Spain’s official kit for the World Cup in Qatar consists of a red shirt, with navy blue trousers and socks. However, the team started the tournament wearing all red (pants and socks included), beating Costa Rica 7-0, who wore all white.
The change of equipment responds to two reasons: on the one hand, an advice from FIFA to the national teams to dress in a single color, as far as possible, to improve the effect on television broadcasts.
And secondly, derived from this advice from FIFA, the intention of Luis Enrique’s coaching staff that Spain play whenever possible in red. “We are La Roja. I asked the sporting director if it could be managed and we will play in full red”, said Luis Enrique in the broadcast of his Twitch channel before his debut.
Against Costa Rica and Germany there are no chromatic problems, but with Japan, in the third match: the Japanese use blue socks in their first team, which would have forced Spain to change completely and play in their second shirt, of a sky blue color mixed with white.
Wanting to keep the red shirt meant giving up the blue pants, an option well received by Luis Enrique: playing entirely in red, Spain does not have to change shirts or take refuge in its second kit, at least for now and depending on its futures rivals in the tournament.
Not all national teams submit a third option to FIFA. In fact, the exceptions are those who report what their third kit will be. It happens for example with Denmark (the first kit is all red, the second white and the third navy blue) or Tunisia (white as the first choice, red as the second and green as the third).
