La Liga giants Atlético de Madrid are turning back the clock as they celebrate a major anniversary this week.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023, will mark the 120th anniversary of the founding of the 11-time Spanish top-flight champions. To celebrate, they’ll wear special kits in their La Liga match that day against RCD Mallorca that are inspired by the first kits in the club’s history.
The front of the kits, made by Nike, are half blue and half white, with blue sleeves and a white crew neck collar and sleeve cuffs. The crest is the same one the club used until 1917 and consists of a belt wrapped around a football with the initials AC (for “Athletic Club”) in the middle.
Atlético was initially founded in 1903 as a youth branch of Athletic Club Bilbao. The founding members were Basque students living in Madrid and members of Bilbao, which wore blue and white at the time. Atlético didn’t adopt the red-and-white colors it wears today until 1911; according to Wikipedia, a board member went to England to buy Blackburn Rovers kits for the club, but couldn’t find any, so he instead returned with Southampton FC kits.
Atlético also released a special black goalkeeper kit to wear in their anniversary match. It too features the pre-1917 crest along with a tonal pattern of swooping lines.
The special kits were available exclusively in Atlético’s private members’ online store for 24 hours, starting at 10 a.m. Madrid time on Monday, April 24. Once the 24 hours are up, they’ll be available in Atlético’s online shop and their physical team stores in Madrid.
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