The Santiago Bernabéu grass looked impeccable that afternoon at the end of December. The Madrid winter was creeping through the stands, but the stadium was … full, attentive to the usual: Real Madrid, the ball and the Sunday liturgy of the League. The fact is that the one who monopolized the spotlight was not the white club, but its rival. Racing appeared from the locker room tunnel in their usual green, with the sober elegance of those who do not need fanfare. However, when time stopped for a few seconds, those of the initial greeting and the television close-up, something broke the normality. One word. Black. Clara. Until then, alien to Spanish football. A four-letter word that was about to inaugurate an era.
It was December 27, 1981 and Real Madrid and Racing faced each other at the Bernabéu on matchday 17 of the League. It could have been just another game, but it ended up becoming a turning point. Racing wore its green jacket with a white collar, faithful to its identity, but on the right side of the chest, in front of the shield, a black spot drew attention. “What is that on the Racing shirt?” they asked in the stands. The answer was simple and, at the same time, historical: Teka. The German appliance company appeared for the first time on the shirt of a Spanish soccer team. Today marks 44 years since that match in which Racing went down in history by becoming the first club to display advertising on its jersey. A pioneering initiative, almost reckless for the time, that opened a door through which all of professional football would later pass.
Teka became the first brand in Spain to sponsor a football team and one of the first to do so in Europe. The agreement with Racing brought the Santander club seven and a half million pesetas until the end of the season, a modest figure from today’s perspective, but significant in a football still far from big contracts and exorbitant figures. Fede Castaños, former Verdiblanco and one of the protagonists of that afternoon, recalls the episode naturally. And he experienced something extraordinary without giving it much importance at the time. «I remember the money they gave us, which was not big. At that time there wasn’t much money, but hey, it was good for us to go on vacation,” he says, dusting off memories.
Fede Castaños wears the shirt with the word Teka in the match against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Wearing advertising on a League shirt was an unprecedented event. So much so that Racing had to request express authorization from the Spanish Football Federation to be able to screen-print the brand on its kit. The gesture generated expectation, debate and also some resistance, due to the need for modesty to change. But that squad knew it was going to make a splash. «On our suit they engraved the word Teka on the lapel. We were more stretched out than milk with the suit and the Teka there on the lapel,” laughs Castaños. Soccer players who have become, without knowing it, pioneers of sports marketing. «It’s curious, because advertising was a big word, but what the brands of the shirts are, Adidas, Austral or Puma… whatever it was, they forced us to cover it. Above the word Teka we had a little cloth sewn or else we put a tape, because they prohibited us from seeing the advertising brand,” he says.
In strictly sporting terms, the match ended with a victory for Real Madrid (4-0) with two goals from Juanito and as many from García Hernández and Gallego. Pereira, Angulo, Bernal, Villita, Sañudo, Mantilla, Castaños, Verón, Preciado, Piru and Pedraza were the Racing eleven that afternoon at the Bernabéu. The result was soon archived in statistical memory; what was truly important happened on another level.
Always a pioneer
Racing finished that season in twelfth position in the League and successfully fulfilled its objective in the First Division, but the true legacy of that season lasted for almost a decade. From 1981 to 1989, Teka continued to sponsor the Verdiblancos. Years of stability, permanence in the elite and a team built largely with Cantabrian players. Not everyone welcomed the news with enthusiasm. There were those who feared that advertising would blur the essence of football. «The people, the majority were fine, but like everywhere there was always someone who said that we were going to lose the identity of football, of the traditional shirts… but hey, it was a minimum. “I think there was more expectation about how it turned out than criticism,” recalls Castaños. The debate was brief. Time ended up tipping the balance.
“Above the word Teka we had a little cloth sewn because they prohibited us from showing the brand on the shirt,” recalls Fede Castaños.
Decades later, when the t-shirts have become true commercial showcases, it is difficult to imagine the impact of that gesture. But he had it. A pioneering racing that forever changed the history of Spanish sport. «It was a new thing. Even today, when the information comes out, well, hey, you like having been the first team that we have carried advertising on the shirts,” adds Castaños with pride. That pride has also materialized in the tangible memory of the club. In 2024, Racing launched a tribute t-shirt inspired by that kit from the early eighties with Teka advertising. It was the first retro t-shirt in green and white history and its first edition, of 1,200 units, sold out in a single day. Since then, it has continued to sell at a good pace, confirming that the story, when told well, continues to excite.
