The kits that went wrong after Aston Villa complained about their Castore shirts being ‘too sweaty’

• Aston Villa have complained that their new Castore shirts are ‘too sweaty’
• They are not the only team to complain about their kit over the years
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here

Aston Villa are a team transformed under Unai Emery, going from relegation candidates to European contenders less than a year after he arrived at the club.

Having secured a Europa Conference League place last term, they have started the current campaign strongly as well, picking up 12 points from their opening six games to sit sixth in the table.

The side appear to be playing well, but feel something is holding them back – their shirts.

Villa’s players have been donning new Castore shirts this season, and they aren’t happy with them. Why? Well, because they are ‘too sweaty’.

That’s right, the shirts have been getting drenched in sweat early on in games, and the squad believe it is making the kit heavy and affecting performances.

Aston Villa stars have complained their shirts are ‘too sweaty’ and are affecting performances

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The women’s team are set to wear the same kit this weekend for their WSL opener, and are believed to be ‘dreading’ the prospect of playing in the ‘wet and clingy’ shirts.

Villa’s shirt concerns is an unusual complaint, but not completely unheard of.

Mail Sport has looked back at when kits went badly wrong in the past, and there are plenty of fascinating examples from across the globe.

Cameroon go sleeveless 

Cameroon were the team to beat in Africa at the turn of the millennium. They won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2000, and travelled to Mali two years later to defend their crown.

You could say there was a target on their backs, and they certainly were not worried about going under the radar. Instead, the Indomitable Lions opted to wear sleeveless shirts for the 2002 tournament.

The shirts, which were worn by the likes of Samuel Eto’o, former Arsenal defender Lauren and current Cameroon manager Rigobert Song, attracted some criticism, but the team put that behind them and retained their title, beating Senegal on penalties in the final.

However, it transpired that there is a rule stating football shirts must contain sleeves, and these were added for the World Cup later that year.

Cameroon failed to progress beyond the group stages in Japan and South Korea in 2002. Perhaps they should have stuck with the sleeveless shirts after all. 

Cameroon wore sleeveless shirts during the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations

Huddersfield’s Paddy Power hash  

As Huddersfield’s players stepped out for a pre-season friendly with Rochdale in 2019, they left no doubt as to who they were being sponsored by.

Their shirts contained a massive Paddy Power hash right across the front as they completely ignored the FA’s rules that a sponsor should be positioned in ‘one single area not exceeding 250 square centimetres on the front of the shirt’.

It quickly became apparent that it was a publicity stunt, with the team not intending to wear it during the regular season, and the FA swiftly banned it anyway.

Huddersfield were also fined for misconduct and went on to have a miserable campaign in the Championship as they finished 18th, just three points above relegation.  

Huddersfield wore a shirt with a huge Paddy Power hash on it for a pre-season game in 2019

Fiorentina’s swastika slip-up 

Fiorentina’s iconic purple strip is widely regarded as one of the best kits around. Surely they couldn’t go far wrong with it? Oh yes they could.

In the 1992-93 season, they put together an away strip with a purple pattern along the top while the bottom half of the shirt was plain white.

However, fans spotted the purple part contained symbols that looked remarkably like a swastika.

Fiorentina denied the design was deliberate, but the shirt was swiftly banned and made unavailable to be sold to the public.

To cap off a disastrous year, Fiorentina were relegated from Serie A that season after finishing third-bottom.  

Fiorentina’s 1992-93 away kit was banned due to the symbols on their shirt looking like a swastika

Cardiff rebrand to red  

Cardiff City are nicknamed ‘the Bluebirds’ so it should be pretty obvious what colour their home kit is. 

But that wasn’t the case in 2012 when they rebranded and switched to playing in red, and added a red dragon to their crest.

Cardiff’s Malaysian owners explained that the kit change was part of ‘major and significant’ investment into the club, but fans were not happy with the team no longer playing in their traditional colours.

They pushed for the team to return to playing in blue, and owner Vincent Tan eventually bowed to the pressure in January 2015. 

The kit was changed with immediate effect, and the club badge was redesigned with a prominent bluebird on it.  

Cardiff City switched to a red kit with a red dragon on the crest in 2012

Cardiff owner Vincent Tan changed the club’s kit back to blue in January 2015

Man United’s grey day  

Manchester United were the dominant force in the early years of the Premier League, winning title after title.

But they had a day to forget when they travelled to Southampton in October 1996 and wore an unfamiliar grey kit.

It was hardly pleasing on the eye, and Sir Alex Ferguson memorably claimed afterwards that his players could not spot each other on the pitch as they were blending into the crowd.

With United trailing 3-1 at half time, Ferguson ordered his players to change kits in the hope they could at least see each other after the break.

The second half went marginally better, but United still lost it 3-2, as they slipped to a 6-3 defeat. 

Man United wore a grey away kit in their Premier League game against Southampton in 1996

Sir Alex Ferguson said his players couldn’t see each other and they changed kits at half time

Barcelona break tradition  

Barcelona’s strip is one the most famous in the world with its vertical red and blue stripes on the shirt.

At least that was the case until they switched to horizontal hoops for the first time in their 115-year history for the 2015-16 season.

It just didn’t look right, and fans were far from happy, with 78 per cent voting in a Spanish newspaper poll that they did not want the hoops on the shirt.

They got their way after just one season as Barcelona listened to their supporters and returned to vertical stripes.

The Catalan giants have since tried a chequered pattern on their shirts, but it doesn’t match up to the original either. Just keep things simple, Barca. 

Barcelona switched to horizontal hoops in 2015-16, but the move only lasted one season

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