2021-22 European Club Kit Preview: La Liga (Spain)

Spain’s Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División — better known simply as La Liga — joins Germany’s Bundesliga and England’s Premier League in starting their 2021-22 season on Friday, Aug. 13, when Valencia takes on Getafe. Ahead of kickoff, each of the 20 clubs had released a home jersey, but some were lagging behind on away kits. It’s also possible that third kits won’t be released until several weeks into the season. Let’s take a closer look at what has been unveiled so far…

(Includes all kits released as of Aug. 12, 2021)

Deportivo Alaves is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021, and their home kit for 2021-22, manufactured by Kelme, harkens back to a design the club wore in the 1920s.

The angle of the tonal split of the red stripes on the front of Bilbao’s home kit matches the angle of the line in the club crest. Both the home and away kits have graphics on the back collar combining the Ikurriña flag and the club’s stripes.

Atletico Madrid’s third kit mimics the colours of the seats in the club’s former stadium, Estadio Vicente Calderón. There is also a graphic depicting the stadium inside the collar. They also have a fourth kit for 2021-22, a solid red number that commemorates the club’s 75 years under its current name and is inspired by the 1974 European Cup semifinal against Celtic FC and the 1985 Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.

The striping pattern on Barcelona’s home kit is taken from the club crest, though it retains their signature blue and red colour scheme. The shorts that go along with it are half-red and half-blue, and the socks are blue with red hoops. The crest on the away kit has been given an iridescent, almost holographic treatment in pink and purple.

This is the first year of Cádiz CF’s new kit deal with Macron. The home kit has an embossed pattern of triangles of varying sizes and textures, but still modeled after the club crest.

The half-red, half-white design of Celta Vigo’s away kit mimics what Real Vigo Sporting Club wore in the early 1920s, before it merged with Real Club Fortuna de Vigo in 1923 to form RC Celta de Vigo.

Elche CF’s home kit is plain white with a broad green brush stroke across the front. The away is black with white logos, and the third is neon green — or “volt,” in Nike-speak — with black logos.

RCD Espanyol are back in La Liga in 2021-22, having won promotion from the Segunda División. They’ll return in a home kit that features blue and white vertical stripes on the front and sleeves, with a tonal zigzag pattern covering the front of the jersey.

Getafe CF is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a logo that is printed inside the collar of all three of its 2021-22 kits. The away kit tribute to Getafe players who have played for the Spanish national team over the years, while the pink pattern on the third jersey was chosen to “make the fight against breast cancer visible,” according to the club’s Instagram account.

Granada CF was the last La Liga team to release its home kit for 2021-22, made by Nike. The front of the shirt features red and white hoops; each hoop is bordered by two narrower stripes.

Levante UD are earning their stripes with their 2021-22 home kit, which features blue and red vertical stripes down the front. Between each stripe is a darker blue zigzag pattern, and all the stripes have embossed tonal pinstripes within them. An embossed tonal chevron is also visible on the chest.

RCD Mallorca make their return to La Liga in red home and blue third kits based on Nike’s Strike II template. The away kit features a pattern of zigzagging grey lines.

The logo of the Government of Navarre appears on the back collar of CA Osasuna’s home kit, recognizing the area of Spain where the club is based. The away kit is a tribute to Pamplona, taking cues from the flag of the club’s home city.

Rayo Vallecano has a long history of wearing a red sash on a white home kit, but this year they’ve pulled the lightning bolt from the club crest and splashed it across the front of the shirt. The away kit sticks with a regular red sash on a black base, but adds realistic-looking lightning bolts down it and the sleeves.

Both of Real Betis’s 2021-22 kits are inspired by the shape of the club crest. The home kit is dominated by a large green triangle, while the away kit has tonal triangles of varying sizes on a blue base.

The circular tonal pattern on Real Madrid’s home jersey is a representation of the Plaza de Cibeles, the monument in central Madrid where the club celebrates its trophy wins. Madrid’s street art scene inspired the graffiti pattern on the away kit.

Real Sociedad are keeping their traditional blue and white vertical stripes for their 2021-22 home kits, manufactured by Macron, but are putting a twist on it with halftone gradients at the top and bottom of each blue stripe. The halftone gradient also appears on each sleeve. The away kit features a pink splatter graphic that repeats down the front of a purple base.

Sevilla had originally unveiled their 2021-22 kits in early July with no sponsor and a “SEVILLA FC” wordmark in that spot. Since then, they have signed a sponsorship deal with social/crypto trading company NAGA.

The dark red away kit is a departure for Valencia, as the club usually goes for orange, black or yellow away shirts. This year’s kit features a tonal ripple pattern all over, and a black block on each shoulder. Valencia is the only La Liga club to get one of Puma’s third kits on an unconventional template. The club also unveiled a fourth kit, which is predominantly grey with orange trim.

Villareal wore its new home kits in their UEFA Super Cup to Chelsea on Aug. 11. The third kit features crosshatch patterns of varying densities on a bluish-grey base and pink logos.