Phoenix Rising FC unveil new kits for 2020 season
Jan 23, 2020, 8:09 PM | Updated: Jan 24, 2020, 4:31 pm
Phoenix Rising Football Club unveiled their new kits for the 2020 season on Thursday night at a special free event for fans.
The first kit revealed was the home kit, which was noted as being the team’s signature color all these years and also the color of Valley sunsets.
"Arizona Red"#RisingTogether pic.twitter.com/nkbivcFe7F
— Phoenix Rising FC (@PHXRisingFC) January 24, 2020
The kit features black accents around the neckline and the sleeves of the shirt, with a white sponsor logo.
Matches played in the black kits will be supporting a charitable initiative recommended by the supporters.
The team’s third kit was shown next to fans.
"Back to Black"#RisingTogether pic.twitter.com/KxcLEBslRJ
— Phoenix Rising FC (@PHXRisingFC) January 24, 2020
Like the home kit, the alternate has features on the neck and sleeves, but with red. There is more red on this kit, though, including on the lower-half while including the same white sponsor logo.
On the nights we wear these black kits, we will be supporting a charitable initiative recommended by our supporters
The last kit revealed was the team’s away kit in white, dedicated to the state of Arizona.
"Copper State Pride"#RisingTogether pic.twitter.com/8aQ7YMEky6
— Phoenix Rising FC (@PHXRisingFC) January 24, 2020
On the upper arm of the kit, you’ll find a list of all the cities throughout the state. The clean white look includes the copper finish on those aforementioned locations for other kits, but is the only one to feature the same color for the sponsor and club badge as well.
“Since day one since I’ve been here three years ago, they’ve preached that Phoenix Rising is not just Phoenix, but we’re really representing all of Arizona in professional soccer,” Rising goalkeeper Zac Lubin said.
“So we’ve always felt like we’ve represented these towns and cities. And now to have them on our sleeves, hopefully they recognize that we do represent them as well and we’re happy to be having them on our jerseys.”
Phoenix Rising also announced that the club has extended manager Rick Schantz’s contract through the 2022 season.
“I met with the owners right after the season and told them that this is where I really wanted to be and going into this season, I wanted to continue to build something even more,” Schantz said. “We don’t want to say that we’re just a team, it’s a club. We have thousands of kids that are wearing our jerseys in Phoenix, we have a team that we work with in Tucson, we have an academy coming around soon.
“Our goal is to develop players here in Phoenix and get them into the USL and who knows, maybe someday there will be a kid from Phoenix that we end up selling to Arsenal or Liverpool or Man U or even into Mexico. The goal is to help develop players and give them an opportunity to be pros.”
Rising is coming off a very successful 2019 campaign where they set several league records while leading the league in points with 78. Some of those records included those 78 points, a 20-match win streak and 89 total goals in the regular season. After earning a bye in the USL Championship Playoffs, Rising was upset in the Western Conference semifinals by Real Monarchs SLC.