Why La Liga teams will play in retro shirts this weekend

April 8, 2026

Why La Liga teams will play in retro shirts this weekend

Thirty-eight of the 42 teams in Spain’s top two divisions will play in retro shirts this weekend to rejoice each club’s cultural identification.

The kits will be impressed by iconic appears from the past and pay homage to each club’s historical past and fan traditions.

Only Barcelona, Rayo Vallecano, Getafe and Real Madrid will not participate in the day.

Spanish publication Marca reported that Barcelona, Rayo Vallecano, and Getafe will not put on a particular jersey because of varied logistical causes however are still concerned in the campaign.

Real Madrid aren’t taking part in the initiative in any respect.

Referees will put on a particular package while the graphics used in tv broadcasts will be a throwback to many years past.

There will also be a classic fashion of match ball used throughout the weekend’s matches.

The kits have been unveiled on 19 March at Madrid Fashion Week as a part of a collaboration between soccer and style.

La Liga is the first of Europe’s 5 major soccer leagues to introduce a co-ordinated retro shirt campaign, however other sports activities such as Australia’s National Rugby League and the Australian Football League have held retro rounds.

The package that Atletico Madrid, which was based in 1903, will put on this weekend [@sharonlopez]

Why is La Liga doing this?

La Liga director Jaime Blanco says the event is a novel approach of tapping into the historical past and traditions of its golf equipment.

“It allows us to bring the past into the present while continuing to build experiences and strengthen the legacy that emotionally connects with supporters,” he said.

“Presenting this collection during Spain’s leading fashion week is the perfect platform to project that identity beyond the field and position soccer at the heart of the cultural and creative conversation,” he added.

The retro package of Girona, which is a part of the The City Football Group that also contains Premier League aspect Manchester City’s mum or dad company [@sharonlopez]

Several retro kits will be on show on La Liga pitches this weekend [@sharonlopez]

Why is soccer obsessive about nostalgia?

This shouldn’t be the first time this season that club historical past has been celebrated by soccer teams.

Italian club Juventus lately revealed their fourth package during their 2-0 dwelling defeat to Como, a joint collaboration with Adidas and Studio Sgura that is impressed by a 1996-97 season jersey.

Back in March, Liverpool launched a retro jersey assortment, which embrace shirts impressed from way back to the Nineteen Sixties in addition to their 2005 dwelling shirt, beloved because of its affiliation with the well-known Champions League victory in Istanbul.

Arsenal’s well-known 1991-1992 ‘banana’ package was reinterpreted for his or her 2019-20 away package.

Nike have lately relaunched their T90 assortment, and Adidas’ 2026 World Cup away jerseys have the Adidas unique Trefoil badge on the chest after 36 years, a re-interpretation of the traditional ’90s look.

The common rise of retro soccer shirts has been reported to now be a close to £40m enterprise empire by the Classic Football Shirts company.

Jordan Clarke, the founding father of Footballerfits, an Instagram platform that explores the hyperlink between behind soccer and style tradition, says it’s not just soccer followers that are obsessive about nostalgia.

“I think nostalgia is something in society not just in football. A lot of people look back fondly at times during their lives, when they were maybe younger, and there was less worry in the world. They look back and dream of returning to those times.

“Football is just a microcosm of how society feels in the world that we live in these days.”

There has been some criticism of the Premier League amid claims it has become dull because of time-wasting tactics, VAR intervention, fatigue of players and an emphasis on systems rather than individuals.

“The game has bought a bit robotic. It’s turn out to be lots different to what we have now grown up on, so there’s less self-expression within the game, less persona on the pitch, with managers wanting to regulate every side of the game,” Clarke said.

“I feel that gamers actually search their self-expression via outdoors issues, like style, music, other sports activities or just tradition as an entire.

“For me that rise has come from players seeking alternative routes to express themselves when they can’t play like Neymar these days, or they can’t do the things that the players they grew up watching were doing.”

Footballers at Fashion Week

Footballers can often be seen entrance row at style weeks [Getty Images]

Footballers have also turn out to be a daily staple in style weeks.

“I think players are just growing their personal brands more and more, connecting with young fans and young audiences through showing who they are as people first rather than just players,” Clarke said.

He believes that footballers search an identification separate from their occupation.

“When you are doing something 9-5 every day, from your academy days, there is a point when players do take interest in things outside of the game, and they want to show that off, and want to be talented in other areas and not be limited by other people telling them they can’t do things,” he said.

There is also a advertising and marketing and promotion ingredient to showcasing hobbies, with business alternatives up for grabs with manufacturers.

“You have clubs like Arsenal and Paris St-Germain, who are growing their fan base by appealing to culture, people who aren’t football-obsessed, and are more interested in the music and fashion element.

“By tying those together, it makes the club look cooler and therefore brings in more followers. Culture in soccer may be very important for each the club, and the participant.”

This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.

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