Leeds United revive Yorkshire Rose as 2026/27 away kit nods to fan-designed crest and glory years | OneFootball

Leeds United have unveiled their 2026/27 Adidas away kit, restoring the Yorkshire Rose crest in a salute to a trophy-laden era.

According to yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk, the launch came with a film voiced by Lucas Radebe and featuring Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The shirt returns to the bold yellow that drove record pre-2024/25 sales, pairing it with another retro touch after the smiley 1970s homage.

The Yorkshire Rose adorned Leeds shirts for 14 years from 1984 to 1998, introduced under Eddie Gray before Howard Wilkinson took charge in 1988. Wilkinson’s side won the Second Division in 1989/90, finished fourth the next season, then lifted the First Division in 1991/92.

It remained on the kit into the inaugural Premier League campaign that followed, staying for six more years before a redesign in 1998.

The 1984 crest came from supporter Brenda Reader, who won a Yorkshire Evening Post competition after chairman Leslie Silver considered the 1980-1984 Peacock emblem potentially unlucky. Her entry was chosen by Gray and the players from hundreds submitted.

Reader said she produced five options aiming for a simple, effective mark, centred on the flower and the ball.

The 1998 shield owed much to Wilkinson, who admired a similar motif on Italy’s Euro 96 suits and argued for a more internationally recognisable badge. He sketched a shield that kept a smaller Yorkshire Rose at the top. Though dismissed in September 1996, the club adopted the design two years later.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk