White from top to bottom. Real Madrid's kit is perhaps the most recognisable in the world, and yet the idea behind it was not born in Spain. Behind it lie a trip to England, a king and a year when the team dared to add black and regretted it.

Madrid Football Club, 1902

On 6 March 1902 Madrid Football Club was officially founded. Juan Padrós headed the first board, while his brother, Carlos Padrós, also later became president.

The name was proposed by the two brothers and approved unanimously. Back then nobody imagined that the club would become the most successful in Europe.

Inspired by Corinthian

Why white? According to most sources, the choice was made in honour of Corinthian, the famous English amateur side. Juan Padrós had come across them on one of his trips.

Corinthian were a symbol of "gentleman" football, in an all-white shirt. Real took their colour, and with it an idea of elegance that lasts to this day.

The year of black

In the mid-1920s Madrid tried something different: black in the kit, again inspired by Corinthian. Here the sources disagree. Wikipedia speaks of black shorts in 1926, while another report says it was 1925 and black shirts.

On one point they all agree: the experiment lasted only one year. After heavy Cup defeats to Barcelona, former president Pedro Parages called for a return to all white and described any departure from it as a "bad omen". Since then white has become almost sacred.

"Real": the title and the crown

In 1920 King Alfonso XIII granted the club the title "Real", meaning "Royal". That is how Real Madrid was born, and the royal crown was added to the crest.

In 1931, with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, the club temporarily lost both the title and the crown. In its place came a purple band symbolising the region of Castile. Today the crown is back where it belongs, above the familiar monogram.

Di Stéfano and five in a row

On 22 September 1953 Alfredo Di Stéfano arrived in Madrid, after a transfer battle with Barcelona. His arrival was part of a strategy of signing big foreign stars.

What followed went down in history. Real won five consecutive European Cups, from 1956 to 1960, and Di Stéfano scored in every one of those finals. The last, in 1960 at Hampden Park, ended 7–3 against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Los Blancos, Los Merengues

The white shirt also gave the team its nicknames. "Los Blancos" means the Whites, while "Los Merengues" are the Meringues, after the snow-white dessert.

The colour became an identity. Anyone who sees an all-white kit on a pitch automatically thinks of Madrid.

A shirt that is a piece of history

The Real shirt carries the elegance of Corinthian, the crown of Alfonso and the goals of Di Stéfano. It is one of the most sought-after pieces for any collector, whether in a retro version or the current season's kit.

See our Real Madrid jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: The Santiago Bernabéu in 2017, before its reconstruction – Choinowski, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.