 |
| Unknown Players vs. Ghana (1:0) | AFCON | 2017 in Gabon |
As I have told you in my last Burkina Faso post, Burkinabe shirts tend to be skin tight or even a bit tighter than that. This one is no exception and as it is sized S, it does barely fit on my mannequin, indeed. I just got this for 12€ and thus couldn't resist, despite the ridiculous size. If you ever got a newborn that loves Burkina Faso, let me know and I will post you that one.
 |
| Unknown Player vs. Swaziland (5:1) | Friendly | 2015 in Burkina Faso |
Burkina Faso is arguably my least liked African team. They just are a bit arrogant and come to every AFCON announcing themselves the top favourites - only to then fire their coach when everyone else is impressed that they made it to the final. Stil, I have to admit that some of their shirts are actually quite nice. Even more, their shirts are tight and feel more like spandex than shirts often enough. This shirt is like that and when I received this, after buying it for like 30€, I was a bit shocked how tight it is. Surely not one I will ever wear, but still a nice enough kit.
Fun fact: I have also been to Burkina Faso for a total of 70 minutes! Last year, I travelled from Brussels to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast and for some reason the plane does stopover in Ouagadougou. It was almost like a bus stop, as people left the plane there and others boarded it. After 70 minutes on the tarmac, we left Burkina Faso for the better and moved on. A wise decision, given that there was a military coup in the country not too long ago and the security situation is dodgy at best.
 |
| Samuel Eto'o (RCD Mallorca | ESP) vs. Egypt (1:0) | AFCON | 2002 in Mali |
Cameroon loves to experiment with football shirts. They once had a onesie to avoid shirt pulling and they obviously went for a muscle shirt cut once, too. I actually quite like that creativity and loved how Puma just went ahead and realised them both. So obviously, I was always keen to get one and as one popped up on ebay for 40€ I just had to get it.
One reason for its uniqueness is surely FIFA, who once again snubbed any creativity and innovation and simply forbid sleeveless shirts for no particular reason. I genuinely don't get why sleeves would be crucial to allow being play a sport where you cannot use your arms. But then again, I fail to understand most of the nonsense FIFA is cooking. Either way, I am super pleased to got this rarity, finally.
 |
| Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting (Bayern München | GER) vs. Serbia (3:3) | World Cup | 2022 in Qatar |
In 2022, a new supplier in the national team shirt world popped up - ONE. Naturally, I had to get their shirt, which is this Cameroon one that they even brought to the biggest of all stages, the World Cup, that once glorious tournament that is now regularly for sale to the least attractive possible host with the deepest pockets. It is a nice shirt, but in comparison to other Cameroonian shirts, it still pales. I paid about 60€ for it, as I got it shortly after release with some discount code. Not bad, but not a banger either.
 |
| Unknown Player vs. Macedonia (1:0) | Friendly | 2011 in Macedonia |
In 2010, Puma gave all teams a template with a cut-off shoulder and added a mesh with their national symbol into it - a pharao for Egpyt, a black star for Ghana and so on. Most teams had an away shirt that was entirely different to that, except for this Cameroon one. It still has the mesh in the shoulder, but nothing really printed onto it. As I do have a bit of a thing for the 2010 Puma template, I thus got this for about 20€ at some point, although it is not my favourite Cameroon shirt.
 |
| Kevin Pina (FC Krasnodar | RUS), Deroy Duarte (Fortuna Sittard | NED) and Roberto Lopes (Shamrock Rovers | IRE) vs. Ghana (2:1) | AFCON | 2023 in Ivory Coast |
 |
| Joao Paulo (Sheriff Tiraspol | MDA) vs. Mauritania (1:0) | AFCON | 2023 in Ivory Coast |
The 2023 AFCON was the big one for Cape Verde, so far at least. Drawn into a group of death with favourites Ghana and Egypt (and Mozambique), they ended up being the only team winning any matches in this group. Two, indeed: Thrashing Mozambique 3:0 and beating Ghana, while drawing against Egypt. That easily put them to the top of the group and meant that they would meet the ultimate minnow, Mauritania, in the first knock-out stage. They beat them, too, but sadly lost on penalties to South Africa in the quarter finals. An absolutely incredible run for the third smallest African nation, just more populous than Sao Tome and Principe and the Seychelles. Worth mentioning is also that this success was coached by Bubista, a Cape Verdean and former national team player.
Given that massive success, I just had to get the latest Cape Verde shirts still during the tournament. Luckily, Tempo is making these easily accessible via their webshop, which is where I got both for about 50€ each.
 |
| Unknown Player vs. Senegal (0:2) | AFCON | 2022 in Cameroon |
Most football shirt collectors have a soft spot for Cape Verde. A small island nation that keeps performing incredibly well in the AFCON, almost qualified for the World Cup a few times and has absolute banger shirts, usually. I am definitely one of those collectors. When in 2022 the small Portuguese manufacturer Tempo struck a deal with the Cape Verdean FA to produce their football shirts, I was over the moon. Tempo replaced Adidas, who provided Cape Verde with, admittedly fancy, templates, and came up with an absolute legendary bespoke design: Shades of dark blue, golden trims and a massive shark all over the shirt - can it get any better?
Naturally I ordered my version of it for about 50€ and am more than pleased I did. It is an excellent addition to the collection and arguably my favourite Tubaraos shirt, at least visually.
