Last Wednesday (28), it has been 70 years since the yellow jersey of the Brazilian National Team was used for the first time. It was on February 28, 1954, that Brazil took the field with the “Amarelinha” and has since used it as a trademark.
Before this fateful day, the Brazilian National Team used white shirts. After the “Maracanazo,” when Brazil was defeated by Uruguay in Maracanã in the 1950 World Cup final, Brazilians began to question the color of the shirt, which did not represent the country and its colors well. The team then decided to retire the white shirt.
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But what would be Brazil’s new uniform? To solve this issue, the then Brazilian Sports Confederation launched a contest in conjunction with the newspaper Correio da Manhã. Participants were to send suggestions for outfits that featured the four colors of the Brazilian flag. In late 1953, the winner was announced: Aldyr Garcia Schlee.
A curious fact is that Aldyr was born in southern Brazil and lived very close to the border with Uruguay. Nevertheless, he let his passion for football speak louder and translated this love into a beautiful uniform for the Brazilian National Team.
Aldyr even revealed that his biggest challenge in designing the uniform was to harmonize the four colors of the flag into a single outfit. The designer chose blue and white shorts with a yellow and green shirt.
Finally, on February 28, 1954, the Brazilian National Team debuted the new uniform in their first match for a World Cup Qualifier. This design was introduced for the 1954 World Cup. Brazil and Chile faced off at the National Stadium of Chile, Santiago (CHI), in front of 25,085 spectators. The “Amarelinha” emerged victorious with a 2-0 win, with two goals from Baltazar.
