💛 More than a shirt

With the World Cup upon us, many football fans are already in full Mundial-mode — and the wider public is due to catch up soon, few places more so than in Brazil. Shops, stalls and even newsstands all over the country are stocked up on miscellaneous national team-related tat, but no item is more ubiquitous on shelves and storefronts than Brazil’s iconic yellow football shirt, famous around the world.

With this in mind, the Football Museum in São Paulo — a must-visit for any tourists in Brazil’s biggest city — has launched a new temporary exhibition charting the history of the legendary jersey, just in time for the start of the World Cup on June 11. 

Speaking to The Brazilian Report, museum director Marília Bonas explained that the showcase of 18 legendary jerseys goes beyond the shirt’s current status as a global symbol, highlighting that each of the objects on show carries “layers of memory, information and meaning,” and that the garments themselves are “material witnesses of a time in history.”

Indeed, the history of Brazil’s yellow shirt runs alongside the foundation of football and its consolidation as the national sport — now becoming an indelible part of the country’s identity. And that story begins at the start of the 20th century, when Brazil’s yellow jersey wasn’t even yellow at all…

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