Some things feel inevitable in football. Liverpool and adidas belong together in the same way Highbury belonged to red-and-white, the same way European nights belong to Anfield. And yet for years — through Nike, through New Balance, through the wilderness of sponsors who never quite understood the assignment — the reunion was always just out of reach. As of July 2025, the wait is over. Liverpool are back in three stripes, and for a generation of supporters who grew up watching the Fowler-and-McManaman era, it is nothing short of a homecoming.
The timing could not be better staged. Liverpool went into 2025/26 as Premier League champions — their 20th title, clinched with a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham in April, with Dominik Szoboszlai pulling the strings from midfield. The Hungarian has been quite something: energetic, composed, relentless, and increasingly the heartbeat of everything Slot’s side do in the final third. Then came the summer, and a £125 million statement: Alexander Isak, the brilliant Swede who tormented defenders for three seasons at Newcastle, arrives as Liverpool’s new No.9. The stage is set. The shirt arrives with ambition written all over it.
The Shirt
The first thing you notice is how right it looks. Red body, white adidas three stripes running down both sleeves — it is an image that takes you back immediately to the classic Adidas era, to Ian Rush and John Barnes, to kits that were worn at the top of English football for nearly a decade. The crew-neck collar is clean and understated, drawing inspiration from the 2006-07 Adidas design without slavishly reproducing it. It wears like a modern performance shirt that knows its own history.
The fabric carries adidas HEAT.RDY technology — lightweight, breathable, built for the intensity of a side that presses relentlessly and rarely drops below full commitment. The fit is contoured without being body-tight, and the sleeve cuffs have a bespoke ribbing that gives the shirt a little structural detail at close range. It feels like quality on the body, which is what you expect at this price point and what you should demand from a kit carrying this much history.
Details
The Liver Bird crest sits on the left chest in white — embroidered, as collectors will be relieved to confirm. The Standard Chartered sponsor logo sits centrally in white, proportional and unobtrusive. Together the chest elements are balanced and clean: nothing fights for attention, and the red does the talking.
As the reigning Premier League champions, Liverpool wear the gold version of the Premier League sleeve badge on the right arm — the standard lion head in gold rather than the usual colour. It is a small detail, but it carries real weight, and it is the kind of thing that makes a specific season’s shirt worth owning rather than merely wearing. One year only. There is also a detail on the back of the collar worth knowing about: a small white patch bearing two flames and the number 97, in permanent tribute to the victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. It is not something adidas have shouted about in the marketing materials, but it is there, and it matters.
Printing
The Premier League name and number printing is applied in white with a black outline, standard specification, and it sits cleanly on the red body. The two examples below show Szoboszlai’s #8 and Isak’s #9 — and I will say, if you are choosing a name for this shirt, both of these are strong options. Szoboszlai’s #8 connects you to the player who drove the title home; Isak’s #9 is the one that announces what Liverpool are planning to do next. Both carry the gold Premier League champions badge on the sleeve, which gives the printed shirt an added layer of meaning.
And finally, a closer look at the sponsor placement and the shirt front.
Conclusion
This is the full package. For Liverpool fans, it is essential — the adidas reunion, the Premier League champions gold badge, the Hillsborough tribute on the collar, the clean and classic design that connects 2025/26 to the most storied chapter in the club’s history. For collectors more broadly, this is a shirt with genuine meaning: it marks the start of a new era and the end of a long wait. Whether Slot’s side back it up with more silverware this season remains to be seen, but the shirt has already done everything it needed to. Five stars. Get it printed.