With the news that Italian club AS Roma are to prematurely terminate their commercial partnership with Nike, we look back at Nike’s Roma kits over the last six years
In a surprising move, AS Roma announced their partnership with Nike will now end upon completion of the 2019-20 season in order to “explore new opportunities in the equipment and licensing space.” Roma and Nike will have a new agreement which will see Nike provide the club with all kits and and casual products for the upcoming 2020/2021 season, but after that Roma will work with a new manufacturer. We look back at Roma’s six seasons (with a seventh to come), ranking them in order of season to include all three of the home, away and 3rd.
View all AS Roma x Nike official releases here:
2019/20: Home kit overview / 3rd Kit
2018/19: Home kit overview
2017/18: Home kit overview
2016/17: Home kit overview
2015/16: Home kit / 3rd kit
2014/15: Home kit / away kit
1st: 2019/20
It will come at no surprise to see the current kits for this 2019/20 season top of the pile. You could argue its actually a rather strange time for Roma to end its partnership with Nike, given that the kits have dramatically improved in the last season or two, moving away from the dreaded templates across the board and introducing some unique designs. For 19/20, the ‘lightening bolt’ theme was a brilliant innovation from Nike. Subtle on a clean, fresh home kit, but it really came into play on the striking white away. The 3rd, a retro throwback inspired by Roma’s navy kits from 1992 (Adidas) and 2000 (Kappa), is perhaps Nike’s finest ever Roma kit.
2nd: 2015/16
A simplistic yet very stylish home kit, with nice use of yellow (orange) trimmings. The white away is another lovely, clean design with subtle map of Rome An elegant Henley collar & a giallorossi strip along the side on the sleeve cuffs. The 3rd away is let down here, however, a lazy templated effort from Nike’s ‘Night Rising’ range.
3rd: 2018/19
The ‘chainmail armour’ kit, based on Nike’s Vapor global template, was nice in presentation but fell down slightly on the pitch. A big step in the right direction with at least some originally and thought in the design. The grey away was pretty templated, while the vibrant orange 3rd took inspiration from the 15/16 white away kit with a clever overlaid map of Rome (and a bonus hidden Lupetto).
4th: 2014/15
Roma’s first ever Nike kits and they done the job. It seemed like the dawn of a new age with a big name manufacturer, a high-profile kit launch, and some new signings. It featured darker red tone with orange cuffs and a smart polo collar. The orange-red sash away is inspired from 1960s kits and worked reallywell, as the black reversed 3rd was smart if a little plain.
5th: 2016/17
The first time in history that Roma’s home shirt features stripes across the front. Pure templated dross on the away (crest and colours is the only change from other clubs) and also the 3rd, which had a crazy striped colour gradient.
Bonus time: We also have to pay home to the classic 2016/17 commemorative Derby Kit – although for the sake of these rankings this isn’t factored in to the seasons traditional home/away/3rd). A beautiful dark red base with metallic gold trimmings, it was complete by the epic ‘SPQR’ sponsor. Instant classic.
6th 2017/18
Clean and simple, or bland and templated? The Nike Vapor template featured detailed geometric patterns, but the most striking change to the kit was the reintroduction of the traditional AS Roma colours (giallo 130C and rosso 202C). A boring away and another heavily templated dark camo effort for a 3rd. Probably Nike templates are their lowest peak.
Let us know what you think of our ranking for all AS Roma x Nike Kits from 2014-2020, and what order you would have them in. Nike’s kits brought Roma in to a new age for kit design. We seen the good, the bad and the ugly (templates), but those away and 3rd kits from 2019/20 will go down as some of the best ever. As for the future, well we know Nike’s soon to be released 2020/21 kits will be their last, but after that? A return to Kappa? Something new with New Balance? Or something completely different? Knowing Roma, anything can happen.
