Barcelona spent €4 million on kits that were never used and are now stored in a warehouse | OneFootball

In recent years, Barcelona shirt designs have been widely ranked among some of the best in Europe and have generated unprecedented sales.

The collaboration with Nike, especially after the contract renewal, is really paying off well for Barcelona, and there is already a lot of buzz around next season’s kit designs.

However, there was a time when Barcelona were ready to dump Nike and were flirting with other big brands, including Puma. While that never happened, the relic of those times still exists.

Barcelona’s plan B strategy at the time

According to a report from El Pais (h/t AS), it has emerged that Barcelona currently have approximately €4 million worth of merchandise sitting idle in an industrial warehouse.

It appears the club commissioned the production of roughly 300,000 official garments that were never released to the public.

These items, which include jerseys priced at €89 each, were manufactured during the high-stakes period of the club’s kit sponsorship negotiations.

Barcelona’s partnership with Nike came under scrutiny few years back. (Photo by Getty Images)

The production was not merely a tactical pressure move against Nike, but a logistical necessity.

Josep Maria Meseguer, head of BLM, confirmed that the club needed a “Plan B” to ensure that all professional sections, including basketball, volleyball, and rugby, had kits to start the season in case an agreement with a supplier was not reached.

Notably, these ghost jerseys do not feature a traditional brand logo, bearing only the Bihub Tech logo of the Barça Innovation Hub.

The need for these garments was ultimately rendered obsolete when Barcelona finally renewed its partnership with Nike in November 2024.

Following a decisive intervention by Darren Dein, the agreement was extended until 2038, bringing in a renewal bonus of nearly €100 million and an estimated annual income of €120 million.