Barcelona to change home shirt for first time in 115-year history

Barcelona: Spanish football club Barcelona has decided to change their home shirt to hoops for the first time in their illustrious 115-year history, a dailymail report said.

As per the report, the club will play in hoops instead of stripes next summer.

Barcelona’s first ever kit in 1899 was red and blue halves but by 1910 the halves had become stripes and for the most part that is the way things have stayed.

When the team won their first European Cup in 1992 at Wembley the players went up the old stadium’s famous 39 steps in orange shorts and red and blue striped shirts.

They had worn their orange second kit in the win over Sampdoria but to a man they had changed back into the classic number for one of the most famous photos in the club’s history as they collected and posed with the trophy.

The stripes have become wider and narrower as time has past. From 1929 to 1940 only two blue stripes were visible on the front of the shirts.

In 1949 a third blue stripe can be seen running down the middle and that is the way things stayed until 1999 when the centenary was marked by a return to the halves they had worn when they were founded.

Halves were also used in 2008-09 when the club won its third European Cup.

There have been some major deviations from the traditional in the form of second and third strips over the years.

In the 2002-03 season the second kit was golden with a red and blue line down the middle and the third kit had a Crystal Palace sash.

Pistachio green and luminous yellow have featured and the kids were really let loose in the crayon factory two seasons ago when the famous lollipop kit was presented. Its orange fading into yellow reminded supporters of a popsicle and was binned after one season.

But messing about with the second and third strips has always been seen as fair game for shirt manufacturers who have to come up with new ideas every season.

But touching the home shirt still ranks as blasphemy.