Do Footballers Wash Their Kit?
In the modern game, footballers can have up to three football matches within one week. So how does this work when it comes to keeping their kits clean and fresh for the start of each match? Do footballers wash their kit? Do they wear a new shirt every single match? We answer these questions in the following article.
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Do Footballers Wash Their Kit?
No, footballers don’t wash their kit. After a match their shirt will either be donated to charity, be given to a fan in the crowd, kept for memorabilia purposes or swapped with another player. Shorts and socks are likely to be washed by designated club staff.
The History of Football Kit Handling
As football has changed over the years, so has the process of handing football kits in between matches. Until the late 90s, the kit man would be responsible for cleaning all match-worn shirts in the club laundry room.
Once washed, and reconditioned, these kits would be worn for the next game and the process would repeat itself all season long.
Footballers play a lot more matches these days, and they have bigger squads too. This would make this task incredibly difficult for a single kit man to keep on top of over the course of a season.
The Cost of Football Kit Washing
You might be wondering how much it costs to keep on top of washing football kits across a season. In some cases, this can be pretty costly. For example, in the 2016/17 season, David Moyes’ Sunderland spent £54,000 on washing football kits and this was the same season they were relegated.
The Role of a Football Kit Man
When working out whether footballers wash their kit, we have to consider the role of the club kit man. A kit man is part of the backroom staff at a football club. They are responsible for taking care of footballer players shirts, shorts, socks, shin-pads and boots.
For most of the higher leagues, kit men provide each player with three shirts on match day – one for each half of the match and then a spare in the event of any emergencies (bloodshed, ripping etc). Players don’t always change shirts at half-time, but this is the protocol, and kit men have to ensure three shirts are available for each player.
On top of kits, some players will have several pairs of football boots, and with a match day squad of up to 20 players, the kit man can find themselves having a lot of responsibility. They’ll have to ensure that lots of different items are transported to each game across the season.
Do Footballers Wear New Shirts Every Match?
In modern day football, footballers tend to wear brand-new shirts for every match. The main reason for this is that match-worn shirts are either:
- Donated to charities
- Kept by the player as memorabilia
- Swapped with another player at full time
Because of these outcomes, footballers don’t wash their own kits, in fact their kits will rarely ever get washed.
Do Footballers Wash Their Kit After Training?
So what happens with a player’s training kit? Well in higher leagues such as the Premier League, players will arrive at the training ground in their own clothes and change into fresh training kits provided by the club.
Once training has finished, they’ll shower and change back into their own clothes before heading home. The dirty training kit will then be washed by the kit man or laundry team on site at the club’s training ground.
Unlike match day kits, trainings kits won’t be brand-new every time a player wears them. This helps lower the cost of washing and reconditioning across a season.
What Happens to Football Shirts After a Match?
There are a number of outcomes for football shirts once a match has finished, including football shirt donations, gifting them to fans, football shirt memorabilia and football shirt swapping.
Football Shirt Donations
More often than not, match-worn football shirts will be donated to charities, the club itself or certain individuals. They can be used to raise funds for important charities who work closely with the football club.
An example of this would be when Mohamed Salah auctioned off his shirt after Liverpool beat Manchester United 5-0 in the Premier League back in October 2021. Salah scored a hat trick and decided to auction off his shirt in order to raise money for an animal shelter based in his home country, Egypt.
Gifted to Fans
Another outcome for football shirts after matches, is that they’ll get given to fans in the crowd. Usually this tends to be young fans who are wanting to get the shirt of their favourite player. Young fans will sometimes hold up signs to try and get the attention of their favourite players, too.
Football Shirt Memorabilia
Football players will sometimes keep their shirt for memorabilia purposes. For example, if a player were to score a hat trick or put in a man of the match performance, they might want to keep it as a reminder.
Over time, players will build up a collection of their match worn shirts. This is a nice way for them to look back on their career, highlighting some of their top performances. Do footballers wash their kit? In this example, it’s highly likely that they won’t wash these shirts and instead hang them on a dedicated wall or frame them.
Football Shirt Swapping
Another outcome at the end of the football match is that a player will swap their shirt with a player on the opposing team. This tradition started all the way back in 1931, when England played France in Cologne.
This is another great way for players to document their careers. Over the course of their career they’ll collect many players’ shirts and this will remind them of some of the matches and competitions that they have played in.
