NEW YORK (AP) — Puma, you’re all boxed in. Nike, what have you done to the U.S. and Canada? Adidas, you’re making a few style waves.
With millions at stake in retail sales, this year’s World Cup in Qatar has soccer fans playing rate the shirt — and what to buy. So far, there’s no runaway winner that just might earn icon status like the sold-out-in-minutes bright green and chevron jersey of Nigeria during the last tournament in 2018.
Which kits definitely don’t dazzle in the eyes of some hardcore fans — and a few outspoken players? Nike’s effort for the U.S. team, which didn’t qualify four years ago. An enlarged, simple country crest sits at the center on white home shirts perceived as bland, as opposed to classic. Nike relocated its swoosh logo to both sleeves.
A blue graphic at the neck has led to mocking comparisons to the Stay Puft marshmallow man of “Ghostbusters” fame. And the U.S. away kit features ice-dyed black Rorschach blotches against royal blue.
“It’s ugly,” said 33-year-old fan Ryan Bender of the former. “The away ones look like training jerseys.”
Bender is a lifelong soccer player, youth coach and jersey collector in Los Angeles. He had few niceties in general for many of the kits of the big three outfitters: Nike (13 countries), Adidas (7) and Puma (6). That’s especially so for the array of front boxes, shields and other containers where numbers will go courtesy of Puma on away kits for Senegal, Morocco, Uruguay and more.
There’s particular ire for Puma over the QR code-like symbol of Switzerland. The idea overall, Puma said, was to highlight player numbers. It has also been likened among the grumpy to the iPhone calendar icon.
“There’s a lot of lack of creativity there. And to be honest, a lot of them just look like jerseys you would find in a roadside shop,” Bender said of Puma’s kits.
While Bender has some favorites, and he isn’t alone when it comes to derision for the U.S. shirts, not everybody is a hater in the every-four-years World Cup sweepstakes over shirts. The top three companies are joined by six other brands with one country each.
Nike, Puma and Adidas have made “The Nike and Puma kits are stunning,” said Aron Solomon, 55, in Montreal. “Nike did such a great job bringing clean lines and just the right shade of colors. Case in point is the Qatar home Jersey.”
He was referring to the host’s maroon kit with a serrated line of white triangles trimming sleeves in a design evoking the country’s flag. Think shark’s teeth.
Denmark took a bite out of Qatar when it unveiled a black jersey to go with two other kits. The black shirts, with maker Hummel’s logo faded out, honor migrant workers who died during construction work for the tournament.
As for his own country, Canada, Solomon is unbothered that the rejuvenated Les Rouges will take the pitch for their first World Cup appearance in 36 years wearing the same template-based kits they’ve had since June 2021. The shirts are traditional red and white with a crest featuring a maple leaf.
Like a few U.S. players who speak publicly about their kits, Canada defender Sam Adekugbe is disappointed.
“I just feel like every team should get a new kit for the World Cup because it’s a symbolic event. I don’t hate it, but I would have liked to have gotten a new kit, just because it’s something to cherish,” he told The Athletic.
Nike cites a different design cycle for Canada as the reason the country is going without.
