{"id":696686,"date":"2026-06-11T00:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/696686\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T00:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:34:09","slug":"haiti-forced-to-change-world-cup-jerseys-after-fifa-rejects-political-elements-haiti-football-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/696686\/","title":{"rendered":"Haiti forced to change World Cup jerseys after Fifa rejects \u2018political\u2019 elements | Haiti football team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haiti have been made to find new jerseys on the eve of the 2026 World Cup<\/a>, after Fifa deemed certain elements to be too political in nature. The Concacaf qualifiers are set to open their group stage against Scotland on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In a statement responding to the decision, kit manufacturer Saeta confirmed that it had worked with Fifa to ensure the design would meet requirements, even having \u201csuccessfully implemented the requested modifications\u201d during the mandatory review process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in close collaboration with the Haitian Football Federation,\u201d Saeta\u2019s statement elaborated, \u201cour objective throughout the process was to create a jersey that celebrated the pride, resilience and spirit of the Haitian People. Several concepts were developed and refined over a number of months and submitted through Fifa\u2019s standard approval process. The final design presented by Saeta was intended as a tribute to the men and women who contribute every day to Haiti\u2019s future and was not intended as a political statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the review process, Fifa determined that certain visual elements could be interpreted differently under its equipment regulations and ultimately requested modifications to the design,\u201d the manufacturer\u2019s statement continued. \u201cWhile this interpretation differed from our intention, Saeta respected the process and implemented the final requirements communicated by Fifa. We remain proud to have contributed, alongside the Haitian Football Federation, to this historic moment for Haitian football and wish the team every success at the Fifa World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haiti center-back Ricardo Ad\u00e9 poses in a Fifa portrait session wearing the altered jersey. Photograph: Emilee Chinn\/Fifa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Haiti\u2019s jerseys come in blue (home), white (away) and red (third) with red collars and sleeves and the national team\u2019s badge in the center of the shirt. The point of contention resided on the shirt\u2019s right hip, which depicted silhouettes inspired by the Battle of Verti\u00e8res and the Haitian revolution. In 1803, revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who later became the nation\u2019s first emperor, tore the white band off of a French flag to create a new flag for \u201cthe world\u2019s first free Black republic<\/a>\u201d. The moment is commemorated throughout the nation every 18 May as Haitian Flag Day.<\/p>\n

The iconography appears on all three of Haiti\u2019s shirts released by Saeta released ahead of the tournament. All three versions are sold out<\/a> on the Saeta website. The manufacturer does not appear to be priming to release a batch of alternative shirts. Fifa\u2019s online shop only offers two pieces<\/a> of Haiti-specific merchandise: a trucker hat and a scarf.<\/p>\n

Haiti advanced from Concacaf World Cup qualifying for the first time since 1974, and wore the now-banned shirts during pre-tournament friendlies against New Zealand and Peru last week.<\/p>\n

In photos from Fifa\u2019s official World Cup portrait sessions taken on Tuesday, players were wearing jerseys that did not feature the iconography.<\/p>\n

This is the second time this year that a Haitian team have had to change uniform designs in an international tournament. The International Olympic Committee also required Haiti\u2019s ski suits to be redesigned at the last minute before the Winter Olympics in Milan, as designer Stella Jean\u2019s imagery<\/a> (which also depicted a revolutionary) apparently breached rules about designs and athlete expression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Haiti have been made to find new jerseys on the eve of the 2026 World Cup, after Fifa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-696686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}