Europe

 

Unknown Players
vs. Africa XI (1:2) | Meridian Cup | 1997 in Portugal

1997 was the European Year against Racism and as part of the campaign, UEFA and CAF jointly organised a one-off friendly between a European All-Star team and an African All-Star team. 8.000 people attended the match, played in Lisbon. Abedi Pele and Mustapha Hadji, two of the biggest African football stars in history, scored for the African selection, while Vincent Guerin, a guy I frankly didn't know, scored the only European goal in the match.

At some point, I was offered this matchworn shirt of Jürgen Kohler from that game for 200ish Euro. I did negotiate, as it is a bit steep for a shirt quite outside of my core collection, but did eventually snap it up for 150€ including shipping. It is a rather typical late-1990s shirt. A baggy, oversized template of its time. But, of course, it is super unique, and thus a brilliant addition to my collection and, indeed one of my favourite shirts somehow.