Hackney Wick FC is being sponsored by Netflix hit show Top Boy for the 2022/23 season with the team sporting new home and away strips designed by LABRUM designer and founder Foday Dumbuya.

As the London borough’s first ever semi-professional team, Hackney Wick FC, founded by former gang member Bobby Kasanga in 2015, is a club that champions community engagement and tackles peer pressure and gang influences.

The club’s unique collaboration with Netflix hit Top Boy appears to be a match made in heaven. Of the collaboration, Bobby Kasanga (Founder of Hackney Wick FC), said: “Top Boy touches on the real-life issues that the local people of Hackney are going through and represents the marginalised communities I came from. As a show it has also created opportunities for young people in the community affected by gang crime or violence.

Judi Love and Michael Dapaah join cast of Noughts + Crosses series two

“Our club has worked hard to become a semi-professional team working with youngsters and has been awarded for our on-going community work in the borough. I’m thrilled our efforts are not going unnoticed and I hope our collaboration with Top Boy provides a positive message of hope and opportunity to the young people of Hackney.”

Landing Hackney-based designer Dumbuya to design the 2022/2023 season kits was another inspired move.

The kits themselves feature LABRUM’s signature zigzags’ motif, which is inspired by traditional African art, a nod to community and different cultures interweaving. At the center of each kit is the unmistakable Top Boy logo, while LABRUM’s branding adorns the right sleeve. The logo for Hackney Wick FC’s charity, Grassroots For Good is featured in the left sleeve.

On why he wanted to design the kits, Dumbuya explained: “The work that Bobby has done for grassroots football by building Hackney Wick FC really resonates with me. Joining with Top Boy on this project was a real privilege; even more so to have the support from cast members from Hackney.”

“When I was designing the kit I wanted to include a bold graphic that incorporated the rich diversity of Hackney and LABRUM’s celebration of West African heritage. The zig zag is synonymous here. I hope the players will wear the kit with pride.”

The new Hackney Wick FC kit can be bought online via the Kit Locker website.

Filming for season 3 of Top Boy will begin in Summer 2022 in the UK. Top Boy season 1 & 2 are available on Netflix now.