To be clear up front: Adidas has announced nothing. What exists is a Footy Headlines leak from January, saying a Mexico centenario kit arrives in 2027 for the FMF’s 100th anniversary, plus a fan-made mockup that dropped this morning and sent the kit accounts into overdrive. Everything below is about the reaction to something that might not look like this at all.
The timing adds to the noise: Mexico plays Peru tonight at Sports Illustrated Stadium, so El Tri is already the center of the conversation today. Here is where to watch Mexico vs Peru tonight.
The clearest version of the reaction is this carousel from @futbolasada, which pairs the mockup with a colorized 1930 photo of Mexico in dark red against Argentina:
Burgundy was the original color, which complicates the outrage
Here is the part that makes this more than a kit leak. Mexico wore burgundy first. The green shirt everyone treats as sacred is the newcomer. Mexico hasn’t worn burgundy as its first kit since 1970, and the last time anything close appeared was the third kit at Korea-Japan 2002. So the centenario shirt isn’t Adidas inventing a heritage, it’s Adidas remembering one. The fans yelling that green is non-negotiable are defending a tradition that replaced an older tradition. Nobody seems troubled by that.
Some fans see a political party, not a throwback
The reaction Adidas didn’t plan for: some fans look at the burgundy and see Morena. The 4T’s branding color on the national team shirt, right as the federation turns 100. It doesn’t matter whether that’s fair or intended. Once a color carries a political charge, the shirt stops being about 1927 and starts being about right now. That’s a problem no mockup can solve.
The split is really about what the shirt is for
The people who love it talk about elegance and history. The people who hate it talk about identity, which is to say they talk about themselves. A centenary kit is supposed to be a museum piece you can wear. Half the fanbase wants the museum, half wants the mirror.
The release is reportedly the first half of next year, and Adidas hasn’t confirmed a thing. Plenty of time for the argument to get worse.
