GiveMeSport
·31 August 2022
World Cup kits: Artificial intelligence creates a shirt for all 32 teams

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Yahoo sportsGiveMeSport
·31 August 2022
The 2022 World Cup is only a few months away and we’re positively overcome with excitement.
With the latest tournament’s unprecedented move to the winter, football fans have been left to wait longer than ever for the premier competition in the men’s game and anticipation is quickly rising towards fever pitch.
And although there is plenty of club action to enjoy before the global football carnival kicks off on November 21, supporters have been given a tantalising glimpse at what they can expect from Qatar 2022 this week.
Well, at least from an aesthetic perspective, that is, because Puma and Adidas have helped to whip up excitement by dropping the first bunch of brand new kits that will be on display at the tournament.
From controversial ‘box’ templates to gorgeous designs for Japan, Mexico and Germany, there are now plenty of World Cup jerseys that have either been released or leaked for the world to see.
And with interest in football shirts bigger than ever and any design having the potential to be immortalised if the team wearing it thrives in Qatar, you can bet that the shirts still to come will also attract plenty of eyeballs.
So, as World Cup kit season ramps up, the team at Footy Accumulators decided to do something very unique indeed as they called upon AI (artificial intelligence) technology to come up with their own designs.
You might have seen in recent months that the number of AI algorithms able to produce art and design has gone through the roof with everyone from businesses to the general public trying out the new technology.
And now its hand has been turned to World Cup kits as the MidJourney generator was tasked with drawing up a shirt for all 32 participants “based on what it knows about the team and the country.”
As you can probably imagine, the results were absolute carnage with the AI throwing caution to the wind, chucking out truly wild designs as it basked in being unshackled from many of the restrictions and traditions that kit manufacturers usually have to traverse.
Naturally, it meant that some of the strips were infinitely worse than their real-life counterparts, but plenty of designs actually far exceeded the real deal, so be sure to check out all the jerseys down below:
Goodness gracious me, where do we start?
Anyone who’s dabbled with these AI search engines and typed in wild image requests like: “Sam Allardyce in a bath of baked beans,” – yes, somebody really did do that – will know that the results can be a little wild at times.
And when you look at England’s unprecedented move to a red home kit, as well as Uruguay getting a big fat sun on their chest and Switzerland’s design trying to do a thousand things at once, it’s clear to see that it doesn’t always work out for the best.
However, the completely automated process did indeed have its moments with the desertscape on Saudi Arabia’s shirt, the cherry blossoms on Japan’s strip and the huge maple leaf on Canada’s jersey all looking class.
It’s definitely clear to see in more jerseys than not how the complete lack of inhibitions held by the technology has led to an unbiased free rein that churns out remarkably unique and memorable end products.
Besides, while many of them might be jarring to see at first, we’d wager that the majority of the designs would probably actually be better sellers than the safer, more by the numbers shirts you’ll see in reality.
Looks like the robots are taking over, ladies and gents.