Myanmar 2

 

Unknown Players
vs. Cambodia (3:2) | AFF Championship | 2008 in Indonesia

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is a country that is in a number of troubles all at once. Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya People, several military coups and at least 3 areas that are under the control of different "rebel groups" is the status quo as I am writing this. Myanmar is a failed state in constant chaos, slowly becoming the Somalia of South East Asia.

If that is too heavy for you, do not read on, as I briefly introduce you to Zam Zamb, the President of the Myanmar Football Association since 2005 when he left the Myanmar Tennis Federation, which he presided over previously. Of course, he is also the Vice President of AFC today, as FIFA loves people who somehow stay in power for 20 years and are obscenely rich. Zaw Zaw is just that. He is the son of the "man who brought Pepsi to Myanmar", apparently, and briefly worked in Japan in his youth. When he returned, he started to sell Japanese cars in Myanmar, cuddling up with the military junta at the same time. He got so popular with the military leaders that "Max Myanmar", the consortium he runs (and coincidentally also his son's name), became one of the largest companies Myanmar has ever seen. When the military junta fell and Nobel Prize Laureate Aung Ssang Su Kyi came to power, he obviously offered her to be her economical mastermind of change. When the military junta returned, of course, he turned sides again. Today, he is almost behind every building in Myanmar and is very much the main financial backer of the brutal military junta. A UN report identifies him as one of the main sponsors of the Rohingya genocide, e.g.. The US, who long blacklisted him for corruption and sponsoring of terrorism has removed him from the embargo list for some reason - maybe being one of the 10 most powerful men in football helped?

Anyways, enough tough talk. This is a Myanmar shirt, after all, and a nice one, too. It was sold to me as matchworn for around 80 Euro. I doubt it was matchworn, as I think I have seen this shirt being sold to others, too, but I don't mind it too much either. It is just a nice shirt with a nice name and number.