Chelsea quietly updated its social media profiles this week with a revised version of the club badge, although the change has not been made official. The club website continues to display the traditional crest while the social channels show a new-look logo with modest adjustments intended to modernize the emblem.

At first glance the alterations are small. The new mark uses a deeper shade of blue and several borders have been removed. The inner circle and the letters are no longer surrounded by a yellow outline, and the white borders around the red balls and roses have been removed. The font for the words on the badge has been changed to match the font used on matchday kits last season. Perhaps most notably, shadows behind the lion have been removed and the animal now appears as a simple two-dimensional image.

The club’s conventional crest has become less visible at Stamford Bridge in recent seasons. In 2025–26 Chelsea adopted ‘CFC LDN’ branding, with the two words separated by the lion from the crest. The reason for this has never been explained, and many sceptics accused the unpopular owners of attempting to change the club’s identity.

The CFC LDN image was conceptualized as far back as December 2023, one year after BlueCo arrived at Stamford Bridge. Reports have claimed Chelsea are simply attempting to lean into their relationship with London and become synonymous with the English capital.

Separately, the lion motif will be used as the badge on Chelsea’s home shirt for the upcoming season in place of the usual crest. That is also expected to be the case for the away kit, which has not yet been formally released but has leaked online. For now the updated social-media badge represents an incremental visual shift rather than a formal rebranding, with the club’s official channels and the website showing different versions of the emblem.

Chelsea have unveiled their 2026–27 home shirt, a design that foregrounds the club’s heritage while leaning heavily on recent cultural partnerships. The new kit returns the lion to full view, replacing the traditional circular badge with an enlarged lion first introduced by Ted Drake.

“We’ve been building cultural gravity around this club for a couple of seasons now,” Chelsea’s brand director Scott Fenton said in a statement. “Partnerships with Roc Nation, collabs with the WWE, conversations with the worlds of music and fashion all proved that the best of London culture and the best of football belong in the same room.” The club launched the shirt under the campaign slogan “Can’t Be Tamed”.

The decision to emphasise the lion recalls a deliberate rebrand introduced by Drake after his move from Arsenal in 1952. The club also moved away from its old nickname. “You folks may be rightly proud of your title ‘Football’s Fairest Crowd,’” Drake wrote in the club’s program, “but for my part I would like to see a lot more partisanship in favor of Chelsea. All too many people come to Stamford Bridge to see a football match—instead of to cheer Chelsea.”

Drake’s changes worked on the pitch: Chelsea won the club’s first top-flight title in 1955. The new shirt places that rampant lion prominently and applies a fresh “Midwest Gold” shade as an accent across the shoulders and the Nike swoosh. That gold, paired with the enlarged crest, frames a look the club describes as both a nod to history and a statement about the club’s present identity.

Supporter involvement and high-profile collaborations sit alongside those historical references in the club’s presentation. One line in the club’s launch material captured the spirit of the release: one of next season’s standout designs has landed at Stamford Bridge. The club’s history is acknowledged even as the visual focus shifts back to the lion, while the release still finds room for a lighter aside about the club owing its existence, in a way, to a small dog.

Away shirts often provide designers the most latitude, and the first leaks for the 2026–27 Premier League season underline that freedom. Clubs have shown a mix of retro echoes and bold departures across a series of projected away kits.

Arsenal’s leaked away shirt has been described as a “reverse” of the club’s famous ‘Bruised Banana’ design from the early 1990s. That original 1992–93 team finished 10th in the inaugural Premier League season as George Graham’s side struggled to adapt to the new back-pass law. The reimagined concept pairs a navy base with the iconic zig-zag pattern and red and yellow accents.

Aston Villa are expected to revisit sky blue for their away option, a shade they last used in 2022–23, Unai Emery’s first season after the end of Steven Gerrard’s tenure.

Bournemouth have kept details tight after announcing a new manufacturer in May. “We’re delighted to announce a new multi-year partnership with Hummel – a club-record kit deal for #afcb ❤️🖤”

Chelsea’s projected away kit uses Nike’s ‘Midwest Gold’ on a predominantly black base, drawing comparison with the club’s 2012–13 strip. That season concluded with Rafael Benítez guiding a fractious fanbase to Europa League success. The club’s managerial future and the identity of any shirt sponsor remain uncertain.

Leeds United’s away proposal would reintroduce an adidas trefoil on clubwear for the first time since 2020 and is expected to feature a white Yorkshire rose within a predominantly yellow shirt.

Liverpool’s leaked image looks close to 2025–26, with a shade nearer to white than cream and speculation the adidas trefoil could replace the three stripes. The design may also reuse the retro badge deployed on the club’s 2025–26 green third shirt, a shield inspired by the 1987–92 device.

Puma’s work for Manchester City has ranged widely; after the divisive 2025–26 grey and neon green mix, the next leak appears more subdued: largely black with gold trim, recalling the 2013–14 championship design. Manchester United are linked to a royal blue away shirt inspired by the SHARP era, while Newcastle United’s projected kit draws on St. James’ Park brickwork and could revive the 1976–83 badge with a magpie before a castle.