The story behind Argentina's new World Cup jersey
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Updated / Thursday, 11 Jun 2026 12:24
The current World Cup champions' alternative jersey pays homage to filete porteño, a traditional art form from Buenos Aires. Photo: PR
David Conlon
By David Conlon
Maynooth University
More from<br>Maynooth University
Analysis: The eye-catching patterns of Argentina's alternative jersey pays homage to a traditional painting technique from the country's capital
The World Cup has always been about more than soccer. It's also an educational experience, offering a crash course in regional rivalries, national identities and local idiosyncrasies. Armchair spectators get snapshots of host countries, insight into how diverse sets of fans celebrate and, occasionally, a chance to eavesdrop on the national psychodramas that play out online when elite sides suffer early elimination.
Diligent commentators will arrive in North America armed with a slew of facts about the participating nations, helping to ensure that the games are garnished with several side orders of cultural and linguistic nuggets. This year, some of them may talk about what the players are wearing. While replica jerseys have long been considered fashion items, a growing number of national jerseys also now serve as vehicles to show off facets of the country’s art and design history.
The trend goes at least as far back as Nigeria's 1994 kit, which drew on traditional Yoruba textile art for inspiration. Since 1998, Mexico's kits have regularly incorporated patterns that pay homage to the nation’s indigenous heritage, culminating in the much sought-after 2022 white-and-burgundy away jersey which combines Mixtec-style design with references to Aztec mythology.
Other notable recent jerseys in this vein include Italy's renaissance-style third jersey from 2019 and Japan's 2020 jersey, which alluded to the work of ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai. In this year’s World Cup, players from Curaçao will make their tournament debut and may get a chance to show off their acclaimed light-yellow away jersey, designed in tribute to the waterfront buildings in capital city Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Reigning world champions Argentina have now jumped on the art-jersey bandwagon with their new away kit. Argentina's second jersey has traditionally consisted of a relatively straightforward monochrome cobalt blue or navy as an alternative to the iconic pale-blue-and-white stripes of the home outfit.
In the 2026 iteration, however, the cobalt blue (or what manufacturer Adidas calls 'lucid blue’) has been combined with a lighter shade and reimagined as a swirling pattern of wallpaper-like flourishes set against a black background. The eye-catching patterns pay homage to filete porteño or fileteado, a traditional painting technique from Buenos Aires, characterised by ornate cursive writing accompanied by colourful floral embellishments.
From Radio Nacional Argentina AM870, la historia del fileteado porteño
Filete porteño is thought to have been created around 1900 by Italian immigrants who made a living painting signage on the sides of horse-drawn merchant carts in Buenos Aires. These early fileteadores were influenced by the lavish fin-de-siècle aesthetic favoured by European high society at the time, which they adapted and popularised into a colourful folk art using leftover boat paint.
The name 'filete' derives from the Latin ‘filum’ or thread (in reference to the style’s fine, filament-like lines) while ‘porteño’ signifies native to the port city of Buenos Aires. The style caught on and was later used to decorate the exteriors of lorries and the city’s colectivos (buses). The practice continued to evolve, with filete artists incorporating everything from tango lyrics to religious iconography and portraits of folk heroes such as Eva Perón into their work.
The practice of adorning buses with filete peaked in the middle of the 20th century, but was outlawed in the politically turbulent 1970s, ostensibly because the ornate lettering risked confusing drivers and commuters. In reality, the ban was probably an attempt to...