Atlético Madrid have released their third kit for the 2025/26 season, produced in partnership with Nike and drawing openly on the aesthetic language of the Total 90 range that defined much of the early 2000s. The design has been reported by 90min, which confirmed the kit's release alongside details of its visual identity.
The strip is rendered in a bold blue, a shade that sits apart from the deep reds and stripes typically associated with the Madrid club. According to 90min, the crest is placed centrally on the chest rather than in its conventional position to the left — a placement that reinforces the retro reference and gives the shirt a deliberately different character from Atlético's home and away options.
The Total 90 line, which Nike produced across the late 1990s and into the following decade, became closely associated with a generation of players and clubs who wore it during one of the more commercially expansive periods in European football. Its visual grammar — bold colourways, prominent branding, a certain utilitarian confidence — has aged into something that now reads as nostalgia rather than kitsch, and a number of clubs and manufacturers have moved to exploit that in recent seasons.
Atlético themselves have historically used their third kit as a space for experimentation. Playing their home fixtures at the Cívitas Metropolitano, they carry a visual identity built on red and white stripes that leaves little room for deviation in the primary range. A third kit, worn sparingly and usually in European competition or away fixtures where a clash demands it, allows the club's design partnership with Nike to operate with greater freedom.
Whether the shirt will be widely used across the season depends largely on fixture demands, but its commercial release means supporters can purchase it independently of how frequently it appears on the pitch. The appetite for retro-influenced football shirts has grown considerably in recent years, with replica sales driven as much by fashion interest as matchday loyalty. A design that leans this explicitly into a recognisable archival reference is well positioned to benefit from both.