New Croatia kits appeared in Tokyo before the official premiere: Glagolitic script on the home kit, lace on the away kit
Croatia's new home and away football kits appeared on the shelves of the Alpen sporting goods store in Tokyo before the Croatian Football Federation and adidas officially presented them to the public. Photographs taken in the Japanese capital spread across social media and specialist football kit websites, revealing the physical appearance of the collection for the 2026/27 season. These are the first national team kits created after adidas assumed the role of official sports equipment supplier for all Croatian national football teams on 1 August 2026. The Croatian Football Federation had announced the official promotion of the designs and the entire collection only for September, immediately before the start of the new edition of the UEFA Nations League. The appearance of the kits in Tokyo therefore disrupted the planned presentation schedule and gave supporters the clearest look yet at the final versions of the new sets.
According to the specialist website Footy Headlines, the photographs were shared by the Jerseyforum community of kit collectors, and they show the home and away models displayed in one of the stores belonging to the Alpen chain. The available images confirm many of the details that had circulated in previous months in the form of unofficial graphics and photographs of prototypes. However, it has not yet been officially confirmed why the products reached the shelves before the global launch, nor is it clear whether they were available for immediate purchase in that store or were displayed prematurely ahead of the start of regular sales. The Croatian Football Federation and adidas had not issued a special statement about the Tokyo case by 3 August. Official communication continues to state that the design will be revealed during September.
Red-and-white checks remain the foundation of the home kit
The home set retains the red-and-white chequered pattern for which the Croatian national team has been internationally recognised since its first official appearances. adidas did not attempt to replace that visual identity, but enhanced it with elements connecting the football symbol to cultural heritage. Subtle Glagolitic graphic motifs are visible within the red fields, while a blue adidas Performance logo appears on the chest. The collar and sleeve cuffs feature details in red, white and blue, linking the traditional chequerboard pattern with the colours of the Croatian flag. The photographs from Tokyo show that the decorative elements have been integrated in a way that allows the basic pattern to remain dominant and easily recognisable even from a greater distance.
The Glagolitic motif was not selected merely as a decorative addition. The National and University Library in Zagreb states that the oldest Croatian epigraphic monuments, as well as thousands of pages of books and documents written in Glagolitic script, bear witness to the long and continuous development of Croatian culture. From the 13th century onward, the angular, or Croatian, form of Glagolitic script developed in Croatian territory and became one of the recognisable symbols of the history of literacy. By incorporating such forms into the kit, adidas is attempting to connect Croatia's globally recognised sporting image with a cultural symbol that is considerably less familiar outside the country. The precise meaning of the individual characters and a more detailed explanation of the design concept will nevertheless be possible to confirm only after the official presentation.
This approach fits into a wider trend in national team kit design, in which manufacturers increasingly seek motifs associated with local architecture, traditional crafts, writing systems or art. For Croatia, the key challenge is to maintain the continuity of the red-and-white checks without creating a kit that looks like only a minor variation of the previous model. The photographs from the Japanese store show that adidas attempted to solve this problem through a layered approach: the fundamental symbol remains unchanged, but the surfaces of the checks, the collar, the edges and the manufacturer's logo are used to distinguish the new era. Whether this combination of tradition and new details will be equally convincing on the authentic player version and the commercial replica will become clearer after the Croatian Football Federation publishes official high-resolution photographs. However, the Tokyo images already show that the home kit remains visually close to the expectations of most supporters.
The blue away set represents a considerably greater departure
The away kit has been designed much more freely. Its foundation is a pronounced shade of blue described by sources as EQT blue, accompanied by red-orange details and adidas stripes on the shoulders. A white Trefoil, the manufacturer's classic three-leaf emblem, appears on the chest, further distinguishing the away model from the home kit with its Performance logo. The front is covered by a complex, almost mesh-like pattern inspired by Croatia's lace-making tradition. Several Croatian media outlets associated the motif with Pag lace, while Footy Headlines describes it more broadly as a pattern inspired by traditional Croatian lace-making; the Croatian Football Federation and adidas have not yet officially confirmed which particular lace-making tradition the design references.
That distinction is important because Croatian lace-making encompasses several separate traditions. UNESCO identifies three principal centres: Pag, where needle lace is produced; Lepoglava, known for bobbin lace; and Hvar, famous for lace made from agave threads. Lace-making in Croatia was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. The Ministry of Culture and Media describes Pag lace as an ornament that first appeared on traditional textiles and later developed into an independent decorative object. Because of its geometric precision and radial forms, such a motif is well suited to being transferred onto modern sports fabric, but the official presentation should clarify whether it is a direct interpretation of Pag lace or a broader design reference to Croatian lace-making.
Croatia's away sets have changed more frequently than the home sets over the years, primarily because they are not constrained by the requirement that the red-and-white checks remain the main element. Blue has nevertheless remained the most common starting colour, although the shades, arrangement of checks and contrasting details have varied. According to the photographs from Tokyo, the new adidas model abandons large, clearly separated fields and uses a texture that becomes noticeable only from a closer perspective. As a result, the away kit appears both simpler in its basic silhouette and more complex across its surface. The red-orange accents on the shoulders and sleeves give it a stronger contrast than previous dark-blue sets.
Official pre-orders opened without revealing the design
An additional dimension to the entire story is provided by the fact that the Croatian Football Federation's official online store had already opened pre-orders, but deliberately concealed the appearance of the products until the planned launch. The HNS x adidas collection page includes home and away models for the 2026/27 season, including authentic and replica versions for men and women. According to the store's information, the authentic kits are offered at a price of 150 euros, while the replicas cost 100 euros. Customers were informed that the design and all details would be revealed during the official presentation and that delivery of pre-orders was expected during September. The Tokyo photographs have effectively removed the main element of surprise from such a sales model.
The official collection is not limited to the two match sets. The Croatian Football Federation announced that the first joint line includes match, training and leisure equipment, while the online store also lists walkout jackets, warm-up shirts, tracksuits, shorts and other products. The campaign was introduced under the slogan Checkers Meet Stripes, referring to the meeting of Croatia's checks and adidas's three stripes. Such positioning shows that the partnership was not conceived merely as the technical supply of national teams, but also as a broader commercial and cultural collaboration. That is precisely why the controlled unveiling of the kits was an important part of the beginning of the agreement, and why their premature appearance in retail attracted attention far beyond the usual circle of sports equipment collectors.
A new era after 26 years of cooperation with Nike
The Croatian Football Federation and adidas announced a multi-year partnership on 1 August covering the men's, women's and youth national teams. The federation stated that the German manufacturer was becoming the official equipment supplier and strategic partner of Croatia's national selections. Croatian Football Federation president Marijan Kustić described the start of the cooperation as an important moment for Croatian football and emphasised the expectation that the partnership would support development at all levels. Sam Handy, general manager of adidas Football, said the company regards the Croatian national team as one of the most respected in world football and wants to support all national selections. The announcement did not specify the exact duration or financial value of the agreement.
The change of supplier marked the end of an exceptionally long period of continuity with the same manufacturer. The Croatian Football Federation announced back in 2016 that its partnership with Nike had already lasted 16 years and was being extended until 2026, confirming that the cooperation began in 2000 and ended after a total of 26 years. During that period, the Croatian national team achieved the greatest results in its history, including the silver medal at the 2018 World Cup and the bronze medal at the 2022 tournament, according to official FIFA and Croatian Football Federation data. Nike's kits therefore became associated with the generation that firmly established Croatia among the most successful national teams of the modern era. adidas is now taking over a recognisable identity whose market and symbolic value is considerably greater than it was at the beginning of the previous agreement.
For adidas, the partnership also has broader international significance. The company is a long-standing partner of major football competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship and the UEFA Champions League, and supplies numerous leading clubs and national teams. Croatia brings to its portfolio a kit featuring one of the most recognisable national patterns in sport, as well as a national team with a large international audience. Conversely, the Croatian Football Federation gains a manufacturer that strongly connects performance equipment with fashion, retro and lifestyle lines. The different adidas logos on the home and away models point precisely to an attempt to combine contemporary performance apparel with the aesthetics of the brand's older collections.
Debut expected in the September Nations League
The Croatian Football Federation has confirmed that the men's national team will wear the new kits for the first time during the September UEFA Nations League cycle. According to UEFA's official schedule, Croatia will open its campaign in Group A3 on 26 September away to the Czech Republic in Prague, before playing Spain away three days later. England and the Czech Republic are also in the same group, while the league phase continues during October and November. It has not been announced whether the home set will make its debut in Prague or which kit will be assigned to each match. The selection will depend on colour-distinction regulations and the final agreement between the national teams and UEFA.
The September date leaves the Croatian Football Federation and adidas several weeks for the official campaign after the photographs from Tokyo have already revealed the basic appearance. The promotion will therefore probably focus less on the surprise itself and more on explaining the cultural motifs, fabric technology, differences between the authentic and replica versions and the broader collection. Particular attention will be paid to the official interpretation of the Glagolitic characters and the lace pattern, as well as confirmation of all colours and details that may appear different in the store photographs because of the lighting. Minor differences between the displayed commercial version and the kit that will be worn by the players are also possible. Until the official announcement, such technical details remain unconfirmed.
The appearance of the kits in Japan also demonstrates how global the distribution of football equipment has become and how difficult it is to keep a product out of public view once it begins moving toward retail partners. The very fact that the collection appeared in Japanese retail confirms that its distribution is planned far beyond the European market. A single shelf prepared too early was enough for photographs to become available to audiences around the world within a matter of hours. For the Croatian Football Federation and adidas, this does not change the planned start of the partnership, but it does alter the communication context of the official premiere. Rather than serving as the first unveiling, the September presentation will now be a confirmation and detailed introduction of kits whose final appearance the public has already seen in Tokyo.
Sources:
- Croatian Football Federation – official announcement of the multi-year partnership with adidas, the scope of the collection and the September presentation (link)
- Footy Headlines – report and description of the home and away kits photographed in the Alpen store in Tokyo (link)
- HNS Family Shop – official pre-order of the HNS x adidas collection, models, prices and delivery period (link)
- UEFA – official schedule of the Croatian national team in the 2026/27 Nations League (link)
- Croatian Football Federation – information about the extension of cooperation with Nike until 2026 and the duration of the partnership from 2000 onward (link)
- UNESCO – information about Croatian lace-making and its inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (link)
- National and University Library in Zagreb – historical and cultural context of Croatian Glagolitic script (link)
- FIFA – overview of Croatia's World Cup results, including silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022 (link)