Barcelona ditch the hoops as they unveil new kits for 2016/17
Barcelona are ditching the hoops for next season. After a season with controversial horizontal stripes on their kits, the Catalans will go back to their traditional vertical stripes in 2016/17.
The kits are similar to the kits that the 1992 Barcelona team wore en route to the European Cup.
This season's shirts will honor the 25th anniversary of that triumph.
When it comes to Barcelona's kits, it's tough to get them wrong. They're a simple blue and red striped shirt with blue shorts and blue socks. The only time that they end up ugly is when they try too hard, like they did with horizontal stripes. But now they're back to the regular shirt and all is well.
Maybe most notable about the shirts is the lack of a sponsor. Barcelona's deal with Qatar Airways expires this summer and, as of now, the two sides have not yet agreed to an extension. There's no word yet on how close the two sides are or if Barcelona are in talks with other companies.
Barcelona were one of the last holdouts on shirt sponsorships, not having any company on their kit until 2006, when they paid UNICEF to put the organization's logo on their shirts. But by 2011, they had also added the Qatar Foundation's logo to their rotation and in 2013, they joined the rest of the world in the shirt sponsorship game with Qatar Airways. Maybe nothing would be a better throwback to the 1992 team than a shirt with no sponsor, but that's a lot of money to give up.
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