Rating new kits for top African teams, from Egypt's pyramids to Senegal's lions
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Chris Wright, Toe Poke writer
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is scheduled to begin just over a year from now, in December 2025, but that hasn’t stopped Puma launching the first batch of brand-new home and away kits that five of the continent’s top national teams will be wearing on the big stage.
The kits were first revealed as part of a live event staged at Rabat Airport, with hosts Morocco debuting their 2025 home and away designs alongside those of fellow contenders in Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
The 2025 edition of AFCON is set to be hosted across six cities in Morocco, with 24 teams vying for continental glory and Ivory Coast attempting to defend their crown from the 2023 tournament.
Each kit is designed to reflect the culture, history and identity of the country it represents and, as an added flourish, Morocco and Ghana have even seen elements of their kits designed by artists Abderrahmane Trabsini and Jefferson Osei, who have woven traditional patterns, colours and symbolism into their respective creations.
Here’s is a look at all 10 of Puma’s AFCON kit designs — which stars like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Achraf Hakimi, Mohammed Kudus and Amad Diallo are set to compete in — with each one given a rating out of 10.
Home: While not a huge departure from the what we have come to expect, Egypt have been furnished with a smart and refined home shirt in deep red that features subtle texturing in the form of an all-over zig-zag pattern inspired by pharaohs, pyramids and sand dunes. Those motifs are easy to miss at first glance, but they provide a welcome sprinkling of extra charm.
Rating: 7/10
Away: The design of the away shirt is basically a straight colour flip of the home design, with white and black replacing red and black in this case. This time the textured pattern has the pharaohs front and centre on the chest between the badges and above a pile of pyramids.
Rating: 5/10
Home: As created by Ghanaian designer Jefferson Osei in collaboration with fellow countryman and painter Daniel Alum Jasper, the Black Stars’ will be instantly recognisable in their 2025 home kit. Jasper painted the “Adinkra” symbols that are woven into the fabric which represent the traditional decorative motifs found on clothing, art, woodwork and architecture to celebrate cherished items and aspects of everyday life. At first glance the shirt appears to be plain white but, In an ingenious touch, the symbols start to reveal themselves as the players perspire and the fabric becomes increasingly saturated. The sweatier the better!
Rating: 7/10
Away: The bright yellow away kit pays homage to Ghana’s Gold Coast, which lies along the country’s southern shore on the Gulf of Guinea. The ubiquitous black star forms the center of a radiating pattern that represents the unity and collective pride embodied by the national football team. Elsewhere, the “Adinkra” symbols appear on the sleeves and the star theme continues with the tricolour taping applied along the collar and sleeve cuffs for a smart finishing touch.
Rating: 8/10
Home: The reigning AFCON champions will seek to defend their title while wearing a blazing orange home shirt that is directly inspired by “La Fête des Masques” (“The Festival of the Masks”), an event held every November to celebrate the spirits of the forest. The festival is famous for the carved masks and elaborate costumes worn during the celebrations which are usually decorated with masses of fringes made from straw, leaves, reeds and fibres. According to the manufacturers, those fringes have been depicted in the fabric of the shirt but there is barely any similarity between the source material and the end result.
Rating: 6/10
Away: The Ivorians’ white away kit is also inspired by “La Fête des Masquess” but this time the faint pattern found dotted across the torso is a visual reference to the movement and ceremonial dances performed during the event and the marks left in the earth thereafter. All in all, it’s rather splendid Having one of the best international federation crests in world football doesn’t do any harm, either.
Rating: 7/10
Home: Designed by Abderrahmane Trabsini, Morocco’s home kit is festooned with intricate patterns that are taken from the traditional “Zellige” clay tiles that have been used to decorate houses and buildings across North Africa for centuries. The fabric bears a star similar to that found on the Moroccan national flag. That repeating pattern is then cleverly inverted on the flanks of the torso to create a very subtle striping effect that can only really be seen clearly in certain lights.
Rating: 7.5/10
Away: Trabsini’s design for the away kit is an homage to the craft and artisanship of the Berbers who form the largest indigenous tribe in Morocco. The shirt has Berber symbols of fertility, faith and protection stamped all over it, particularly beneath the arms where several have been applied to a green panel running down the side of the jersey. The taping of the collar and cuffs is decorated with a zig-zag Berber pattern that is often incorporated into Moroccan rug designs.
Rating: 7/10
Home: Senegal were defending AFCON champions in the 2023 tournament but ultimately saw their defence come to an abrupt end in the round of 16 when Ivory Coast knocked them out on penalties. The Lions of Teranga will be hoping that their new 2025 kit will inspire them to return to the final this time around, given that it is meant to be infused with “Teranga” itself — i.e. the prized national value of hospitality, hard work and comradery. The pristine white shirt is livened with flashes of green, gold and red which form a stylish central stripe that breaks at the midriff to leave room for the squad number to be applied.
Rating: 6.5/10
Away: The green away shirt is vaguely reminiscent of Chelsea‘s 2024-25 home strip in that it appears to be covered in a slick, oily, liquidised graphic. However, after your eyes take a moment to adjust reveals that the seemingly random swirls actually form the image of a giant lion’s head that is fiercely roaring out from the centre of the shirt. No matter which way you slice it, that’s undeniably awesome.
Rating: 8.5/10
