The Club’s Collection, Old & New
City boast some of the most recognisable football shirts in the country, many of which have become synonymous with landmark moments from the Club’s recent history, including promotions, relegations, European adventures and winning the Premier League title.
The Foxes' classic royal blue and white colours became traditional from the early 20th century, but throughout the following decades there have been various innovations and modifications in the design, texture and sponsorship of the iconic kits.
Here’s a look at 10 of those home shirts from across the last four decades...
The 1983/85 home jersey was a shirt of many landmarks: the first-ever Leicester City shirt to be emblazoned with a sponsorship logo, following a deal with brewers Ind Coope, the first to sport the ‘running fox’ logo, which remained the official badge until 1992, and the first to incorporate pinstripes into the design since 1922. Across the two seasons of this shirt’s existence, Gary Lineker, Alan Smith and Steve Lynex scored more than 100 goals between them, as Gordon Milne’s side played some attacking football upon their return to England’s top flight.
The 1992/94 shirt was designed by the Club, in conjunction with manager Brian Little and his players. It was the first to carry the Club’s own official clothing brand, Fox Leisure, which lasted until 2000. Part of an all-blue kit, the shirt included a new Club crest, which replaced the previous used ‘running fox’ badge. The new crest featured a fox’s face set on the white cinquefoil, taken from the city of Leicester coat of arms.
It featured a small collar with the writing ‘LCFC’ displayed below, in a central position. A wavy pattern runs consistently across the shirt, underneath the Walkers Crisps sponsorship. The Nationwide Football League sleeve badges were also embroidered into the fabric, while the design was worn in the 1993 Play-Off Final against Swindon Town. Its final appearance was for the 1993/94 Play-Off Final against Derby County in May 1994.
The last goal scored in this shirt was Steve Walsh’s iconic Wembley winner, which came six minutes from time to seal a 2-1 victory and promotion to the Premier League.
Still designed by Fox Leisure and sponsored by Walkers Crisps, the collar became more prominent on the following edition, worn between 1994 and 1996. This shirt added a white and gold trim on the sleeve, which also adorned the new-look collar, while a gold ring featured around the crest. Less prominent vertical lines ran down the front of the shirt, as well as subtle City badges.
Part of another all-blue kit, this design was first worn by Leicester City when they made their debut in the recently-formed Premier League at the start of the 1994/95 season. Nine months later, they were relegated. Like its predecessor, the shirt made its last outing at Wembley, at the end of the following season, when promotion back to the Premier League was secured under Martin O’Neill.
Steve Claridge’s famous ‘shinned’ goal against Crystal Palace came four seconds from the end of extra-time in the play-off final. The writing ‘Division One Play-Off Final Wembley 1996’ was embroidered below the badge to signify the game.
The 1996-1998 home kit was worn for Leicester City’s first two seasons back in the top-flight, while the 1996/97 season brought another Wembley final. This time, it was the League Cup’s showpiece event as Academy graduate Emile Heskey wrote his name into Foxes folklore by scoring a crucial late equaliser under the old Twin Towers to set up a replay with Middlesbrough – one in which Leicester would ultimately triumph.
The shirt featured writing - ‘The Coca-Cola Cup Final Wembley 1997’ - but this time in the centre of the shirt, above the new Walkers Crisps logo. Once again designed by Fox Leisure, it carried the same City badge and outline, but opted for larger, less frequent crests around the front of the shirt. The collar also changed to a distinctive blue and white V-neck.
Under the tutelage of O’Neill, the Club also played in European competition whilst wearing this kit, featuring in the UEFA Cup, against Atlético Madrid.
Another rebrand for main sponsor Walkers Crisps led to a new logo featuring on the front of the shirt for the 1999/00 season, which brought more League Cup success. Defender Matt Elliott scored a brace in the 2000 Final at the old Wembley, in what was then known as the Worthington Cup, one year after also adorning the shirt for a final loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
Diamond-shaped patterns were added, with large crests still incorporated, as well as a blue trim as part of a white sleeve design. The shield which surrounded the Club crest was dropped for this edition - the final shirt to be designed by Fox Leisure and the final one to be sponsored by Walkers Crisps.
However, new kit manufacturers Le Coq Sportif in fact persisted with the basic design for two more seasons, to the latter of which saw LG Electronics take over as City's primary sponsor.
A new-era dawned for Leicester City’s shirts near the start of the 20th century, as Le Coq Sportif began to introduce a range of fresh designs from 2002 onwards.
The 2002/03 jersey, still featuring sponsorship from LG for the second and final time, was given a more silky effect and had a distinctive navy collar complete with a white trim. It was used for City’s maiden season at King Power Stadium - following the move from Filbert Street - which ended in promotion from the First Division, despite the Club being placed into administration.
Leicester finished second in that campaign, with forward Paul Dickov netting 20 times in all competitions for Micky Adams’ promotion-winning side - the first Foxes player since Iwan Roberts in 1995/96 to score as many goals in a single campaign.
The 2003-05 home shirt’s first season is associated with Leicester’s final campaign in the Premier League for 10 years, before promotion in 2014. This was also the Club’s maiden top-flight season at the new stadium. However, Foxes fans first saw this shirt design in action in August 2003, in the prestigious pre-season friendly against FC Barcelona, in front of a crowd of over 32,000.
The shirt was also significant for being the first English jersey to feature a red poppy, which was embroidered onto the shirt and worn in City's first-ever Remembrance Fixture, against Blackburn Rovers, on 2 November 2003. This innovation by Leicester City has now become an established tradition nationwide.
It featured sponsorship from local bank Alliance & Leicester and was the last shirt to be worn by some Foxes legends, including the aforementioned Elliott, Gerry Taggart, Muzzy Izzet and Steve Guppy.
Leicester City’s return to the Championship was enjoyed whilst wearing the 2009/10 home shirt. It was heavily influenced by a fans’ vote in January 2009 that gave supporters the choice of four options; shirts emblazoned with either 'Forever Foxes', '125 Years', or 'Blue Army' or a plain shirt. City fans voted in favour of having a plain, classic shirt for the 125th anniversary year.
Despite being worn for only one campaign, it was then adapted by new manufacturer Burrda for the following season. For the first time in 26 seasons, there was no sponsor’s logo on the front of the shirt, though manufacturer Joma’s logo was present. There were also some minor changes to the Club’s crest with the dates ‘1884-2009’ and ‘125 Years’ added. In further design changes, the gold muzzle and cheeks of the fox, which had been a feature since 1992, were replaced by a white muzzle and white cheeks. The Club began the season as League 1 champions and so the sleeve badges on the shirt were gold coloured, as a tribute to winning the title in 2008/09.
The 2015/16 design was made famous globally as the home shirt worn by Leicester City when they historically won the Premier League title for the first time, in 2016. It will forever be associated with a host of memorable moments from that season, such as Jamie Vardy’s goal against Manchester United, which created a new Premier League record of scoring in 11 successive games.
Other famous faces to have worn the shirt, which was part of an all-blue home strip for the first time since 2009, include N'Golo Kanté, Riyad Mahrez and Danny Drinkwater. Sight of this jersey will always prompt many other memories of the heroics achieved by that famous side, which was managed by Claudio Ranieri.
On 7 May, 2016, captain Wes Morgan lifted the Premier League trophy, alongside Ranieri at King Power Stadium; a sight few City fans ever thought they would witness.
A year later, Leicester's domestic success meant they experienced a season of European and worldwide competition in the form of the UEFA Champions League and International Champions Cup, when City faced the likes of FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Celtic. Proudly displaying the UEFA Champions League logo on the sleeve, the 2016/17 shirt was used in all of City’s home games on their way to the quarter-finals, as well as in away ties at FC Copenhagen, FC Sevilla and Atlético Madrid.
It is most memorably associated with both legs of the dramatic Round of 16 tie against UEFA Europa League holders Sevilla, when Leicester overcame a 2-1 first leg deficit to win the tie 3-2, with Kasper Schmeichel saving a penalty in both legs. It also brings back memories of the narrow defeat in the closely fought quarter-final tie against Atlético. Still manufactured by PUMA and displaying the King Power logo, a thin, gold sleeve trim was added to signify the previous season’s title success. In addition, throughout the league campaign, this shirt design displayed the golden Premier League logo on the sleeves to indicate the Club’s status of title holders.
Leicester City’s 2020/21 home shirt by adidas is now on sale at the Foxes Fanstore at King Power Stadium and online at shop.lcfc.com. As part of the Thailand Smiles With You initiative, City players will wear Thailand Smiles With You on their shirts for Premier League matches in 2020/21. King Power shirts will be worn for cup and European competitions.