Mauritania 3

 

Unknown Player
vs. Madagascar (3:1) | Friendly | 2019 in Madagascar

If you like absurd and creative stories on purchasing football shirts, buckle up! You already know I collect national team football shirts and thus obviously realised that Mauritania finally got proper bespoke football shirts in 2019. They were made by Moroccan brand AB Sports - a company that does great football shirts, but absolutely hates money. I tried to buy the shirt for them, as all my previous Mauritania shirts were dodgy, and was in touch with the company for months, but their response was always the same: The shirts are on sale in Morocco and Mauritania, but we cannot be arsed to send them to you. You want to pay for the shipping and even send a courier to our door? Nope, thanks, we don't want to sell our goods. Genuinely a weird approach to doing business, but hey, it is what it is.

As a result, it became obvious that I need to find someone to buy a Mauritania shirt for me at the FFRIM (Mauritania FA) fan shop in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital. And yes, there is an official AB Sports fan shop there. But, it was 2020. A bloody pandemic put the world on halt and while usually only a few people ever travel to Mauritania - absolutely no one did in 2020. What you might not know about me, yet, is that I am also obsessed with traveling. As a result, I am a member of a number of very niche travel groups on Facebook. During COVID, I browsed it, somehow trying to kill my travel bug, and figured that there was a major issue in this world during the pandemic: Fixers were struggling to find customers around the world. Fixers, or local travel agents, are people that help tourists to organise everything on the ground.

Naturally, I connected the dots and thought "well, if those fixers are all bored and in need of fixing things - could they possibly be happy to chase shirts for me instead?". I contacted a well-known fixer in Mauritania. A man that is an absolute legend in the travel world and arranges tours across the country, including deep into the desert and on the infamous coal train (google that, if you have never heard it!). And apparently, my approach was not as stupid as it sounded. He quickly replied and was keen to go to that fan shop and sort a shirt for me. A few days later, he had the shirt and I could pay him easily by Paypal, which he had set up for all the tourists he is working for. Now, he just had to wait for a few months until the next traveler would come to Mauritania - an Italian guy - and he gave him the shirt to bring it to Europe and post it to me. That worked like a charm. And boom, now I have a legit Mauritania shirt that is beyond any doubts, for sure, finally.

I paid about 70 or 80€ for that, including the shipping and paying the fixer. The shirt itself was maybe half of that, but I was more than happy to pay the fixer a bit extra. I am super greatful for him and his help and should I ever manage to fly to Mauritania, I will definitely get in touch with him to share a tea with him. Thanks!