adidas and HNS unveil Croatia's new kits: Glagolitic script on the home shirt, lace motif on the away shirt
adidas and the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) unveiled the new official home and away kits of the Croatia national football team on September 15, 2026, the first produced as part of the two organizations' new long-term partnership. The new equipment retains the most recognizable elements of the Croatian national team's visual identity while connecting them with motifs from Croatian cultural heritage: Glagolitic script on the home kit and the tradition of lacemaking on the away kit. According to the joint announcement by adidas and HNS, the partnership covers all Croatian national football teams, not only the senior men's team. The unveiling of the kits therefore represents not only a change in sporting equipment but also the beginning of a new period in the visual identity of the national teams competing under the auspices of HNS.
The new kits were unveiled less than two weeks before Croatia begins its 2026/27 UEFA Nations League campaign. According to UEFA's official schedule, Croatia has been drawn in Group A3 with Spain, England and Czechia, and plays its first match away against Czechia on September 26. Three days later comes an away match against Spain, while the first home matches are scheduled for October 3 against England and October 6 against Spain. HNS and adidas announced that the men's national team will wear the new kits for the first time during this cycle.
The home shirt retains the checks but introduces Glagolitic script into them
The home kit is based on the red-and-white checks, a motif that has been a central element of the Croatian national football team's visual identity for decades. Instead of a complete redesign, adidas turned the recognizable foundation into a surface for an additional cultural layer. According to the presentation of the shirt, Glagolitic letters have been incorporated into the check pattern for the first time and extend across the entire graphic. The back of the collar also features the inscription "HRVATSKA" rendered in Glagolitic script, using the historical motif as a detail that is visible beyond the basic red-and-white pattern.
Glagolitic is one of the two historical Slavic scripts, alongside Cyrillic, and the Croatian Encyclopaedia states that the prevailing view is that it is the oldest script of the Slavic languages. In Croatian written culture, Glagolitic acquired a special place through centuries of use in liturgical, legal and other texts, particularly in the regions of Kvarner, Istria, Lika and Dalmatia. This is precisely why its appearance on a football shirt is not merely a decorative graphic addition. The design seeks to connect a contemporary international sporting symbol with a script that has strongly shaped Croatian cultural and literary history.
This approach also follows a broader trend in national-team kit design, in which shirt manufacturers increasingly use motifs connected with history, architecture, art and local visual identities. In its other national-team collections for 2026, adidas has also emphasized the connection between national symbols and the technical requirements of modern sporting equipment. In Croatia's case, the concept has been applied so that the national team's primary symbol remains dominant, while an additional story is revealed through details within the checks themselves and on the collar.
The away kit draws on the tradition of Croatian lacemaking
The away shirt uses a dark-blue base over which extends a complex graphic motif inspired by Croatia's tradition of lacemaking. According to the announcement by adidas and HNS, the aim was not to reproduce a historical pattern literally but to translate the traditional craft into contemporary sports design. The collar features the inscription "HRVATSKA" in typography inspired by cross-stitch, maintaining a connection between football and traditional textile techniques on the away kit as well.
The cultural background to such a design is well documented. UNESCO inscribed Croatian lacemaking on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. UNESCO's description highlights three distinct traditions that have survived to the present day: needle lace from Pag, bobbin lace from Lepoglava and agave lace made by Benedictine nuns on Hvar. Each of these traditions developed a different technique and local expression, but they are united by the long-term transmission of knowledge between generations and a strong connection with the identity of the communities in which they originated.
The presentation of the away shirt does not state that its pattern is based on only one of these three techniques. It is therefore more accurate to describe it as a contemporary interpretation of the Croatian tradition of lacemaking as a whole, rather than as a reproduction of Pag, Lepoglava or Hvar lace. This distinction is important because traditional techniques have their own materials, production methods and visual characteristics, while the football shirt uses graphics adapted to textiles intended for professional sport. The cultural reference nevertheless remains clear, but it has been translated into a different medium and function.
The partnership covers all Croatian national teams
The new kits are the first Croatia national-team set created under the multi-year cooperation between adidas and the Croatian Football Federation. The partnership was publicly announced in early August 2026, when HNS stated that adidas would become the official sports-equipment supplier and strategic partner of Croatia's national teams. The cooperation covers men's, women's and youth teams and includes match equipment, training gear and products intended for everyday wear. The same technical partner will therefore be present across a considerably broader national-team football system than the senior team that attracts the greatest international attention.
For HNS, the change of technical partner also carries strong symbolic value because the national team's visual identity is among the most recognizable elements of Croatian sport. The red-and-white checks must simultaneously remain stable enough for the team to retain its recognizability and adaptable enough for each new generation of kits to develop its own character. In adidas's first collection, the answer to that challenge was found in cultural details that do not remove the fundamental identity but build upon it. The home shirt therefore retains the expected red-and-white structure, while the away shirt offers more room for a different graphic approach.
HNS president Marijan Kustić said at the unveiling that the Federation sees the new kits as a combination of local identity and a global perspective. His message emphasized continuity between the players, supporters and the new generation that will follow the national team during the years of its partnership with adidas. Such positioning also reflects the way sports-equipment manufacturers today treat a national-team shirt: as a competitive product, but at the same time as an object that carries national symbols to audiences far beyond the stadium.
CLIMACOOL+ and construction adapted to high-intensity matches
Behind the cultural motifs is a technical construction intended for professional football. adidas and HNS state that both new Croatian kits use CLIMACOOL+ technology, stretch materials developed using 3D body mapping, perforated three-stripe panels and strategically positioned mesh zones. These elements are intended to increase ventilation and breathability and help transport moisture away during high-intensity matches and in warm conditions.
These characteristics correspond with the technical direction adidas is applying to its current generation of national-team shirts. In official materials for its 2026 football collections, the company describes CLIMACOOL+ as a system combining 3D-engineered stretch fabrics, body-zone-specific material placement and solutions designed to improve airflow and moisture management. The emphasis is not only on a cooling sensation but also on reducing moisture retention and maintaining freedom of movement. Croatia's shirts therefore differ in design from those of other national teams but technologically belong to the same generation of adidas products for elite football.
The distinction between visual and technical functions is particularly important in a national-team shirt. The graphics must be expressive enough to carry the team's identity, while the cut and materials must remain adapted to the demands placed on players during sprints, changes of direction and prolonged physical exertion. In this sense, the Glagolitic script and lace motif form the product's external identity layer, while CLIMACOOL+, ventilation zones and material construction address the practical performance requirements on the pitch.
The first test for the new kits comes in the Nations League
The competitive debut of the new equipment comes during a demanding UEFA Nations League schedule. UEFA has placed Croatia in Group A3 together with Spain, England and Czechia, meaning six matches against opponents from the top level of European international football. The first fixture is on September 26, when Croatia visits Czechia, followed by a match in Spain on September 29. In October, Croatia hosts England and Spain, while the final two matches of the league phase are scheduled for November, away against England and at home against Czechia.
Such a schedule provides immediate international visibility for the presentation of the new equipment. The first four matches will be played within eleven days, meaning the new kits will very quickly become part of television broadcasts and photographs from several matches against national teams with large global audiences. At the same time, UEFA's official schedule provides precise context for HNS's announcement that the senior men's national team will wear the new equipment for the first time specifically in the Nations League. Which of the two kits will be used in each match will depend on the official kit selection for the fixture.
The 2026/27 Nations League begins on September 24, and the league phase ends on November 17. In League A, each national team plays six matches, and Croatia will play each of its Group A3 opponents twice. The first cycle will therefore be not only a sporting test for the team but also the first extended period during which the public will be able to see how the new design works in real competitive conditions, under stadium lighting and on television broadcasts.
The wider collection includes training and lifestyle clothing
Alongside the home and away shirts, adidas also unveiled a broader Croatia national football team collection. According to the joint announcement with HNS, the range includes shorts, socks, training clothing and leisurewear. This approach extends the national team's visual identity beyond the 90 minutes of a match: the same design language appears on the equipment players use in preparation as well as on products intended for supporters.
A video presenting the new kits was published on the adidasfootball Instagram profile, while products from the collection have been available since September 15 in adidas stores, selected partner stores and through adidas's Croatian online store. Availability of individual models, sizes and versions may change depending on stock levels and the sales channel. For the national team itself, what matters more is that the unveiling has completed the transitional phase between the announcement of the partnership and the first competitive use of the new equipment.
The new collection therefore combines three levels of identity: the well-known red-and-white checks, historical and traditional motifs, and contemporary sportswear technology. The home kit builds its story around Glagolitic script, the away kit around lacemaking, and both remain connected by shared technical solutions and the new partnership between adidas and HNS. The first actual appearance of these kits comes at the end of September, when Croatia begins its new Nations League cycle away against Czechia.
Sources:
- UEFA - Croatia's official schedule in the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League (link)
- UEFA - groups, format and dates of the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League league phase (link)
- UNESCO - Croatian lacemaking on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (link)
- Croatian Encyclopaedia - history and significance of the Glagolitic script (link)
- adidas - technical features of CLIMACOOL+ materials in the 2026 generation of football shirts (link)
- Index Sport - report on the announcement of the multi-year partnership between adidas and HNS in August 2026 (link)