Eritrea 2

 

Unknown Players during warm-up
vs. Namibia (0:2) | World Cup Qualifier | 2019 in Namibia

If you wonder how it is so hard to get your name out on the international football shirt manufacturing stage, think about this shirt. It was designed and produced by Leyburn, a small UK brand that tried to enter the African football market in 2019 and did so quite successfully, supplying teams from Zimbabwe, including the Homeless World Cup national team, and a few others across the continent. Their big shot at the time was with Eritrea, though, one of the worst teams in the FIFA rankings. They signed a deal with their FA and got consultancy by Eritrean football fans to design a shirt that is bespoke and really speaks to the team and its fans. They also planned to sell the shirt locally, for an affordable rate.

The big day for Leyburn and Eritrea was meant to be in September 2019. The team played its first international matches since 2019, meeting Namibia home and away in the World Cup qualfiier. Leyburn did work hard to get the shirts to the team in time - and they did arrive just a day before kick-off. The team did a presentation of their new shirts and everything looked great, when they entered the pitch in their new kits. But then, for reasons that were never really communicated by the Eritreans, they left the kits in the cabin after warm-up and used unbranded shirts, instead. These Leyburn shirts have been official as they can - yet have never been worn.

Personally, I am still glad that I got mine and could support Leyburn at the time, helping them to get in touch with Eritrea in 2019. The shirt is still applauded by Eritrean fans online at times and would still be a fantastic design, but it just never happened.

Ethiopia 4

 

I really cannot say a lot about this shirt. Umbro did produce it for the 2022 AFCON as a third shirt, but I am not sure if the design was ever actually worn. I still got it, as it was on sale for less than 20 Euro at some point.

In my opinion, this is the least-Ethiopia-looking shirt I could possibly imagine. It looks more like Bob Marley decided to customize a Morocco shirt by adding some Rastafari sleeve endings to it - which I know is kind of a bit of an Ethiopia reference, at least.

Gabon 3

 

Aaron Boupendza (Al-Arabi | QAT)
vs. Ghana (1:1) | AFCON | 2022 in Cameroon

THE PUMA IS BACK ON THE GABON SHIRT! Well, it was, in 2022. It is gone again now for no good reasons. Anyways, in 2022, Kappa was kind enough to give football shirt collectors around the world what they expect - and missed since 2012 - from a Gabon national team shirt: A massive Puma head imprinted into the fabric and all over the shirt. Now football shirt collectors around the world might not convince suppliers and/or the Gabonese FA to keep the puma head on the shirt, but maybe this does: Apart from 1996, Gabon has only twice qualified for the knockout stages of an AFCON: In 2012 and 2022. In other words: Whenever they wore a Puma head on their shirt, they made it through the group stage. SO WHY WAS IT DROPPED AGAIN?

I got this shirt from some shop, but cannot really recall which it was. I remember it cost me about 50€ and I did struggle to convince myself to buy it, but in the end did it for the Puma alone. I just needed to have it and am pleased I did. The green and blue details on the yellow shirt also make this a unique and absolutely beautiful colour combination.

Gambia 5 & 6

 

Ebrima Colley (Young Boys | SUI)
vs. Cameroon (2:3) | AFCON | 2024 in Ivory Coast

Jacob Mendy (Wrexham | WAL) & Omar Colley (Besiktas | TUR)
vs. Guinea (0:1) | AFCON | 2024 in Ivory Coast

Following the success of Gambia at the previous AFCON and the surprising second continuous qualification for Africas biggest tournament, Saller finally was convinced that the team is worthy of a bespoke desing. For the 2024, they thus created this beautiful piece that resembles the "2010 Puma thing in the corner" series with a Scorpion being that thing here, due to the nickname of the team.

Gambia could not repeat their success of the 2022 edition, though. On the surface, they just lost all three of their group stages matches and crashed out in the group stage. In fact, it was much more tense than that, though. Playing in a group with the defending champion Senegal, Cameroon and the usual dark horse Guinea, they basically never had a chance of advancing. Yet, in the last match, they had all to play for. With a win against Cameroon, they would proceed as one of the best third placed teams. After a Cameroonian lead, they turned the match around, making it 2:1, putting them atop Cameroon and into the knock-out stages. Only for Cameroon to equalize in the 87' minutes (which would mean that both teams are out) and then turn it into their favour (to proceed) in the 90+1'. An absolute thriller and arguably one of the best matches of football I have ever seen.

As the other Saller Gambia shirts, this one cost me about 30 or 35€ each and I was pleased to get them in time for the 2024 AFCON already.

Gambia 4

 

Omar Colley (Sampdoria | ITA)
vs. Mali (1:1) | AFCON | 2022 in Cameroon

Saller not just sold their 2019 shirts, but every design since. And in 2022, when the team shocked the African football world by making it to the Quarter Finals of the first ever AFCON they ever qualified for, they used this design. It is, once again, a boring Saller teamwear line template, badged up with the FA logo and a massive flag between the shoulder blades. I was never fond of it, but due to the success of the team, I wanted to at least get the home version of it, setting me back 30€ again.

Gambia 2 & 3

 

Unknown Player
vs. Gabon | AFCON Qualifiers | 2020 in Gambia

Squad pic of unknown match

Gambia shirts once were close to impossible to get. They had terrible templates for decades, of various suppliers. Weirldy, among them was Saller, a small German company that mostly sells teamwear and sponsors a few, mostly lower league, clubs in the country. At least that is what I though, knowing mostly their contracts with Paderborn and Jahn Regensburg. In fact, however, Saller does sponsor quite a few clubs internationally: Neman Grodno in Belarus, Békéscsaba 1912 Elöre in the second Hungarian divison, Horoya AC in Guinea or Bloc 16 Academy in a non-leage division in Senegal. A really weird mix of teams - and a single national team: Gambia. Saller has supplied Gambia from 2005 to 2011 and then ever since 2019, making them by far the country's most used brand for reasons I will never understand (and failed to figure out).

These shirts are the home and away shirts Saller sent down to Gambia in 2019, when they won the contract with the GFA again. They are largely uninspired and are just from the teamwear line that Saller offered at the time. But, they were sold for as little as 30€ in Germany, making them very accessible for me, which is why I just had to get them.

Ghana 7

 

Unknown Player
vs. Brazil (1:2) | Youth World Cup | 1993 in Australia

I got this shirt for about 100€ and it was sold to me as a matchworn Ghana shirt. For ages, I was unsure about it, as all the pics I had of Ghana wearing this template did have a FA badge on it and a different number set than this one. See the following pic:

Indeed, I was quite sure that it is not a legit shirt. What kept me searching, however, was that I got this shirt from a very legitimate source that was indeed close to Charles Akonnor, the player who apparently wore this shirt. But then I stumbled over the 1993 FIFA Youth World Cup and that Akonnor was in the squad for that one. When browsing pictures of that tournament, I quickly figured out that Ghana wore the shirt I own exactly like that in that tournament. So, very likely, I got the shirt that Akonnor wore during this tournament - a truly historic piece, especially given that Ghana won silver in the tournament.

Ghana 6

 

Unknown Player
vs. Gambia (1:0) | WAFU Nations Cup | 2017 in Ghana

This Black Stars shirts is a bit controversial among collectors. Many saw it as the most neat and perfectly clean design. Personally, I think it really is one of the least exciting shirts the team wore. It is not bad, but just a bit boring, in my opinion. I still got it, years after its release, when it went on sale for 20€, as I do not find it terrible, either.

Ghana 5

 

André Ayew (Al Sadd | QAT)
vs. Gabon (1:1) | AFCON | 2022 in Cameroon

When Puma decided to give Ghana a Kente-inspired set of shirts in 2021, I was absolutely loving it. Having been to Ghana myself, I have seen all the colourful and beautiful Kente clothes that people across the country are wearing. The pattern itself often does tell you a bit about the region, the family or the ethnicity of the wearer - a bit like a Scottish kilt does usually stand for some specific clan. Though, today, Kente is very much just a fashionable design that is popular with everyone in Ghana and large parts of West African. For all the right reasons, if you ask me! In fact, I love Kente so much that I got Kente patterns on my own office walls.

So this shirt really spoke to me and this black/white version works even better than the more colourful away shirt. It just looks more fitting for the Black Stars, I guess. So, as you can see, I am a fan of this shirt and did happily pay 70€ for it, as soon as it was released. Well done, Puma!

Ghana 4

 

Richard Kingson (Wigan Athletic | ENG)
Unknown match 2008

Did I ever say that I hate goalkeeper shirts? Well, I do. Yet, I do own a fair few and this is one of them. It was on sale for 20ish Euro somewhere and I just couldn't resist adding another Black Stars shirt to my collection, as I do have weak spot for Ghana - partly due to the 2010 World Cup performance and partly, because I have traveled to the country and absolutely loved it.

Guinea 6

 

Unknown Player
vs. Cape Verde (2:1) | Friendly | 2020 in Cape Verde

 I did get another weird Guinea shirt with this one. It was sold with that oddly misplaced Monster logo on the belly, but the team itself never wore it with that odd detail. So I am not sure what to make out of my replica now, to be honest.

I will count it, I guess, as it was sold by Macron exactly like that and the team did present it with that Monster logo thing, after all. I still kind of regret spending 60€ on it at the time.