Zimbabwe 2 & 3

 

Unknown Players
vs. Senegal (0:1) | AFCON | 2021 in Cameroon

Unknown Players
vs. Guinea (2:1) | AFCON | 2021 in Cameroon

Should you actually follow this blog and read it in chronological order, you will notice that we are moving continents. I have now uploaded hundreds of shirts I got over the last few years and just have Africa to do - which is the continent I got the most new shirts from!

We will kick Africa off with these two incredible Zimbabwe shirts by Umbro, produced by the Umbro South Africa bit of the company. The home shirt, the yellow one, is absolutely incredible and I totally love the flag inspired design! The away one, on the other hand, is just wild. I have no clue what it tries to tell me and for that reason alone, I don't fully love it. Yet, overall, I am very happy with the two additions, which I got for about 60€ combined. Nice catches, for sure!

Afghanistan 5

 

Unknown Player
vs. India (0:0) | World Cup Qualifier | 2024 in Saudi Arabia

And another Afghanistan shirt. One I cannot tell you any great or obscure stories about, but just the latest Afghanistan shirt by Six5Six, which I really love. I paid about 50€ for this, which is fair enough, and it is a decent enough design, though nothing extraordinary exciting either.

Afghanistan 4

 

Unknown Player
vs. Sri Lanka (3:1) | SAFF Championship | 2011 in India

To most of you, this Afghanistan shirt will look like just another Hummel template shirt the team used. And on first sight, it is just that. Actually, it was used by the players as just another template.

However, this particular one is of outstanding rarity and collective value. Not because of that weird fake Arab/Pashto/Dari script on the back, which should be a crime. But rather because of the heat pressed print on the front, which has been carefully peeled off. And it surely was not just worn off, but peeled off for a reason!

In 2011, Afghanistan got new kits from Hummel and decided to heat press the Afghanistan state emblem (aka coat of arms) all over the front of the kit. It was a white print, as the only existing example of this shirt I have ever seen shows. But, FIFA quickly intervened. The Coat of Arms of Afghanistan, at the very top, has the Shahada written on it. It is small and quickly evades the eye, but it triggered FIFA to ban the shirt for "religious propaganda". 

It is a curious case and one that can only be explained by the weakness of Afghanistan within the FIFA system. I mean we have seen giant crosses over shirts quite a lot (looking at you, Malta), we have seen shirts with religious symbols (fun fact: The SAINT George's cross, e.g., is a religious symbol) and flags with the Shahada, like the Afghan or Saudi Arabian flags, are flown during FIFA matches and printed on the shirts of the respective national teams. Yet, somehow, printing the COAT OF ARMS, a state rather than a religious symbol, on the Afghanistan national team shirt seemed to cross the line of the 2007 ban on religious symbolism in football (which technically forbids praying when entering the pitch or after scoring, too). 

Now, I find that decision ridicolous, but I am over the moon owning this piece of history.

Bangladesh 2

 

Unknown Player
vs. India (1:1) | World Cup Qualification | 2019 in India

I only ever had that dodgy Bangladesh shirt that was briefly worn on a tour to the OK. While that is incredible, as it does look like a thrash metal shirt, it is also very much a one-off. So I was always looking for a new, second, Bangladesh shirt. One that has actually been used in tournaments or at least qualifiers.

At some point a few years ago, this one then became available. I cannot recall who offered it to me, but I paid about 40€ for this unbranded, in-house, beauty. While I do love the front of it with the great shades of green and the red tiger slashes that remind me of Cameroon, I absolutely hate the back of it. The tiger print just looks cheap, imho. It is just a bit too much. But who am I to complain. I got another Bangladesh shirt and really, that is all I could ask for!

Bhutan 4 & 5

 

Celebrating team
vs. Nepal (5:0) | WAFF Championship | 2022 in Nepal

Unknown Player
vs. Saudi Arabia (3:3) | Friendly | 2022 in Saudi Arabia

This is the 2022 design of Nivia for Bhutan, apparently. Though, a couple of variations of Nivia Bhutan shirts do exist from this period, so I am not sure what was meant to be used when exactly. It is the last Nivia shirt that does feature the full-on dragon, though, and one I wholeheartedly love.

I am not sure if it was ever worn by the men's A national team, but that is just a great excuse to give the Dragon Ladies, as the women's national team is nicknamed, some credit. Unlike the men's team, they are actually reasonably successful in regional tournaments - making the semi finals of the South Asian  Championships in 2022 and 2024. They beat Sri Lanka on the way on both occassions and absolutely thrashed the Maldives (13:0) in 2024, which is remarkable, given Bhutan isn't a massive country itself. The women's national team of Bhutan was also the first to ever travel to Saudi Arabia to give their newly formed national team a test in 2022 - and they drew the country that just started its women's football programs, but already invested 16 million $ into it in the first year and hired one of the best coaches from Germany. Not bad at all!

Bhutan 3

 

Chencho Gyeltshen (Machhindra FA | NEP)
vs. Lebanon (1:4) | SAFF Championship | 2023 in India

This is the second time Nivia equipped the Bhutanese national team and the first time they did not go for the usual dragon design all-over the shirt, which surely is among the best designs in international football history. This one is a more subtle, but still very pleasing to the eye. It still does feature dragons and it just overall is quite nice.

In the picture above you can see Chencho Gyeltshen, aptly named CG7, was he apparently playes like Cristiano Ronaldo. Though, he so far only played in Bhutan, India, Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia and didn't quite make it anywhere close to the Ballon d'Or. Yet, for a small football nation like Bhutan, he really is a gem - and the first and so far only full professional player of his country.

Guam 2 & 3

 

Dane Agustin (San Antonio FC | USA)
vs. Singapore (0:1) | World Cup Qualifier | 2023 in Guam

My first Guam shirt is somehow a bit dodgy, mostly as the badge is not in the right position. So I was always on the lookout for another Guam shirt and when Macron took over the production for Guam, finally one became available. I immediately snapped up the home and away shirt for about 80€ each, directly from the Guam FA. I was unable to find a picture of the home version in use, but I am sure it was used at some point.

While the away version is nice, the home one sticks out. It has the Coat of Arms of Guam all over the side of the shirt. This, together with the nice colour combination of dark blue and dark red, it does work very well.