Adidas and Ajax Salute Bob Marley With 'Three Little Birds' Kit

In 2008, following a match between European football clubs Ajax and Cardiff City, fans in the stands grooved to the strains of Bob Marley’s 1977 reggae classic “Three Little Birds” playing over the stadium sound system. Almost immediately, Ajax backers embraced the hopeful, hypnotic track—with “Every little thing is gonna be all right” as the refrain—as the team’s unofficial theme song.

They’ve chanted the words at countless home and away game since, beseeching the soccer gods to bestow good fortune on the Dutch powerhouse, and shaking the stands with Rastaman vibrations.

Now, the song provides the inspiration for Adidas’s 2021-22 red, yellow and green third kit for Ajax—with three birds depicted on the back of the jersey, perched on Amsterdam’s Andreas crosses.

Developed in collaboration with Bravado, Universal Music Group’s global merchandise division, the fusion of music and sports feels vibrant and true. Marley loved the game, which he once famously described as “a whole world, a whole universe to itself. Soccer is freedom!” The Jamaican legend cheered for Brazilian club Santos. Still, he would’ve gotten a huge kick out of the Ajax gear.

The team will wear the “Little Birds” kit, designed with input from the Marley family, during some Champions League home matches. T-shirts, sweaters, socks and Samba sneakers also feature in a broader collection.

This appropriately chill promo boasts fun call-outs to Ajax fandom and Rastafarian culture:

Adidas’s Marley tie-in follows its impressive rollout of Arsenal’s third jersey with a mockumentary about “Len,” the club’s “ultimate fan.”

See more pics of the Ajax kit below.

CREDITS

Agency: The Midnight Club
Planning Director: Barney Price
Creative Director: Josh Connell
Production Company: Blink
Director: John Ogunmuyiwa
Music: The Marley family/ Universal Music Group