A professional football team in Japan has revealed a Nintendo-themed shirt, with Pikmin characters featured on the design.
The shirt was created for the J-League’s centennial season, which marks 100 years of Japanese professional football. Official details reveal it will be worn by Kyoto Sanga FC, a top-tier club based in Kyoto.
As for the design, the shirt features the club’s signature purple colouring, while red accents inspired by the phoenix emblem run down the side panels to symbolise renewal and momentum. The look is rounded off with Pikmin placed around the Japanese Nintendo logo.
Unlike standard sponsor kits, the Nintendo design is exclusive to the league’s centennial season and will not replace Kyoto Sanga FC’s regular match shirts. The club says the kit is intended as a commemorative piece celebrating both the league’s history and its future.
Nintendo’s involvement goes beyond a typical sponsorship. The Japanese video game company has had close ties to Kyoto Sanga FC since the mid-1990s, when it became a major sponsor and later a part-owner of the club, reflecting Nintendo’s deep roots in the city of Kyoto.
While pricing details have not yet been announced, sales are scheduled to begin following the club’s new organisation announcement event on January 6, 2026.
This isn’t the first time Japanese football has leaned into pop culture crossovers, as the national team previously teamed up with the popular anime/manga Blue Lock during the 2022 World Cup in a campaign that went viral worldwide. Featuring Pikmin directly on a professional match shirt, however, puts this collaboration in rarer territory.
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