Now we turn to one of the scarier stories in modern football: Malaga. Traditionally, Malaga was a classic elevator team frequently being relegated from the Primera Division only to be promoted shortly thereafter. Then came Sheikh Al Thani with all his promised millions and wanted to turn the little team from Malaga into the third force in Spanish football. Initially, everything seemed to go well. They were slowly and steadily building a great team the smart way, hired an experienced and respected coach and ended the 2011-12 season in fourth place to qualify for the Champions League. And then it all fell apart: Al Thani disappeared and so did his millions. The club was forced to sell their best players to avoid bankruptcy and ealrier this year, they were banned from European competitions for the next season due to violations of UEFA‘s Financial Fairplay regulations. Somehow, it is a miracle that the team managed to reach the quarterfinal of this year’s Champions League. And they reached that in some style …
Malaga’s home jersey is one of the better ones this season, although it does break with classic club colors. As far as I can remember, Malaga played in blue and white. Very often the shirt was striped, sometimes one half was blue the other white. For the current season, the striped pattern was retained, but the blue is very light. You almost have the feeling this is an Argentina jersey and indeed it would be a very fine one at that. The stripes are exactly the width that I prefer most and they are also featured on the sleeves. Crest and logo are very well placed and I love the UNESCO sponsorship (yes, we want to copy Barca’s UNICEF sponsorship as well). I also love the shirt collar a lot. In my opinion, soccer jerseys look best with a shirt collar and this one is one of the finest I have seen lately.
I do regret that the back is forced to be white for most of the shirt, but we know UEFA demands that. The font for name and number look well, but I do wonder why they are in dark blue and not in black like the printing on the front. I also like the little Spanish flag below the collar.
Except for the lighter shade of blue, this is an excellent and very classic looking jersey. As I said, it is a highight of the season – well done Nike! Let’s hope that Malaga’s fortunes turn around and they can avoid most of the trouble.
My rating: 8/10 stars.
How do you rate this shirt?
My Soccer Universe 
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