Barcelona unveil new hooped home shirt

BARCELONA are to play in hoops rather than the iconic vertical stripes for the first time in the club’s 115-year history next season.

The new Barcelona home kit, as modelled by Andres Iniesta, Neymar and Luis Suarez, and the yellow away kit. Picture: Nike/Barcelona

The Catalan giants unveiled their kits for new season on the same day Xavi Hernandez played his final game for the Blaugranas.

Barca have had a multitude of variations on the striped theme - the half-and-half kit to mark their centenary in 1999, or the uneven stripes during the 2006/07 season.

Even the 2012/13 home kit which effectively abandoned the blue and red vertical stripes maintained a ‘vertical’ design.

Whilst Barcelona’s away kit - yellow shirts with red vertical stripes on the rear in a Catalan flag or Senyera design, blue shorts and yellow socks - the hooped home strip has not gone down so well with fans of the club.

Some have said that hooped jerseys are for rugby teams while others have blasted the decision to break with over a century of tradition.

The club has also revealed that the shirts are made from materials from recycled bottles - up to 18 bottles are used to make each individual shirt.