Bolivia 2

 

Alejandro Chumacero (The Strongest)
vs. Nicaragua (3:2) | Friendly | 2017 in Bolivia

Apart from Oceania, South America is arguably one of the harder continents to get matchworn shirts from. Not because they are not being traded, but because they are often super expensive, as the football following and collectors community in South America is just huge. As a result, I do not own plenty of matchworn shirts from the continent and am more than happy whenever I get my hands on one - as it was the case with this one. I bought it from a British collector for about 80€.

The shirt comes from a friendly match and I don't know for sure which one. It was probably worn by Gilbert Alvarez, the #9 at the time. What I do like about the shirt is the small logo in the back number and the oddity of the sleeve being abused to sit tighter. I am not sure why footballers would do that, but it does happen that they use some kind of therapeutic tape to tie the hem of the sleeve together and make it sit tighter. This and a little stain on the lower back are the battle scars this piece carries - and I surely won't remove it.