Canada Soccer unveils new kits for national team with mixed reactions
After playing in the same threads for the last two years, Canada Soccer finally has a new set of home and away uniforms.
On the wee hours of Monday morning, Canada ā along with a dozen other national teams ā was blessed by kit manufacturers Nike with a series of new uniforms ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Canada’s home uniform is a red and black kit adorned with a patterned set of maple leaf designs.
Meanwhile, the away kit is a more standard white-and-red logo with a series of stripes around the shoulders and neck area.
“The worldās biggest stage calls for revolutionary innovation. And thatās why we are debuting the next generation of Dri-FIT ADV on the worldās best footballers. Introducing the 2023 NikeNational Team Kits,” Nike tweeted about the announcement.
As of right now, this kit release appears to be primarily focused on the women’s team, with a new men’s team kit (which could either be strikingly similar or entirely different) to be announced at a later date.
In addition to Canada, Nike is the national team kit manufacturer for Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal and the USA, among teams competing at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Never Before. Forever After.
The worldās biggest stage calls for revolutionary innovation. And thatās why we are debuting the next generation of Dri-FIT ADV on the worldās best footballers. Introducing the 2023 NikeNational Team Kits. šāāļøšā½ #nikefc pic.twitter.com/j9miTvUBQK
— Nike Football (@nikefootball) April 3, 2023
The kit was Canada’s first new design for either of its senior national teams since June 2021, where its most recent look debuted in a 2022 men’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Aruba.
While most countries competing in last year’s men’s World Cup received a fresh set of uniforms for the tournament, Canada was one of the few teams to stick to their old threads, essentially due to the fact their governing body (and Nike) hadn’t started planning for the team to actually qualify for their first men’s World Cup since 1986.
“The 2022 Canada kit will be the same the team has worn throughout the past year, as Canada Soccer is on a different kit development cycle,” an official Nike release read about why Canada stuck with the same kits last season.
The reaction to the new uniforms was, well, mixed.
nike did us dirty https://t.co/rig03LPYu4
— mol (jordys biggest fan) (@meadomols) April 3, 2023
Big fan of the new kits. Too bad these werenāt used in the World Cup https://t.co/Tdjeuh2Dlk
— Angelo Zarra (@pazzapicks) April 3, 2023
Canadaās new kits for the 2023 World Cup have been released, and their home shirt isā¦not all that different from their 2020 kit?
From a creative perspective, Canada Soccerās deal with Nike continues to yield disappointing results. #CanWNT pic.twitter.com/pxNXTln5d8
— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) April 3, 2023
Beautiful!!! https://t.co/hUZstgIGV8
— Be_humble_22 (@iambe_humble22) April 3, 2023
Iām sorry but those prices are absolutely absurd. https://t.co/rKt44WPnrg
— Richard Neves (@Richard_NSeven) April 3, 2023
What is that white one š https://t.co/BztlR7Do2t
— Matthew (@babbin8rfifa) April 3, 2023
Oddly, via the timing of the news break via Nike, it took more than seven hours for Canada Soccer to acknowledge the new kits on their social media channels with their own tweet.
I feel like Nike didnāt tell Canada soccer they were dropping the kits at 1am ET because itās been crickets from them
— Summer KorethoskišØš¦šŗš¦ (@SKorethoski) April 3, 2023
The women’s team is likely to debut the kit next week on April 11 when they take on France (in Le Mans, France) in a friendly, while the men’s team is next scheduled to play June 15 in a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal in Las Vegas.
The kits are currently available in an early sale window on Canada Soccer’s website.
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