Under Armour To Kit Out Cult German Club FC St. Pauli

As far as new jersey announcements go they tend to get lost if they aren’t a massive club. However, sometimes you get a club with a cult following like German 2 Bundesliga’s FC St. Pauli and they’re treated to a design which is too nice to not mention. Which is what has happened now that Freibeuter der Liga have announced and unveiled their new Under Armour kits for the 2016/17 season.

For as long as I can remember (and longer) the Hamburg based St. Pauli have always played in a brown home kit, Under Armour pays tribute to that history with the 2016/17 home kit while adding a wee twist with the addition of red and white piping around the neck and on the arms of the shirt. Despite playing in brown, red and white are the traditional colours of the club, as evidenced in the club crest.

For the away kit Under Armour have gone with for white but have taken some cues from the Millerntor-Stadion, which is the home to supporter added graffiti artwork. The brown and red jagged sashes are the tie in to the club endorsed graffiti, and give the white kit a nice bit of colour added.

However, if there’s a piece de resistance with the St. Pauli kits for this season it’s their third kit, which hopefully will see quite a bit of play. It features a skull imprinted into the front of the jersey, and not just any skull. It’s part of the famed Jolly Roger pirate flag, and warrants a bit of a story.

As well as being a logo of the St. Pauli supporters and their left-leaning politics (side note: St. Pauli were the first German club to ban right wing nationalist displays) the skull and crossbones has long been synonymous with the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg as Germany’s most famous pirate 14th century privateer Klaus Störtebeker often based himself in the port city. It’s part of the reason why the club are known as Freibeuter der Liga which translates into the Buccaneer of the League.

But it’s not just designs. Under Armour have worked the technology of the new kits. Made of a material known as HeatGear the new St. Pauli kits weigh in at 107g. It also contains Under Amour’s traditional moisture wicking and quick dry technology and has strategy ventilation to enable the body to remain at an optimal temperature regardless of the weather conditions.

While there’s currently no word if the new FC St. Pauli shirts will be available in North America we’ll keep you up to date should anything arise as they are a club with a global following despite their league position.