It seems that two years’ worth of perennial pressure by the admirers of Ted Lasso have finally managed to make a dream a reality. Nike, the global conglomerate of sports tweeted a design of the jersey of AFC Richmond, the fictional club from southeast London having the iconic “swoosh”, hinting at collaboration and sale of ‘official’ jerseys in the near future.
Never Done Believing. @AFCRichmond @TedLasso pic.twitter.com/33IVSA3WXP
— Nike (@Nike) March 7, 2022
In the series produced by Apple TV, the show follows Ted Lasso, an American college football coach who is hired to coach an English soccer team. The team draws heavy inspiration from the colours of Crystal Palace, which is located in the same locality of London. Coincidently, in the show, AFC Richmond is shown playing its first match against the Eagles.
The jersey features the Nike logo in pale yellow with the word ‘believe’ inscribed at the centre along with the club crest. The main sponsor is “Bantr”, also a fictional dating site shown in the show.
However, it’s the colour choice that has pulled the most attention. While some have voiced that the jersey featuring the combination of red and blue have drawn inspiration from the iconic jersey of Barcelona from the season of 2008-09 and is a tribute to the treble-winning celebrated side –
Lovely tribute to a classic. pic.twitter.com/yk80E8LHrb
— Phil Delves (@phildelves) March 7, 2022
Some of the narratives have also been criticizing the show for sucking too much out of Hampton & Richmond Borough Football Club, a real football club whose location, name and also jersey colours and scheme is eerily same as that of the fictional club but competes in the sixth tier of English football.
Do they want to use any more bits to do with Hampton & Richmond Borough? @HRBFC pic.twitter.com/X4cpZkEu0Q
— Jamie Marler (@Cress31) March 7, 2022
The fans can’t wait for the next season of Ted Lasso to arrive when everyone can get one of the show’s merch, powered by Nike and support their favourite fictional team across the screen.
