This is the 6th year of the Protagonist Soccer Top Tops - where we recognize the the creative and daring kit designs from the US’ second division of soccer and below. Our past winners include Providence City in 2020 with their HAMR re-issue shirt by Inaria; Maryland Bobcats in 2021 with their amazing Glitch shirt; Minnesota Aurora’s Inaugural Home Kit in 2022; The Miami FC turned everyone’s head with their Third Kit in 2023, and finally 2024 saw Oakland Roots win with their beautiful mosaic shirt by Charly.

It is imperative to point out that there is no favoritism; no single person picking out a list and choosing which one they like best. Protagonist Soccer isn’t just giving this award to whoever we want. All 50+ shirts considered for this year’s Top 25 Tops came from nominations.

Shirts which weren’t nominated, but we wish they were, from left to right: Flower City Union, Twin Cities Toucans, Lakeview FC, and Iron Rose FC.

So how does it work? Each guest panelist was sent a google doc with the same 50 shirts, shown in a randomized order, and the only notes were the name of the club and the manufacturer. They were asked to independently rank the shirts from 1 to 50. The final rankings are a result of finding the average rankings from the seven of us and putting the 50 shirts in order from lowest average rankings to highest. Lastly, I took the 25 most well ranked shirts and counted down from 25 to the number one rated Top… Top.

From left to right: San Francisco Glens, El Pueblo FC, Texoma FC, and Utica City

For 2025’s Top Tops panel we brought back the host of the USL Show, Kaylor Hodges; also returning is Brett Mullinex from the KIT SZN podcast, who gave us several Top Tops videos throughout the year. Back is co-host of The C Podcast as well of the Seek and Strike Collective, Chris Walker and the inimitable Sylvs from the Shea Butter FC Podcast. The Super Show’s own Danielle Gawronski joins myself, Josh Duder, the assistant editor of Protagonist Soccer, and to make our panel complete Editor Dan Vaughn makes his first ever appearance as a voting member of the Top Tops Panel.

In May 2025, SF City FC announced its collaborative piece with street artist Jeremy Novy to create a pride shirt. The club partnered with Queer LifeSpace, a local nonprofit, that provides affordable mental health services and clinical training for LGBTQIA+ and donated 10% from each jersey sold.

One of the hardest things to do is exclude charity, causes, and shirts that celebrate diversity from the rankings - the sentiment is particularly difficult to explain in the limited amount of characters available in a social media post. The lines of reasoning is sound and simple; we want to avoid the perception that, by vote, one charity is more important or worthy than another - our favorite soccer clubs are a vital part of our community and the causes they choose to champion all have merit!

With that having been said, the final stop before we get stuck into our Top 25 Tops of 2025 is sharing a few fantastic shirts that weren’t included in the ranking process.

In 2025, FC Tucson crafted these in-house Skin Cancer Awareness tops and rocked them a few times on the pitch - match worn kits are still available HERE

Napa Valley 1839 FC dedicated an in-house manufactured to raising awareness of Street Child United “amplifying the voices of street-connected children and mobilising support for their rights through sport, art, and advocacy.”

Des Moines Menace and Olive & York teamed up to say no to racism and yes to pride! The Menace even had a Kick Cancer Night - a great club making great moves.

Flower City Union and Hummel kept the pre-game shirt simple to share a simple yet important message, “You’re Not Alone.”

Without further ado, here are shirts 25 down to 15, as decided by a panel of 7 voters who come from a variety of podcasts and parts of the lower league soccer community…

For a couple years in a row, Austin Rise FC make our Top Tops list with an offering made by Diaza - a few are even still available from their club shop. This top came in 25th with an average ranking of 20.33

Do you want a 2025 Home Shirt from MPLS City SC? They still have some available in their SHOP for $69… nice. They always have a shirt or three which catches everyone’s eye and this year’s top finished 24th with an average rank of 19.88

Number 23 comes from Brooklyn FC and is available on Diaza’s webstore, HERE. They made simple, yet elegant home and away shirts for 2025 - this top had an average ranking of 19.66

Making their way into the Top Tops for the first time is Staten Island ASC with their striking shirt by Macron. They finished 22nd with a ranking of 19.22

2025 was the first year of Richmond Kickers’ collaboration with Hummel, and they put out a couple great shirts, this City Kit is still available, HERE. It placed 21st and ranked 19.11

Texas-based Lexa Sport had a few nice shirts outside the Top 50, but this partnership with Denton Diablos is the 20th Top Top based on its average ranking of 18.66 (Its sold out on the Diablos’ website, but a few other nice Lexa shirts from previous years are available)

We love **Vermont Green**, we love everything they do with Player Layer, and we love this shirt - the 2025 Home Shirt finished 19th with an average ranking of 18.44

**Asheville City SC** return to the Top Tops list and this year, their beautiful Away Jersey by **Hummel**, lands at 18 on the list. Listen, their 2025 Home Shirt was also beautiful and it was tough to only see one make the cut.

**Portland Bangers** and Official League make the Protagonist Top Tops list for the first time with the Bangerang Kit; but let’s be real, their Home Kit, Away Kit, St John’s Blush, and Xtra Sauce Kit were all… bangers! This nugget finished 17th with an average ranking of 17.88

**San Francisco City FC** also returns to Top Tops and this year its their Denim kit by **Meyba**. Their shirts always go fast, so it may no longer be in their webstore. However, it had an average ranking of 17.44 and takes the number 16 spot this year.

**Hummel** did it again, they released a truly beautiful shirt in 2025 and this collab was with Greenville Triumph SC - check out their **webstore**, where 2025 tops are all on sale! Their Third Kit finished 15th with a ranking of 17.33.

Top 25 Tops of 2025 will continue the countdown tomorrow with Part Two: from Number 14 down to the Number One ranked shirt by our volunteer panelists!

Until then, if you’re interested, check out last year’s winners!
2024, Part One: Number 24 down to Number 14
2024, Part Two: Number 13 down to Number 1

Oh, you like that? How about from the year before?
2023, Part One: Number 23 down to Number 14
2023, Part Two: Number 13 down to Number 1

by Joshua Duder