People who are not able to purchase the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Adidas kit online will soon be able to do so, says a senior official of the local governing body.

Dennis Chung, the JFF general secretary, told the Jamaica Observer that a shipment is on its way to Jamaica and kits will be available at a merchandise store for walk-in customers.

“Right now, you have to buy them online at the Adidas store worldwide and a lot of people have been going online to get them, and in fact when the designs were released yesterday, within the first hour the website crashed based on the amount of people that were going on,” said Chung.

“In terms of locally, we are working out something to have them locally for sales, but of course the major part of the sale is going to be online and so that is where they are available now,” he said.

“I think a shipment is coming here to go to a local store now and so I mean until then we can’t do anything, so people just have to wait,” Chung said.

“The reason why this has happened is that most things are online, so while we understand the little man who wants a jersey, the fact of the matter is that they have to go with what the commercial site says.”

The JFF’s deal with Adidas replaces the partnership with Umbro and will see upcoming major tournaments covered under the arrangement.

These include the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2026 FIFA World Cup campaigns.

The JFF unveiled the new apparel on its social media platforms Monday, prompting increased traffic on the site as fans tried to buy gear before they sold out.

The apparel launched consisted of the national teams’ home, away, and training kits, as well as jackets to be worn during the playing of the national anthem ahead of games. They were all created by British-born designer Grace Wales Bonner, who has Jamaican heritage.

“This is very significant because it is a huge deal. It is the biggest sporting deal in Jamaica, and Adidas is one of two of the major sporting brands worldwide, so it is a very big deal for Jamaica,” Chung said.

“It is also a very big deal for Adidas and in fact, when I met with the Adidas representative today (Tuesday), who is in Jamaica and he said that he has never seen where a federation partnership with Adidas has had a designer design the kit for a football team, and so they see it as not just football, but the culture and they are trying to market the culture of Jamaica, and I think they have done a great job with it,” he said.