This post was originally published on Politico.

Australia, Japan and Germany: all countries whose national football teams wear colors that do not appear on their national flags. Australia’s team plays in green and gold, a nod to the country’s natural landscape and the golden wattle, Australia’s national floral emblem.

Germany’s traditional white kit traces its origins to Prussia, whose flag featured black and white. Japan, meanwhile, wears blue for perhaps the most intriguing reason of all: superstition. According to a popular story, the color became associated with good fortune after a string of sporting successes in the 1930s (although the claim has never been conclusively proven).

But,

Author: By Sonja Rijnen