What are the biggest Juventus away kit-astrophes of the 2020s?

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Every summer, fans globally have their attention turned to whatever FIFA, UEFA or CONMEBOL tournament that takes up June and July. It’s almost a ritual at this point — the domestic club season comes to a close, and after a few short gap weeks, specialized tournaments kick off.

However, there is also another ritual.

It’s one that Juventus fans know all too well — the eager awaiting of the coming season’s home, away, and third kits. While all fans of the Bianconeri know that the home kit will always

contain the usual black and white elements, the away shirt is always a surprise. Will it be a strange, absurd pattern that will sit dormant in merchandising warehouses due to poor sales? Will it sell out extremely fast because its an immediate hit?

For the 2025-26 season, Juventus and adidas designed what can only be described as a pool and terra cotta inspired medley. In fact, Juventus even described it that way, claiming it both is “inspired by long Italian summers” and that its pastel shades invoke the flag of Turin. Though it’s only been seen very briefly at the Club World Cup, this may be a classic case of wait-and-see, maybe the blue and yellow shirt will grow on the fans as the season progresses.

However, not all away kits of the 2020s have been lucky enough to grow on Juventini. Some were simply flops from their release day onward, while others earned their rightful chagrin over a period of time. Yet, sometimes the away kit surprises everyone, and in the case of the 2023-24 season, is actually better than the home shirt.

From best to worst, let’s look at the away shirts of the 2020s so far.

Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

2022-23

Even with controversies surrounding these two players, this blackout-styled shirt invokes a moderately successful period of play for Dusan Vlahovic, as well as the memory of an Angel Di Maria hat trick against Nantes in the Europa League. It was a minimalist yet intense set of armor that only upon deep inspection could a fan see the same pattern that adorned the horrendous purple and blue third kit of the same year.

This season was a time of change for Juventus: It spelled the beginning of the end of the second Max Allegri administration; the return and injury of Paul Pogba, who eventually departed the club due to a doping scandal; and the first season in many years that Paulo Dybala would not grace the Allianz.

Though amidst all that turmoil, the 2022-23 shirt remained the best of the bunch. Simple, elegant, and intimidating. Though every kit receives a biography about what inspired it, Juventus hit the nail on the head in an otherwise mediocre season of kits released.

2020-21

This was the first full season that went on as COVID-19 raged across the planet. Juventus played in empty stadiums, players got sick and were forced to miss time, and Andrea Pirlo tried out his hand as the club’s gaffer. Anyone who tells you that this kit is “Ronaldo-coded” is a liar, as that honor belonged to the gold-accented home shirt.

Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images

No, if any kit can remind the fans of a young Weston McKennie waving his imaginary wand around after he just scored a goal, it’s this sleek navy blue and white shirt. Much like the 2022-23 away shirt, the best part of the 2020-21 away shirt was its simplicity. Not frilly or experimental, this plain design was all that Juventus needed in such a strange time period for global football. It even contained a special sustainable recycled-polyester for an added environmental benefit.

Though, as fans can recall, this specific season was not very kind to the lads from Turin. Juventus walked away from the season with a SuperCoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia trophy to show for it, while nemesis Inter Milan hoisted their first title in over a decade.

Photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

2021-22

Much like the away shirt of the upcoming season, this away shirt was marred by its sponsor. In fact all shirts from the 2021-22 campaign were. It was not enough to keep the classic Jeep logo branded across the chest, rather the auto manufacturer needed Juventus to display to the world that it was pushing its then-brand new plug-in hybrid models.

Enter the blue “4XE” across the bottom of the logo.

On the surface, it was a clean and simple shirt, with sherbert-colored accents on the shoulders and subtly in the main patterning, but again, this shirt has its baggage.

This was the first time in over a decade that the Bianconeri walked away trophyless, crashing out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 and finishing in fourth place domestically. It also was the first season Juventus did not have its legend, Gianluigi Buffon, in goal after his second stint at the club came to an end and he returned to Parma.

Photo by Agostino Gemito/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

2023-24

Another difficult season for the Juventus faithful, but there was one thing to celebrate: it did end in a Coppa Italia trophy.

The away kit, though it was suggested that it invoked the mountains that surround the city of Turin, was a bit odd. Not only was it one of the first seasons in a long time that the designers opted for horizontal stripes — a mistake the Barcelona fans faced in 2015 and still talk about to this day — but it was also just an odd shirt. Mountains are rarely pink except at sundown, and though the grey-blue of the shirt did match the motif, it simply was not a Juventus shirt.

Sure, saying a shirt invokes Monte Rosa is cool in theory, but its execution was simply bizarre.

This was actually the point that some could claim began the conceptual away kit downfall of Juventus. In years prior, away kits were one large color or shade, then a secondary, and that was it. But throwing pink and blue and white and the electrified Jeep logo onto a shirt is something one would expect from a low division club who is trying to stand out, but even those clubs, like Venezia FC, do better than the 2023-24 away shirt.

2024-25

If one were to look in their junk drawer or in their desk, they may find a highlighter. And if that same individual squints for long enough at the highlighter, it may start to resemble Juventus’ away kit from last season.

In fact, the only good thing about this kit was that the decision of “I’m not buying that” was pretty much made for most fans.

What was Juventus going for here? A shirt so bright that the opposition couldn’t look too long at it? A shirt that would hide sweat stains because it already looked like a sweat stain? Or was it just a training shirt that somehow made it to the top of the pile?

Especially when factoring in that the third kit of the same year is one of Juventus’ highest rated ever, a 4.3 out of 5 on FootballKitArchive, and the home shirt finally returned to it’s classic black and white, this away shirt is the Halley’s Comet of kits. It comes around every once in a long time and people don’t forget about it. However, Halley’s Comet is a wonder to behold, and the “solar yellow” kit of 2024-25 was more of a monstrosity. Adidas even went as far as to say it was the most modern of the year’s collection.

But when it comes to the most historic club of the nation of Italy, is modernity a good thing?

People go to Italy to get away from the modern brutalism of everyday metropolitan life, at least in the U.S., so mixing Juventus and modern was a swing and a miss.

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