actually made an appearance in game, this Barcelona kit that was supposed to celebrate St. George, the patron saint of the city.

The base of the shirt took inspiration from the English flag, with the majority of it white, with the red cross also spread across it. It was the dominant white that forced the club to reject the design, though, claiming it was too similar to their La Liga rivals Real Madrid's home strip.

It was a unique design, and the decision to scrap it considering its colours matched Madrid's feels a little silly, with many clubs wearing similar colours to their rivals from time to time.

3 Athletic Bilbao 2004-05 European

To celebrate their upcoming UEFA Cup campaign, Athletic Bilbao employed artist Dario Urzay to create a design for a special kit to be worn solely during the tournament.

The result was this absolute monstrosity, with Urzay taking inspiration from blood splatters when he created the shirt, replacing the traditional red and white stripes.

It's safe to say that fans were not happy with the design in the slightest, and it was quickly scrapped after a very public protest. The shirt, now referred to as the "Ketchup" shirt, was supposed to be seen as a celebration of the club's European exploits that season but ended up being worn just once in a friendly, never seeing the tournament it was created in honour of.

2 Fiorentina 1992-92 away

Undoubtedly one of the most controversial kits of all time, Fiorentina's away strip in 1992-93 is memorable for all the wrong reasons as fans were outraged at the strip's design incorporating patterns that looked very, very similar to the swastika.

The Nazi symbol was plastered all over the top half of the shirt and fans were outraged when they noticed the design. The club claimed the similarities between the symbols on the shirt and the swastika were purely accidental, but it was banned shortly after it was brought to the public's attention and the shirt was even pulled off sale.

The year was a disastrous one for the club, with Fiorentina relegated at the end of the season, but in comparison to releasing a shirt that seems decorated in one of the most infamous, detested symbols of all-time, relegation doesn't seem all that bad.

1 Getafe 2009-10 home

One of the most ridiculous ways to incorporate a club's sponsor into a kit's design has to be Getafe's idea for their home shirt during the 2009-10 season.

Having Burger King sponsor the club, with the fast food chain's logo slapped in the middle of the shirt is glaring enough, but the decision to have its mascot, the King on the inside of the shirt, allowing players wearing it to reveal his face when it's turned inside out is just absolute madness.

The shirt was designed with the idea that players could reveal the face as a goal celebration, but fans were incredibly mixed on the design, and it's one that the club won't be looking back on fondly.

All in all, some of these designs are actually pretty interesting and could be viewed as ahead of their time. You could forgive Cameroon for deciding to try a sleeveless shirt in 2002, but on the flip side, how the likes of the swastika-riddled Fiorentina shirt, or the blood-inspired Athletic Bilbao design ever saw the life of day is beyond belief.

There were some serious blunders made in the creative process when designing those, but they've managed to live long after they were introduced, and as a result, have actually become more memorable than some of the clubs' best kit designs, so it might not necessarily be the worst thing in the world that they introduced some of these.