Last week, Jim Hearson eulogised the Ghana white shirt, while lamenting the fact that it had yet to be seen at the 2026 World Cup.
However, those who like it will get some joy if they stay up late on Friday night/Saturday morning as the African nation will wear the kit in their last-32 game against Colombia – who will also be premiering a look at the competition.
What is perhaps unusual about the Colombians’ case is that this will be their third straight game to wear their traditional yellow shirts but the first time in the default format with blue shorts and socks – though all elements have seen game-time already.
With such a palette, Colombia have options when it comes to mashups. At USA 94, yellow socks were used against Switzerland while they could go yellow-blue-blue or yellow-red-red depending on whether shorts or socks need to be changed.
By and large, though, they opt for white alternative items – previously, it was their main colour, so there is some heritage to the choice.
At the 2018 World Cup, yellow-white-white was essentially their primary look due to the preference of head coach José Pékerman.
It feels like Fifa are being a bit more lenient with regard to colour mixes at this World Cup, meaning that it was an unusual yellow-white-red combination that appeared in the second group game, against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Then, for the third match, Portugal’s all-red saw Colombia channel Brazil – albeit without borrowed white Umbro socks – in what was a truly entertaining 0-0.
While Davinson Sánchez was denied a late winner by a VAR call, the result still left Colombia as the first-placed team in the section, setting up the knockout meeting with the Black Stars.
As group winners, Colombia are the ‘home’ team, meaning that the classic tricolour will be on show against Ghana’s white-backed web effect.
