FC Barcelona 1997/98: the story of a shirt that became iconic

On June 5, 1997, Inter Milan paid Ronaldo's release clause. Approximately $31 million, a world record, and the best striker on the planet left Camp Nou after just one season. Two months later, FC Barcelona began the 1997/98 campaign with a new coach, a new Brazilian number 11, and a Kappa jersey that no one at the time could have imagined would become one of the most sought-after of the decade.

This jersey is now a collector's item. Not just because it looks good — but because it closes a door. It is the last Kappa home jersey in Barça's history before Nike's arrival in the summer of 1998.

June 1997: Barça loses its Phenomenon

To understand what the 1997/98 kit represents, one must gauge the void it fills. During the previous season, Ronaldo Nazário had scored 47 goals in 49 matches under Bobby Robson, including 34 in La Liga — a club record equaled by Lionel Messi in 2009/10. He left with a European Golden Shoe, a FIFA World Player of the Year title, a Cup Winners' Cup, and a Copa del Rey.

Then he left, under circumstances that still poison relations between the club and the player. The 1997/98 Barça was therefore built in the negative: against a departure, over a wound. If you are interested in the rest of the Brazilian's career, it is a separate story, from Milan to Madrid, in the kits that accompanied his best years — and his third jersey with Inter that same 1997/98 season is still available in a retro version.

Van Gaal arrives and imposes his grammar

The club hired Louis van Gaal, poached from Ajax Amsterdam. He brought a strict 4-3-3, a demand for possession, and a Dutch colony that would grow in the following seasons: Ruud Hesp in goal, Michael Reiziger at the back — joined in January 1998 by Winston Bogarde, who came from AC Milan.

Above all, he installed Rivaldo, snatched from Deportivo La Coruña, as the center-forward in his system. The Brazilian wore the number 11 and finished the season with 19 league goals, 28 in all competitions. Around him: Luís Figo with 7, Sonny Anderson with 9, Luis Enrique with 21 and his 18 La Liga goals, captain Pep Guardiola with 4, Abelardo, Fernando Couto, Miguel Ángel Nadal, Sergi Barjuán, Vítor Baía, Giovanni, Hristo Stoichkov.

It is this eleven that the Kappa jersey dressed. A transition locker room, still charged with the Cruyff-Robson era, but already oriented towards what Van Gaal wanted to make of it.

What Kappa designed for 1997/98

Kappa had been outfitting Barça since 1992, the summer after the club's first European Cup victory. The Turin-based brand — whose logo, the famous Omini, depicts a man and a woman sitting back-to-back — had signed its first major football contract with Juventus in 1979 and at the time ruled over a good part of Serie A and La Liga.

The 1997/98 model stands in contrast to the geometric extravagances and turquoise tones of the 1995-1997 seasons. It returns to a legible blaugrana: the classic maroon and blue vertical stripes, but with fine contrasting pinstripes tucked inside the main bands, and blue, maroon, and navy trim. The navy blue, which was very prominent on previous models, disappears from the body of the jersey. The collar designed for this shirt would later be reused by Kappa for Wales.

The away jersey reverted to orange — an acknowledged nod to the kit worn at Wembley in 1992. A detail that collectors love: the goalkeeper jerseys of this period had the player's first and last names woven along the sleeves, in a personalized version for Vítor Baía and Ruud Hesp.

An empty chest, and it's a choice

The most striking detail when you look at this jersey in 2026 is what it lacks. No sponsor. FC Barcelona played without an advertiser on their chest until 2006, more than a century after its founding, before featuring the UNICEF logo — an agreement so unique that the club paid money to the organization, not the other way around.

The result: a crest, a manufacturer's logo, stripes. Nothing else. This is one of the reasons why 90s Barça jerseys age so well visually, where so many kits from the same decade are dated by a beer or electronics brand.

No, it's not a tight-fitting jersey

We often read that the 1997/98 Barça kit illustrates the famous tight-fitting Kappa cut. That is false, and the error deserves to be corrected.

The ultra-fitted jersey that made the brand's reputation, the Kombat, arrived later: its first club appearance was with AS Monaco in the late 90s, before making an impression on the backs of the Italian national team. The principle was technical as much as it was aesthetic: a hyper-elastic material that stretches without deforming, intended to make shirt-pulling visible to the referee.

The 1997/98 Barça kit, however, is a 90s jersey in the classic sense of the term: loose cut, broad shoulders, generous drape. This is actually part of its appeal today, at a time when the oversize silhouette has become a staple on the street. The same phenomenon spans the entire decade and explains why the most iconic jerseys of the 90s now resell for more than many recent models.

The season: a double and a European slap in the face

The jersey wouldn't have the same aura without what it went through. The 1997/98 season was a brutal contrast between domestic dominance and European collapse.

The La Liga title was clinched on April 18, 1998, after a narrow victory against Real Zaragoza, with four games to spare, for a total of 74 points. Eleven days later, on April 29, Barça won the Copa del Rey at Mestalla against Héctor Cúper's RCD Mallorca: 1-1 after extra time, with Rivaldo equalizing in the 66th minute, then winning 5-4 on penalties.

The club also won the UEFA Super Cup, played in two legs for the last time in its history: 2-0 at Camp Nou against Borussia Dortmund on January 8, 1998, then 1-1 in the return leg in Germany on March 11. The trophy rewarded the Cup Winners' Cup won the previous season.

Incidentally, a note for statistics lovers: despite his 19 goals, Rivaldo did not win the Pichichi. He finished behind Christian Vieri, who scored 24 times for Atlético Madrid.

November 5, 1997

And then there is the other side. In the Champions League, Barça fell into a group with Dynamo Kyiv, PSV Eindhoven, and Newcastle United. They finished last.

The low point has a date. On November 5, 1997, Dynamo Kyiv won 4-0 at Camp Nou, with a hat-trick from Andriy Shevchenko, then 21 years old, and a goal from Serhiy Rebrov. Two weeks earlier, on October 22, Barça had already lost 3-0 in Kyiv. Seven goals conceded in two meetings against the same opponent: the jersey of the national double is also that of one of the most humiliating nights in the club's recent history.

That is perhaps what makes it interesting, deep down. A winner's jersey that bears a scar.

Before, after: why this one and not another

The 1992-1995 Kappa jerseys have the aura of Cruyff's titles and a rare longevity — the same home kit worn three seasons in a row, something that has become unthinkable. The 1995-1997 models branched out into experimentation, with geometric shapes and shades that have aged less well.

The 1997/98 model came last, and that is what sets it apart. It is the most sober of the late Kappa kits, the closest to the idea one has of a Barça jersey, and it coincides with a turning point: the end of an Italian, artisanal era, and the beginning of the Nike era, which has lasted since 1998.

It also bears the final season of Hristo Stoichkov at the club, who left during the winter break. It is a frontier, materialized in polyester.

Why 90s Kappa jerseys are making a comeback

Three forces are at play.

• Scarcity. 90s print runs were on a different scale than current production, and pieces in good condition, without holes or peeling prints, become rarer every year.
• Graphic design. The manufacturers of that decade had the budgets and the freedom to design things that modern graphic charters no longer allow.
• Fashion. The football jersey has left the stadium. Kappa already had a foot in the street in the 90s, on the britpop scene, which gives its pieces a dual legitimacy — the pitch and urban streetwear.

The market is following suit. The leading vintage jersey retailer saw more than 30% growth in its fiscal year ending in June 2024 and raised funds in its wake. We broke down this shift of the jersey towards everyday wear in our analysis of the retro jersey as a fashion piece.

Key takeaways

The 1997/98 Barça kit is not a cult item because it is the most beautiful jersey in the club's history. It is because it condenses a shift: the departure of the world's best player, the arrival of a coach who would rewrite the club's identity, a La Liga-Copa del Rey double, a European debacle, and the final signing of a manufacturer that had accompanied Barça for six years.

A jersey is never more valuable than when it tells the story of a pivotal year. This one tells that story.

To explore the available vintage kits, check out our retro selection; for Catalan news, the FC Barcelona page and the entire collection of La Liga jerseys will give you the rest of the picture.