Why are Real Madrid fans called ‘Vikings’?

Real Madrid’s famous all-white home kit makes club nicknames such as ‘Los Blancos’ (‘the Whites’) and ‘Los Merengues’ (‘the Meringues’) fairly easy to explain. However, another common moniker for the 14-time European champions, who visit arch rivals Barcelona in the first Clásico of the 2023/24 season this weekend, does need some unpacking: ‘Los Vikingos’ (‘the Vikings’).

Real Madrid fans embrace Viking imagery

At Madrid games, supporters of the club may be seen wearing the horned helmets traditionally associated with Vikings - the seafaring Scandinavians who, between the ninth and 11th centuries, raided and colonised areas across Europe.

Viking imagery has also been known to feature on the large tifos that Madrid fans have made a habit of unfurling inside their Bernabéu home stadium on big occasions. Before a Spanish-capital derby against Atlético Madrid in 2017, for example, supporters in one end of the arena unveiled a banner depicting a Viking sitting on a throne, with broken shields in the red and white colours of Atlético at his feet. The image was accompanied by the message: “The throne is ours.”

The names of a number of Real Madrid’s official supporters’ clubs - e.g. Orgullo Vikingo, Perú Vikingo, El Quijote Vikingo - also make reference to the club’s nickname.

So where does the nickname ‘Los Vikingos’ come from?

There appear to be two chief theories as to its provenance. One credits the UK newspaper the Times with launching the nickname after Real Madrid’s European Cup final win in 1960, when a side led by Alfredo di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskas thumped Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 to secure the club’s fifth consecutive continental title. In the aftermath of what is considered one of the tournament’s greatest ever finals, an article in the Times - which AS USA was unable to track down - is widely quoted as having compared Madrid’s domination of Europe with that of the Vikings.

Did Atlético supporters come up with the name?

The second major theory behind the adoption of the nickname relates to Real Madrid’s transfer dealings in the 1970s - a decade in which they made Henning Jensen the first ever Dane to play for the club, and also brought in a trio of big-name Germans in Günter Netzer, Paul Breitner and Uli Stielike. Partly owing, it seems, to Germany’s geographical proximity to Scandinavia (and Spaniards’ slight tendency to refer to any pale-skinned, fair-haired northern European as being ‘nórdico’), the arrival of such players is said to have prompted the moniker ‘Los Vikingos’.

According to this theory, it was Atlético’s fans who coined the nickname, seemingly encouraged by physical traits that fit stereotypical notions of a Viking’s appearance. Lighter-skinned than their Spanish and South American team-mates, the German and Danish players all had long, voluminous hair - a look that was fashionable at the time - and, though Breitner and Stielike were darker-haired than the blond Netzer and Jensen, both tended to sport a prominent, bushy moustache or beard.

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Barcelona vs Real Madrid: when, where, how to watch

Barcelona and Real Madrid’s LaLiga matchday-11 clash takes place at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Saturday 28 October, with kick-off scheduled for 10:15am ET/7:15am PT. In the United States, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes have the broadcast rights to El Clásico - a game that you’ll be able to stream live online on the platform fuboTV, which offers users a free trial.

Enjoy Barcelona vs Real Madrid on fuboTV.

Video - Watch epic “El Clásico” trailer: