Football: Brazil nixes red World Cup jersey amid political outcry
A supporter wearing Brazil's jersey and holding a replica of the tournament's trophy ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final.
SAO PAULO – The head of Brazil's football federation on Aug 19 said he had nixed the much-derided idea of the national team wearing red – the color associated with the ruling leftist party – in the 2026 World Cup, which will take place months ahead of elections.
The controversy emerged back in April in a press leak that the national side would don red shirts made by Nike for its away jersey in the tournament next year.
Red is the color of the Workers Party of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, while supporters of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro tend to wear Brazil's traditional colors of green and yellow at political rallies.
Samir Xaud, president of the Brazilian Football Federation, told SporTV that he had ordered a halt to production of the red jerseys.
He said people's political persuasions got caught up in the debate over the away jersey color. The team's home jersey is yellow with green trim.
'Blue, yellow, green and white are the colors of our flag and these are the ones that must be used,' said Xaud, adding he himself was against the idea of a red shirt, but not for political reasons.
Nike accepted the decision to halt production and began to make a blue shirt as the away jersey, said Xaud, who took over his post in May. Production of the red one began under his predecessor, Ednaldo Rodrigues.
When word of the red jersey first came out, renowned sports columnist Paulo Vinicius Coelho wrote that the decision showed a lack of 'political sensitivity'.
'Even more so because the party that has dressed politics up in yellow could confuse it with the color of another party,' he wrote.
In other political news in football, Angolan civil society groups have urged the Argentine football federation and star player Lionel Messi to scrap planning for a friendly this year after 30 people were killed in protests.
The football associations of both countries have been in talks to fix a date for a match in Luanda as part of celebrations in November of Angola's 50 years of independence.
In an open letter addressed to the Argentine Football Association, the national team and Lionel Messi Foundation charity, four civil society groups accused Angolan authorities of 'systematic repression'.
Refusing to participate in the planned match 'would be a noble gesture of international solidarity and respect for human rights', said the groups, which include Catholic, legal and pro-democracy organisations. AFP
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