Senegal 7

 

Boulaye Dia (Villarreal CF | ESP)
vs. Guinea (0:0) | AFCON | 2022 in Cameroon

2022 Senegal won the AFCON - and even to my surprise, it was the first time they ever did. On the way to that title, the team wore this beautiful Puma shirt that features a subtle pattern, designed by Senegalese artists, all over the front. That shirt, along with the whole 2022 series of Puma, is an absolute favourite of mine and thus I just had to get it, even if it did set me back 60€ish, IIRC. When Senegal went all the way to lift one of the biggest trophies in football in this shirt, it just got even better for me, my collection, but mostly for every Senegalese football fan out there.

Senegal 6

 

Khalilou Fadiga (AJ Auxerre | FRA)
vs. France (1:0) | World Cup | 2002 in South Korea

In 2002, Senegal qualified for a World Cup for the first time, traveling all the way to South Korea for their opening match vs. the reigning World Champion France. A special match, for sure, given that the entire Senegalese squad played in the French league back then, apart from the second and third keepers. It was meant to be a complete mismatch, in which Senegal would have no chance, really. But then one of the biggest miracles in World Cup history happened - they beat the French and made it out of the group after draws vs. Denmark and Uruguay, while France went home winless in the end. They went further by beating Sweden in extra time, only to lose to Turkey in the Quarter Final, again on extra time. What remained was one of the most remarkable World Cup runs of an African team ever.

I was a little boy when this opening match happened. Aged 15, I was certain that the French team around Zidane, one of the biggest stars of my childhood, will walk at least to the final again. But I quickly turned into a Senegal fan over the course of the tournament, admiring El Hadji Douf, in particular. 

Of course, I was always keen on getting the Senegalese shirt that stood for this history - and I finally did, although having to pay 80€ for this replica. I totally love the shirt and do wear it quite often with pride - a perfect memory of one of the first World Cups I truly and entirely followed.

Senegal 5

 

Mamadou Niang (Al-Sadd SC | QAT)
vs. Libya (1:2) | AFCON | 2012 in Equatorial Guinea

For Senegal, the 2012 AFCON was an absolute nightmare. They came to the tournament in Equatorial Guinea as one of the favourites, with players like Demba Ba or Papiss Demba Cissé in their absolute prime, and went home losing all three group matches - against the underdogs of Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Zambia. It was really a disaster for them and as a result, they quickly threw away their shirts following the tournament and got a new design.

As a result, this shirt was a bit forgotten, despite it being actually quite nice, in my opinion. It is relatively simple and just another template that Puma threw at them - but thanks to the colour combination, it actually does work well for me. So when I had the chance to grab it for around 30€, I just took my chance and am happy I did.

Senegal 4

 

Khadim N'Diaye (ASCE La Linguere)
vs. Mexico (0:1) | Friendly | 2010 in USA

This is a Senegalese 2010 goalkeeper shirt and it seems the design was only worn in a few matches. I have no clue who this one used, but it was sold to me as matchworn and I have little doubt it is indeed a player jersey, at least. To be honest, that was the only reason I got this shirt, too. It set me back 70€, which is more than I would normally pay for a grey, super dull, goalkeeper shirt - but again, it is a matchworn Senegal shirt, which is not easy to get, at all.

Seychelles 2

 

Unknown Player
vs. Mauritius (2:2) | Bangabandhu Cup | 2020 in Bangladesh

I got an absolute perfect Seychelles shirt already, thanks a to a brilliant German-Seychellois man who helped me many years ago. Really, it could never get better than that.

Still, when Rhino Sports equipped the Seychelles with a great bespoke kit in 2020 - and it became available via a number of shops - I had to get my hands on a shirt. It came to me for about 50€ and does feature the outline of Seychelles on the shirt. And as we are speaking about polyester and (tiny insular parts of) an atlas: Check out Polyester Atlas, by far the best video podcast on collecting national team football shirts out there: LINK.

Sierra Leone 5

 

Unknown Players
vs. DR Congo (0:2) | AFCON | 2014 in South Africa

In 2014, the small Australian company AMS briefly took over equipping Sierra Leone. I will not rant against the company too much here, again, as I have done that on a number of other posts already. In short: The owner of AMS is producing fake shirts in large numbers.

However, that backstory makes this shirt a bit special. I paid 100€ for it, buying it from a befriended collector in Germany. He, in turn, got it straight from the AMS owner many moons ago - and it was sold to him as a matchworn shirt. And it might be. But it might as well be another lie of Luke W, the AMS owner who is so big in the counterfeit market. My trust in him, at least, is not great.

Still, I am pleased to have this shirt at all. It is arguably the most boring of the Sierra Leone shirts I have - but it still is a Sierra Leone shirt and none of them are really boring.

Sierra Leone 4

 

Unknown Players
vs. Nigeria (1:2) | AFCON Qualifiers | 2022 in Nigeria

In 2022, Umbro South Africa took over supplying Sierra Leone, a bit surprisingly. As a home shirt, they provided the team with a lovely chaotic green, white and blue shirt, featuring the Sierra Leone national flag colours.

I only got this shirt a few years later, paying around 40€ to get my hands on it. I am quite pleased with it, too, as the design is really neat.

Sierra Leone 3

 

Unknown Player
vs. Niger (1:0) | AFCON Qualifiers | 2011 in Sierra Leone

This Sierra Leone shirt is an absolute beast - and a total classic within the national team collectors scene, I would say. It is up there among the most exciting national team shirts ever, for sure.

When it was worn, in 2011, Sierra Leone football was in a sorry state. They did not qualify to many tournaments and while the 2012 AFCON qualifier was successful, it was not enough to qualify once again. But, they somehow got a deal with Danish brand Hummel, which resulted in this absolutely insane shirt, featuring a lion and all colours of the Sierra Leone flag. It was sold across the world and got some traction back then - and later became one of the most sought after obscure national team shirts.

Personally, I am not too fond of it, to be honest. Sure, it is a spectacular shirt and as I do own enough red, white or blue Adidas templates, I am super pleased it exists and I am lucky enough that I could get one for about 80€. Still, it is not among favourite shirts either. It just looks a bit cheap, if we are totally honest.

Somalia 3 & 4

 

Unknown Player
vs. Tanzania (0:1) | CHAN Qualifier | 2022 in Tanzania

Unknown Player
vs. Oman (1:2) | Arab Cup Qualifier | 2021 in Qatar

Somalia is another holy grail of football shirt collection. They have barely played for decades, happily used fakes again and again and changed their design for almost every match they had. There have been fakes and badged up templates on the market, but barely any legit Somalia shirts have been surfaced on any of the usual platforms, marketplaces or in any online shop.

That slightly changed around 2021, when the small Somali company A2Z sports took over and equipped the Somalian national team. They did not make the shirts easily available globally, but they did sell a few replicas here and there and some collectors did get hold of them. One of them offered me to be part of a bulk order - and I happily joined.

These shirts do fill a big gap in my collection, indeed. Both my previous Somalia shirts were dodgy at best. So much so that I actually didn't consider Somalia "finished", yet. With these two shirts, however, I can sleep well again.

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.

South Africa 3

 

Thembi Kgatlana (Houston Dash | USA)
vs. Equatorial Guinea (7:1) | AFCON | 2018 in Ghana

I got another South African shirt and I really cannot recall why I did. I somehow saw this on sale for 20ish Euro and just snapped it up. It is a nice design, overall, but equally not really exciting, either, at least not for South African standards. Not a bad job by Nike, but still missing the trick of going absolutely crazy design-wise, as South African designers regularly did before.

South Sudan 3

 

Unknown Player
vs. Djibouti (1:0) | AFCON Qualifier | 2021 in South Sudan

Once upon a time, South Sudan shirts used to be the holy grail - impossible to find, really. But then, AMS came to the rescue and started to produce their shirts. I got two of those. But what used to be a perfect solution for a collection issue, became a bit of a moral dilemma, when the owner of AMS, Luke W, used his new won skills in the football shirt market to become one of the largest counterfeit dealer globally. His illegal business is now mostly known as "Global Jerseys", though his counterfeits are also traded under a dozen other names by him and a bunch of resellers from around the world. That clouded my love for AMS a lot. Obviously, I do not want to support a guy who is making collecting harder and more treacherous by flooding the world with more fakes than anyone else.

That said, I needed a new South Sudan shirt and thus was very pleased when Macron did not just take over equipping them, but started to sell their shirts, too. They came for about 50€, initially, which is why I only got one version of it, but they were available, at least. It is a bit of a boring first attempt and the later Macron designs were a tad nicer, but I will settle with this one for now, I guess.