High-profile debut for Cape Verde and Capelli Sport
One of the tournament favourites, Spain, makes its FIFA 2026 World Cup debut on June 15 in a match against Cape Verde. The game will mark Cape Verde’s first-ever appearance in the finals of the competition.
This will also mean a debut at the World Cup for shirt supplier Capelli Sport. Based in New York, Capelli Sport was founded in 2011 by an entrepreneur with Lebanese roots, George Altirs. The game against Spain represents a high-profile platform on which to showcase the brand.
For Spain, too, it looked as though this World Cup could mark the debut of a new kit supplier, with speculation in some quarters that Italian brand Macron was ready to step in to replace adidas.
Macron has become a successful supplier to the Spanish football federation (RFEF), but for official clothing for referees. This led to conjecture that Macron could become the official shirt supplier to the Spanish national team, but adidas has fought off the competition and will continue its relationship with the RFEF.
Spain wore adidas shirts, shorts and socks from 1981-1983, and again from 1991 onwards. It is a relationship that the sports brand has found beneficial, especially when the team won the FIFA World Cup in 2010. During the adidas era, Spain also won the European Championships in 2008, 2012 and 2024.
The shirts are also popular with fans, with lots of people, especially young people, wearing the shirt to work and to school in the build-up to the game.
