Belgium’s away kit today is pink and blue, and it is doing far more than simply identifying a team on the pitch. The jersey draws on the work of René Magritte, giving the Red Devils a look that feels closer to a gallery wall than a traditional football strip.
That mattered last night in Seattle, where Belgium beat the United States 4-1 in the World Cup knockout stage. In a competition where every detail gets magnified, the visual identity of the shirt became part of the story as much as the result itself.
A shirt built around Magritte
The away jersey is rooted in two Magritte references from the early 1930s. One is Grelots roses, ciels en lambeaux, known in English as Pink Bells, Tattered Skies, which dates to 1930. The other is Voice of space, or la voix des airs, from 1931.
The effect is unmistakable: pink and blue dominate the design, with the artwork shaping the shirt’s character rather than simply decorating it. The result is a kit that links Belgian football to Belgian art in a way that is hard to miss.
Why the design stands out
This is part of a wider trend in global sport, where teams increasingly use cultural references to make an international statement. Belgium’s away shirt fits that pattern neatly, but it still feels distinctive because the source material is so specific.
There is even a direct nod to Magritte’s famous line of thinking about representation. The phrase “This is not a jersey” echoes the spirit of Ceci n'est pas un maillot, a playful reference that underlines the idea that a football shirt can also be an artistic object.
Belgium’s home jerseys, by contrast, stay closer to familiar football language, using the national flag’s colours and a fiery pattern tied to the Red Devils nickname. The away version is the bolder departure, and that is what makes it the talking point.
More than just a kit
In knockout football, details can become symbols. A shirt cannot decide a match on its own, but it can sharpen the identity of a team and make the occasion feel bigger.
Belgium’s pink-and-blue Magritte-inspired design does exactly that. It is a modern football kit, but it also carries a clear artistic message — and last night’s 4-1 win over the United States made sure plenty of people noticed it.
Image note: the jersey image is © 2023 C. Herscovici / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
