World Cup ’26: Kit Review

Well that’s it, the 2026 World Cup is over, and after a staggering 104 Games Spain have been crowned World Cup Winners for the 2nd time after their win in the final against Argentina.

It is time for me to take a look at the Kits worn through-out the tournament and those worn in the knock out stages.

I have separate posts about the group stages…

1st Round of Group Games can be found here

2nd Round of Group Games can be found here

Overall Group Stage review can be found here

A few stats….

Total Kits Used

Kits Worn in Total – 118
New Kits in Knock out games – 16
Primary Kits in Total – 71
Secondary Kits in Total – 41
3rd Kits in Total – 6
2 Teams to wear five different kit looks
1 Team to wear four different kit looks
17 teams to wear three different kits
25 Teams wore two different kits
3 Teams have worn a single kit look
5 Teams in Primary, Secondary and Third Kits.

There have been a total of 118 kits used throughout the tournament in the 104 games.

We have seen “Primary” Kits (and variations) used 60% and “Secondary” kits (and variations) used 35% of the time and 3rd kits used 5%.

Colombia and Norway both wore 5 kit variations, I have a dedicated review of these kits here

Ecuador were the only team to wear 4 different kit looks, having worn these looks in their 4 games so each kit was worn just the once, with 3 different Primary Kit looks!

17 Nations wore 3 different kit variations in the tournament with 4 of those teams (Mexico, Canada, Cape Verde and Panama) wearing Primary, Secondary and Third Kits. The remaining teams wore variations of either Primary or Secondary Kits!

Just 3 Teams in the same kit for their 2026 World Cup games, Iran, Uzebekistan and Ivory Coast, with Ivory Coast being the one team to wear the same kit in more than just 3 games, having made the Round of 32.

Knock Out Round Fixtures

Round of 32

Round of 16

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Bronze Medal Match / Final

Looking at the teams journeys in a little more detail by group…

GROUP A – 9 Kits in total

No Additional kts worn in the knock out rounds!

GROUP B – 9 Kits in total

No Addtional kits from this group either, Canada wearing their Secondary kit in both their games, with Switzerland reaching the Quarter-Finals wearing the Primary Kit for five games in a row.

GROUP C – 9 Kits in total

No Additional kts worn in the knock out rounds!

GROUP D – 10 Kits in total

Paraguay ending the competition being the only team not to wear their default Primary Kit, wearing alternative white shorts and socks in their Last 16 game against France.

GROUP E – 10 Kits in total

Ecuador made it four in four with another Primary Kit variations, Ivory Coast become the only team to make the Knockout rounds wearing just one kit variation and Germany ended their tournament wearing alternative white shorts for an all white look, their last World Cup game in Adidas for the foreseeble future!

GROUP F – 9 Kits in total

Japan used their popular Secondary Kit with alternative black socks, Netherland ended their tournament only wearing their Primary Kit in two different looks!

GROUP G – 8 Kits in total

Begium who wore their Primary Kit in all their group games, repeated the pattern with their secondary kit in their knockout round games. Egypt wore their Primary Kit in it’s default look for the only time in their Round of 32 game against Australia.

GROUP H – 11 Kits in total

Spain wore their Secondary in it’s second variation, wearing the default deep red shorts and alternative white socks in their Semi-Final against France.

GROUP I – 12 Kits in total

Norway wore three different kit looks in their three knock out games as they reached the Quarter-Finals for the first time, wearing their 3rd Kit, Defaut Primary Kit and Primary Kit with alternative navy shorts (the 3rd different colour shorts worn this tournament with this kit).

France ended the tournament not wearing the same kit in two consecutive games, alternating between Primary, All Blue variation and Secondary kits in that pattern…

GROUP J – 10 Kits in total

Argentina went with alterntive white shorts and socks with their Primary Kit for four of their five knock out games as the reached the final. Austria wore their Secondary kit for the first time in their Round of 32 game.

GROUP K – 10 Kits in total

Colombia made it five in five, wearing different kit looks in all their games, including four different Primary Kit looks. Portugal’s only deviation from their Primary Kit was in the Round of 32, wearing alternative shorts with their secondary kit.

GROUP L – 10 Kits in total

England wore their Primary Kit in all their Knockout games, wearing Secondary Shorts to create the more common white / navy / white look in their last 16 game against Mexico. Ghana wearing their Secondary kit for the only time in their Round of 32 game!

Overall kit highlights from the Knock Out Rounds…

Lets start with my favourite kit of the tournament, Norway… worn with three different pair of short in it’s four appearences!

Ecuador made it four kits in four games with their 3rd different Primary Kit Variation in the round of 32 game against Mexico.

Colombia wore four different variations of their Primary Kit, completing the set with the default (blue shorts / red socks) and alternative (white) shorts and socks.

Ivory Coast were the only team to reach the knockout phase to wear just the single kit look, their defeat to Norway meant they wore their Primary Kit in all four of their games.

Belgium, who were one of the teams to wear a single kit look in their group games, repeated this again, however this time with their Secondary Kit, wearing this look in all three of their knockout round games as they reached the Quarter Finals!

Referee Shirts

One final item I have been tracking is the Referee Shirts, there have been 10 different referee shirts used, no surprise the black version (with just white Adidas stripes) was the most common, worn 30 time in 104 games!

There was a special pink shirt with gold stripes worn 4 times, including the 1000th World Cup Finals game, the Semi-Finals and Bronze Medal Match. With a traditional black shirt with gold stripes and detailing wore in the Final.