The weird and fascinating origin stories of your favorite team’s soccer kits

Revolution, flags, and last-minute stitching. Here’s how the world’s best soccer teams got their designs. Did you know that Brazil’s original jersey was deeply resented by its own fans after it lost to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final, leading to a redesign made by a teenager three years later? Neither did I, until I went digging. The stories behind the kits of legendary (and not-so-legendary) national teams is often weird, sometimes serendipitous, and occasionally built on legends that never quite happened the way everyone remembers.