Elliott’s design was one of 180,000 submissions to our AI Creator platform launched in December 2024.
Having been chosen as the winner, his shirt will now be worn on the pitch by Enzo Maresca and Andree Jeglertz’s teams as they go for glory.
Buy our 2026/27 Third kit here
After the release, we caught up with Elliott...
What does Manchester City mean to you, and how did your journey as a supporter begin?
I’ve supported City since I was born, basically. It’s not really a choice you make, it’s just who you are.
My first kit was the 2000 Eidos one, that electric blue kit, and the first game I went to was a 0-0 against Southampton at St Mary’s back in 2004. Not exactly a classic, but it didn’t matter, I was already all in by that point.
I think when you support a club from that young, it stops being “a team you follow” and just becomes part of your identity. I just remember being so excited to see all the players I loved in real life and that excitement around football never really fades.
It’s tied up with family, with growing up, with so much of my life. City has genuinely shaped so much of who I am without me even realising it at the time.
When using the PUMA AI Creator, did you ever imagine your design could become a real Manchester City kit?
Honestly, not for a second. I did the design on my lunch break one day – I’ve always loved design and I’ve always loved kits, so it was one of those “why not” moments rather than anything serious.
There was zero expectation behind it. It’s not even something you’d let yourself dream about growing up, because it’s so unlikely that it doesn’t even register as a possibility, it’s not even in the realm of dreamable.
When it actually went somewhere, it was such a shock. It’s still a bit surreal even now, the kind of thing you’d never in a million years plan for, and then it just happens.
What was the most exciting part of the experience?
Weirdly, it wasn’t even the final result, it was making the final 10.
That felt like an achievement in its own right, before anything else happened.
Once that happened, I got to see how people reacted on social media, seeing people actually respond to my design in a positive way, and being able to compare it to the others in the running.
That whole bit was brilliant. Everything since then has just felt a bit surreal, like it’s happening to someone else.
How did you feel when you found out your design had been selected and would be worn by Manchester City players next season?
Shocked doesn’t really cover it. I had absolutely no idea it was coming.
It’s a genuine honour, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think it’ll properly sink in until I actually see it out on the pitch, or spot someone wearing it walking down the street or at the Etihad.
There’s something really proud about knowing you’re now a tiny part of the club’s history.
I really love the kit and I hope that it becomes one of those kits people look back on in 15 years as a classic and that people always wear.
What was it like to be at the kit shoot and see the players in the kit for the first time?
Strange, but in a good way. One of those experiences that’s odd and normal at the same time, if that makes sense.
Seeing it on properly, in the flesh, it looked exactly how I’d pictured it in my head, and I still genuinely love the design.
A few times during the shoot I actually forgot I was the one who’d designed it, then it’d hit me again, “oh wait, that’s mine.”
The players were all really kind about it as well, and it meant a lot hearing that people from City, PUMA, and the squad itself that they actually liked what I’d made.
