A fashion reporter highlights her favorites. Maybe you disagree.
You know how the old sports adage goes: “It’s not about whether you win or lose, it’s about what you wore to the game, and whether you looked cool.” I think that’s right. Don’t check me on that.
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Jokes aside, every four years the World Cup offers participating countries an extremely high-profile opportunity to express themselves through clothing design. Designers from every nation get to project pride, identity and ideals onto the blank canvas of the team kit.
Of course, some are more stylish than others. Below are a fashion reporter’s favorite World Cup 2026 jerseys, based on aesthetics alone.
This design is an homage to the geometric doorway art that’s common in Saudi homes; it also looks pleasantly like a pixelated blueberry thicket. These colors are so rich, and the bookmatch-style symmetry is neat.
What I like most about this look is that it’s such a radical departure from Belgium’s home jersey, which has a muscular and traditional World Cup silhouette, in bright red with bold yellow and black on the shoulders and sleeve hems. This softer and much more atmospheric look has a completely different attitude to it: dreamy, playful, downright pretty. Belgium, you contain multitudes.
I’m a sucker for an interesting neckline, and this illusion V-neck with a red graphic trim — reminiscent of the traditional North African jebba, a flowing tunic with a deep V collar — is really doing it for me. Given that this is a third jersey, we may not see it on the pitch, but if we do, it’ll look sharp.
Sporting uniforms are not usually a canvas on which artists aim for subtlety. So this Senegal jersey, with its bleached-out design fading into white — a tribute to the Car Rapide, Dakar’s vibrant hand-painted public minibuses — is unusual in that regard. Sure, it might look slightly less cool in play, when we’re seeing it from a TV-camera distance while the players are on the field. But to look at it up close is a treat.
A rule for invoking big, feral cats in fashion, in my personal philosophy, is the more literal the better. I didn’t know I wanted to see a whole Asiatic cheetah head on a jersey, but it turns out I did.
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Scotland is set to make its first trip to the World Cup since 1998 with this ruddy pink-orange pinstripe design. Points for going in a brave direction color-wise — and for the lovely little purple thistle detail on the back. I have to imagine sales of Scottish salmon will spike every time these guys play an “away” match.
Speaking of unusual pigments, you just don’t see this soft, tasty honey-Dijon color in sports that often. Like sage green or mauve, it’s one of those pleasantly muted, dusty hues you might find in a nursery. The hue and the pink, teal and orange stripes on the shoulders are a tribute to Curaçao’s colorful island architecture, and this jersey makes me want to book a beach vacation there immediately.
A lot of jersey designs, maybe even most, are going for simple elegance. But this year, it’s hard to top this South Africa offering — green and gold and majestic as hell. I simply love a little polo collar.
Adidas calls this cream-colored kit with dark maroon and faded-gold trim a “celebration of classic Spanish literature … inspired by old manuscripts and time-worn book pages.” I would call it something I’d love to wear with loose jeans and a worn-in pair of Gazelles. The Real Federación Española de Fútbol crest and the Adidas trefoil, both in the same maroon, make this feel like a like a reissue of a beloved kit of yesteryear — a feat, given that it isn’t.
Germany’s home jersey, by contrast, is a tribute to beloved kits of yesteryear. This design, according to Adidas, combines elements of the kits from each of Germany’s four World Cup wins, in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014. But arguably it most resembles the 1990 version, which was instantly iconic. This is the kind of throwback jersey that makes a strong case for throwbacks as a whole genre.
ESPN’s Chris Wright described these baby-blue uniforms as “ultra-prim,” and I’m upset I didn’t come up with that perfect description. This tidy top pays homage to Uruguay national-team looks of yore, most notably the 1924 Olympics kit that also consisted of a light blue (“celeste”) shirt with a white button placket and collar. It also looks like something a child prince or a little French schoolboy might wear — two of the most stylish micropopulations on Earth, arguably. The funky art-deco font for the numbers is just one more reason to love this Uruguay look that’s equal parts regal and soooo cute.
Editing by Carla Spartos. Design by Katty Huertas. Development by Aadit Tambe. Design editing by Virginia Singarayar and Christine Ashack. Photo editing by Toni L. Sandys. Copy editing by Karl Hente.
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