Rabat – Morocco’s kit supplier Puma is facing criticism over the template it used for multiple countries’ world cup shirts. Puma unveiled Morocco’s world cup uniform this week, prompting online debate about the design, which is based on a template used for multiple countries.
Puma finally revealed Morocco’s new jersey this week, a nearly all-white shirt featuring a pale gray band through the middle and a circular Moroccan-inspired design around the player number on the front of the kit. The away kit has received mixed reactions online, with US sports outlet ESPN describing the Moroccan jersey as a “missed opportunity.”
The controversy over the new shirt comes from Puma’s insistence to use a standardized template for its away kits. This approach has been criticized before, after Puma used a similar strategy for the third kits of major European football clubs last summer. Football fans on social media described the design as too homogenous, resulting in teams such as Manchester City, Marseille, and AC Milan all having eerily similar third kits.
This design choice is now facing renewed attention, which has specific relevance for Morocco, as its contract with Puma is set to expire in 2023.
The design of Morocco’s away kit has exactly the same template as fellow African teams Senegal and Ghana, with the obvious difference being the colors and the style of the “halo” which surrounds the player number on the front of the shirt.
Many Moroccan football fans on social network Reddit echoed ESPN’s assertion that the kit is overly generic.
Using typical Moroccan designs to produce a unique and eye-catching football kit is definitely possible. Hassania Union Sport Agadir, Agadir’s professional football club, is a key example of this. The club’s new shirt design features several Moroccan elements, including the ancient Tifinagh script that highlights the city’s Amazigh roots, prompting online football fans to call on Puma to take inspiration from it.
