Yesterday, July 4th, Levante presented their new shirts for the 2012-13 campaign in which the club will be represented in European competition for the first time in its history as the club plays a two-leg Europa League qualifier in August.
Expectations were high among Levante fans as the new shirts were the visit ever to be done by the Valencian company Kelmé, based in Elche. Levante signed a 3-year deal with Kelmé during the previous campaign, ending a long partnership with Luanvi, another Valencian company. Luanvi in turn will be doing the kits for Granada this year. Kelmé has an ambitious plan to build a store in Valencia city and also sell Levante merchandising in 50 countries, including the United States (as reported today by AS).
It had been announced in the press and here at Forza, that Levante would be opting for a Green kit this year in a new marketing effort inspired by the club’s nickname “los granotas” or “the frogs” in Valencian.
Here are the kits as seen at the presentation in the Valencian aquarium, L’oceanografique.
The first kit will be Levante’s classic blue and garnet stripped shirt. This year’s design includes a shirt collar, some thin black lining across the chest and at the end of the shirt sleeves and a few more stripes than in past years. Fans are pleased to see that this year, the stripes continue onto the back of the shirt, whereas in past years solid colors have been used. For example, last year the all blue back of the shirt with yellow numbers made Levante look like Getafe from behind.
The second kit will be the Green Granota kit. Worn by Vicente Iborra in the presentation, the kit is a more tame version of the one presented by SuperDeporte last week and is actually fairly similar to the green kit that Barcelona wore in the 2010-11 season. Rather than a bright, neon green, the kit is more of a darker shade of green-yellow. The shirt features a blaugrana hortizontal stripe across the chest in which the logo resides.
Historically, Levante has used its second kit to honor its origins as Levante Football Club by sporting a black and white vertically-stripped kit, similar to Juventus. However, this year the shirt is being dumped to third position and with a design that has infuriated fans. A single white, horizontal bar of white, with slivers of white on the shoulders do not resemble what Levante followers see as a classic shirt.
Ángel Ovejero presented a goalie kit that leaves little to comment except that the mostly white design will feature different green and brown stains when actually worn in games by Gustavo Munua.
Team captain Sergio Ballesteros sported the new “Senyera Jacket” which pays tribute to the Valencian regional flag, just as last year’s 3rd kit did. Levante will wear this jacket when they enter the field before games, just as Real Madrid did last season with their Adidas jackets.
The first and second kits have pleased fans, while the third kit and team jackets are getting a poor reception. What do you think of the new shirts? Will the Granota Green be a success?
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