by Mike Maxwell January 22, 2026 2 min read
Some football shirts remind you players. Some remind you of matches. Some remind you a fans reaction.
The 1997–98 Arsenal away did all 3. Yellow base with the navy blue trum., Nike swoosh and the classic Arsenal crest, a kit that looks just as good now as it did when Arsène Wenger quietly changed English football.
This isn’t just a nice shirt. It’s a reminder of a season, a shift, and a feeling Arsenal fans haven’t forgotten.
Here’s 5 reasons why we love the 1997 Arsenal away jersey.
The 1997–98 season wasn’t just a title win.
Arsène Wenger’s first full season. A side written off in February. Ten wins in a row. The Double. Suddenly, Arsenal weren’t just efficient, winning 1-0, they were stylish, ruthless and modern.
This away shirt is forever tied to that transformation. It represents the moment Arsenal stopped being nearly men and became something smarter. Something sharper. Something different.
You see this shirt and you don’t think “away kit”. You think Wengerball loading.
Yellow base. Blue hoop. Minimal fuss. No gimmicks. The sort of design that doesn’t scream for attention but quietly demands respect.
It combines modern with the classic. Especially the crest.
That’s why it still looks wearable now, decades later. Football fashion before football fashion knew it existed.

Shop vintage Dennis Bergkamp shirts.
Some shirts are inseparable from the players who wore them. And this is one of them.
Ian Wright, still scoring with joy and fire.
Dennis Bergkamp, redefining what a forward could be.
Nicolas Anelka, bursting onto the scene terrifying defenders with pace that felt unfair.
This shirt captures a perfect overlap of eras. Wright at the tail end of his Arsenal journey. Bergkamp in full flow. Anelka announcing himself to the world. Past, present and future, all in one kit.

You know the one.
March 1998. Old Trafford. Title race on. Marc Overmars through on goal, beating Gary Neville. Finish. Silence.
Arsenal winning at Old Trafford felt like a statement. And they did it wearing this shirt. No drama. No chaos. Just control.
That image alone elevates the kit. Away days matter. Winning away at your biggest rival matters more. Doing it in a shirt this clean? That’s how legends are made.

Let’s not dance around it.
The yellow and blue, the blocky symmetry, the bold-but-controlled use of colour. There’s something unmistakably breakfast-cereal-core about this shirt. Specifically: a box of Weetabix.
And honestly? That’s part of the charm.
The 1997–98 Arsenal away shirt isn’t loved because it’s rare or loud or hyped. It’s loved because it means something.
It represents a title. A manager. A squad. A shift in English football. And it does all of that while looking effortlessly good.
Get your authentic shirt at the Football Shirt Collective, the home for classic shirts you can trust.
Mike is the founder FSC in 2012, and grew it from a blog, to the marketplace it is today. Alongside the day to day running of the business, Mike is always on the look out for new vintage shirts and modern classics to add to our store!
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