It won’t be ready and available for your holiday shopping, but we now have a better idea of what New York City FC’s new away kit for the 2026 season will look like.
The soccer kit obsessives over at FootyHeadlines today released the first leaked images of what they say will be the club's new away jersey for 2026.
On first glance, this looks an awful lot like an away kit NYCFC already had once in its history, the navy blue-dominant Gotham Kit they wore during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
The Gotham Kit used alternating stripes in navy and white to accentuate its design, while this new 2026 jersey appears to be going for multi-colored blue circles that look like something you’d see in a 1990s-era computer screensaver, or if you turned on the visualizer on your Windows Media Player (just some more 90s kid things).
The first glimpse of the kit gives off more Sporting Kansas City vibes than NYCFC vibes, which may be a tad ironic given the path taken by NYCFC’s previous Sporting Director. The gray and multiple darker shades of blue don't scream "New York City FC," at least on first glance.
Initial gut reactions to the kit out of the way, it must be said that there are always a huge difference between how these kits look in leak form and how they look when the authentic version of the jersey is photographed while being worn by a real human being.
We'll likely have to wait until some time in January to see the glossy photoshoot-friendly versions of these jerseys, and to learn what clever moniker they've been given to mark them in the club's ever-expanding kit history.
To refresh your memories, each MLS jersey has a two-season life cycle. The black-and-neon-blue 24/7 Kit introduced before the 2024 season ended its run in 2025 and will now be replaced by this dark-blue-and-white creation. The sky blue home jersey that debuted in 2025, the Excelsior Kit, will continue to be worn in 2026 in what will be its final year of service.
One notable thing about NYCFC jerseys to be worn in 2026 and beyond: They will utilize the "refreshed" new version of the New York City FC club crest, which the team rolled out late in the 2024 season, but which didn't make its way onto any of the team's many pieces of on-field apparel during 2025. Interestingly, this new 2026 away jersey won't use the full club badge, but will instead opt for the new version of the "NYC" monogram, which also adorned the now-retired 24/7 Kit.
In 2026, it will very much be out with the old (crest, away jersey) and in with the new (crest, away jersey) for New York City FC.
