In 2024, Barcelona secured a landmark extension with Nike, stretching the partnership to 2038 in a deal worth around €1.7 billion. The agreement included a substantial signing bonus that provided an immediate boost to the club’s finances and helped ease Financial Fair Play concerns. The deal ended months of uncertainty, but it also left behind a striking reminder of how seriously the club prepared for the possibility of a break with Nike.
Barcelona had an alternative kit ready
Before the renewal was finalised, the club had already started planning for life without Nike.
A design circulating among collectors suggested that Barcelona was prepared to switch to a shirt featuring the club’s own branding, rather than Nike’s swoosh, should negotiations with the sponsorship partner have collapsed. This design represented an unreleased prototype for what the team might have worn if the Nike deal had not been renewed.
It is believed that the club commissioned production of around 300,000 official garments under its own brand, anticipating the possibility that talks could fail. Those products were never released after the agreement with Nike was completed, leaving millions of euros worth of merchandise stored in warehouses.
Among the unused stock were first-team jerseys valued at €89 each, all manufactured during the tense period when the club’s kit supplier future remained unresolved.
Now, one of those designs has resurfaced. A shirt collector obtained an unreleased prototype of the jersey that Barcelona would have worn had the Nike deal fallen through. The design carries the club’s branding rather than Nike’s signature logo.
Thousands of prototypes remain hidden
The resurfaced shirt is believed to be just one of thousands of prototypes stored in an industrial warehouse. Although fans never saw the design on the pitch, Barcelona had already completed production on a significant quantity of merchandise before negotiations with Nike took a positive turn. Once the two parties repaired their relationship and agreed to a new long-term contract, those plans were abandoned.
