Why EA Sports FC Often Gets Kit Colors and Details Wrong
- Initial Kit Inaccuracies: Football games like EA Sports FC frequently display incorrect kit colors and details, a problem exemplified by Liverpool's 26-27 home kit appearing in a muted shade.
- Reliance on Early Design Files: The primary reason for these errors is that developers use early 2D CAD files and digital tech packs, not physical kits, as they must finalize designs months before actual kit unveils and retail availability.
- Challenges of Digital-to-Physical Translation: Working from 2D files introduces inaccuracies because digital swatches don't account for how dyes and fabrics appear under real lighting, and technical lines can be misinterpreted, with in-game versions rarely updated post-launch by developers.
Every season, football gaming fans boot up EA Sports FC and Konami titles expecting pixel-perfect realism, only to find several high-profile kits looking notably off. Colors appear muddy or mismatched, graphic patterns lack sharpness, and specific collar or trim details go missing. A recent prime example in EA Sports FC 27 is Liverpool's 26-27 home kit, which appears in a muted, dark brownish-red instead of the vibrant shade seen on the pitch.
Early 2D CADs Over Physical Kits
Former Adidas football designer Marcus Dilley explained the core reason behind these persistent visual discrepancies: developers rely on 2D CAD files rather than real garments. Because major sports titles must have hundreds of licensed kits modeled, textured, and approved well before launch, developers work months ahead of official kit unveilings and retail distribution. They rarely have access to finished physical products.
Working strictly from 2D vector sheets and early digital tech packs introduces significant room for error. Flat color swatches and digital render files do not reflect how dyes and technical fabrics behave under realistic stadium lighting. What looks like a deep maroon or subdued blue in a vector program can turn into a completely different hue once transferred onto athletic polyester in the real world. In other instances (possibly the lacking black trim on the Köln kit), technical construction lines on CAD files are easily misinterpreted by 3D modelers as contrasting seams or colored piping.
It would be easy to update the kits, but developers do not seem to care
Konami faces the exact same challenge with eFootball, often locking in early prototype references even earlier in development. In many cases, clubs and brands modify accents, sponsor layouts, or cuff patterns between early manufacturing rounds and final mass production. By the time those final retail kits hit stores and football pitches, the virtual versions have already been finalized inside the game code and are rarely updated post-launch.
Due to the lack of official color-correction patches from publishers, the community steps in to fix the mistakes. Creator RODE has released a custom visual overhaul for EA Sports FC 27, manually readjusting color balance and trims for clubs such as Liverpool, Trabzonspor, Schalke, Sheffield United, and 1. FC Köln based on genuine pitch photography.
In our opinion, developers should change their pipeline to cross-check their virtual kits with how the kits appear on the pitch and fix those ahead of the game's launch, or in official updates.