Moldova 7

 

Serghei Alexeev (FC Tiraspol)
vs. Scotland U21 (0:0) | U21 Euros Qualifier | 2005 in Scotland

This shirt is terrible. It is frankly one of the worst football shirts I ever had to see - or even hold in my hands. Yet, it is a very special to me. In the very early days of my collection, I got a replica of this shirt from German ebay for a single Euro. Yes, 1€ plus 4,50€ of shipping. It was so terribly ugly that absolutely no one wanted it. So I had mercy - and indeed was over the moon getting such a rare shirt so early on.

Now, I got half a dozen of Moldova shirts by now. I really did not need this one. But when I saw a matchworn version of the infamous 1€ shirt, I just had to snap it up. Even it cost me 60 times as much as the replica did once. I am now the proud owner of two terrible Moldova shirts.

Moldova 4 - 6

Adrian Cașcaval (Luch-Energija Vladivostok, RUS) & Ion Jardan (Zimbru Chisinau)
vs. Wales (0:4) | World Cup Qualifier | 2016 in Wales

Alexandru Gațcan (FK Rostov, RUS) & Alexandru Dedov (Milsami Orhei)
vs. Ireland (1:3) | World Cup Qualifier | 2016 in Moldova

Petru Racu (Milsami Orhei)
vs. Saudi Arabia (0:3) | Friendly | 2018 in Saudi Arabia

In 2016, Moldova finally got some proper football shirts. After wearing boring templates since the late 1990s, they finally got bespoke kits from Jako, featuring a fantastic little pattern over the entire side of the shirt. Naturally, I had to get my hands on one of these and when I was offered them for about 20€ each, I just got them all.

Weirdly, many pages out there list the blue one as the home version, although the team has mostly worn the red one in home matches. In fact, I only found a single match they used the blue in - a friendly in Saudi Arabia. Whatever is right here, as I have all three colours, I can safely consider myself sorted with Moldovan shirts.

Northern Ireland 2

 

Unknown Players
vs. Brazil (0:1) | Milk Cup Elite U19 | 2003 in Northern Ireland

Northern Island is one of two secessionist regions in the world that put an open hand on their flag - the other being Abkhazia. Somehow, unlike Abkhazia, they sneaked in FIFA (somehow=bribery, this is FIFA, after all). Despite being in FIFA, however, they were left to play in Patrick shirts for a while, for whatever reason. Obviously, I had to get that shirt, when I saw it for about 20€ including shipping. So here it is.

The picture is from the Milk Cup, a huge international tournament Northern Ireland used to host. The 2003 edition was won by Paraguay, who beat Brazil in the final in Coleraine. Northern Ireland itself opened the tournament vs. Brazil, which featured gifted talents like Fernandinho back then, losing just 0:1, which is respectable, I guess.

Norway 2

 

Markus Henriksen (AZ Alkmaar, NED)
vs. Albania (1:1) | World Cup Qualifiers | 2013 in Albania

Having UEFA basically finished, I do now occassionally try to add some more matchworn shirts to my collection, ultimately hoping to do have a matchworn shirt of at least every UEFA member. I am not too far off that mark, mostly missing some of the big teams. As part of that side quest, I did get this Norway matchworn shirt, worn by Ola Kamara - and signed by the player, as well. I got it for 120€ including shipping from a trusted source a few years ago. I am quite pleased with it, as Norway mostly had super boring shirts over the last two decades - making this plain white shirt with the two-coloured stripe along one side one of the more appealing ones, at least. On the downside, the material this shirt is made of is very weird and feels almost like wool.

It was worn in the unsuccessful attempt to make it to the World Cup in Brazil 2014. In the match pictured above, at least Tom Hogli equalised late in the game to give Norway a point. I had to mention this here, as Hogli actually is a bit of a special player, as he also played for Sapmi in the past, thus being one of the few players in the world that engaged in non-FIFA and FIFA international football.

Romania 6

 

Unknown Players
vs. Denmark (2:5) | Euros Qualifiers | 2003 in Romania

I genuinely cannot say much about this shirt. It is a matchworn Romania shirt from the 2002/03 season and I got it for 80ish Euro, including the shipping, which is the main reason I had to snap it up. It is arguably one of my less exciting Romania shirts, but still - it is a matchworn shirt, so it was a nice addition to the collection.

Russia 4

 

 

Aleksey Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow)
vs. Spain (3:3) | Friendly | 2017 in Russia

I will admit that this is the most boring Russia shirt in the last two decades. Yet, it was kind of fitting for the 2018 World Cup in Russia with its almost brutalist look. That is was just a template that half the World Cup would wear, however, even destroyed this possible idea behind the shirt.

I got this, as I wanted to get a matchworn Russia shirt and this one was supposed to be matchworn. I am, however, not sure that is really is worn, as the team seemingly did wear match details in most matches, including friendlies. It might have been a give away for fans, signed by the entire squad, instead. Either way, it is squad signed and the signatures do look legit for me, and it is a nice collectible to remind me of the 2018 World Cup, which I actually liked, despite all the controversies around it.

Russia 3

 

Yuri Zhirkov (Anzhi Makhachkala)
vs. Greece (0:1) | Euros | 2012 in Poland

It is hard to find any positive words about Russia these days. And genuinely, I am not keen on trying, currently. 

What I will say, though, is that Russia did have a number of absolutely incredible shirts over time, which is the main reason why I have a number of shirts from them. While this one is one of the less mindblowing designs, the flag sash does work nice on the shirt and did clearly stick out at the Euros in Poland, which Russia left after the group stage. I got this for somewhere around 20€, which was more than fair.

San Marino 3

 

Lorenzo Lunadei (La Fiorita) & Manuel Battistini (AC Virtus)
vs. England (0:10) | World Cup Qualifier | 2021 in England

San Marino's FA was founded in 1931 and was apparently too impatient for their 100 year anniversary and thus just released an anniversary kit for their 90th anniversary in 2021. They wore it only once, in a 0:10 thrashing against England in Wembley, and sold a limited number of boxed shirts, coming with shorts and even socks. Of course, I got this box, which set me back 100€, as I couldn't miss on that historic shirt. It is a nice, though very unusual, shirt for San Marino, indeed.

Serbia 3

 

Srđan Mijailović (Crvena Zvezda)
vs. Scotland (0:0) | World Cup Qualifier | 2012 in Scotland

In 2012, Serbia decided to weirdly wear a football shirt that should be a Swiss national team shirt, really. It is a plain white shirt with the outline of the Swiss flag. This one, in particular, is matchworn from the match against Scotland in the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. It was the opening of the qualification campaign and Ivanovic, who just won the Champions League with Chelsea back then, captained the team during the match. In the end, Scotland and Serbia would both miss the World Cup, ending the group behind Croatia and Belgium.

I got this shirt from a Scottish fan, who in turn got it from one of the Scottish players. it cost me about 120€, which I think it was worth it, as it is definitely matchworn and came with the nice patches of the 2014 World Cup.

Slovenia 6

 

Unknown Player
vs. Greece (1:1) | Friendly | 2012 in Austria

In 2012, Slovenia had this absolute incredible shirt for the first time, sporting Mount Triglav all over the shirt as a zig-zagged outline. At least with these colours. It is a design that stayed with the team ever since, including the ridiculously incredibly neon colour combination. At the same time, Slovenia had a disappointing spell in international football - finishing just fourth in their qualification campaign, behind Italy, ESTONIA and Serbia. I mean, Estonia. The same Estonia that drew against Liechtenstein a year prior to the campaign and with San Marino two years later.

I got this shirt, simply because I love the design. It came from my friend Chris, who stopped collecting, and cost me a very fair 20€. Thanks again, Chris!

Slovenia 5

 

Zlatko Zahovic (Olympiacos, GRE)
vs. Norway (0:0) | Euros | 2000 in Belgium

When I was just 13 years old, I watched my first full Euros in 2000 and I was a huge fan of Zlatko Zahovic, who was one of the best players of the tournament, in my opinion, while starting for tiny Slovenia, a country I didn't really know anything about back then. At the time, Slovenia just seceeded from Yugoslavia less than a decade before they qualified for the Euros, their first major tournament. The second best goalscorer in the qualifiers, just behind Raúl, was said Zahovic, scoring 9 teams to lead his country to Belgium and the Netherlands.

They started on the big stage with a blast. Playing against Yugoslavia, of all countries, in their opening match, they went ahead 3:0, stunning the footballing world at the time. When Yugoslavia then got a red card on top, the match seemed to be over. But suddenly, Yugoslavia scored and scored again and scored again, all in just six minutes. The match ended 3:3. Zahovic scored twice in that match. In the second match, Raúl opened the scoreline for Spain, before Zahovic equalled the game, only for Spain to immediatiately score the winner a minute later. Yet, Slovenia had all to play for. They just needed to beat Norway. But they failed to get it, ending their last match with a goalless draw. That was enough for Norway, it seemed, as Yugoslavia was leading 3:2 vs. Spain in the 90th minute. But Spain turned the match around in the 90+4th and 90+5th minute to top the group, followed by Yugoslavia, which meant Norway and Slovenia eliminated each other.

Still, Zahovic was incredible and the first big tournament was surely one to remember for Slovenia. This shirt is from that tournament. It is an ugly template, brutally oversized and was the same away shirt Germany had in the tournament, too. Not a beautiful shirt, but a historic one. The shirt I got here is matchworn, too, though not from the Euros itself, but from a match in the months after the tournament. I am not sure which one, but was happy to pay 100€ for it, given the rarity and age of this shirt.