Austria 4

 

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.

Austria 3

 

I couldn't find a picture of this design in use - but it was sold to me as a matchworn shirt and I have little reason to doubt that. I guess it is a women's national shirt, but even then struggle to find a picture of it. If anyone could help me finding a proof pic of this one, I would be really happy. Thanks!

Austria 2

 

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.

Belarus 16

 

Unknown Player
vs. Bulgaria (1:4) | Friendly | 2000 in Bulgaria

While I do have more than enough Belarus shirts, I was always missing one with this logo, which was only briefly used. So when I got a chance to get this 1999/2000 Puma design, I had to snap it up. It did set me back 30€, but that is surely worth it (I keep telling myself). Promised - that is it for now! I do have indeed not more Belarus shirts (yet)!

Belarus 15

 

Unknown Players
vs. Romania (3:5) | Friendly | 2020 in Romania

The story behind this shirt in this collection is the same as ever - Belarus got a new shirt and I had a chance to get it cheap, this time in a ridiculous tiny size. I paid 20€ for it, as it is a XS shirt, so I thought I should just it for the lols of growing my Belarus collection even more.

Belarus 14

 

Unknown Player
vs. Slovenia (2:0) | Friendly | 2018 in Slovenia

I tried to stop Belarus shirts. I really did. But then I was offered this absolutely beast of a blacked out matchworn shirt for 90€ and I just could not resist. With the massive pattern at the bottom end of the front, it is a very unique design, globally, and I just had to get it.

Belarus 13

 

Unknown Player
vs. Luxembourg (1:0) | UEFA Nations League | 2018 in Belarus

Belarus got a new shirt in 2018. It had a tiny little pattern at the side. I had to get it, for absolutely no reason. So I did, paying about 40€ for my bloody thirteenth Belarus shirt.

Bosnia & Herzegovina 3

 

Vedad Ibisevic (Hertha BSC, GER)
vs. Ireland (1:1) | Euro Qualifier | 2015 in Bosnia

Usually, Bosnia does wear blue in home matches - often with golden details, as the flag has it. Given that, I felt I should get a blue/gold Bosnia shirt myself and snapped this one up for 20€ at some point. It is not a very imaginative design, but rather a plain one, but thanks to the colour combination, it is just nice enough.

It definitely is the best of my Bosnian shirts by design now. Hence, I took this one to Sarajevo in 2023 to snap up my "shirt collection on tour" pic, wearing it just in the very center of the Sarajevo old town:

Bosnia is really an incredibly beautiful country. The scenery just happens to be breathtaking wherever you go, really. But one highlight of the trip, for sure, was seeing the Sarajevo derby, which happened to be held during my visit. Zeleznicar and FK Sarajevo met, playing out a fierce rivalry. There was so much pyro that parts of the match where hard to see - but the atmosphere just was incredible and surprisingly super peaceful, too. If you ever get a chance to see the derby: Go for it!

Bosnia & Herzegovina 2

 

Unknown Players
vs. Japan (2:1) | Kirin Cup | 2016 in Japan

I already have a matchworn Bosnia shirt, but it still has some deficits: It is tiny, so I cannot wear it, and it is arguably a bit boring. That said, I just had to grab up some nicer Bosnia shirts at some point. This is one of the two I got to address that boredom of my first shirt - paying a mere 15€ for it on ebay. There really is not a lot I can say about it, apart from the fact that it is just fine and was cheap enough.

Bulgaria 7

 

I wasn't able to find a match pic of this shirt, but I guess it is the third version of the 2002 Bulgaria shirt. I guess there is no picture of it, as no photographer found this shirt worthy of wasting a single byte on their SD card - rightly so. It is the definition of boredom in bright green.

The reason I still paid 15€ for it is simple: It does have another Bulgaria crest than all my other shirts. So I absurdly felt the need to get it.

Bulgaria 5 & 6

 

Dimitar Berbatov (Torku Konyaspor, TUR)
vs. France (1:4) | World Cup Qualifier | 2016 in France

Bulgaria U19
vs. Denmark (3:1) | World Cup Qualifier | 2017 in Bulgaria

I just had to put these two 2016-2018 Bulgaria shirts in one post, as they are arguably one of the wildest Home/Away combination in international football. The placement of the manufacturer logo and the FA logo, the colour scheme, the design and even the little print in the back of the away shirt - they are all different on both shirts. It almost looks likes Bulgaria just employed two designers that hated each other and just picked both designs in the end.

Yet, they are both kind of fine. The home shirt is not too bad and the away shirt is actually quite nice. I do like sashes and the colour combination of green, red and yellow - together with the crest in those colours - just works very well to me. Well done, Joma and Bulgaria! I got those shirts straight from the Bulgarian FA when they had a sale in 2018, paying around 50€ for both of them combined, including shipping.

England 4

 

Steven Gerrard (FC Liverpool)
vs. Poland (2:0) | World Cup Qualifier | 2013 in England

England shirts are known to be spectacularly boring. In fact, I struggle to remember a single shirt that I did not find just dull, especially not a home shirt. In 2013, however, the FA at least tried to do a bit of a retro shirt with a nice little anniversary print, which slightly elevates the entire shirt. It is still mostly dull and boring - but not the most terrible England shirt, for sure.

As you can probably guess from my lack of excitement, I did not buy that shirt for its design, though. I got it, as it is actually matchworn and thus ticks off another country on my matchworn collection list! It is not worn by the A national team, but by an under-something team, but still - it is matchworn. I got it from someone close to the youth team, who sold it to me for 100€, which is fair enough for a matchworn England shirt.