While FIFA's strict guidelines on kit design extend to the home, away and third strips being worn during games, the same cannot be said for the pre-match apparel players sport while limbering up ahead of kickoff. As a result, kit suppliers have a little more license when it comes to exploring their creative scope, resulting in a mesmerizing mix of trendy collabs, perfunctory training apparel and a light smattering of truly abysmal abstract excess.
It's evident that most manufacturers are putting far more effort into their warm-up kit than ever before. Nike in particular have gone above and beyond for the FIFA World Cup by joining forces with a range of uber-hip streetwear labels and fashion brands in order to concoct a whole raft of chic pre-match kit for their nations, with the likes of France, England and the United States all benefitting.
We've already cast judgment over the home and away kits being worn by all 48 countries competing at the 2026 World Cup, so with the first round of group games now well underway, it feels like a good time to also run the rule over the best and worst of the warm-up shirts being worn, too.
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The Good
1. France (Nike)
France's World Cup pre-match shirt is a collaboration with boutique designer Jacquemus and as such, it positively oozes with Gallic flair. The boxy fit is unusual, but the super sharp pinstripe and chunky, ribbed collar/sleeve combo are just tres, tres bien.
2. United States (Nike)
Nike collaborated with the Virgil Abloh Archive to create a range of pre-game and warm-down apparel that has already proven enormously popular with a myriad of jackets, tops, caps and backpacks available. The actual warm-up shirt is arguably the most conventional offering of the collection, but the ice-white shirt with blue and red flecks looks achingly cool.
3. Germany (Adidas)
Remixing the classic diamond pattern that Germany have worn since the 1990s, their 2026 World Cup warm-up shirt sees the black, red and gold national colors used to great effect, forming a large tessellating pattern across the entire top.
4. Canada (Nike)
Looking like something taken straight out of the pages of a superhero comic, Canada's warm-up top is a devilish mix of red and black, with a retro central swoosh under the collar and spiderweb graphic on the chest and sleeves made up of radiating maple leaf outlines.
5. Japan (Adidas)
Japan's pre-match top is directly inspired by anime classic Captain Tsubasa, a young footballing prodigy who rises from the streets to become the greatest player in the world. Rather fittingly, the jersey features an inky, hand-drawn swirl graphic much like one worn by Tsubasa himself.
6. Mexico (Adidas)
Mexico have gone with the same Aztec-style "MX" graphic that can be found on their World Cup third shirt, although the blackout design has been swapped out for a verdant green palette that seems to shimmer in the Azteca heat haze.
7. England (Nike)
Created in collaboration with London-based streetwear label Palace, England's shiny silver warm-up top is elevated with a splash of bright red trim and a tonal grid pattern that forms a central St. George's Cross in the middle of the torso.
8. Croatia (Nike)
Nike have deployed a starry, zig-zag design for several nations at the World Cup, and Croatia's is quite possibly the best-looking example with the two-tone blue colorway syncing up and contrasting nicely against their checkered federation crest.
The Bad
1. Ivory Coast (Puma)
Picking up where their World Cup kits left off, the Ivory Coast warm-up top is a disorientating mix of clashing colors and overlaid prints. It feels like there's the nucleus of a decent football shirt in there somewhere, but there's just too much going on all at once for the design to gel properly.
2. Tunisia (Kappa)
Appearing on the sleeves of their home and away shirt, Tunisia have adopted eagle feathers as their main design inspiration for the World Cup. The same plumage can be found adorning their pre-game top, but unfortunately it's not quite as subtle.
3. South Africa (Adidas)
South Africa are wearing the same basic template design handed to many of the Adidas federations, with Curaçao and Sweden in particular sporting almost identical versions of the same "pixelated" shirt, just with a different crest on the chest.
4. Australia (Nike)
Australia's World Cup warm-up shirt is green on green with a "fan" shaped graphic that runs at intervals up and down the torso. It's not terrible, but it is a bit dreary.
5. New Zealand (Puma)
Another pre-match shirt that suffers for being boring, the New Zealand jersey is predominantly black, although the entire body is covered in a gray, stippled fern graphic that almost smothers the entire thing.
6. Spain (Adidas)
Spain's World Cup kits are fairly demure and reserved, so it's nice to see they went and funneled all that pent-up artistic lunacy into their warm-up kit. The shirt is a mess of glitchy blue, red and yellow diagonal lozenges that just does not compliment the rest of La Roja's tournament wardrobe.
7. Cape Verde (Capelli)
While the oceanic vibes are undeniable, we can't help but feel like Cape Verde missed the chance to create a truly show-stopping shark-themed shirt by just haphazardly printing a blotchy image of the gaping maw of a Great White all over a plain white tee.
8. Norway (Nike)
Norway applied their national colors of red, white and blue to Nike's boilerplate zig-zag pattern to create a bewildering mix of tones and angles. It's by no means the worst interpretation of the template, but it does make us feel a tad nauseated.
THE UGLY
1. Netherlands (Nike)
Quite possibly the ugliest shirt at the entire tournament, the Netherlands' extra-gaudy warm-up top is a product of Nike's collab with Patta. The lurid, all-over graphic is made up of lions, chains and tulips and presented in the most retina-searing shade of orange ever created.
2. Türkiye (Nike)
An example of Nike's zig-zag pattern gone awry, with the garish red colorway creating a migraine-inducing vortex before our very eyes. As with the Dutch effort, eye protection is once again most definitely recommended.
3. Belgium (Adidas)
Belgium's pre-match shirt is covered in a kaleidoscopic dot matrix that is almost guaranteed to send you irretrievably bonkers if you stare at it for too long.
4. Brazil (Nike)
A garish marbled design that creates intense psychedelic waves as the blue and turquoise bands jostle for position. If Brazil's World Cup away kit was inspired by the skin pattern of a tropical tree frog, then perhaps their warm-up shirt is a visual depiction of what ingesting the venom of said frog can do to your brain.
5. Argentina (Adidas)
Hardly befitting of Lionel Messi and the defending world champions, Argentina's pre-match jersey is supposed to represent the "vibrant spirit" of the nation, only it actually ends up feeling a little undercooked. The iconic Albiceleste stripes are there, but they don't look -- or feel -- right.
6. Austria (Puma)
We can see what Austria were trying to do here by paying homage to the Art Deco splendor of some of the biggest cities and the historic buildings therein. The decorative finial pattern chosen might have worked in isolation, but there was absolutely no need to go and chuck a weird white wave effect over the whole thing.
7. Portugal (Puma)
The marine theme explored in their home and away kits has been carried over into Portugal's warm-up top, but alas, with diminishing returns. Choppy waters off the western coast might make for dramatic art, but there's just way too much sloshing and sploshing going on here.