Cape Town – Bafana Bafana will don a new look when they take to the field against Côte d'Ivoire the 2011 Nelson Mandela Challenge on Saturday.

Puma, Bafana’s official technical sponsor, unveiled the new creation, designed by the brother Essop, Hasan and Husain at the opening of a month-long African football art display in London.

Bafana captain, Steven Pienaar, who is also sponsored by Puma, was on hand to model the new jersey which feature rainbow graphics inspired by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s coining of the phrase – ‘Rainbow Nation’.

“Our design was influenced by South Africa’s diversity of cultures and how we have grown as a Nation. We worked with the Puma design team to help us create a symbol that would reflect South African spirit,” the Essop brothers said on SAFA's website.

SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani agreed: “When Archbishop Desmond Tutu coined the phrase the Rainbow Nation he captured the unique character of our country, and how our different peoples would work together to make our country great.

“It is appropriate that the new rainbow kit design has been launched in the year of the Archbishop’s 80th birthday. We believe we have a kit and a team which can unite our fans behind the Bafana Bafana cause.”

Footballers who sport Puma as their boot sponsor include African stars: Samuel Eto’o, John Mensah and Yaya Touré, while Cesc Fabregas, Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero and Falcão have all recently signed with the German apparel company.

The new kits of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria, Namibia, Senegal, Togo, Gabon and Burkina Faso - the nine other African countries who Puma sponsor - were also unveiled at the exhibition.

According to Puma, the kit is designed to “maximise players’ performance” and “enable players to exhibit their physical presence on the pitch”.

“The new team kit from PUMA is technically advanced, looks great and tells the unique and wonderful story of our country. The players will wear it with pride,” said Bafana coach, Pitso Mosimane.