LaLiga’s bitter El Clásico rivalry has a new battleground this week as both Barcelona and Real Madrid have released their new third kits for the 2026-27 season.
Barcelona’s offering, unveiled on Tuesday, is a flagrant 1990s throwback inspired by the teal and turquoise kits worn by the club between 1995 and 1997.
The jersey comes complete with all the zig-zags and jagged paneling that made the original design a cult classic that endures to this day.
While the 1995-96 season failed to deliver any silverware, Barça won a trio of domestic and continental cups the following year, Sir Bobby Robson’s final season in charge at Camp Nou.
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The success was largely fueled by Ronaldo Nazário, who scored a whopping 47 goals in all competitions to help Barça win the old UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, Copa del Rey and Spanish Supercopa.
The accompanying launch material is centred on all those young Barcelona fans who have grown up to actually represent the club as players over the years and their journey from La Masia prodigies to becoming full-blown defenders of the Barça colors.
By way of contrast, Real Madrid‘s new 2026-27 third kit isn’t quite as heavily conceptual.
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Los Blancos have released a simple, rose-tinted design that they say functions as a tribute to the club’s global fanbase and their ability to punch through “beyond borders, languages and cultures.”
Marketing blurb aside, the shirt is a pleasant shade of chalky pink and the fabric comes embossed with a geometric pattern loosely inspired by Latin craftsmanship and art.
It also marks Real’s first pink kit in six years, since the 2020-21 campaign when the club wore a hot pink number on the road as they finished trophyless (for the first time in over a decade) in Zinedine Zidane’s final season as head coach.
