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Team Canada’s 2026 kit has been in the works since the last World Cup four years ago — and it’s the brainchild of a Calgarian.
As the lead designer at Nike for Team Canada’s latest look, Calgary-based Holly Gallacher was behind the designs of the national team’s World Cup 2026 home and away jerseys.
“Usually it’s a two-year lead time with a jersey design, but with the World Cup, because it’s kind of special, it’s a four-year lead time,” she told The Calgary Eyeopener.
And all that work paid off when Gallacher got to see B.C. Place packed with fans wearing that design during Canada’s triumphant 6-0 win over Qatar last Thursday.
“It was kind of a pinch-me moment, you know, seeing so many fans wearing it,” she said.
Calgary Eyeopener8:03Team Canada jerseys
The Calgary-based designer of the World Cup 2026 Team Canada Jerseys joins us in studio to talk about what inspired the designs, and what went into creating them.
Gallacher said designing the kits involved lengthy consultations with players, coaches and fans.
She said home kits traditionally need to be classic and for everyone. And for Canada, it had to be red.
But rather than just sticking a Maple Leaf on the jersey, she created a fragmented mosaic pattern.
“Nike is all about, you know, kind of looking to the future, breaking boundaries, being a bit dangerous,” she said.
Soccer Canada unveiled the new Men’s National Team uniforms that they will wear in the upcoming FIFA World Cup. CBC’s Greg Ross got a first-hand look.
The pattern on the home kit is meant to represent people, communities and everyone coming together as one under the symbol of the Maple Leaf, said Gallacher, who’s originally from Scotland but says Canada welcomed her with open arms.
And for the away kit, Gallacher said she had the opportunity to flex her creative muscles some more.
She said the players explicitly requested a black kit because it made them feel confident.
“Nike’s all about storytelling, so we need a narrative to back it up,” she said.
“This new generation of players, like they’re pretty cut-throat,” she said. “One of them said, ‘we want to feel like killers on the pitch.'”
“I was like, ‘Wow, okay. Yeah, sure. We can do that.'”
The design is based on “black ice” — which Gallacher notes is dangerous because “you don’t see it coming until it’s too late.” The visual texture is based on photos she took of ice rinks, capturing the blade marks and textures in the ice.
Both jerseys also have a unique “Easter egg” hidden inside: Canada’s iconic loonie.
“I wanted something that felt like … it’s kind of like, ‘if you know, you know’ kind of thing,” Gallacher said.
It references Canadian sports lore from the 2002 Winter Olympics — when a loonie was buried under the ice and both the men’s and women’s teams won gold — and was also inspired by a coach who Gallacher says snuck a lucky loonie into a player’s sock.
Jerseys are a hit with players, fans
Gallacher said the kits have been a hit with Team Canada players — and that’s the case for fans across Canada as well.
At Kicks Sports in northwest Calgary, sales associate Antonio Georgeou says the jerseys have been flying off the shelves.
“I think about two weeks ago we were almost fresh out, especially in adult sizes,” he said.
Georgeou said Canada has been the bestselling jersey at the store — not only because of people simply wanting to support Team Canada out of national pride, but because of the team’s performance and recent surge in popularity.
“We’ve had a lot of people who actually are going to the games, which is also great too,” he said.
