# Soccer shirts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 20, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466 "2001-06-20T14:07:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fizzgog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Fizzgog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fizzgog)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466/1 "2001-06-20T14:07:31Z")

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Why does the Italian national soccer team wear blue shirts when their national flag doesn’t contain blue?Most teams wear a colour that is in their flag.

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**Author:** ![ObiWan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47774/32.png) [@ObiWan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ObiWan)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466/2 "2001-06-20T14:57:57Z")

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The Italian national team wear blue because it is the colour of Savoia, the ruling house of Italy from 1861 to 1946. Until the end of the second world war, the Italian flag always had the Savoy coat of arms in the centre, and it was only after the family were overthrown, and the Italian Republic established in 1946, that the plain tricolor was adopted as the national flag.

From

[http://football.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4039680,00.html](http://football.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4039680,00.html)

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**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466/3 "2001-06-21T12:09:31Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fizzgog \*  
> \*\*Most teams wear a colour that is in their flag. \*\*

Another couple of exceptions to this “rule” are Australia and New Zealand. The two country’s flags have very similar designs in blue, red and white. All Australian national teams (AFAIK) wear green and gold. Similarly NZ sporting teams wear black except for their soccer team which wears white.

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466/4 "2001-06-21T12:30:14Z")

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And the Dutch national football team wear orange, because of the House of Orange, our Royal Family.

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-shirts/69466/5 "2001-06-22T01:21:37Z")

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Another exception is Japan, whose uniform is predominantly blue. There is a tiny bit of red and white trim around the collar, and there may be a small flag over the heart, but that’s it.

–sublight.