Atlético Madrid's new third kit for the 2026/27 season looks like a Nike shirt from the turn of the millennium. Coincidence?
Dig through Nike's kit archive from around the turn of the millennium and you'll find designs that echo Atlético Madrid's new third kit for the 2026/27 season.
Paris Saint-Germain played in grey with a horizontal chest band and a dark collar in 1999/2000, while the USA wore horizontal stripes and a polo collar at the 1998 World Cup. Roughly 25 years later, those same elements resurface at Atlético.
Atlético's 2026/27 Third Kit: What the New Away Shirt Looks Like
Neither old shirt should be read as a direct blueprint for Atlético's new one. What matters is something else: the individual features that make up the retro look can all be found in Nike shirts from exactly that era.
The new shirt's base is a muted grey, overlaid with six thin horizontal stripes in Atlético's classic red and navy blue. Fine blue lines run through the fabric, topped off with a classic navy polo-style collar.
Grey at Atlético: Not a New Colour for the Madrid Club
With grey, Atlético is reaching for a colour that's unusual for the club, though not unprecedented. Atlético already wore a grey away kit back in 2014/15, and the tone resurfaced again in 2024/25. The club's traditional colours, red and navy blue, still run through the new shirt.
A concrete historical blueprint for the new design can't be pinned down. Atlético, meanwhile, frames the release under the motto “Viste lo que te representa”, “wear what represents you”.
The new third kit is available now in the Atlético Madrid and Nike online stores.
