Referee Prevents Kit Clash Between Grêmio And Guaraní

Dec 4, 2020

by Simon

Last night, Grêmio Porto Alegre secured their place in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores de América, the South American equivalent of the European Champions League. Grêmio dismantled the Paraguayan side in 2 legs by a 4-0 scoreline and will face fellow Brazilian side Santos in the next round - a match that shapes up to be very entertaining.

Before the match even kicked off one anomaly caught the eye of the referees: Guaraní took to the pitch wearing an ever so similar football shirt that is mainly turquoise with white stripes fading towards the top, while Grêmio opted for their logical choice of the home shirt that combines blue and black stripes with white stripes in-between.

In fact, Paraguayan football team Guaraní even had to disclose their shirt colors in the build-up. On the sheet that was received by the excellent @LaCasacaBlog one can see that Guaraní claimed to wear 'verde, franjas blancas' (green, white stripes) although the shade differs in reality. Guaraní's football shirt tends to have a turquoise-ish shade.

Since the referees deemed the colors to be too similar the match was not kicked off until Guaraní had changed their jersey to the alternate uniform that is based on the same template albeit mainly yellow with black accents. The courageous intervention of the referees definitely was a blessing for television viewers as pictures before the match prove.