Seven countries are wearing different shirts at the World Cup because of a new FIFA rule explained.
If you’ve been keeping a close eye on the World Cup, you might have noticed that each team’s shirt sleeves look a little different in every match. The first three days were planned so the co-hosts—Mexico, Canada, and the United States—could kick off the tournament.
Mexico started things off with a 2-0 win over South Africa, who played with nine men, in Group A. Canada had a strong showing against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Group B but had to come from behind to end in a 1-1 draw. The USA shined with a big 4-1 win over Paraguay in Group D, which might be the best group-stage performance so far.
On Saturday, five-time champions Brazil took the field and played a 1-1 draw with Morocco, but it wasn’t their best game. During the match, sharp-eyed fans noticed that Brazil’s right sleeve had a golden World Cup patch, while Morocco’s sleeve had a white one.
That’s because Brazil has won the World Cup five times. They are one of seven countries—including Argentina, England, France, Germany, Spain, and Uruguay—that get to wear the special gold patch during the tournament.
This is part of a new FIFA idea for the whole World Cup. All 48 teams will wear two slightly different patches on their shirts, no matter how far they make it in the competition. The rule says most teams wear a differently colored patch depending on if they’re playing as the home or away team in a match.
Every team will be home or away at least once in the group stage, so this applies to all teams. The only exceptions are Ghana and Jordan, who will wear the same patch for all three of their games.
For teams that haven’t won the World Cup, the patch will be either black with a white “26” logo or white with a black “26” logo. Which one they wear depends on the color of their kit.
For example, Mexico will wear the black patch when they’re the away team, while the USA will wear it at home. Footy Headlines has a handy guide explaining all these patch rules in detail.
England will wear a gold patch with white inside it for their home games against Croatia and Ghana. For their away game against Panama, they’ll switch to a white patch with gold inside. Brazil will wear the gold patch in their next game against Haiti, then the white one against Scotland.
On the left sleeve, every team will wear the same patch promoting a FIFA charity, which changes at each stage of the tournament to highlight different causes.