Real Madrid signed Luis Figo from Barcelona in 2000, Zinedine Zidane from Juventus in 2001, Ronaldo from Inter in 2002 and David Beckham from Manchester United in 2003. Four summers, four of the most recognisable footballers alive, and a policy that was never really about tactics. Florentino Perez was buying names, and the shirt was where the names went.
That is why this period matters to anyone who collects. For six years the back of a plain white shirt was the most valuable surface in football, and the prints from those seasons are now the difference between an ordinary Real Madrid shirt and one people search for by player.
The signings, in order
- 2000: Luis Figo, about 60 million euros from Barcelona, a world record at the time. Claude Makelele arrived the same summer for a fraction of it.
- 2001: Zinedine Zidane, about 73.5 million euros from Juventus, breaking the record again.
- 2002: Ronaldo, about 45 million euros from Inter.
- 2003: David Beckham, about 37.5 million euros from Manchester United.
- 2004: Michael Owen from Liverpool.
- 2005: Robinho from Santos, and Sergio Ramos from Sevilla.
The trophy return was thinner than the fee list suggests: La Liga in 2000-01 and 2002-03, and the Champions League in 2001-02. The era is usually said to end when Zidane retired in 2006.
2001-02: the black away shirt
Zidane's first season produced the Champions League, won with his volley in the final. It also produced the away shirt that has aged best of anything from the period: black body, white sleeves, adidas stripes down the shoulder, the name in a heavy serif font that adidas used in Spain at the time and nowhere else for long.
An original 2001-02 away shirt with Zidane 5 is the one shirt from this era that people describe from memory before they know the season. The rest of the Zidane shirts covers Bordeaux, Juventus, Madrid and France, and the Zidane shirt history explains why he wore 5 in Madrid.
Ronaldo and the number nine
Ronaldo arrived after the 2002 World Cup and took the nine, which at Real Madrid is a heavier shirt than it looks. He wore it through the seasons when the team was at its most watchable and its least organised.
A 2004-05 home shirt with Ronaldo 9 sits in an odd position for collectors: enormously wanted, and yet less scarce than the Zidane prints, because far more of them were sold at the time. The full run of Ronaldo Nazario shirts spans Barcelona, Inter, Madrid, Milan and Brazil.
Why Beckham wore 23
The number seven he had worn at Manchester United and with England belonged to Raul, who was not giving it up for anybody. Beckham took 23 instead and said he chose it out of respect for Michael Jordan. He kept it in Los Angeles afterwards, which turned a workaround into a signature.
The 2004-05 home shirt with Beckham 23 is the most photographed shirt of the whole era, and the Beckham shirts we handle run from United through Madrid to England.
The ones nobody bought at the time
This is where the interesting collecting happens. Everyone printed Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham. Almost nobody printed the players who were actually at the club the longest.
Guti spent his whole career at the club and wore 14 for most of it. A 1999-2000 third shirt with Guti 14 is far harder to find than any Beckham, simply because the print was unfashionable when the shirts were new. The same is true of the squad players who arrived at the end of the era: a 2007-08 home shirt with Robinho 10 is a rarer object than its price usually suggests.
What came after
Perez returned as president in 2009 and did it all again, this time with Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso arriving in a single summer. The second version won far more, including four Champions Leagues, and it produced its own set of prints that people now search for by name.
The clearest example is Mesut Ozil, who took the ten and made it his own for three seasons. A 2012-13 shirt with Ozil 10 belongs to the same story as the shirts above, one policy later.
How to read a Real Madrid shirt from this period
- adidas has made the kit since 1998, so the maker never dates the shirt on its own.
- The sponsor does the dating. Teka ran until 2000, Siemens from 2002 to 2006, bwin from 2007 to 2012 and Emirates from 2013.
- Watch the print font. The heavy serif lettering belongs to the early 2000s. A shirt from those seasons with a modern rounded font has almost certainly been reprinted.
- Third and away shirts are the scarce ones. White home shirts were sold in enormous numbers. Black, blue and gold change kits were not.
The whole Real Madrid collection covers both eras, and our piece on the most iconic football shirts you can own applies the same thinking elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
Who were the galacticos?
The name is normally used for the Real Madrid team built between 2000 and 2006 around Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham, with Raul, Guti, Roberto Carlos and Iker Casillas already at the club. A second wave from 2009 included Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema and Xabi Alonso.
Why did Beckham wear number 23 at Real Madrid?
Raul had the number seven that Beckham wore at Manchester United and with England. Beckham took 23 instead and said he picked it out of respect for Michael Jordan.
What did the galacticos actually win?
La Liga in 2000-01 and 2002-03, and the Champions League in 2001-02, where Zidane scored the winning goal in the final. The trophy haul was modest for the money spent, which is part of why the era is still argued about.
Which galactico shirt is the hardest to find?
Not the famous ones. Prints of players who were at the club for years but were never marketed, Guti in particular, are much scarcer than Beckham or Zidane, because hardly anyone ordered them when the shirts were on sale.
Who has made Real Madrid's shirts?
adidas since 1998. Before that Kelme in the mid nineties and Hummel in the late eighties and early nineties.