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| Unknown Players vs. San Marino (3:0) | World Cup Qualifier | 2021 in San Marino |
There really is not a lot I can say about this shirt. It is from the Macron Kit Solidarity Scheme and is arguably the most boring one within this scheme. Yet, I got this for 15€ when it went on sale - even though it meant I had to get it in XS. Not a shirt I will ever fit into and not the greatest design, but at least it was super cheap.
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| Unknown Players vs. Germany (0:6) | World Cup Qualifiers | 2021 in Germany |
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| Unknown Players vs. Sweden (1:3) | Friendly | 2021 in Sweden |
Now THIS is an Armenian shirt! Both of them, actually! They are having all kind of shades of an Apricot, the fruit that is a national symbol of Armenia. I absolutely love it, as the the colour is quite unique on a national team shirt and the different shades just work great together. It was part of the Macron kit solidarity scheme, which equipped all the "smaller European sides" around that time - and made a lot of incredible designs for these teams.
I got both these shirts straight from Macron for about 30€ each when they went on a sale. I obviously am very happy with them and actually do wear them at times. Definitely, visually, the best Armenian shirts I am aware of so far. Well done, Macron!
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| Henrikh Mkitharyan (Manchester United, ENG) vs. Malta (1:1) | Friendly | 2018 in Austria |
And another matchworn and signed Armenia shirt - this time not quite as beautiful, in my opinion. It is another Adidas template and one that seems to have absolutely no vague relation to the country that is wearing it. It might fit Finland or the Faroe Islands, but Armenia playing in these colours just feels weird, in my opinion. But here we are!
This shirt came via a befriended collector for 90€ and I got it, as it is signed by the player and just the player who wore it - my personal favourite kind of shirt. It was worn by Artur Sarkisov, another Armenian player who was barely in Armenia, other than playing for the national team. Born in Chechnya, he spent his entire career in the Russian league system, mostly in the second divison. He was a regular for Armenia, though, playing a total of 42 matches for his country.
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| Unknown Players vs. Kazakhstan (3:0) | Friendly | 2012 in Armenia |
Another Armenia matchworn shirt - and certainly one of my favourite Adidas template shirts, which is admittedly a low hurdle to take. The colour combination, along with the yellow number and name print, does not just look very Andorran, it also works quite well. It definitely is a million times better than the away shirt during the same period, which was just plane white.
Weirdly, Armenia debuted this shirt in May and June 2012 in friendlies vs. Greece and Kazakhstan, before they apparently found some remaining Hummels shirts and used that for the following friendly vs. Belarus in August 2012. They immediately got back to this Adidas shirt after the Belarus friendly, though.
This particular shirt was worn and signed by Avghan Papikyan, an Armenian born in Poland, who was officially a Spartak Moscow player when he debuted for Armenia in 2013 - but never played for the club, as he was loaned out to Armenian side Pyunik during his entire contract year. He has since commuted between Armenia and Poland, playing in the first division in the South Caucasian country and in the first, second and third divison of Poland. He made it to the Armenian national team after a rather unusual friendly - the Armenian national team played its own Under-21 national team. The coach was apparently impressed by Papikyan, who played for the U21, and nominated him for the following national team match. His career, however, was very shortlived - he only played for Armenia twice and is now playing in the third Polish division.
I got this shirt, which I think is from his debut, from ebay, if I recall correctly. It cost me about 80€, which is a fair price for matchworn European shirt, for sure.
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| Marie Höbinger (FC Zürich, SUI) Euros 2022 Group Stage |
I finally got my hands on the famous Austria strawberry shirt - by far the nicest design our Southern neighbors ever sported. This one is matchworn by Marie Höbinger, who is now playing at Liverpool, during the 2022 Euros and cost me 75€. It was the first tournament for Höbinger and certainly a bit breakthrough for herself - and the Austrian team. Austria did beat Norway in the 2022 Euros, kicking out the twice European champion in the group stages. In the entire tournament, they finally only lost to England and Germany - the two finalists - which is impressive for the small alpine nation, for sure.
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| Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos, GRE) vs. Malta (1:1) | Friendly | 2007 in Malta |
Like my first Austria shirt, this one is matchworn, too. I am not sure who wore it, though. It is the quite unusual 2006 away shirt, which came in black with an even darker black eagle crest all over the shirt. The crest is barely visible in daylight, but comes out nicely in the picture. It also is from the brief period in which shirts were glued together, rather than sewed for reasons beyond me.
I am not sure I like the shirt, to be honest. But it definitely sticks out - even among other Austrian shirts, which does make it very collectible. As I also got it for about 70€ only, I just had to snap it up, really.
