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[BBC]
Up to 18 of the national team shirts released for the 2026 World Cup could end up not being used by their countries, following Fifa's decision over which kits will feature in the group stage.
A total of 108 strips, excluding those worn by goalkeepers, have been released by the 48 teams taking part in the latest edition of the tournament.
But only 87 of them are guaranteed to feature at least once in the tournament.
Every nation has at least two home strips, following the traditional 'home' and 'away' shirt concepts.
On top of that, 12 countries have released a third shirt that is a different colour to their first two shirts.
Fifa have already announced which of those shirts will be worn by teams during the 72 group stage matches, with almost a fifth of shirts not being selected for a game so far.
There is of course the possibility that teams go on to wear their remaining shirts in later rounds in the tournament, should they progress.
The majority of shirts not selected for games so far are either away or third shirts. However, both Ghana and Uzbekistan will not wear their home shirts for any of their group stage matches.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Curacao, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Ivory Coast, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal and South Africa will not wear their away shirts in any of their three matches.
Meanwhile, Ecuador, Haiti, Iraq and Jordan will go without using their third shirts in their scheduled matches.
Some nations will wear all three of their shirts during the group stage. Canada, Cape Verde, Mexico and Panama will wear different strips in all of their matches.
England and Scotland have both released two shirts each and will wear both in their group stage fixtures. Scotland will however wear a different goalkeeper kit in all three of their group matches against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil.
Which are the best kits that may not be used?
Of the 12 away kits that could miss out on making an appearance in a match this summer, six were recently shortlisted by BBC Sport as being among the most impressive of this year's World Cup shirts.
The alternative strips of Austria, Belgium, Curacao, Japan, Ivory Coast and South Africa all featured. As things stand, none of those will be worn unless those nations progress into the later rounds and are then told by Fifa to wear those strips.
From that 34-shirt shortlist, Curacao's away shirt was the most popular choice by BBC Sport readers of those presently not set to feature.
Japan's away shirt was a place below Curacao's, ranked fifth overall and second among those without a scheduled match in which to wear them.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
More questions answered...
- What are the deadlines for World Cup squads?
- Which clubs have the most players at the 2026 World Cup?
- Who are the oldest players to feature at a World Cup?
- How much prize money have Premier League teams earned in Europe?
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