A video of the Socceroos stepping off the team bus has pulled more than 1.9 million views on Instagram, and it is easy to see why. Australia’s national team arrived for their FIFA World Cup opener against Türkiye looking less like footballers and more like a menswear runway show.
Every man sharp. Every suit clean. The verdict in group chats around the country was unanimous, and it was not about the football.
The credit goes to M.J. Bale. The Australian menswear brand confirmed earlier this month that it has extended its deal as Official Tailor of the CommBank Socceroos for the 2026 campaign, dressing the playing squad, coaching staff and support team for travel, matchdays and official appearances.
What the boys wore off the bus is the brand’s Churchill suit, cut from 100% Australian Merino wool.
“We take enormous pleasure in dressing them for the world stage,” said M.J. Bale founder and chief executive Matt Jensen. “They’ll wear our Churchill suit, made from 100% Australian Merino wool, the finest natural fibre this country produces.”
This is not a one-off. M.J. Bale tailored the Socceroos for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and again in Qatar in 2022. Before that, the formal duties belonged to Hugo Boss, which suited up the squad for South Africa in 2010.
So the green and gold glow-up has been years in the making, and the lads have clearly been taking notes.
There is a reason a good suit lands like this. Tailoring rewards the kind of bodies professional athletes spend their lives building, and a clean Merino cut does the rest. Put the whole squad in matching tailoring and you have a runway, not a bus stop.
Australia beat Türkiye 2-0 in that opener, with goals from Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe. The win puts the Socceroos second in Group D on three points, level with the table-topping United States and split only by goal difference.
The United States are next on 20 June, then Paraguay on 26 June. Sharp suits and three points. Not a bad way to start a World Cup.
