When Should Your Football Club Order Its Kit for the New Season?

July 23, 2026

The new football season is approaching, and clubs are starting to think about when they need to create custom football kits for the season ahead. Training schedules are being arranged, fixtures are starting to appear in the calendar, and coaches are working out what needs to happen before the first competitive match. Then someone asks the question:

“When do we need to order the new kit?”

We recommend 10-12 weeks before your first kickoff. Here’s why.

For many grassroots clubs, organising the kit gets pushed down the list while they deal with registrations, training sessions, sponsorship, facilities and everything else involved in running a team. Before long, the first fixture is only a few weeks away, and there are still designs to approve, sizes to collect and sponsor logos to confirm.

Ordering early doesn’t just help you avoid delays. It gives your club enough time to get everything right and provide players with a kit they’re excited to wear from the first whistle.

Start With Your First Competitive Fixture and Work Backwards

There isn’t a single ordering date that works for every club. Your timeline will depend on your season, the size of your squad, the type of kit you’re ordering and how quickly your committee can approve the details. However, the simplest way to organise everything is to plan backwards from the date of your first competitive fixture.

The goal is to have everyone’s kit ready before that match, so players aren’t sharing shirts or wearing mismatched items while they wait for their new kit to arrive. A sensible planning timeline might look like this.

First Competitive Fixture

By the time the first competitive fixture arrives, every player should have the kit they need.

Adding some breathing room in your schedule also gives you time to distribute everything, check the items, and deal with any questions before match day. This is much less stressful than opening boxes the night before the first game.

Six to Eight Weeks Before

Around six to eight weeks before your first fixture, aim to have the final order confirmed and submitted. At this point:

Player numbers should be confirmed
Sizes should be approved
Sponsor logos should be checked
The final design should be signed off
Names and squad numbers should be finalised
The full order should be ready to submit

At My Club, most orders are delivered within six weeks. However, clubs working towards a firm deadline should tell us as early as possible and build an additional buffer into their plans. Once the order has been approved, also try to avoid making further changes as these can affect delivery timelines.

Eight to Ten Weeks Before

This is when your new football team kit should start taking shape.

You need to choose your kit style and colours, decide on the club badge placement, and agree how any sponsor logos will be displayed. Coaches, committee members and sponsors might all need to review the design, so allow enough time for everyone to respond. You should also start gathering player information, including sizes, names, and squad numbers where needed.

Bespoke football kits give your club the freedom to create a design that feels completely your own. This freedom is exciting, but it works best when nobody feels pressured into making decisions overnight.

Ten to Twelve Weeks or More Before

Ideally, kit planning should begin at least ten to twelve weeks before the season starts. Larger clubs, those ordering for several age groups, or teams with new sponsorship arrangements might benefit from starting even earlier.

Start by discussing whether you need a completely new kit or only need to replace certain items. Review last season’s teamwear and highlight anything that didn’t work as well as expected. You might decide to adjust the design, review the fit or add training wear and an away kit to your plans. This is also the time to:

Speak to existing or potential sponsors
Agree on an overall budget
Estimate how many items you’ll need
Confirm who will coordinate the order
Set internal deadlines for decisions and player information

Most kit delays don’t happen during production. They happen before the order has even been placed because clubs are still waiting for decisions. Starting early gives you time to handle all of the details without every unanswered message feeling urgent.

Why Ordering Team Football Kits Early Makes Life Easier

Early planning isn’t about adding another job to your committee’s to-do list. It’s about spreading the workload out, so that one person isn’t trying to manage everything at the last minute.

Many club coordinators are volunteers who might also be arranging fixtures, helping at training, managing registrations or fundraising for the club, all alongside their own family and work responsibilities. Kit coordination probably wasn’t in their job description. It’s just something they took on because they care about the team.

A clear timeline makes this responsibility much more manageable. It means fewer last-minute messages, more time to chase missing information and less pressure during the final weeks before the season. This is important to clubs. As one My Club customer put it:

“Charlie provided outstanding support throughout. Always quick to respond, clear with updates, and genuinely committed to making sure everything went smoothly. The kit arrived ahead of schedule, and the quality of the shirts is fantastic. The whole process felt easy and well‑managed, and it’s clear that the team at My Club Group take real pride in their work.”

Most importantly, ordering early helps every player feel ready. New players can arrive at the first fixture wearing the same kit as the rest of the squad. Existing players aren’t asked to bring an old shirt “just in case”, and nobody is left feeling like they aren’t properly part of the team.

A new kit can also create excitement around the start of a season. It gives the squad a shared identity and something they can wear with pride, whether they’re playing their first grassroots match or have been competing for the club for years.

Sponsors are often an important part of funding a new kit, particularly for smaller grassroots clubs. However, sponsorship arrangements can take time to agree. Before you approve your kit design, confirm whether existing sponsors are continuing for the new season. Don’t assume that last year’s agreement or logo can automatically carry over.

Give sponsors time to consider the opportunity and agree on what their support will include. You’ll also need to confirm where their logo will appear on shirts, shorts, or socks, and make sure you have a suitable, high-quality version for the design team.

For clubs that still need funding support, Kit Funder can help. This platform connects grassroots clubs with businesses that want to sponsor sports teams in their local communities. Instead of spending weeks approaching companies without knowing who might be interested, you can use Kit Funder to find suitable sponsorship opportunities.

For the football club, it’s a smarter way to fund a new kit. For the sponsor, it’s a chance to put their brand in front of a local audience during matches, training sessions and community events. Starting sponsorship conversations early gives everyone time to build the partnership properly.

Collecting Player Sizes Before Ordering Football Kits for Teams

Collecting player sizes might sound like a simple job, but it’s often one of the biggest causes of ordering delays. Some players respond straight away. Others forget, miss the message or aren’t sure which size they need. Youth teams also need to consider how quickly players are growing, while some clubs might still be registering new squad members during the summer.

Start collecting sizes as early as possible and give everyone a clear deadline. Keep the information in one central record rather than trying to piece it together from individual emails, messages and scraps of paper. Ideally, your spreadsheet should include:

Player name
Team or age group
Full kit or individual items required
Garment sizes
Personalised name or squad number
Confirmation that the information has been checked

Make sure players are using the relevant size guide rather than guessing or assuming that every supplier’s sizing will be the same. Since bespoke football kits are made to order, it’s important to get the sizes right first time, so players aren’t waiting for replacements or additional items after competitive matches have begun.

What Happens If You Leave Ordering Too Late?

Leaving your kit until the final few weeks doesn’t necessarily mean something will go wrong. However, it gives your club less wiggle room if it does.

Design choices might end up being rushed. Sponsors might not have enough time to approve their branding. Player sizes might still be missing, and volunteers can end up sending repeated messages while juggling their other club responsibilities.

In some cases, players will start the season without a complete matching kit. New signings might be given old shirts, while other squad members wait for personalised items to arrive. This isn’t usually because the club wasn’t prepared. It’s because ordering football kits for teams involves more moving parts than people expect. You need agreement from the committee, accurate information from players, approval from sponsors and time for the final kit to be made. A delay at any one of these stages can affect everything that follows.

Following a simple timeline helps you avoid common problems clubs run into. It gives everyone clear responsibilities and realistic deadlines, while leaving some flexibility for the unexpected.

How My Club Helps Clubs Get Ready for the New Season

Ordering your new season kit should be exciting, not another administrative headache.

At My Club, we work with clubs of every size to create bespoke football kits built around their wants and needs. We bring every badge, sponsor logo and design detail together in a kit your whole squad will be proud to wear.

Our team can assist you throughout the process, from choosing your shirts, shorts, and socks to refining the design and getting your kit ready for match day. Our transparent pricing also means everyone will know exactly what’s included from the outset, so you can budget with confidence. Once your teamwear is ready, future ordering is easy with our online club shop. Players can order new or extra items online, reducing the pressure on volunteers throughout the season.

Ready to design your new season kit? Explore bespoke football kits with My Club and start planning your squad’s next look.