Gucci's presence in football is stronger than people remember From CR7’s Y2Ks looks to Chelsea’s new away kit

Few footballers have been associated with a brand in such an organic way, without linking themselves to sponsorships or brand ambassador contracts, as happened with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gucci – especially during the 2000s. His passion for the maison represented both the extravagance of his first money spent on clothing after millionaire contracts and the aesthetic of the quintessential footballer of that decade, now evident and practically canonized.

Gucci's journey in football certainly starts with Cristiano Ronaldo, but it also passes through many other milestones: from players’ personal style choices to direct collaborations with the maison, from sponsorships with world-class athletes to color combinations that, we dare say, may have been influenced by the brand’s iconic red and green.

Chelsea Away Kit for the 2025/26 Season

And let's start with the latter case: the Blues have this year unveiled an away kit that seems to have come straight from Gucci's design office. The sleeve edges and thin central stripes almost perfectly replicate the typical shades of the Florentine maison. We like to imagine, with a bit of fantasy, that Nike was inspired by Gucci’s color blocking.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Y2K (and beyond) Outfits

The mid-2010s were a crucial transitional period for footballers’ clothing; perhaps the quintessential moment when a recognizable style began to emerge, which, as already mentioned, often coincided with extravagance and ostentation: a way for players to elevate themselves socially by flaunting goods made accessible by their salaries. Looking back today at some of those looks – which we have often discussed – allows us to appreciate the radical change that has occurred since then, in an era where footballers are certainly expanding the variety of their wardrobes.

Gucci x Palace Skateboards Collaboration

Going back to 2022, the year of the collaboration between Gucci and Palace Skateboards: a project that combined the stylistic elements of the London skateboarding brand with a decisive stylistic intervention from Gucci. The result was the classic Palace drop enriched with strong football influences: a light blue jersey with the Florentine maison’s all-over pattern prominently displayed and a black long-sleeve version, inspired by training kits, featuring elastic cuffs. This aesthetic returned in summer 2025, when Chelsea released a similar reinterpretation in collaboration with Jordan Vickors.

Saint-Maximin’s Headband

Currently at Club América, Allan Saint-Maximin has had several seasons in the recent past where he caused chaos first with Nice’s kit and then with Newcastle’s, while simultaneously writing a new chapter in the history of footballers’ headbands. Until then, the eye was used to thinner versions, like those worn by Nesta, Maldini, Inzaghi, or Totti. With Saint-Maximin and his tennis-inspired Gucci headband, there is a true aesthetic upheaval.

Jack Grealish, Gucci Global Ambassador

In 2022, with a seven-figure contract, Jack Grealish became Gucci’s first official sports ambassador. This happened just three years ago, and today it almost seems like science fiction, considering that the brand’s main sports ambassador is now a generational talent like Jannik Sinner, and that Gucci has (perhaps rightly) chosen to associate its name more with tennis than football. We can therefore say that Jack Grealish’s experience as a Gucci ambassador represents a failed experiment by the brand to enter the football world.