The Real Madrid 2014/2015 third shirt has already become a modern classic because of its special design. Many football shirt collectors are in love with the smooth dragon all over the shirt. This is black and white kit was released in June 2014. In this post, we are going to take a closer look at the details of this special Real Madrid jersey.
Design
The Real Madrid 2014/2015 third shirt is quite basic when it comes to the use of colors. I actually should use the word colors between quotation marks, because this shirt is mainly black. The characteristic Adidas stripes on the shoulders of the jersey are white. This color contrast makes the white stripes stand out in a clean way. Both the Adidas (embroidered) and Real Madrid logo (heat pressed) are white too. Adidas chose for a monochrome Real Madrid badge, which is a good choice in my opinion. The Fly Emirates sponsor is white too.
If we take a closer look at the collar, we can see Yohji Yamamoto’s signature. The Japanese designer, who has released some cool football gear before, came up with the dragon design. The dragon watermark on the front of the shirt mainly stands for power. Besides that, the dragon represents the glory and power of the glorious history of Real Madrid. The watermark has a smooth gray and whitish design that suits the general black and white design of the shirt. The fact that the shirt doesn’t have any other graphical details makes the dragon look eye-catching.
The collar of this shirt is white, and it has two buttons as well. One button is white and the other one is black. The Real Madrid 2014/2015 third shirt is quite minimalistic but the dragon watermark design definitely makes up for it. The dragon being the only real detail on this shirt definitely emphasizes its beauty. The tail of the dragon continues on the back of the shirt. What’s even more special is that there are actually two dragons in the watermark. The Dragon King (left side) stands for the glory and power and the Baby Dragon (right side) represents determination. These terms are proper to Real Madrid if you look at their past. They won the Champions League in 2014, and this 3rd kit symbolizes that triumph.
Some stars who wore this shirt
Although my shirt doesn’t have any name or number on it, I would still like to add one. Whenever I look at this shirt, the first player that comes to my mind is Cristiano Ronaldo (a bit too obivous) and James RodrÃguez. We probably all know why I associate Ronaldo with this shirt: his 48 La Liga goals and his Ballon D’or trophy. But why do I associate James with this shirt? The 2014/2015 season was James’ first season at Real Madrid. The Colombian superstar became a big hype after the World Cup in the summer of 2014. Many Madridistas bought shirts with James’ name on the back that season. Unfortunately, he couldn’t live up to the expectations in the end.
Besides the Portuguese and Colombian star, Gareth Bale also wore this shirt. He joined Real Madrid in 2013 for 101 million euros, which was the most expensive transfer in the history of football at that time. He had a great first season, but he had to deal with some injuries during the 14/15 season. Besides that, Real Madrid fans called him arrogant and started to criticize him.
Furthermore, we shouldn’t forget Karim Benzema. The French-Algerian striker has been at the club since 2009 and has always been part of one of the best players. He’s really been in his prime the last three seasons, and he has become a Real Madrid icon by playing 610 games, in which he managed to score 327 goals. El Nueve has won 5 Champions League titles with Los Blancos, which makes him one of the most successful football players ever.
Authenticity
The Real Madrid 2014/2015 third shirt has become quite rare because of its unique dragon design. This means that there are many counterfeit versions of this kit on the (online) football market. As a football shirt collector, you want to make sure the shirts you buy are original. Please keep the following information in mind:
- This shirt was made in Vietnam (see image) and not in Thailand like many fakes indicate.
- The correct Adidas product code of this shirt is F49264 (you can check this by typing in this code + ”Adidas” on Google Images).
- The Real Madrid logo is heat-transferred onto the shirt, and the Adidas logo is embroidered.
Final thoughts and my opinion
The Real Madrid 2014/2015 third kit is definitely a must-have if you are a football shirt collector or Real Madrid fan. Even though this shirt is not that old (about 8 years), it has already become a modern classic because of its unique design. The kit is both minimalistic and detailed at the same time, which makes it rare. In addition, this black and white shirt stands for the identity and history of Real Madrid: they made history by playing with passion and glory. Besides the beautiful graphic design, this shirt is very fancy in my opinion. It’s not just a black and white just, it’s a very well-designed kit.
In addition, the Adidas template is present in a prominent way on this shirt. The typical white stripes on the shoulders are nicely connected to the collar. The lower part of the sleeves don’t have stripes because of the possible patches that have to be applied onto that part. The stripes would continue all the way down the sleeves on the long sleeve version of this shirt (which I hope to find one day). I might try to find an original name set (probably Modric) to apply onto this shirt, because I think it will look amazing. My rating: 8,6/10.
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