World Cup 2026 shirts

A World Cup is the one tournament that makes people who do not follow club football buy a shirt. 2026 is the biggest there has been, and the kits are worth knowing about before you choose one.

What is different about 2026

Forty-eight teams instead of thirty-two, three host countries - the United States, Mexico and Canada - and more teams at a World Cup for the first time than at any before it. For shirts that means more debutants: Norway are there for the first time since 1998, and Italy are not there at all for a third tournament running.

Is a World Cup shirt a different shirt?

It is the same kit the team wears through the tournament year, including in the qualifiers and the friendlies around it. The only thing that separates a tournament shirt from an ordinary one is the competition patch, which is added separately.

Home or away?

For a national team the home shirt is almost always the one people mean - Brazil's yellow, the Netherlands' orange, Argentina's stripes. The away shirt is where the designers take liberties, and it is the one you will see fewer of in the street.

And the old ones

Half the appeal of a World Cup is the shirts people remember. Brazil in 1998 and 2002, France in 1998, Argentina in 1986 and again in 2022, Italy in 2006, Germany in 1990 - those are retro shirts now, and they sell to people who were not born when they were worn.