Benfica - Avs: What the Vhils black jersey debut means for fans and collectors

This piece matters to matchday supporters, apparel collectors and the club’s street-football audience because the new kit shown in the Benfica - Avs match ties a creative collaboration directly to the team’s public identity. The black jersey — linked to a street-football initiative and designed by the artist known as Vhils — was revealed publicly ahead of the 23rd-round fixture and changes how the club signals cultural partnerships on game day.

Benfica - Avs and why fans should care

The choice to wear a special black jersey in the Benfica - Avs game turns a routine league match into a platform for a creative statement; collectors, match attendees and casual viewers will now associate a specific visual language with that fixture. Here’s the part that matters: the kit is not a simple color swap but a deliberate creative activation tied to a broader street-football concept, which affects merchandising, matchday visuals and how supporters experience the team.

Event details and what happened at the stadium

Benfica debuted the black jersey in the 23. ª jornada da Liga (also referenced in some notes as the 23. ª jornada da Liga Betclic), playing the fixture this Saturday against Aves SAD / AVS. The shirt was shown publicly after the club captain, Otamendi, posted Instagram stories that revealed the back of the black kit, breaking the secrecy before the match. The new piece was worn on the pitch at Estádio da Luz in a game that finished as a 3-0 victory in favor of Benfica.

Design origins, creative direction and the collection around the jersey

The jersey was developed in collaboration with artist Alexandre Farto, who is known by the name Vhils; the design is explicitly tied to the club’s street-football initiative. Under Vhils’s creative direction, the kit incorporates visual elements drawn from his artistic language, including a worked fragment of the eagle’s wing featuring texture, depth and a sense of movement. The edition is part of a broader collection that includes sweatshirts, jogging pants and t-shirts, extending the visual concept beyond match shirts into lifestyle pieces.

Logistics, approvals and season kit context

The club’s request to use this alternative kit for the match was directed to the marketing arm of the league two weeks before the game, filed in the context of the street-football initiative. This season’s official equipment palette includes red, white and beige as the standard shirt colors; the black jersey represents a deliberate special-case activation within that set. Note: some content related to imagery was flagged as potentially unsuitable for minors—readers are informed that the coverage contains material intended for adults and that certain images or details may be disturbing, with a prompt to confirm being 18 years or older.

• Black kit worn for the 23rd-round Benfica match this Saturday against Aves SAD / AVS.
• Captain Otamendi revealed the back of the shirt in Instagram stories before kickoff.
• Design credited to Alexandre Farto (Vhils); visual motif includes a textured fragment of the eagle’s wing.
• The jersey ties into a street-football initiative and sits alongside additional apparel: sweatshirts, jogging pants and t-shirts.
• Use of the kit involved a request to the league marketing team two weeks prior; standard season colors remain red, white and beige.

What’s easy to miss is how the reveal method— the captain’s Instagram stories—changes the rollout dynamic, moving some of the promotional control into the player-fan channel rather than a single official launch. The real question now is how this activation will influence future kit rollouts and whether similar collaborations will become standard for select fixtures.

Key signals to follow that would confirm a broader shift include repeated use of special-design jerseys in league fixtures, expansion of the collection tied to this collaboration, and further appearances of the artist’s motifs in club merchandising. Recent updates indicate the black jersey was worn at Estádio da Luz for a 3-0 win and that the design collaboration and league notification happened in the lead-up to the match; details may evolve as the club and its partners announce further editions.