Why are Real Madrid players wearing dark socks against Chelsea?
Real Madrid must make adjustments to their strip for tonight’s game at Stamford Bridge - like they did in last season’s meeting with the Blues.
Just like when they met last season, Real Madrid will not wear their traditional, all-white first kit when they take to the pitch at Stamford Bridge for tonight’s Champions League quarter final decider against Chelsea. Ancelotti’s team will be able to wear their usual white shirts and shorts but will not be able to wear white socks in this return leg. For this game, Madrid will have an unusual look, playing in dark blue socks.
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The reason being is that being the home team, Chelsea will be playing in their usual first kit - royal blue shirts and shorts and white socks - UEFA equipment regulations are very strict on such matters: two opposing teams cannot wear the same colour items as they would clash. UEFA state that it is up to the match official to determine if a team is wearing an unsuitable kit or one which clashes with the opponent. It cites the the International Football Association Board (IFAB) Laws of the Game:
“Two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and the match officials. If both teams have the same colour shirt and no other colour is available, the game cannot take place. Competition rules usually state which team must change if there is a clash of colours”.
In this case, as Chelsea are the home team and Madrid the visitors, it is the away team that has to change to avoid a colour clash.
The same thing happened last season when Madrid and Chelsea met at the same stage, the quarter finals. Madrid were able to wear their first kit: white shirt and shorts, but changed their socks to dark blue. Today will be the same... There is no other alternative as this season, Madrid’s second kit is purple and the third kit is black - both of which would clash with Chelsea, hence the white shirts and shorts - but not the socks...
Throughout its more than hundred-year history, Real Madrid’s away kit has undergone numerous changes - generally, it changes every season. With the arrival of the 21st Century and the advent of marketing and sponsorship, the away strip has become more prominent.
In recent years, Madrid have worn several different colours when playing away from home or when they are unable to play in all-white - some recent notable away strips were sky blue, orange, pink, green and red. Traditionally, Madrid’s second kit was dark blue or purple - the colours of the club crest. But not always. In the quarter finals of the 1970/71 European Cup Winners’ Cup against Cardiff, Madrid wore an all-red kit, with white socks for the first time in the away leg (a move they repeated in other European games against PSV and Dynamo Kiev).
There was also a friendly against River Plate in which the Real Madrid players wore green. In the 2000 Champions League final, Madrid, as the away team, wore black so as not to clash with Valencia.
In Article 18 of Madrid’s founding statutes it was established that: “The regulatory uniform will be dark blue, shorts and straight pants; white shirt and dark socks, and for away matches it will be white shorts and a white shirt, black socks with turns and a belt with the national colors”. Over time, the white shirt and pants became the norm, and used in all of Madrid’s games.
This regulation was temporarily interrupted in the 1925-1926 campaign, the season in which the colors of English Corinthians were used: they began to use a raw silk shirt and black pants. But after being eliminated in the Cup by Barcelona, it was considered that this uniform was jinxed and it was no longer used. It would not be until the 1950s when Madrid ordered that all their kit be all-white, including socks.