WHO ARE ATLÉTICO MADRID?

WE ALL KNOW BARCELONA AND REAL MADRID, BUT WHO ARE LALIGA SIDE ATLÉTICO?

COPYCATS

As with so many clubs from this era, Atlético Madrid was started by Basque students who were studying in Madrid at the time, but wanted to create a youth branch of their favourite team back home, Athletic Bilbao. The club was, in fact, originally known as Athletic Club Sucursal de Madrid and only took on the 'Atlético' moniker in the mid-1940s. The idea was sparked after they watched Bilbao win the Copa del Rey in Madrid in 1903, and they were later joined by members of Real Madrid who had grown dissatisfied with how the latter was run. Atlético would go on to become the third most successful side in Spanish football history.

KIT COLOURS

Atlético essentially copies the kit colours of Bilbao, initially half blue, half white. By 1911, this had changed to red-and-white vertical stripes for both. Legend has it that these colours were chosen because the shirts were cheap to make they used offcuts of material that was used to make mattresses and came in that pattern. That is why the club has the nickname Los Colchoneros (The Mattress Makers) today. Another explanation is that both clubs used to buy the kits of Blackburn Rovers in England to use, but when they could no longer acquire those, the next easiest for them to get was from Southampton, a port city that saw much more boat traffic to and from Spain.