Brazil Retro Shirts

Brazil national football team: football shirts and History


Is there a football shirt better known than the yellow or blue jersey worn by the team that won the World Cup five times and that arouses the admiration of the whole world, not only for its global dominance, but because of the style of play with which they are so successful?

The first game of the Brazilian football team  was a 3-0 defeat to Argentina in 1914. This marked the beginning of a long rivalry of which the Brazilians can claim to be the winners; at least for now. Their first game against a European team was against Exeter City, now in the English fourth division! The result is in dispute, but it seems that Brazil won 2-0. In 1919 and 1922, thanks to their star forward Arthur Friedenreich, nicknamed "El Tigre", The Tiger, Brazil won the Copa América.

Brazil Chile Copa America 1919

The first three soccer World Cups

In 1930, the Brazil football squad participated in the first World Cup that was played in Uruguay. Won by the Uruguayan hosts, the Brazilian team defeated Bolivia before being defeated by Yugoslavia.

Four years later, at the Italian World Cup in 1934, they lost in the first round to Spain.

The 1938 France World Cup was by far the best performance of the three. A victory over Czechoslovakia in a very fiery match led to a semi-final against defending champions Italy. The Brazilians, confident of their victory, decided to let their best player Leonidas rest. He was nicknamed "The Black Diamond" and was one of the players credited with the invention of the bicycle kick, but unfortunately a defeat of two goals to one was not enough to access the final. After this debacle there was a small consolation with the victory against Sweden in the match for the third and fourth place. In addition, Leonidas won the title of top goalscorer of the tournament, with 7 goals in 5 games, one of the five Brazilians players who has won this title.

Brazil's First Soccer kits

It may sound surprising, but during this time, the players were not wearing yellow or blue. For thirty years, from 1919 to 1952, Friedenreich, Feitiço, and their teammates wore a white shirt, blue or white shorts, and black or white socks. The style was pretty simple, and the jersey was pretty, but it was not the iconic Brazil jersey.

History of the Brazil National Team and its football kits in the 1950s

Brazil's first World Cup in 1950 after World War II, general interest in international soccer was far from being omnipresent. FIFA even feared that there would not be a World Cup in 1950 because no country wanted to volunteer. Fortunately for everyone, Brazil came forward to organize in 1950 the fourth edition of the World Cup, competitions that were to become the most popular tournaments on a planetary level.

To organize this World Cup in Brazil a new stadium was built: the Maracana stadium.This stadium has arguably become the largest stadium in the world, and it is claimed that it could hold more than 200,000 spectators.

The first match, with 81,000 supporters present, was a 4-0 victory over Mexico, and the expectations of the Brazilian public were clear: victory is mandatory.

The last match was played between Brazil and Uruguay. The Brazilian team needed only a draw to win the Jules Rimet Cup, and the players Augosto, Zizinho and the rest were widely favored, to the point that the newspapers wrote articles about Brazil's victory even before the match was played.

Maracanazo: Unfortunately, football is not always predictable. Despite a 5-1 Copa América victory against Uruguay the previous year, and Friaça's first goal of the match, Brazil lost 2-1. This result is perhaps the most shocking result in the history of international football. Before the game, the mayor of Rio addressed the players saying "You, whom I already salute as winners!" There were two sounds in the stadium at the end of the game: the cheers of the Uruguayans and the deafening silence of the Brazilians. Four players, including the captain, never played again for the Brazilian team, and this match was nicknamed "Maracanázo" or "the agony of Maracana".

Brazil Uruguay Maracanazo

Without a doubt, the only positive consequence of this match was the reaction to the team's jersey. The public placed a part of the criticism on the white shirt, considered not patriotic enough. Therefore The Correio da Manhã newspaper  decided to organize a competition to have a new shirt for the national team. The only requirement was to include the colors of the Brazilian flag, and designer Aldyr Schlee won the contest.

His design, called the Canarinho Shirt, is the iconic Brazil jersey that the stars of Brazilian football are still proudly wearing in 2020; the yellow shirt with the green collar, the blue shorts and the white socks, the union of the four colors of the flag shows the simplicity of this jersey, its elegance and its simple beauty.

The Brazilian jersey, born from its most painful defeat, is the international symbol of incredible football, technical feats and a sincere love for football.

1954 football World Cup - The Battle of Bern

The 1954 World Cup in Switzerland was not the best for the Brazilian team either. After a fairly flawless group stage at the expense of Paraguay and Chile, Brazil plays the quarter-finals against Hungary. This Hungarian team is the best of all time, known as the Golden Team, and led by players like Puskas and Zakarias. The game is famous for its violence and tension. Didi, a highly technical Brazilian midfielder, hit an opponent and Nílton Santos and José Carlos Bauer were sent off for "brutality" and players from both teams harass their opponents as much as possible. In the end, the Hungarians won the match 4-2 and brazilian hopes of winning a first World Cup have yet to be fulfilled.

The arrival of Pelé and the 1958 World Cup

The 1958 World Cup in Sweden was Brazil's first world victory and marked the beginning of an international career for two great players: Pelé and Garrincha.

The two future stars are not in the starting eleven regular players for the Brazil national team, and even Pelé's selection was the subject of debate in Brazil.

It is in the elimination phase of the tournament that the genius of Pelé, one of the most famous football legends, begins to stand out. He scored a goal against Wales to become the youngest scorer in the World Cup at 17, a record he still holds. He then scored a hat-trick against France to finally score two goals in the final against Sweden. He embodies Brazilian football, combining technique and speed with an unmatched finish and also embodies the symbolic image of a football player with the famous yellow jersey. It is interesting to note that the Brazilian team did not wear a yellow jersey in the final because the Swedish jersey was already yellow. Not wanting to wear white again, they bought 22 blue T-shirts and the badge was added; the famous blue shirts that we have seen in vintage photos of this final.

Although it was in 1962 when he really stood out, in this World Cup Garrincha martyred every rival who faced him, with a dribble that was unknown to them.

With these players and with the final victory this team is the first Brazilian Dream Team.

Brazil champion World-Cup 1958 Sweden

History of the Brazil National Team and its football jerseys in the 60s

Another World Cup victory in 1962

The "Dream team" is just as dominant in the following 1962 World Cup in Chile and the players in their famous yellow jerseys once again lift the most prestigious Cup in the world.

Pelé, recognized as the best player in the world at this stage in his career despite his young age of 22, was injured in the second match. Garrincha, nicknamed "Alegria de Povo", Joy of the people, takes its place as the emblem of this Brazilian team. There really was a little bit of everything in his way of playing, great goals with the feet and headed goals, truly incredible dribbling, a shooting technique nicknamed "banana hit" because of the trajectory of the ball, and even a red card in the semifinal for which they did not suspend him for the final. On the day of the final he was not at his best having a severe fever, but that did not stop him from playing and being named the best player of the tournament.

In a game against England, a dog got into the field, and English forward Jimmy Greaves managed to catch it and get it off the field, but the dog urinated at that moment.
Greaves said Garrincha was so amused that Garrincha took the dog home as a pet.

Three World Cups in 12 years

A farewell in the first phase of the 1966 World Cup was not ideal for the Brazilian  squad, but four years later, nothing could stop the great team dressed in yellow. The symbolic shirt of Brazil changed very little during the contract of Athleta, a Brazilian sportswear firm, as the official manufacturer of the Canarinha shirts, with minor differences in the Brazilian insignia during the 20 years that Athleta was responsible for the manufacture. It should be noted that these shirts were made almost by hand, the patterns were made manually and the shields were sewn by hand. In 1970, for the first time, the shirts had a round neck.

Although the Brazilian squad was very different from the 1962 team, as Garrincha had retired, the 1970 World Cup team is often named the best of all time. Pelé, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Gérson, Carlos Alberto Torres, Tostão and Clodoaldo, the talent present in this team is difficult to describe.

After his victory against Italy in the final, Burgnich, the defender in charge of marking Pelé said about him: "Before the game, I thought he was skin and bones like everyone else. I was wrong."

Also during this game he scored one of the greatest team goals in history, nine out of eleven Brazilians contributed, and Pelé made a decisive pass to Carlos Alberto mid-race to conclude.

Pele Brasil Champions World Cup 1970

The 70s Brazil National Team - The 74 and 78 Disappointments

With only seven players in common with the 1970 squad, it was always going to be difficult to match the last performance of the Brazilian team at the 1974 World Cup. A match against Zaire resulted in one of the most striking images in World Cup history when a Zaire player decided not to wait for Brazil to kick his free kick and kick the ball himself.

A win against Argentina was their most impressive performance, but the Netherlands had to be defeated to reach the final, a Netherlands admired for its elegance and revolutionary "Total football". Pelé, before the game, admonished his team mates that, according to him, the way they played had lost the essence of Brazilian football. A defeat against the Netherlands was inevitable, and several red cards could have been drawn for tough play, before the dismissal of Luis Peireira. This red card marks the end of Brazil's innocence.

The 1978 World Cup is one of the most controversial in history. Organized by Argentina, the country had just suffered the establishment of the dictatorship, and the president of the organizing committee for the World Cup had just been assassinated. It was not Brazil's best performance, but still the Canarinha team finished third after a win against Italy. Perhaps the best Brazilian moment of this tournament was Nelinho's spectacular goal, an incredible trajectory of the ball that gets into the net from an impossible angle.


History of the Brazil National Team and its football shirts in the 1980s

Spain 1982 and Mexico 1986 World Cups

The midfield of the 1982 Brazil team was one of the best in football history. Zico was a scorer in midfield and had phenomenal talent and technique. He has been often called the second best Brazilian player after Pelé.

Eder had incredible power and a left foot that surprised all football fans, but the Italian team led by Baresi, defeated them before reaching the finals thanks to three goals from Rossi. Santana, the Brazilian coach, comforted his players after the game: "The whole world has fallen in love with your football. Always remember this."

For this tournament and the one in 1986, the shield of the Brazilian football team changed. The old shield was replaced by a blue emblem with three stars above it, to represent the three World Cups won. The photo of Socrates with his bandana and long hair, and this new badge is almost as iconic as Pele's in 1970.

Unfortunately, this new shield did not bring good luck, because Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals against a really awesome French team with Michel Platini in the ranks. The match was decided by penalties; way of being eliminated did not reflect the style and talent of this Brazilian team.

Zico Brazil World-Cup 1986

History of the Brazil National Team and its football jerseys from the 90s to today

The victories of 1994 and 2002

The 1994 USA World Cup featured talented players such as Stoichkov, Bergkamp and Baggio, but it was Brazilian forward Romario who won the title of best player, the star player of a Brazilian team in full swing. The final phase begins with a remarkable victory against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and another 1-0 victory against Sweden. In the final match, the Brazilians met Italy, one of the great rivals of the Canarinha team over the ages. After both teams failed offensively, the match was decided by penalties. Roberto Baggio, the Italian star, missed the last penalty, and Brazil won a World Cup for the fourth time.

In 2002, the Brazilian football team was filled with world stars: Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu ... But there is one player in particular who stands out above the rest. This player's name is Ronaldo, and his dribbling speed, physical presence, and even his haircut set him apart. His specialty in dribbling the goalkeeper accounts for 21% of his goals, an incredible statistic compared to other football legends. One of the biggest tragedies for football were his injuries, as many football fans think that, in terms of talent, he is the best striker and finalist in history. And of course all generations want to have and enjoy a legendary player just like Pelé. Ronaldo's team was also too strong for all other rivals, and again Brazil became world football champion, thanks in part to Ronaldo's eight goals, especially his final two goals against Germany. Messi described him as his hero, and Seedorf as the best player he has seen in his career.

In order to enjoy all these feats and the accounts of the best football that history has given, we recommend that you visit our Brazilian shirts section above. Wearing a classic Brazilian football jersey symbolizes style, good play, football culture and joy, what more can we ask for?