Bavarian Fashion Works: Bayern Munich to wear anti-racism printed kit against St. Pauli

A special kit for a good cause, what’s not to like?

The International Weeks against Racism are upon us, and Bayern Munich will celebrate the occasion by wearing a special jersey.

While there will not be a separate jersey tailor-made for the event, the current kit will have its usual sponsor, Deutsche Telekom, swapped out for the club’s anti-racism initiative, Rot gegen Rassismus (Reds against Racism). The Deutsche Fußball-Liga (DFL) has also fashioned a slogan for this particular matchday, which is ‘Together! Stop Hate. Be a Team.’ Bayern will wear this special jersey in this Saturday’s Bundesliga match against St. Pauli.

Not only the jerseys, but the pre-match shirts, the captain’s armband, corner flags, center circle banner, and more will be emblazoned with the Rot gegen Rassismus slogan. The jerseys will be auctioned off after the game, and the proceeds will go to organizations fighting for diversity and against discrimination.

One minor yet notable detail is that the image used in the club’s official announcement shows not the red and black home kit, but the beige third kit. If this photo is to be trusted, it looks like Bayern will be suiting up in their third kit in a home game, quite an unorthodox circumstance for a Bundesliga match. Bayern have worn their third kit at home on a few occasions, particularly more so this season in the Champions League, but it will be the first time in a very long while, if at all, that the third kit is worn twice at home in a single Bundesliga season. Bayern had already debuted the kit at home last September against Freiburg.

As Bayern wore the third kit in the away leg against St. Pauli last November, it will also be a rare occurrence that Bayern wears the third kit in both legs against the same opponent. The only other example that comes to mind is the first and second legs against Bayer Leverkusen in this season’s Champions League.