Barcelona’s Kit Dilemma in the 2025-26 Season
As the 2025-26 football season gets underway, the reigning La Liga champions, Barcelona, find themselves donning their previous season’s lime-green third kit for their initial matches. Despite having unveiled three new kits, none have made their debut in league competition.
Initial Matches and Kit Approval Issues
In their first outings against Mallorca and Levante, victories that marked a promising start to the season, the Catalan club had to revert to last season’s attire since their new options were not approved by La Liga’s kit selection process.
Barcelona’s traditional blue and garnet home colors were unfortunately too similar to those of their opponents, particularly matching Levante’s palette and clashing with Mallorca’s red and black uniform. This left the gold away kit, a special edition created in partnership with the late Kobe Bryant’s Mamba brand, in a rather awkward position. The intended complementing black shorts, instead of harmonizing, also conflicted against both opposing teams’ darker shorts.
The La Liga Kit Selector
All clubs are required to submit their kit choices ahead of matches through an application called the La Liga Kit Selector. This tool is designed to ensure that there’s sufficient visual distinction for ease of identification by referees and viewers alike, with the home team’s selection holding priority over the visitors.
Despite being completely valid, the new away kit’s approval was complicated by the need to consider all aspects, including shorts and socks colors.
Frustrations and Future Prospects
Barça’s third option, an eye-catching orange, was also disqualified due to its resemblance to the shirts of Mallorca and Levante, solidifying the club’s reliance on their lime-green kit thus far. This situation, while frustrating, could have been even messier; prior to the adoption of the Kit Selector, teams sometimes faced bizarre conflicts—such as
Tenerife needing to wear Real Zaragoza’s away shorts in a match back in 2013
—making the new protocol a welcome improvement.
Looking ahead, Barcelona is optimistic that they will finally showcase one of their fresh kits during the upcoming match against Rayo Vallecano. Remarkably, they wore their home colors in the corresponding fixture last season, but only the La Liga Kit Selector will determine if they can debut their new designs in that game.
