Nike has admitted that its 2026 FIFA World Cup jerseys feature a design flaw: a strange-looking bulge that appears along the shoulder seam.
That’s right. Nike has another problem with uniforms. The last time was in 2024 when Fanatics and Nike’s Major League Baseball pants and jerseys were see-through, fell apart, looked cheap, and received numerous complaints from both fans and players.
In that case, it took six months for Major League Baseball to completely get rid of them. Unfortunately, with the FIFA World Cup beginning on June 11, Nike doesn’t have six months to fix their soccer kits. On the plus side, the soccer jersey design flaw doesn’t affect players’ performances; it just makes them look weird.
The problem with the Nike World Cup kits was first noticed over the last international break. That was the first time many of the teams appeared in their new kits.
As the Guardian reported, “On some kits – like the US’s striped home kit – the bulge was barely noticeable. On others, like the elegant, understated shirt sported by French megastar Kylian Mbappé, it was borderline comical. Several Uruguay players sported maybe the most obvious seams of the bunch, making them look a bit like Shredder, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain, in a friendly against England.”
Numerous fans who purchased the World Cup jerseys for anywhere from $100 to $200 were also a bit stunned when they received them. Several of them lodged their complaints on Reddit.
Nike addressed the bizarre issue with their World Cup jerseys
This week, in a statement to the Guardian, Nike acknowledged the issue.
“During the recent international break, we observed a minor issue with our Nike national team kits, most noticeable around the shoulder seam,” Nike said via a spokesperson. “Performance is unaffected, but the overall aesthetic is not where it needs to be.”
Nike is reportedly talking with partner federations and vendors, but it remains unclear whether the company will alter the jerseys or what it will do for dissatisfied fans. In either scenario, resolving the problems would pose a significant logistical challenge given the number of jerseys already sold and the short turnaround for the World Cup.
“We are a global team of best-in-class designers, creators and dreamers who spend every day thinking about how to innovate, challenge ourselves, and take risks that push the beautiful game,” Nike said in its statement to the Guardian. “We always hold ourselves and our products to the highest standards, and this fell short. We’re working quickly to make this right for players and fans, because every kit should reflect the care, precision and pride that the game deserves.”