South Africa 4

 

Pierre Issa (Olympique Marseille | FRA)
vs. Denmark (1:1) | World Cup | 1998 in France

Kappa x South Africa is kind of the peak of 1990s football shirt designs. You will barely find any more exciting shirts out there from that period. So it is no coincidence, that this is my second South African shirt by Kappa, although the first one is not just matchworn, but even a tiny little bit nice than this one. I snapped this one up for about 80€.

This design was worn during the 1998 World Cup, in which South Africa had the issue of starting the tournament against the host, France. They lost 0:3 to the hosts, but actually did recover quite well from that, drawing against Denmark and Saudi Arabia in the following matches. That wasn't enough to proceed, but surely was a display that the Bafana Bafana could be pleased with.

I am equally pleased with adding this shirt to my collection. Somehow these South African shirts are almost too much for me. Still, I am very keen on them just for being so absolutely wild, design wise. Add the classic 1990s baggy look of the shirts and you have the feeling of holding a piece of fabric from a time that was my youth - but feels quite distant today. If I ever get my hands on the other Kappa South African shirts, I will surely snap that up again.