Puma designed a sleeveless shirt for Cameroon's national team for the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali, to suit the heat there. The Indomitable Lions wore it in every match on their way to the title, their fourth, and reaction was split: some said it made them look like a basketball team, others loved it.
FIFA then ruled it out for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Its spokesman Keith Cooper told Voice of America, “they're not shirts, they're vests.” Under the compromise reported in May 2002, an almost transparent piece of cloth was added to carry the sleeve badge while keeping the sleeveless look; Puma's timeline describes it as black mesh sleeves.
At the French Open the same year, Serena Williams wore a Puma dress in Cameroon's colours inspired by the shirt. In 2004 Puma went further with a one-piece kit, the UniQT. FIFA fined Cameroon and docked six World Cup qualifying points, a dispute that Puma's timeline says ended in a compromise and a shared donation to football development in Cameroon.