Why World Cup referees will be wearing pink shirts for Uruguay-Saudi Arabia

FIFA has produced a one-off pink shirt for its match officials to wear in Miami for the host city's first match between Uruguay and Saudi Arabia on Monday night.

Maurizio Mariani, the Italian referee, and his team of assistants will be wearing a “flamingo pink†shirt to celebrate Miami.

It has been designed as a nod to the city's historically widespread population of flamingos, its iconic pink sunsets and famous pink-coloured Art Deco buildings along Ocean Drive on South Beach.

All of FIFA's match officials — except for the VAR assistants who are in Dallas, Texas — are based in Miami for the World Cup and are training at Miami Dade College. Their training kit is also pink.

This follows on from so many players at the World Cup wearing pink boots, irrespective of whether they are supplied by Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Puma or Skechers.

Pink is quickly becoming the colour of the World Cup and it stands out on TV and in the stadium when it is set against the green grass on the pitch.

“Miami is our base camp so we thought it would be nice to show our appreciation to the city where we'll live for about two months,†Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's chief refereeing officer, said in a statement.

“We chose this ‘pink flamingo' for the referees' training material. It's a sort of recognition.â€

Throughout the tournament, and as they will for the rest of the games in Miami, the referees have been wearing either a black, green or blue, red or yellow top.