South American electoral authorities may want to consider the soccer calendar when setting the date for the next vote.

That seems to be the lesson from Colombia, where the excitement for its first World Cup outing since 2018 spilled into the political arena ahead of a presidential runoff on June 21.

So much so that on Wednesday, a local judge in the Colombian capital Bogota issued a ruling banning right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who’s the favorite in the election, from wearing the bright yellow jersey of the national team.

For weeks, de la Espriella and his supporters have been wearing the jersey at political rallies and on social media. De la Espriella, a conservative nationalist who’s brought a MAGA-like rhetoric to the Colombian political field, considers the soccer jersey a national symbol like the flag or the armed forces –– an icon of his political aspirations.

Ahead of the first round on May 31, de la Espriella asked his voters to wear the jersey at the polls, side-stepping electoral rules that prohibit candidates from campaigning on the day of the election.

His critics, including leftist rival Ivan Cepeda, have criticized de la Espriella and lamented the politicization of sporting gear, saying it should belong to all Colombians. On Thursday, Colombian Judge Aura Forero went one step further, ruling that his use of the jersey was “improper” – and formally barred him from wearing it in political contexts.

De la Espriella’s use of the soccer jersey for political convenience “logically compromises the right to be equally used by the other presidential candidate and his supporters, as the improper use of said jersey is being skewed in favor of the candidacy of de la Espriella and his political party,” the ruling reads.

Improper or not, Latin American politicians love soccer jerseys, or camisetas. In a region where soccer is a religion, it only makes sense that politicians use the sport to capture hearts and minds.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro frequently wore the unmistakable green and yellow Brazilian jersey, turning it into a potent symbol of his own brand of right-wing politics. His arch-nemesis and current president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva found a parallel route to Brazilian football fans, hanging out with football stars like Ronaldo Fenômeno for smiling photo-ops long before Bolsonaro.

  

Nothing says ‘man of the people’ more than the jersey of a beloved team –– which makes it an obvious choice for political elites trying to look approachable. The father of modern-day right-wing populism, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, built his political career in part on the success of AC Milan, a club he owned from 1986 to 2017 and a winning machine so dominant in the late 80s to early 90s that some consider it one of the best club teams of all times.

Even in Venezuela –– the only South American country never to qualify for the men’s World Cup – the Vinotinto jersey has been deployed by both former President Nicolas Maduro and dozens of opposition leaders who challenged his rule.

Old videos of Colombian politicians of all stripes wearing their national team’s jersey resurfaced on social media this week amid the furor. Cepeda’s campaign chief Maria Jose Pizarro who wore the jersey for the legislative elections on March 8, and even Colombian president Gustavo Petro sported the jersey at a send-off for the national team, the day after Judge Forero’s ruling came out. It’s unclear if the president’s garment choice would now constitute a crime or if he’ll get away with it as he was not participating in a political event.

As both the World Cup kick off and Colombia’s election day approach, De la Espriella has said he will defy the ban, describing it as an attack on personal freedoms. Some of his supporters have called for a “flag-day” on Saturday, inviting all of the rightwing presidential hopeful’s supporters to wear the jersey (something that Bolsonaro has done for years to rally his fans).

Considering 10 million Colombians voted for de la Espriella in a first round of the election last week – and with the runoff vote on June 21 happening between Colombia’s World Cup matches against Uzbekistan and Congo –– it’s going to be a challenge for cops fine every person wearing a camiseta in public.