Football Club Clothing: How to Kit Out Your Whole Club
Look at your last club photo. The match kit matches. Now look at the edges: a coach in a navy jacket from one supplier, subs in hoodies from another, and a physio in whatever was in the car boot. Three shades of navy, one club.
That’s what happens when football club clothing is bought one item at a time. Custom teamwear works best the other way round: one design, one supplier, and every layer of your club covered, from match day to training, travel and the touchline.
Here’s our view up front: design your whole club’s kit once, then let a club shop sell everything except the match kit. The club pays for what players compete in. Players, parents and supporters buy the rest themselves, in the same design, whenever they need it.
This guide covers what to include, who should pay for what, costs and how long it all takes. It’s written with football clubs in mind, but it works the same for rugby, netball, hockey and cricket.
| QUICK ANSWER: HOW DO YOU KIT OUT A WHOLE CLUB? Start with your match kit and use it as the master design. Add training wear, leisurewear and coaching staff kit in the same colours and crest, from the same supplier. Place your first order (minimum 5 items), then open a free club shop so players and parents can order the rest at any time. With Decathlon Club, design is free and kit arrives in under six weeks. |
What football club clothing includes
Football club clothing is everything your club wears in its own colours, with your crest, sponsors and, if you want them, player names and numbers. Most clubs think of it as the match kit. In practice it covers four layers.
| Layer | What’s in it | Who wears it | From (excl. VAT) |
| Match kit | Shirts, shorts, socks and goalkeeper kit | Players on match day | Shirts £19.50 and Shorts £13.25 |
| Training wear | Training tops, quarter-zips, track bottoms, showerproof jackets | Players at training and warm-ups | Quarter-zip £26.00 and Track bottoms £24.75 |
| Leisurewear | Polos, hoodies and travel wear | Players, parents and supporters off the pitch | Polo £22.50 and Hoodie £29.75 |
| Coaching staff kit | Jackets, padded jackets, gilets, polos | Coaches, managers, physios and volunteers | Showerproof jacket £37.50 |
Every price includes your design, crest, names, numbers and sponsor logos. All kit comes in Men’s, Women’s and Junior sizes and fits, so your under-8s and your veterans can wear the same design.
Why one design and one supplier beats buying piece by piece
Buying match kit from one place, training tops from another and coaches’ jackets from a third can look cheaper on paper. It rarely works out that way. Here’s what goes wrong.
- Colours drift. “Navy” from three suppliers is three different navies. One supplier working from one artwork file keeps your colours as close as possible across every garment. With sublimation, the design is printed into the fabric, so it doesn’t crack or peel either.
- Your crest gets redrawn. Every new supplier asks for your logo, and someone sends the blurry JPEG from years ago. One supplier keeps one clean file on record.
- Reorders become guesswork. A new player joins in October. With one supplier, your designs are saved and ready to reorder. With three, someone has to remember who made what.
- Nobody owns the look. One design team sees the whole club and can make your kit work as a set, not a pile of separate purchases.
The bigger the club, the more this matters. A club with six junior age groups, two senior sides and a dozen coaches is managing hundreds of garments. One supplier turns that into one account.
Who pays for what: our recommended split
This is where most clubs overspend. Committees try to fund everything up front, then end up with boxes of hoodies in the wrong sizes. Here’s the split we recommend.
| Item | Who pays | How it’s ordered |
| Match kit | Club or sponsor | Bulk order with your account manager |
| Goalkeeper and coaches’ kit | Club | Bulk order, or Elite for small, fast orders |
| Training wear | Players or parents | Club shop |
| Leisurewear and supporter kit | Players, parents and supporters | Club shop |
Match kit is the one thing that must be identical across a team, so the club controls it. Everything else is personal: sizes, quantities, whether a parent wants a matching hoodie. A club shop handles that without your treasurer chasing payments.
Sponsors can cover more than the shirt, too. A sponsor who funds training tops gets their logo seen at every session, not just on match day. Our sponsorship guide shows how to pitch it.
Club hoodies and merchandise: let the club shop handle it
Every qualifying Decathlon Club partner gets a free online club shop. Players, parents and supporters order straight from it, all year round.
- Free to set up. We build it and fill it with your designs.
- No forms or spreadsheets. No chasing payments either. Every order goes straight into production.
- No minimum once it’s live. Anyone can order a single item.
- More than match kit. Stock training wear, club hoodies and other club merchandise, all in your design.
- New players sorted. Someone who joins in November orders exactly what everyone else has.
Every item includes your crest, sponsors, names and numbers, at the same prices as the rest of our range.
What a football club needs
Here’s a starting list of football club clothing, layer by layer. See the full range and prices on our custom football kit page.
| Layer | What to order | Tip |
| Match kit | Shirts, shorts and socks for every team. Goalkeeper shirts and padded shorts. | Goalkeepers must stand out from both teams and the referee. Two goalkeeper colourways cover most clashes. |
| Training wear | Training tops, quarter-zips, track bottoms and showerproof jackets | Size training tops to fit over a base layer in winter. |
| Leisurewear | Club hoodies and polos for travel, match days and presentation nights | Sell these through your club shop, not from the club budget. |
| Staff kit | Jackets, padded jackets, gilets and polos for coaches and volunteers | Add initials so jackets don’t go missing in the clubhouse. |
Order a few spare shirts in your most common sizes. New players arrive mid-season, and a spare means they play in kit from their first game.
Other sports
Everything in this guide works the same way for other sports. The differences are mostly in the match kit.
| Sport | Match kit | Watch out for |
| Netball | Dresses, or skorts with shirts or vests, plus position patches | Position patches attach with Velcro and come in sets of 14 (two of each position). |
| Rugby | Shirts, shorts, socks | Contact means torn shirts. Order a few spares in common sizes. |
| Hockey | Shirts, shorts or skorts, socks | Goalkeeper shirts go over bulky padding. Check sizing with your keeper. |
| Cricket | Coloured shirts or polos, trousers, slipovers | Check your league’s rules on whites and coloured clothing first. See our cricket kit guide. |
We make custom kit for 12 sports in total. As well as football and the four above, that’s basketball, cycling, athletics, golf, archery, racket sports and swimming, plus kit for schools and universities.
Don’t forget the coaches and volunteers
Coaches, managers, physios and committee members are the most visible people at your club, and usually the last to get kit. Put them in it. It shows parents who’s in charge at a busy junior session, and it’s a simple way to say thank you.
There are two ways to kit out your staff:
- Bespoke. Showerproof jackets, quarter-zips, hoodies and polos from our training wear range, designed to match your club kit and ordered alongside it.
- Elite. Our Elite Training Kit comes in set colourways, plain or with your club logo and initials for £5 extra per garment. There’s no minimum order and delivery takes under 10 days, so it’s ideal when a new coach joins mid-season. The range includes padded jackets, gilets, showerproof jackets and polos.
Not sure which suits your club? Our Standard vs Elite guide compares them.
How to design football club clothing as one set
- Start with the match kit. It’s your master design. Everything else borrows from it.
- Pick two or three colours and stick to them. A main colour, a second colour and an accent, used the same way on every garment.
- Keep training and leisurewear simpler. A bold pattern looks great on a match shirt. On a hoodie or a coach’s jacket, a solid base with an accent stripe and your crest usually works better, and more people will happily wear it.
- Get a vector version of your crest. PNG or JPG is fine for mock-ups, but production needs a vector file (SVG, PDF, EPS or AI). We can redraw or refresh your crest for a small fee, and you keep the files.
- Design one of each item. Build a single master version of each garment. Names, numbers and sizes come later, on the order form.
- Use the free design help. Build it yourself in the Kit Designer, or brief our in-house design team at no extra cost. Tip: keep each Kit Designer session to 14 items or fewer.
Need inspiration? Browse our football kit design ideas.
How ordering works: from design to delivery
| Step | What happens |
| 1. Design | Create your kit in the Kit Designer or with our design team. Both are free. |
| 2. Send it to us | Submit your designs once. You can still make changes after. |
| 3. Add sizes, names and numbers | Complete the order form in your Client Portal, at your own pace. |
| 4. Approve and pay | Approve your order in the portal. Your invoice arrives within 1 business day. |
| 5. Delivery | Under six weeks after your design is signed off and paid for. |
Your first order needs a minimum of 5 items. After that there’s no minimum, so you can order one replacement shirt if that’s all you need. Measure players against our size guide before you order, as custom kit can’t be returned for the wrong size. For more detail, read our step-by-step ordering guide.
Reorders and new players mid-season
Kit isn’t a once-a-season job. Players join, juniors grow and shirts go missing. Three things keep it simple:
- Your Client Portal stores every design and your full order history. Next season, duplicate this season’s design and start from there.
- Your club shop. Players and parents order one-off items themselves, any time.
- Elite kit. For staff who need something in under 10 days.
How much does club kit cost?
Prices depend on the garment and finish. These are starting prices for our most-ordered items, all including your design, crest, names, numbers and sponsors.
| Item | Excl. VAT | Incl. VAT |
| Football shirt (short sleeve, sublimated) | £19.50 | £23.40 |
| Football shorts (sublimated) | £13.25 | £15.90 |
| Football socks (bespoke) | £9.50 | £11.40 |
| Netball dress (standard, sublimated) | £24.50 | £29.40 |
| Polo shirt (short sleeve, sublimated) | £22.50 | £27.00 |
| Quarter-zip top | £26.00 | £31.20 |
| Track bottoms | £24.75 | £29.70 |
| Hoodie (lightweight, sublimated) | £29.75 | £35.70 |
| Showerproof jacket | From £37.50 | £45.00 |
Example: a junior squad of 12 in shirts, shorts and bespoke socks costs £42.25 per player excl. VAT (£50.70 incl. VAT). That’s £507 for the squad excl. VAT, or £608.40 incl. VAT.
For a full breakdown, see what custom football kit costs.
When to order club kit
Work back from your first fixture. Allow at least eight weeks: two to agree the design and collect sizes, and up to six for production and delivery.
| When | What to do |
| 8 weeks before | Agree your design and colours. Start collecting sizes. |
| 6 weeks before | Sign off your design and pay. Production starts. |
| First fixture | Kit arrives, ready for the first game. |
| After launch | Open your club shop for training wear and leisurewear. |
Summer is our busiest time, as football, rugby, hockey and netball clubs prepare for the new season. If your season starts in August or September, get your design in early. Our club secretary’s checklist covers everything else to sort before the season.
| WHAT CLUBS SAY “Great communications and seamless ordering… received 2 kits within the 4 weeks advised. Would definitely order again.” Craig Fawcett, Decathlon Club customer |
Whole-club kit checklist
- Match kit for every team, including goalkeepers
- A few spare shirts in common sizes
- Training wear for players
- Leisurewear for travel and match days
- Kit for coaches, managers and volunteers
- A vector version of your crest and sponsor logos
- Sizes collected for every player
- A club shop set up for parents and supporters
- Design signed off at least six weeks before your first fixture
FAQs
What is football club clothing?
Football club clothing is everything a club wears in its own colours, with its crest, sponsors and player names and numbers. It covers match kit, training wear, leisurewear such as club hoodies, and kit for coaches and volunteers.
What clothing does a football club need?
Match kit for every team (including goalkeepers), training wear for players, leisurewear for travel and match days, and kit for coaches and volunteers.
Where can I buy sports club clothing in the UK?
Decathlon Club makes custom sports club clothing for UK clubs, schools and organisations across 12 sports. The service is run by My Club Group in partnership with Decathlon UK, with free design and delivery in under six weeks.
Can we sell club hoodies and merchandise to parents?
Yes. Qualifying clubs get a free online club shop, where players, parents and supporters can order club hoodies, training wear and other club merchandise in your design any time, with no minimum.
Is there a minimum order?
Your first order has a minimum of 5 items. After that there’s no minimum. Elite kit has no minimum at all.
How long does custom club kit take to arrive?
Bespoke kit arrives in under six weeks once your design is signed off and paid for. Elite kit arrives in under 10 days.
Can coaches get matching kit?
Yes. Coaches can have bespoke jackets, quarter-zips and polos to match your club kit, or Elite kit with your club logo and initials for £5 extra per garment.
Is the design really free?
Yes. You can design your kit in our Kit Designer or with our in-house design team at no extra cost. Redrawing or refreshing a crest has a small fee.
| Kit out your whole club Match kit, training wear, leisurewear and coaching staff kit, all in one design. Free design, a minimum of just 5 items on your first order, and delivery in under six weeks. Talk to our design team. |