In Colombia, a soccer jersey gets caught up in politics amid World Cup
The yellow jersey of Colombia’s national soccer team is meant to be one of the country’s safest symbols: a shirt people wear to cheer, celebrate, and briefly forget politics – especially in a World Cup year.
But as Colombia heads into both its World Cup opener and a presidential runoff this week, the shirt has taken on a political meaning many fans never asked for.
Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who led the first-round presidential election with 43% of the vote, has made Colombia’s soccer jersey one of the most visible images of his campaign. He first urged supporters to dress in yellow for his closing rally in Barranquilla, his adopted hometown and the home of Colombia’s national team, then wore the shirt onstage while celebrating his first-round lead. His campaign has drawn public support from former national team stars.
Why We Wrote This
Colombia plays its first game in the World Cup and votes for its next president this week. Its national soccer jersey has ended up stuck in the middle.
The jersey fits into a broader patriotic brand built around the word patria, or homeland. Mr. de la Espriella’s movement is called Defensores de la Patria, or Defenders of the Homeland, and his slogan, “steadfast for the homeland,” evokes both national pride and his promised hard line on security.
That has angered his left-wing opponent, Sen. Iván Cepeda, who says the shirt belongs to all Colombians. Mr. Cepeda asked the Colombian Football Federation to restrict use of the jersey in the campaign, arguing that it should be treated as a national symbol rather than political merchandise. But the federation said it does not take political positions and does not distribute the shirt.
The fight escalated when a Bogotá judge ordered Mr. de la Espriella’s campaign to stop using the jersey and other patriotic symbols in campaign activities. Mr. de la Espriella responded defiantly, saying he would not comply. A higher court later eased the restriction, but by then the fight had already turned this shared symbol into a contested one.
The timing could hardly be more sensitive. Colombia begins its World Cup run on June 17, just days before voters choose between Mr. de la Espriella and Mr. Cepeda in a bitter runoff on June 21.
Colombian politicians have used the national team jersey before, especially because presidential campaigns have previously overlapped with the World Cup. What is different this year is how explicitly the shirt has become tied to one candidate’s patriotic brand in a highly polarized race.
The shift became personal for María Centeno, a Colombian voter from Bucaramanga, when she went to cast her ballot in the first-round presidential vote two weeks ago. She had thought about wearing her Colombia jersey that day, then decided against it.
“I don’t want to wear it because I don’t want people to label me as far right,” she says. “It feels like they’re stealing something from us … another part of Colombian identity.”
Supporters of Mr. de la Espriella see the controversy differently. Alejandro Filauri, a voter in Bogotá who describes himself as right-leaning, says no campaign or court should be able to tell people when they can wear the national-team shirt.
“You can’t police patriotism,” Mr. Filauri says.
To him, the backlash only made the shirt a more powerful tool for Mr. de la Espriella’s campaign. If Mr. Cepeda’s side had ignored it, he says, the jersey might have remained just another World Cup symbol. Instead, opponents “did him a favor.”
The fallout around the canary-yellow jersey shows the risks of arguing over a symbol meant to unite Colombians, says Yann Basset, a political scientist at Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá. Mr. Cepeda may have been better off wearing the shirt himself from the beginning, Dr. Basset says.
Mr. Cepeda soon shifted his strategy. At an event where he received support from dozens of Colombian soccer-fan groups, he argued the jersey “represents us as a nation.” But, he added, Colombians could not allow anyone to “steal it” from them – a direct reference to Mr. de la Espriella.
The fight carries echoes of events in Brazil, where supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro turned the national team’s yellow-and-green jersey into a marker of right-wing nationalism. In 2022, Brazil’s presidential election unfolded just before the Qatar World Cup, leaving many fans questioning what their jersey represented.
Dr. Basset sees Mr. de la Espriella borrowing from that playbook, along with the style of other populist leaders in the region.
It’s proven an effective strategy because national team jerseys carry ready-made emotion including pride and belonging, Dr. Basset says.
And the jersey as a symbol couldn’t arrive at a better time for the election’s frontrunner – just at the Colombian team’s kickoff.