Nike furious as Barcelona blocked from debuting new kits in first two La Liga matches | OneFootball

Barcelona’s start to the 2025/26 season has been unusual both on and off the pitch.

While Hansi Flick’s team fights for results, another battle has taken place in the background – this time involving the club’s new kits.

According to SPORT, Nike, who have been Barça’s kit manufacturer for 27 years, are unhappy that the team has not been allowed to wear any of their three new kits in the first two league matches.

The American brand invested heavily in launching the new collection, which includes the classic blaugrana design, a yellow kit dedicated to Kobe Bryant, and an orange kit inspired by the legendary ‘Total 90’ era.

Yet, La Liga’s strict kit selector rules forced Barcelona to continue wearing last season’s green third kit against both Mallorca and Levante.

Why Barcelona couldn’t wear the new kits

The process of selecting the kits is that both clubs upload their uniform choices to the Kit Selector app, and from there, La Liga approves the final combination.

In Barcelona’s case, none of the three new shirts passed the filter. Against Mallorca, the home, away, and third designs were deemed too similar to the opposition’s kits.

Barcelona have not debuted their new kits for the 2025/26 season. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

The same situation unfolded against Levante, even though the orange shirt closely resembled the one Barça wore at the Ciutat de Valencia 10 years ago.

This left them wearing an old kit, frustrating both fans and Nike, who were hoping for a big marketing push at the start of the season.

Debut against Rayo Vallecano

Fortunately, the wait is finally over. Barcelona have received approval to debut their new home shirt in Vallecas against Rayo Vallecano.

Since the Vallecano plays in white with a red stripe, there is no risk of a colour clash.

For Nike, it comes as a relief. After two lost opportunities to showcase their designs, the global brand can finally see their new creations on the pitch.

For fans, it means they will at last watch their team in the fresh 2025/26 look, closing a frustrating and unexpected chapter.