There will be blood, sweat and tears on players' soccer jerseys at the World Cup - and plenty of deeper cultural and historical meaning, too.

Here, The Associated Press runs you through some of the more compelling - and controversial - backstories from the kit designs on show in soccer's biggest event, currently taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Cape Verde's flight paths For its World Cup debut, the smallest nation by population at the tournament is paying homage to the roughly 525,000 inhabitants who live on 10 volcanic islands off the coast of Africa.