Viking fans will be excited as Danish side Odense Boldklub has released their pre-match warmup, as it is too bold to be worn in football matches.
The Hummel Odense BK 2023-2024 pre-match shirt has a navy foundation with an eye-catching graphic of the Nordic god Odin on the front. He is dressed in light blue with elaborate decorations and wears a golden helmet with horns that light up.
Bjørn Paulsen, a Danish center-back, is appearing wearing the pre-match kit and looks exactly like a character from Vikings, because of his long brown beard and long hair.
In recent years, OB has had different degrees of success in the Danish Superliga, with spells of competitiveness and mid-table performances. In 2002 and 2007, they won the Danish Cup (DBU Pokalen). Currently, they sit in the 8th position of the Danish League.
The club has also competed in some European tournaments, including the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.
Although may not be 100% accurate, we can take a wild case as to why this particular club from Denmark choose this specific design. It is very clear that clubs, whether big or small, don’t have designs that are irrelevant to the culture of the club or its periphery.
In this case, a Viking connection can be seen as Denmark is a Scandinavian country with Viking origins and that is why, “we suspect”, there is a cultural narrative that is highlighted in its design.
This is not the first time something like this has happened. For the 2019-2020 season, Borussia Dortmund released a special kit called the “Unity Kit.” The kit prominently displayed the club’s motto “Echte Liebe” (True Love).
The kit was designed to express the essence of the club’s strong fan culture, which also happens to be their USP. Dortmund’s special bond with the yellow wall is the cultural narrative that is reflected in this marketing tactic.
However, it’s not necessary that a club has to release a kit based on some cultural links, if something is wildly popular, it can be used as well. When Star Wars, Marvel, and DC movies appear, we see clubs making limited editions to celebrate and promote these films.
Sometimes a sponsor of a football club can also act as a bridge between epic superhero characters and superhero-themed kits.
One such case takes us back to the good old days of the early 2000s when Columbia Pictures sponsored Atletico. As Spiderman was releasing featuring Toby Maguire, which was a Columbia Pictures production, the publishing house quickly took the opportunity and made an Atletico Kit inspired by a spider web. Epic innit?
Football is a popular sport, and kits are like canvas/cash on which a certain reference/money can be made. In most cases, if done well, both references and money can be made if the marketing team has a proper context.
