Manchester City force Crystal Palace kit alteration ahead of FA Cup Final | OneFootball

Crystal Palace have amended one minor part of their traditional home kit for the FA Cup Final in order to accommodate Manchester City also wearing their home strip.

The two clubs are due to go head-to-head in this weekend’s FA Cup Final, in what will be the third consecutive appearance for Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players at this stage of the competition.

The last two seasons have brought about successive meetings with Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, winning one en route to a historic Treble success before losing during the last edition at the end of last season.

Manchester City’s latest pursuit of FA Cup glory has seen the club defeat opposition from all four levels of English football, setting up a final clash with Crystal Palace – a team they have struggled against during the ongoing Premier League season.

While the focus will no doubt be on events on the pitch this weekend, some have wondered whether Manchester City could be forced to wear an alternative strip for the cup final, with Crystal Palace the allocated ‘home’ team.

When Pep Guardiola and Oliver Glasner’s side met at Selhurst Park earlier on in the campaign, City wore their 1999 play-off final-inspired away strip, but any chance of wearing their iconic jersey at Wembley this weekend has been ironed out.

As detailed by the Manchester Evening News’ Simon Bajkowski, Crystal Palace will change their sock colour from blue to white for this weekend’s FA Cup final in order to allow Manchester City to wear their traditional sky blue home kit.

Despite the change of sock colour for the allocated ‘home’ team at Wembley Stadium, Glasner’s players will still wear their red-and-blue shirts with blue shorts, while no element of City’s home strip will be changed.

Kit news this week has come as Manchester City also unveiled their brand new home strip for the upcoming 2025/26 campaign, which features a sash design element emblazoned across the front of the club’s home shirt for the first time in their history.

The sash has been an iconic feature of numerous Manchester City away strips over the years, although it has never been incorporated into the club’s traditional sky blue and white shirt until now.

While the club have previously unveiled new home kits during then-ongoing campaigns, there is little chance of that being the case this time, with City instead stating that the new shirt would be worn for the first time at this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.