Canadian players are unhappy about not getting new kits for the World Cup

Late last month at Nike’s Midtown office in New York City, executives from its global football design arm mingled and spoke enthusiastically as the sportswear brand unveiled its World Cup kits for a dozen teams to the media.

The Canadian representation was absent from the event.

Although Nike is the kit supplier to Canada as it prepares to play its first World Cup since 1986 with a young, marketable squad led by a globally recognized star in Alphonso Davies, Canada could well be the only team that doesn’t get new jerseys World Cup. Tunisia kit information was difficult to find but all 30 other teams will wear kits designed for the event.

Canada’s current template-based kits debuted in a June 2021 World Cup qualifier against Aruba. the athlete first revealed that canada wouldn’t get a new World Cup jersey back in March. Almost all of Nike’s other World Cup kits will feature bespoke designs instead of templates.

The fact that Canada is not getting new World Cup kits does not go down well with some national team players.

“I’m not a fan of that to be honest,” said Canada defender Sam Adekugbe. “I just think every team should get a new kit for the World Cup because it’s an iconic event. I don’t hate it, but I would have loved to get a new kit simply because it’s something I can appreciate.”

In an interview that touched on a variety of issues, Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane said: “As I understand it, the requirement to make these types of changes is a multi-year process.

In a statement, Nike confirmed Canada’s kit will remain the same: “Canada Soccer is in a different kit development cycle.”

A possible reason for Canada not getting new World Cup kits is the rapid rise of the Canada men’s team.

When Canada Soccer and Nike signed a partnership in December 2018, FIFA ranked the men’s national team 78th in the world, just two places ahead of tiny Curacao and eighth among all CONCACAF nations. Despite the positive statements made by then-President of Canada Soccer Steven Reed (“This turning point for Canada Soccer is further proof that Canada is a leading soccer nation”), it would be fair to characterize Canada’s likelihood of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup , and therefore need a new kit, so low.

It is believed that the process of designing and creating a new kit by Nike can take around 18 months. For a kit to be released alongside the other Nike World Cup kits this month, this process should have started around March 2021.

At this point, Canada were just about to embark on a remarkable year-long process in the first round of CONCACAF qualifiers against minnows like the Cayman Islands. Again, the odds of Canada making the World Cup were slim at best at this point.

“I think that just shows that nobody really believed in us,” Adekugbe said. “I don’t think Canada believed. But the only person who really believed was (Canada coach John Herdman) and the group that was around him.

The team’s rise through qualifying became such a feel-good story in the international football world because it was so unlikely and surprised many forecasters. And it seems that Nike falls into this group.

“Our (Canada women’s national team), for example, is a global Nike brand,” said Cochrane. “The discussion of what they will wear in 2023 and 2024 is happening three years in advance. I don’t know why these conversations didn’t take place, or if they were asked at all. All I know is that in our qualifiers, the possibility of flipping a particular shirt wasn’t considered at that point.”

The Canada home kit for the 2019 Women’s World Cup was unveiled in March this year ahead of the June tournament. It was the first kit Nike designed for Canada after they became official kit supplier, replacing Umbro.

While Current jersey of the women’s team Featuring a bespoke design with an all-over maple leaf pattern, Canada’s men’s team will go to the World Cup wearing red, white and possibly black jerseys from Nike’s Strike II template line.

A Canada Soccer spokesman confirmed Canada will have new pants in Qatar, which are “available to the men’s national team for the first time”.

Nike has previously drawn the ire of some kit fans for relying on templates, particularly at Euro 2016 where many teams wore a variety of similar looking kits.

In February 2020, Heidi Burgett, Nike’s senior director of global communications, tweeted that Nike would “drop the templates in their football kits”.

We drop the templates. For the 2020 kits, Nike designers were given 65 chassis options ranging from different necklines, sleeves, cuffs, badge placement and so on. From hand-drawn prints to custom fonts, every team’s look will be their own.

— Heidi Burgett (@heidiburgett) February 5, 2020

When asked if he thought not getting a World Cup jersey was a missed opportunity, Cochrane said: “Yes. But I just know there’s a time limit, right? It’s a long process, rather than just saying, “We’re going to make a decision today that Canada is going to work, and we’re going to change that in two or three months.” This is a conversation that will happen in 2018 or 2019, not 2021.”

Cochrane’s answer is fair and valid. The process of creating not only a new World Cup jersey, but also the multitude of training kits and warm-ups that come with the jerseys is complex and lengthy. Market research needs to be done and the back and forth between associations and suppliers to agree on a design can also be lengthy.

But the lack of a new World Cup kit makes it questionable who benefits from the partnership between Nike and Canada Soccer.

Although Canadian Soccer Business was formed in March 2018 to represent “commercial assets and inventory for marquee soccer properties in Canada,” including “representation for all corporate partnerships,” the deal with Nike is final was announced as one between Canada Soccer and the sportswear brand.

The Voyageurs, Canada’s national team’s long-time supporter group, said in a statement there had been much “disappointment” within their group at Canada not getting new World Cup kits.

“Some in the group said, ‘It’s not a big deal’, while others thought maybe, looking at the kits of the other countries, it might have worked out better if we’d stayed with what we have,” said the group. “Furthermore, there continues to be disappointment that kit availability (both men’s and women’s teams) has been so poor, especially given the surge in popularity over the last 18 months.”

Adekugbe said he’s happy with the template kits Canada now has, particularly Canada’s third kit, the black Strike II.

Canada’s black jersey has been worn in some of its most iconic victories in World Cup qualifying, including a dramatic 2-1 win over Mexico in frigid Edmonton that sent them to the top of the qualifying standings, and a determined 2-0 win over United States in January that made Canada look certain of qualifying for the World Cup.

“That black gear speaks volumes,” Adekugbe said. “It kind of has a sense of the dirty work behind where we’re from.”

A spokesman for Canada Soccer said Canada “will have three kit colors available when they step onto the pitch in Qatar, making Canada unique among the 32 team tournaments.”

However, a release by Nike highlighting their new set of World Cup kits only showed Canada’s red and white kits.

For months, during Canada’s first rise to 2019 and then during the World Cup qualifying run when the team achieved a level of fame in Canada it arguably never had before, it was difficult to buy Canada jerseys even from popular online soccer retailers like in brick-and-mortar stores in Canada. This also applied to women’s team jerseys after an Olympic gold medal win in 2021.

CanadaSoccerStore.com, a Fanatics website, was created during World Cup qualifiers.

This website could see an increase in traffic this coming November especially if Canada continues to play their exciting fast paced football they showed in qualifiers. But it’s still likely that fans will continue to be disappointed.

Phil Delves, a UK-based kit expert and commentator, said it was “significant” from a marketing perspective that Canada not get a World Cup kit.

“The jerseys that were worn at the World Cup are the ones that people remember the most,” he said. “When Canada comes to the World Cup, a lot of people who see them for the first time will say, ‘This is a really boring jersey.’ On a very basic level, there was an opportunity for Canada to put itself on the map.”

Delves pointed this out the wild popularity enjoyed by Nigeria with their custom Nike jerseys at the 2018 World Cup, which became collectibles due to this popularity.

“There’s a whole demographic of people who choose to support a team based on the gear they’re wearing,” Delves said. “The World Cup is prime time. It is the Possibility to ship the product.”

Delves hinted that Nike might have missed the chance to resort to it Canada’s first and only World Cup appearance 1986 with a retro-inspired kit. Even though Canada’s 1986 World Cup kits were made by Adidas, the reliance on a template Nike had previously said it would do away with puts a slight damper on an otherwise positive story of Canada going to the 2022 World Cup.

“It’s a real shame,” said Delves.

(Photo: Nike)