French Guiana

 

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vs. Honduras (2:3) | Nations League | 2024 in French Guiana

When European colonizers wrought havoc over South America, they decided that the Caribbean coast of the continent should be name Guyana for reasons no one remembers (it is unknown what Guyana means, actually). They quickly split up that bit of coast and its hinterland, very much like they split up Africa with random borders that make no sense. As a result, there were once five Guyanas: Spanish Guyana (now the Guayana province of Venezuela), British Guyana (now Guyana), Dutch Guyana (now Suriname), French Guyana (now French Guiana) and Portugues Guyana (now part of Brazil). When the world figured out that colonialism is terrible, all these territories became independent or incorporated into a South American state - apart from French Guyana. It is apparently misspelled since, as French Guaiana (at least in English, everyone else seems to stick with the "y", including the French).

Now when it comes to football, things are getting even more weird. Being a bit shit in football, the South Americans didn't want them to be part of CONMEBOL and forced them to just pretend to be a Caribbean island. So they did just that and joined CONCACAF as part of the Caribbean Football Union CFU. That did not help them to join FIFA, of course, but they are still part of CONCACAF, at least. There biggest success since was a third place in the Caribbean Cup in 2017.

Getting a shirt of French Guiana was always notoriously difficult, bordering to impossible. But that changed when Ballers Pride had mercy and started to produce and market their official shirts. Obviously, I couldn't resist and got myself one for around 50€, thus finally finishing all CONCACAF members! The shirt is a bit generic, but definitely does look great, given the nice green and yellow colour combination.