With the 2026 FIFA World Cup expanding to 48 teams for the first time, it has also proven as good a time as ever to expand the referees’ attire options as well. The men’s World Cup traditionally serves as the first look at the newest Adidas referee kits, and this manufacturer certainly doesn’t seem to be set to disappoint.
This multi-part series will cover everything relating to the 2026 tournament. Part 1 looks at the kits themselves: what is and isn’t on them, the colours released, and initial discoveries from the tournament’s opening.
The kits (and stripes) themselves
The number of available colour options to FIFA World Cup referees has steadily gone up since, indeed, the tournament was first broadcasted in full technicolour in 1970. From red being initially introduced as a backup option to black in 1978, a wild and wacky set of three at USA ’94, blue becoming the fourth option in 2006, and a samba green brought in as an appropriate fifth choice at Brazil 2014, the Adidas boat is only getting pushed further and further ashore.
In what is quite a departure from the norm when it comes to referee kit lines, the collection this time around is clearly an extension of the branding and style Adidas has followed with its contracted national and club teams for this year. The extra-thick stripes on the shirts and shorts mimic the home kits of the Adidas teams competing in North America, and represent the first time the three stripes have made their way onto these respective parts of the referee uniform — the socks do not follow suit, but were an ever-present on World Cup referee kits from 1978 until 2002. The colourways—the base set, anyways—are more or less par for the course, with the red getting more of an orange tint and the yellow adopting a more fluorescent shade. The ‘green’ is a very similar teal colour to the one that was the de facto ‘blue’ option four years ago — but not to worry, there is a traditional blue this time around too. Finally, pre-tournament media documents showed that a pink option is ostensibly available as well — curiously, a colour not publicly released by Adidas.
News broke before the tournament of FIFA’s decision to feature different sleeve campaign badges on teams’ kits for each round of the tournament, and, as matches began, various additional patches were featured on many players’ shirts, particularly those who were making their FIFA World Cup debut at the tournament and those who had won assorted awards from past editions. As a result, there was a very dynamic feel to the aesthetics of the competition — begging the question, how much of that would transfer over to the officials?
What’s not on the kits?
With the aforementioned patches galore on full display, it’s perhaps most notable to start with what doesn’t feature on the Adidas referee kits, versus what does.
The sleeve campaign badges have been ever-present on referee kits at World Cups this millennium. In many cases these took the form of FIFA Fair Play badges, until 2018 brought the Living Football campaign and 2022 featured Football Unites The World — both of which were worn across that respective tournament, players and referees alike. With the news that player kits would have a different badge each game, I immediately wondered if the referees would too.
The answer came in the opening match, when the Brazilian referee crew walked out, rather surprisingly, with empty left sleeves below the Adidas stripes (as seen on this article’s cover image).
The “FIFA World Cup Debut” patches that many players sported in their first match also does not make its way onto referee shirts — probably a wise choice, as it would realistically serve to single out first-time referees on the field more than anything else.
Neither was there anything notable on the kit of Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, who took charge quite brilliantly of the 2022 Final between Argentina and France. Another sensible call, seeing as, when his first match of this year’s competition came around, it once again featured the South American side.
FIFA Team One
In 2022, referees sported black armbands throughout the tournament with the wording “FIFA TEAM ONE,” the designation newly bestowed on the group of match officials at the competition. The Team One moniker has stuck around for this World Cup, but the armbands have not — in their place, on the right sleeve, the wording is now printed on the shirts themselves. Nicely executed, and a much more subtle and clean look than the armbands previously provided.
The opening match
FIFA has shown a preference for black referee kits in the past several men’s and women’s World Cups — and this has been particularly evident in opening matches. When Wilton Sampaio walked out at the Mexico City Stadium for the tournament curtain-raiser, he became the fourth consecutive referee at the men’s World Cup to wear a black—or, in the case of the Adidas 2014 line, navy blue—kit in the opening match.
