England will miss out on seeing Brazil's iconic yellow jersey at Wembley - a not-so-subtle marketing ploy which shows nostalgia is losing the fight to commercialisation, writes NATHAN SALT
- Despite there being no obvious kit clash, the Selecao will wear blue on Saturday
- Critics have suggested that Brazil's deal with Nike goes against team interests
- Ben White will regret turning down England if they go on to win the Euros - Listen to the It's All Kicking Off podcast
As an eight-year-old boy glued to his television set, Alessandro del Piero had just seen Italy go on to win the 1982 World Cup, and yet it was another nation, specifically another shirt, he had fallen in love with.
‘Italy may have won the World Cup in 1982 but Brazil were the team who captured everyone's imagination,’ the former Juventus star once said.
‘As a child, those yellow shirts were exotic, the football they played was breathtaking. From that moment, I have always felt a connection to them, they are close to my heart.’
That’s what Brazil’s iconic yellow jerseys sell - a dream, an aura and an embodiment of sporting excellence.
The shirt evokes memories of Zico, Garrincha, Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Romario, Cafu, the list goes on and on. Alongside the pinstripes of the New York Yankees it can legitimately claim to be the most iconic sports jersey of all time.
![Brazil's footballing glory has become synonymous with the team's iconic yellow jerseys](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82689109-13219329-image-a-26_1710947527065.jpg)
Brazil's footballing glory has become synonymous with the team's iconic yellow jerseys
![Juventus icon Alessandro del Piero had his heart captured by Brazil during the 1982 World Cup](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82688963-13219329-image-a-24_1710947516097.jpg)
Juventus icon Alessandro del Piero had his heart captured by Brazil during the 1982 World Cup
![Images of sporting greats such as Pele (here in 1966) are inextricable from the vibrant shirts](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82689271-13219329-image-a-27_1710947619263.jpg)
Images of sporting greats such as Pele (here in 1966) are inextricable from the vibrant shirts
And that is why when Brazil meet England at Wembley this weekend, the first match between the teams since a 0-0 draw in 2017, it is a crying shame that it will be white versus blue, rather than white versus yellow.
It is rare, but not unheard of, for Brazil to move away from their ‘sacred’, as one Brazilian reporter put it to Mail Sport, ‘Canarinho’ (Canary) jersey.
They wore blue - the colour of the mantle, or shawl, of Our Lady of Aparecida, the Catholic patron saint of Brazil - when defeating England 2-1 at the 2002 World Cup.
Brazil also donned blue against the Three Lions in 1990 when Bobby Robson’s men ground out a 1-0 win thanks to Gary Lineker’s goal.
And while Brazil have worn yellow at Wembley on their previous six trips, perhaps the romanticism behind the kit, the inescapable nostalgia that it holds, is blinding the fact that national teams are now commercial behemoths.
There is a beauty and a simplicity to the origin story of Brazil’s adored yellow kit, one which emerged from heartache in 1950.
Wearing white at the Maracana, Brazil lost their home World Cup final to Uruguay and the kit, swiftly deemed unpatriotic, was determined to be unlucky, a seriously bad omen.
In 1953 the football federation, along with the newspaper Correio da Manhã, launched a competition for fans to create a kit for a successful new era, on the proviso that it used colours from the national flag.
After 100 different sketches, the winning submission, from more than 300 entries, was by teenage illustrator Aldyr Garcia Schlee, who, in return for designing what would go on to be one of the most iconic shirts ever, was rewarded with enough money to buy himself a car, a permanent seat at Maracanã, an internship at Correio da Manhã and a trip to the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, where the shirt would debut.
![Brazil have worn blue against England a handful of times, including during the hosts' slender victory at Wembley in 1990](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82690419-13219329-image-m-32_1710948890545.jpg)
Brazil have worn blue against England a handful of times, including during the hosts' slender victory at Wembley in 1990
![The team initially wore white shirts, but were keen to move away from the design after falling to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82690421-13219329-image-a-29_1710948735406.jpg)
The team initially wore white shirts, but were keen to move away from the design after falling to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final
Brazil, having never won a World Cup to this point, would take Schlee’s design and make it a symbol of luck and fortune as they went on to win a record five World Cups - they had to wear blue in the final in 1954 due to a kit clash with Sweden but wore his shirt throughout the tournament - and two Copa America triumphs.
Advertising around players and national teams was a non-factor then, for the most part, and the kit stood unblemished, an emblem of excellence.
Things are different now. Demands are different now. Shirts need to sell, a lot. Commercial deals are there to be paid back.
These days the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) have 16 sponsors and partners, with Nike the first domino to fall back in 1996. Guaraná Antartica, a soft drink company, telecoms brand Vivo and Itaú, a bank, are three other major partners that pay between R$60million (£9.4m) and R$75m (£11.8m) annually. At the 2022 World Cup they had as many as 20 endorsement deals.
Signing a 10-year deal with Nike worth $400m was global news. It was, to that point, the biggest sports sponsorship deal for a national team ever.
At a lavish press launch on Sugar Loaf mountain in Rio de Janeiro in December 1996, Nike, who flew in journalists from around the world, vowed to use its links with Brazilian football to ‘help make Nike the dominant brand in football’.
It was not universally well received.
Juca Kfouri, Brazil's leading sports columnist, said in 1999, when certain clauses in the deal were leaked: ‘It is obvious to me that the CBF gave away sovereignty. The CBF is more interested in remuneration than the interests of the Brazilian national team.’
![Today's Brazil side is sponsored by a raft of different companies including Guaraná Antartica (centre, on their training kit on Tuesday)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82690129-13219329-image-a-30_1710948742436.jpg)
Today's Brazil side is sponsored by a raft of different companies including Guaraná Antartica (centre, on their training kit on Tuesday)
![Some think that the kit has become overly commercialised since a landmark deal with Nike](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/20/15/82690189-13219329-image-a-31_1710948761668.jpg)
Some think that the kit has become overly commercialised since a landmark deal with Nike
Two years later the issue of commercialising the national team made its way to parliament.
‘Disney didn't sell Mickey Mouse, but the CBF sold the national team to Nike. It should have sold the spectacle, not the product,’ Aldo Rebelo, a left-wing congressman, said.
A cynic would point to the decision for Brazil to walk out at Wembley in blue this weekend as a not-so-subtle marketing ploy. Millions will watch. How many of those millions can be convinced to buy?
Sportswear companies often use friendly matches as an opportunity to parade and market different jerseys and in a week where Brazil and Nike released their latest kits ahead of this summer’s Copa America, Wembley represents a convenient opportunity to push Brazil in Blue.