For the next La Liga game against Bilbao, on Saturday, Barcelona will wear the red and gold Catalan National colors; a move to prove the current breakaway sentiment in the Catalonian region.
Announced on Thursday and with the approval of the Spanish Football League, they will leave the traditional maroon and blue shirt and use the Senyera to celebrate the Catalonia’s annual commemoration of the loss of sovereignty.
The club’s board of Directors, in a unanimous decision to use the colors of the Catalan flag known as Senyera, requested the change of design as part of the festivities to mark the 300th anniversary of siege of barcelona on September 11 in 1714; where Spanish and French military forces took Barcelona during the Spanish War of Succession.
The game will be played on Nou Camp against Bilbao from the Basque region, also looking for independence.
Barcelona already played a game last years with this same national colors.
On Thursday in Barcelona, hundreds of thousands of people went to the streets as part of the commemorations.
This move will fuel the breakaway sentiment in Catalonia, where the government will hold a voto for independence on November 9, and the central government is opposed to the move.
Barcelona took parto in the celebrations on Thursday, in the traditional offering of flowers at Rafael Casanovas Memorial in Barcelona with the presence of Club President Josep Mari Bartomeu, board members Jordi Moix and Pau Vilanova and vice-presidents Jordi Cardoner, Manel Arroyo and Carles Vilarrubí.
The delegation also had some members of the first football team present, captain Xavi Hernández and his teammate Jordi Masip. Other members of the club’s sport divisions present in the offering were basketball coaches Joan Creus, roller hockey coach Ricard Muñoz, B team captain Beto Miralles as well as representatives from the academy teams.
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