How football jerseys change at the Olympics

As tradition dictates, the men’s football tournament kicked off the Olympic Games. The 2024 edition hasn’t officially started yet, but 48 hours before the opening ceremony, we witnessed the first official matches. Argentina-Morocco was one of the two opening games, but the controversies surrounding this match overshadowed any other aspects, such as some aesthetic details of the kit worn by the team coached by "Jefe" Javier Mascherano. Yes, because compared to what was seen at Euro2024 and the Copa América, the national teams are wearing slightly different kits. It’s important to note that both the men’s and women’s football tournaments are not under FIFA’s jurisdiction, so the kits must comply with the Olympic Committee’s regulations. As a result, brands have had to revise some of their designs.

For example, adidas had to make minor adjustments for Argentina and Spain: the three stripes on the sleeves have disappeared; the logos of the two federations have been replaced by the respective national flags. Otherwise, the two kits are faithful reproductions of what was seen this summer: the fonts, as well as the patterns and designs of the shorts, remain unchanged. It’s worth noting a curious detail regarding Spain: both the men’s and women’s teams wear adidas kits on the field, but before and after matches, they wear the Spanish delegation’s tracksuits made by Joma. Nike also had to revise some of its kits. The most interesting case involves France: during the friendlies leading up to the Olympics, France played in the kit Nike created for Euro 2024. The kit featured a blue jersey with a large golden rooster on the left side, double fonts for the numbers, paired with white shorts and red socks. However, this color combination was never worn by Mbappé and his teammates during the Euros but was immediately seen at the Olympics during the opening match against the United States. With some modifications, of course: the large rooster was replaced by the Olympic flame logo in white, and especially the retro font for the numbers was replaced with a more classic and streamlined one.

In contrast, Nike’s management of the U.S. team’s kit involved using the exact same kit from the last Copa América, with the only difference being the removal of the U.S. federation logo, replaced by the USA text. There are also cases of teams with exclusive kits for the Olympic Games. For example, Ukraine is wearing 4F jerseys instead of Joma; Japan used the Paris Olympics stage to debut the kit created by adidas and Y-3, presented at the latest Paris Fashion Week in both Home and Away versions. Finally, PUMA for Morocco has also decided to design a completely new kit: abandoning the historic design with the green horizontal band across the chest on a red background, it has transitioned to a red jersey with green accents on the sides, which blend into the shorts.