Pitch Perfect: Kéré Architecture Brings Architectural Design to Football Culture

In Berlin, where design and creativity constantly collide, Kéré Architecture just proved that great architecture doesn’t have to stay on paper, it can live and move on the pitch. The Berlin-based studio, founded by Diébédo Francis Kéré, recently unveiled its first-ever football kit, designed for the Berlin Architecture Football Championship (ABC Cup).

The striking yellow and navy shirt which went on to win Best Jersey Design at the tournament was conceived by architect Ho-Jae Lee following an internal design competition within the studio. Inspired by Kéré’s celebrated Sarbalé Ke installation for Coachella 2019, the jersey channels the studio’s signature triangular geometry into wearable art.

“The idea was to translate architectural language into something dynamic and human,” Lee explains. The result is a shirt that captures the studio’s bold visual rhythm — geometric, expressive, and deeply rooted in the spirit of collaboration.

Those signature triangles are more than just decorative. They’re a recurring motif in Kéré’s practice, appearing across projects like London’s Serpentine Pavilion, the Thomas Sankara Memorial in Burkina Faso, and the proposed Las Vegas Museum of Art. Here, that same geometry morphs into motion, rhythm, and pattern — perfectly at home on a football pitch.

This fusion of design disciplines mirrors a wider cultural shift, where football is increasingly becoming a canvas for storytelling and design innovation. From Kéré’s architectural precision to Nike’s use of local street textures in the Nigeria Women’s Home Kit, which drew from Sokoto’s streets and craftsmanship — fashion, sport, and design are blending more seamlessly than ever before.

At its core, Kéré’s jersey celebrates more than a game it celebrates creativity as a team sport. Architecture meets football, and both find common ground in form, structure, and identity.