Dutch high street retailer Cool Cat has withdrawn a yellow t-shirt with the Brazilian flag from sale because it is emblazoned with the word ‘merda’, which means shit in Portuguese.

A group of Brazilian nationals in Luxemburg protested about the design and managed to have the t-shirts removed from sale, according to Dutch media reports.

Cool Cat, which has declined to say how many shirts are involved, said the text was a ‘wink’ towards the atmosphere during a football match.

In February Adidas withdrew a range of World Cup related shirts after pressure from Brazil which said they were sexist and showed a lack of respect towards the country.

The World Cup takes place in Brazil this summer.