Retro Granada Shirt – Andalusian Passion in Red & White

Granada CF's story begins in 1931, though the city had seen organised football since the early twentieth century through various predecessor clubs. The club spent decades oscillating between Spain's lower divisions, building a passionate local fanbase but struggling to establish themselves as a consistent top-flight force.

Their first significant era in the top flight came in the late 1960s and 1970s, when Granada enjoyed several seasons in Primera División, rubbing shoulders with the great Real Madrid and Barcelona sides of that era. They were never title challengers, but they competed with genuine grit, and their Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium became a fortress where visiting sides came to suffer.

Financial difficulties and administrative chaos saw the club tumble into the lower reaches of Spanish football in subsequent decades. Multiple ownership changes and even legal dissolution threatened the very existence of the club. A reformed Granada CF eventually clawed their way back through the divisions, earning promotion to La Liga for the 2011-12 season. That campaign announced them to a new generation of fans: they finished seventh, their best ever La Liga finish at the time, and qualified for the UEFA Europa League.

The club's modern golden era arguably arrived under Catalan manager Diego Martínez. Promoted again in 2019 after another spell in the second division, Granada stormed through the 2019-20 La Liga season, finishing seventh once more and returning to European competition. The 2020-21 Europa League campaign was the stuff of legend – they dispatched Molde, Napoli, and Molde again before a historic quarter-final clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford, becoming one of the smallest clubs ever to reach that stage of the competition.

Relegation followed in 2021-22, as it so often does for Granada, but the club's identity endures: passionate, unpredictable, and always capable of the extraordinary.

Granada's history is filled with players who gave everything for the red and white stripes. In the club's early top-flight years, forwards like Fernández and Porta became local heroes, their names still spoken with reverence by older supporters in the city's tapas bars.

The modern era brought a new cast of heroes. Uruguayan striker Ángel Montoro and industrious midfielder Maxime Gonalons were key figures during the Europa League run, while Peruvian international Luis Abram became a cult figure in defence. Argentine striker Roberto Soldado, a man who had played for Valencia, Spurs, and Villarreal, brought genuine pedigree to the club and became a talismanic presence in attack.

Darwin Núñez – now of Liverpool – had a loan spell that showed flashes of brilliance before his career exploded elsewhere. Colombian winger Luis Suárez (no relation to the Uruguayan of the same name) was another crowd favourite, his pace and directness perfectly suited to Granada's counter-attacking style.

In terms of managers, Diego Martínez deserves special mention. His tactical intelligence and man-management transformed Granada from relegation battlers into Europa League quarter-finalists in the space of two years. Few managers in recent La Liga history have done more with less. The Basque coach José Pékerman and various other managers contributed to the club's earlier eras, but Martínez remains the defining figure of modern Granada.

The retro Granada shirt is instantly recognisable: red and white vertical stripes, evoking the great tradition of Andalusian football alongside Sevilla and the city's own fierce pride. The home kit has remained largely faithful to this design across decades, though subtle variations in stripe width, collar style, and badge design make each era distinct for the serious collector.

Kits from the 1970s Primera División era feature the classic minimal designs of that period – simple stripes, no sleeve sponsors, and the understated beauty of pre-commercial football. These are the holy grail for purists.

The 2011-12 season, Granada's remarkable return to La Liga, produced kits that have since become highly collectible – they represent a watershed moment in the club's modern history. The Europa League years (2020-21) generated arguably the most desirable recent kits: the red and white home shirt worn during those famous nights against Napoli and at Old Trafford carries genuine historical weight.

Away kits have historically featured white or gold designs, occasionally with distinctive Andalusian-inspired detailing. Sponsors have changed frequently over the years, reflecting the club's various ownership regimes.