This Is Not Japan’s 2022 FIFA World Cup Jersey
The Claim
A photo shows the shirt that Japanese football players will wear at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media users recently shared a photo purporting to show the official shirt of the Japanese football national team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The shirt's circulating design features images of Japan's most famous anime characters. The claim has spread across multiple languages.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulated claim and found it to be misleading. The photo is old and unrelated to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The photo originally depicted a design by a French sports graphic designer who tweeted in April 2021, "This shirt aims to honor Japanese culture by highlighting the manga world." Manga is a type of graphic novel that originated in Japan.
Scenes from "Case Closed," "One Piece," "Dragon Ball," and other Japanese anime series were included in the design.
The shirt that Japanese players will wear at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has not yet been revealed. Furthermore, the team's current Adidas jersey does not feature any anime characters.
In 2018, the Japan Football Association (JFA) produced a limited number of shirts for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Illustrations from the famous Japanese anime "Captain Tsubasa" were engraved on the shirts. Moreover, JFA offered to sell the copies as an unofficial limited edition.
Translated by Wesam Abo Marq
