Premier League
As part of the Premier League’s subtle branding update, the lion badge is modified across the four referee kits, with a monochromatic look on the black the only exception to an otherwise standardized dark purple look.
After having been untouched for a full decade, the sleeve sponsor undergoes its first change, as EA Sports also switches from using the generic EA logo to the football-specific EA Sports FC badge.
Although not one of the colourways ‘officially’ released by Nike ahead of the new season, English referees have orange as one of their 2022 kit options.
The NHS and BLM logos disappear for the new season, but referees wear the new Nike 20 kits with a No Room For Racism patch on the right sleeve.
When football resumes for the first time in the COVID-19 era, all players and officials wear two additional badges on their shirts for the remainder of the 2019-20 season: an NHS logo to honour health-care workers, and a Black Lives Matter patch to honour the growing anti-racism movement.
The Nike 18 line is introduced, with the Premier League opting to continue with standard black socks.
The Premier League rebrands, with the new logo coinciding with referees wearing the new Nike 16 kits.
A fourth colour option becomes available as officials move to the Nike 14 line.
The FA moves from Umbro to Nike, and referees have these three kits as their initial options – starting off the season without a sponsor.
New Umbro kits are released, with the turquoise version featuring pinstripes that create a look not dissimilar to that of the original Premier League referee kits in 1992. Expedia is the latest sponsor to have their logo on the sleeves, replacing Tune Group.
A nearly unnoticeable change sees Umbro tweak its logo, giving some height to the double diamond and making it appear less ‘flat’.
Referees switch to the new line of Umbro kits, with four colour options now available. Air Asia’s sleeve logo is slightly modified.
Umbro returns as kit manufacturer, keeping the three colourways the same. The competition rebrands, going from the FA Barclays Premiership to the Barclays Premier League, and introduces a new logo to mark the occasion. In addition, Air Asia replaces Fly Emirates as the sleeve sponsor.
Interestingly, there is a separate set of shorts for each kit, with the trim colour matching the shirt.
Official Sports produces the new kits, with the green becoming lighter in colour and each kit getting its own matching socks.
The refreshed kits feature black trim on both the sleeves and the under-arm panels of the new kits, with a yellow option available again. Meanwhile, a sleeve sponsor is added for the first time, with the Fly Emirates logo appearing on both arms.
The yellow kit is dropped after just a season, with the black and green options on the fourth year of their cycle.
A zip-collar replaces the traditional polo, and teal replaces green in the colour rotation. The FA logo shifts to silver.
A return to roots sees minimalistic black and teal kits re-introduced for the turn of the millenium.
Oddly (and similarly to the original 1992 kits), the Umbro logo is placed above the chest pocket of the teal shirt, but right on it for the black version.
After the three existing kits serve up some close calls on colour clashes, a light blue option is introduced as a remedy.
Umbro introduces radical new striped kits in 1996, seemingly going to Italian sides Juventus, Inter, and Milan for inspiration. The FA logo is rendered in white on all shirts.
The collar on the teal jersey becomes black, while the black shirt is unchanged.
With the Umbro logo permanently fixed on the chest pocket, FIFA referees had to find creative ways to display their badge. Some opted to place it above the pocket (as seen above), others put it below, while some even shifted it across to go under the FA logo.
The Premier League begins in 1992 by throwing tradition out the window and introducing a teal kit for referees in place of the [to this point] ubiquitous black. A reversed black version of the strip is, however, used whenever there is a clash with teal.
FIFA referees are seen in modified teal kits with Umbro’s logo placed above the pocket, presumably so it wouldn’t be covered by the FIFA badge.
In the 93-94 season, referee Alan Wilkie wore a white t-shirt in a match between Liverpool and Aston Villa, with both teal and black kits clashing with Villa’s change strip. (Thanks to Museum of Jerseys and Perry Gascoine.)