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| Kudakwashe Mapira Homeless World Cup | 2019 in Wales |
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| Kudakwashe Mapira Homeless World Cup | 2019 in Wales |
These two Zimbabwe shirts are quite special, in many ways. First, they are the only shirt from the Homeless World Cup I own, a global tournament that brings together homeless players that compete in a multi-tier tournament against each other. The last pre-COVID edition was held in Cardiff, Wales, in 2019, and it was the first time that Zimbabwe entered both, the men's and the women's competition. I couldn't find the final position of Zimbabwe's women's team, but the men's team took the third place in the third tier of the event (out of 6 tiers), which is not bad at all. In that tournament, Zimbabwe made some headlines, as they fielded Kudakwashe Mapira, nicknamed terminator, the first disabled player to ever play at the Homeless World Cup. Kedakwashe came close to professional football in Zimbabwe repeatedly, as he is incredibly gifted, but due to his disability never really got the chance to make it to the top level. At the Homeless World Cup, however, he did not just play, but excel, being crowned the man of the match award against both, Chile and the USA.
Secondly, this shirt was done by Leyburn sport, an incredible small company from the UK, that used to equip quite a number of mostly African teams around 2018 to 2020. I knew Ross, their owner and founder, quite well and absolutely loved his work and was able to link him up to Matabeleland, which he equipped for a while, too. It is a shame that the company seems to not exist anymore, but it was surely one of these small brands that went beyond just making cash and tried to add a social value to their work.
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