To the delight of some, the indifference of others, and the palm-to-forehead-and-gasp with disbelief of a few, emoji might just be the new graphics trend in soccer jerseys.

Okay, that’s probably overstating it. Still, we’re not coming from too far outside the 18-yard box on this.

Consider: A soccer club called Fortaleza C.E.I.F., which plays in Colombia’s second division (sorta like Triple A), recently unveiled jerseys for its new season – jerseys that are covered in emoji graphics. Behold:

The club says the emoji kits are not a publicity stunt. Rather, they’re an attempt to connect with younger fans. 

"We created this shirt alongside more than 2,000 children who play in Fortaleza ... which speaks their language,” Colombian designer Paco Cepeda, who helped create the kit, wrote on Twitter. “It is inclusive, friendly, and brings them closer to the team. It's a shirt designed for the target: millennials! Soccer is fun!"

Fortaleza’s director of communications told El Tiempo the emoji jerseys are also an attempt to disengage the club from hardcore soccer hooligans who might follow the team. “The kit is not aimed at the idiots or to those fans that like to fight, but to the millennials, to the new fans…We wanted to have a uniform that would give them something to talk about.”

Some in the soccer world reacted positively. FourFourTwo gave the shirts a “smiley face and thumbs up.” Still, others had a less than flattering take. Soccer humorist Brooks Peck opined that Fortaleza had produced a jersey that is the equivalent of “baking a pizza into a chocolate cake…As you can see, this kit makes the wearer question their desire to live. It’s also the only kit in the world that laughs at you for wearing it.”

Interestingly, Fortaleza isn’t the only soccer club to go emoji.

As Peck pointed out, Las Vegas Lights FC, a new team debuting this year in the U.S.-based United Soccer League (USL), has a smiley face emoji on the inside of the tummy portion of their (rather insanely neon) jersey. The face is there so that, when a Vegas player scores a goal and wants to pull his jersey up over his head as many players do, audiences will see the big emoji a-smiling – a mirror of their joy for supporters and a mockery to opposing teams’ fans. Or something like that.

Anyway, the emoji thing on jerseys is real. Who knows, maybe it will catch on?