After its release was delayed earlier this year, the new primary kit for 2023 Major League Soccer side CF Montréal has been spotted for sale before it’s official unveiling.
Twitter user @SJDeSantis spotted the shirt for sale in a local sports shop and posted photos to his account on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 6.
One of the photos shows a blue jersey with tapering black lines of varying density forming chevrons going up and down the shirt to resemble vertical stripes. The Adidas shoulder stripes are grey, as is the taping down each side and across the back hem of the jersey. The V-neck collar is solid blue with a black and grey insert at the front, while the sleeve cuffs are black with grey trim.
The other photo shows a closeup of the black lines on the jersey along with an Adidas authentic patch. The MLS shield and Apple TV+ logo that normally appear on the left sleeve of authentic jerseys are not visible in either photo, but they could be folded behind the sleeve.
In February 2023, CF Montréal announced it would delay the release of its new primary kit while it continued to consult with Indigenous communities about including an inscription in an Indigenous language somewhere on the jersey. No such inscription is visible on the jersey in the photos posted to Twitter on Tuesday.
“The Club is committed to developing lasting and sincere relationships with Indigenous communities,” CF Montréal said in a statement in February. “As the consultation process is still ongoing, we have decided to pause distribution of the 2023 primary jersey to strengthen our approach by listening, collaborating, and co-creating concrete initiatives with Indigenous communities.”
CF Montréal has been wearing its grey secondary kit with a blue marble effect and black trim so far in the 2023 MLS season.
The photos posted to Twitter match an earlier leak of the jersey uncovered by soccer news site Footy Headlines. The pattern also matches a scarf currently on sale in the CF Montréal’s online store.
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