A Legacy Like No Other
The Story Of Brazil’s Shirt: The Brazilian football shirt is iconic, symbolizing a legacy of beautiful football and unmatched success on the world stage. The Brazilian National Team holds the record for the most World Cup titles, boasting five championships, which reflects the country’s rich football history and skill.
The Disappointment & The Fresh Start
In 1953, a competition was launched by a newspaper, Correio da Manha, to design a new kit. This came after Brazil’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup Final which effects could still be felt which could still be felt in the country 3 years later.
Prompting a desire for a fresh start the rules were set. The new strip must use the four colours of the Brazil flag: Yellow, Blue, Green and White. The winning design would be worn at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. To the surprise of many, the following happened.
An Unlikely Winner
Aldyr Garcia Schlee was an 18-year-old newspaper illustrator when he entered. From his home in Pelotas, a small town in the Rio Grande do Sul, close to the Uruguay border, he sketched out 100 different combinations of the colours. He tried green and yellow hoops on the shirt, with blue shorts, he tried stripes and chevrons but at the end he decided that the shirt had to be yellow.
It was the simplicity and harmony of his design that caught the judges’ eye, among the 401 entries. The second-placed design was also simple, featuring a green shirt, white shorts and yellow socks.
Brazil played in their new colours for the first time in March 1954, when they beat Chile 1-0 at the Maracana in Rio. The country won its first World Cup four years later, beating Sweden in Stockholm to lift the trophy. The great irony for Schlee was that because Sweden wore yellow, Brazil won the World Cup wearing blue shirts.
The Story Of Brazil’s Shirt