The 2026 World Cup final will be a clash of iconic strips after FIFA confirmed that Argentina and Spain will each take the field in their traditional home uniforms at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Argentina will wear its familiar celeste-and-white striped shirt with white shorts and socks, while Spain lines up in red jerseys, navy-blue shorts and socks. The goalkeepers, too, will don familiar hues: Emiliano Martínez in the green he wore during the 2022 final, and Unai Simón in light blue.

Viewed from Buenos Aires, the kit assignment carries the weight of history. Argentina has won all three of its World Cup finals when wearing the light-blue-and-white home shirt — in 1978, 1986 and 2022 — and lost the two it contested in its alternative blue strip, against West Germany in 1990 and Germany in 2014. The symmetry has not been lost on a football public that treats such patterns as talismans, and the confirmation that Lionel Scaloni’s side will again line up in the colours of its past triumphs has been received as a favourable omen.

For Spain, the decision marks a departure from the only other final it has played. In 2010, La Roja lifted the trophy in Johannesburg wearing a dark away kit; this time, Luis de la Fuente’s team will seek a second star in the red that has been its signature for a century. The uniform choice was made possible because there is no colour clash between the two primary kits, allowing both federations to preserve their visual identity on the sport’s biggest stage.

The same principle applies to Saturday’s third-place match in Miami, where France will wear all-navy and England its white home shirt. That fixture, while a consolation, carries its own competitive edge: neither side wishes to depart the tournament with consecutive defeats.

The final, set for 4 p.m. local time on Sunday, will be only the second World Cup meeting between Argentina and Spain. Their sole previous encounter came in the 1966 group stage, a 2-1 victory for the South Americans. Now, with the uniforms settled and the tactical preparations entering their final phase, the stage is cleared for a contest that will define the legacy of a generation.