A team revolt in 2022 led to the USMNT’s 2026 World Cup kits

[ASFN Admin]

Though the jerseys have been leaked for a couple months, U.S. Soccer and Nike officially unveiled the 2026 World Cup kits for the U.S. men's national team on Monday. And thus far, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive.

The widely panned 2022 World Cup kits had much to do with that.

According to a recent story from The Athletic, the 2022 World Cup kits represented a turning point for Nike's design process with the USMNT. When the players were supposed to model those objectively atrocious jerseys in 2022, players hated them so much that a mini crisis ensued. Some players refused to participate in the photoshoot entirely, and there was panic that reverberated all the way to Nike's offices.

So, when it came to 2026, something had to change. And according to the report, it meant getting the players involved with the design process. They wanted a look that represented them.

Via The Athletic:

Adams, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie were involved. So were Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi and Matt Turner, among others. Together with Nike and multiple departments within U.S. Soccer, they landed on a red-and-white “stripes” kit and a dark obsidian “stars” kit that, as a duo, will hopefully satisfy everyone.

“The players were very cognizant of [the fact that] we have a very diverse fan base,” Maribeth Towers, U.S. Soccer’s VP of consumer products, tells The Athletic. “And we do have a chunk of the fan base that is all about ‘U-S-A, U-S-A,’ and they want to be very overt about it.”

The “stripes” kit is for them. It’s “wild and really crazy,” Yazmin Rosete, one of Nike’s lead designers, says.

But if that was the approach to one jersey, some players had a request for the second, according to Nike and U.S. Soccer directors who spoke with The Athletic: “We just want something we can wear to the club.”

That brought us to Monday's announcement where a "Stars" and "Stripes" home/away set of jerseys was unveiled. The "Stripes" home jersey was loud and reminiscent of the fan-favorite "Waldo" kit from 2012. The "Stars" kit is a more subtle dark blue jersey that can also serve as a lifestyle shirt.

The USMNT's kits for the 2026 World Cup are here pic.twitter.com/6z7SRHN8I3

— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 16, 2026

On top of that, the pushback over the 2022 jerseys seemed to inspire a consistent identity for the USMNT design going forward. We'll have to see what the jerseys look like beyond 2026, but that's an encouraging sign for fans who have been begging Nike to come up with a signature look for the USMNT.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: A team revolt in 2022 led to the USMNT’s 2026 World Cup kits

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