Celtic's 25/26 away shirt 'leaked' as fans have mixed reaction to revisit of classic design

With the Scottish Premier League season slowly winding towards a seemingly inevitable conclusion – a fourth consecutive title for Celtic – it’s understandable that discourse in the green and white half of Glasgow might be turning away from football and towards other matters. Happily, the apparent leak of the club’s latest kit has provided some handy conversation fodder.

The “leak” came about after a photo of Portuguese winger Jota wearing what seemed to be a 2025/26 kit by Adidas started circulating – and to say the least, it seems to have divided opinions, with takes ranging from the positive all the way down to a punter who dubbed it “the worst kit of all time.”

Leaked Celtic kit calls back to late Nineties

The kit itself is a black number bedecked with thin horizontal lime green pinstripes, a combination which seems to hark back to Umbro away kits from the 1998/99 and 1999/00 seasons.

They aren’t necessarily seasons that come top of most Celtic fans’ lists when it comes to commemoration, given that the Bhoys only won one Scottish League Cup across those two campaigns, but the colour scheme certainly comes across a call back to the kit pictured below, modelled handsomely by Craig Burley.

The new version of the kit is certainly considerably stripier, and the corresponding detailing down the flanks is fresh, but overall the clear impression is of a jersey designed with a throwback in mind.

The provenance of the kit hasn’t yet been verified by either the club or by manufacturer Adidas, but it is assumed that – if genuine – this would replace the canary yellow and green number which has served as the 2024/25 away kit.

New jersey draws mixed reaction from fans

Fans have not, however, been universally complimentary about the new design, if it does indeed turn out to be the real deal, which plenty of supporters taking to social media to express their distaste.

Comments have ranged from “the worst of all time?” to “wouldn’t put that collar on my dog” all the way to a simple call to “bring back Umbro”, who designed the 1998-2000 kits this number calls back to.

Not that there haven’t been some favourable reviews as well, with some commentors clearly keen on the look that the players could well be modelling in the Champions League next year. And Jota certainly looks happy enough to be wearing the jersey, even if it isn’t every supporters cup of tea.

There’s plenty of football left before this gets worn in action for the first time, with the final phase of the SPL still to come and a Scottish Cup semi-final – and hopefully final – to contend with. All going to plan, this new shirt will first be seen worn by players who have won a couple of pieces of silverware in the recent past.

We’re also still waiting to find out whether Adidas continue their slightly experimental streak of home kits, with no details of Celtic’s other jerseys for next season currently available, and there’s plenty more to come where the apparent leak came from. Hopefully, the rest of next season’s clobber won’t cause quite so much division.