Up-Close: FC Barcelona 2016/17 Long Sleeve Nike Home Jersey

Given FC Barcelona’s glorious history and perennial success their home kit is usually among the best selling in the world during any given soccer season. As such we’re bringing you a world exclusive up-close look at their long-sleeved version (since it is winter for many of us) of their 2016/17 Nike home jersey.

Where to Buy It

Our close-up, in person experience with the FC Barcelona 16/17 Nike home kit is brought you by the folks at UK Soccer Shop. The shirt is now available in their Barca Store along with just about everything else in the Catalan giants’ latest match and training ranges.

Design

Nike Has assigned their new Vapor kit template to just about every one of their major sponsored team (club and federation) for the current football shirt cycle. FC Barcelona is not exception and shares a primary jersey design with the likes of England, France, PSG, Manchester City and Inter Milan.

While this can make for a rather bland kit, Nike’s designers and FC Barcelona’s staff have worked the Vapor template into an eye-catching shirt that incorporates several elements of the club’s culture into it. The world famous and unmistakable Barca red and blue stripes are the heart of the 16/17 and every FCB home kit. They are vertical again this year following last season’s foray into the world of hooped kits.

The stripes and wide an include two red stripes on the front and the back of the kit. The rest of the shirt is all blue including its stripes and a darker blue sleeve / shoulder / upper back area. Smaller tonal stripes appear within the larger stripes while horizontal and vertical pinstripes accent the rest of the shirt for a subtle yet visually appealing effect.

In keeping with the Nike Vapor design, the collar on the FC Barcelona 2016/17 home jersey is a simple v-neck that has contrasting taping stitched onto the rear two thirds. “Barça” is printed on the back of the collar. A vertical strip in the colors of the Catalan flag runs along the upper back of the kit just below the rear collar. The final element of the Vapor template worth mentioning are mainly red stripes on its flanks that expand to reveal flashes of Barcelona blue. They are a nice touch that bled well with the kit’s red stripes.

The look of the shirt is classic Barcelona and is indeed inspired by the home kit worn by the likes of Ronald Koeman, Hristo Stoichkov, Pep Guardiola and Michael Laudrup when club won their first European Cup title at the end of the 1991/92 season.

Shirt Sponsor Logo

This year’s FC Barcelona kits can be found in both sponsored and unsponsored versions. They were released before the club renewed their shirt sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways. While some short sleeved versions of the 2016/17 Barca kits bear the airline’s logo we’ve yet to see a long sleeved version with it. This is fine for us and many others given that fact that FC Barcelona did not feature shirt sponsors for all of their history until they stamped the UNICEF logo on their jerseys in 2006. The absence of a commercial logo on the FCB 16/17 home shirt invokes memories of many a classic Barcelona kit.

Fit and Feel

The FC Barcelona 2016/17 Nike long sleeved home kit fits true to size. Even though we tried out the replica version of the shirt we found it to be lightweight and extremely comfortable. We’ve seen many jerseys called “match shirts” of similar or even inferior comfort levels. The long sleeves on the kit come in handy for cooler temperatures and add what we think is a classy element to the jersey.

Final Thoughts

Nike has done well with the FC Barcelona 16/17 Nike home jersey. Inspired by a classic Barca shirt, it can become one in its own right purely on the merit of its design. It is destined to be a collector’s item should Barcelona take home domestic or European league or cup silverware again this season.