Puma’s new design for third kits for some of Europe’s biggest clubs have caused controversy among fans and now they have caused confusion for a player.
After scoring for Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday, Muhammed Gumuskaya went to kiss the badge, but couldn’t find it. Club crests belong on the front of a football shirt: that’s a rule that hasn’t been tampered with since time immemorial. That is, until this year, when Puma decided to mess with the format.
The sportswear brand released new third kits on Wednesday for a number of clubs, including Fenerbahce, Manchester City, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Monchengladbach, Marseille, Valencia, PSV Eindhoven and Shakhtar Donetsk. Controversially, on each of the shirts, the club crest has been moved from its usual position and used instead as a repeating pattern along the jersey. The clubs’ names are also printed across the chest.
The designs have not been universally popular online. What’s more, on Thursday night, an incident involving Gumuskaya exposed a potential flaw in the design: what do players do when they want to show their dedication to the club by laying lips on the badge?
Gumuskaya discovered this issue during a Europa League qualifying match against HJK Helsinki. The 20-year-old player was brought on to replace Mesut Ozil in the second half and scored the game-winning goal just minutes later. As he ran to celebrate in front of the fans by kissing the club’s badge, he realised he couldn’t locate it.
