Borussia Dortmund Home Shirt

Before I start on this brilliant shirt, I know what you’re thinking. Seattle Sounders, UNAM Pumas and now Borussia Dortmund – am I the biggest football hipster of all time? Yes, I probably am!

If you follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t, why don’t you?!) you’ll probably have seen me enquiring about Dortmund shirts recently. Again, they have very iconic kits and I’ve been after a BVB shirt for a while. Fortunately I walked into Sports Direct and they had some on the shelves in my size. They even undercharged me £10, result!

When I first saw this kit revealed in the summer, I wasn’t a fan. It has definitely grown on me though and shows Puma really do know how to make an iconic kit even more striking without going too over the top and losing the identity.

If you’re a football fan, you’ll know all about BVB. They’re one of the most successful German clubs in history (despite their awful start to this campaign) having won eight German championships, three DFB-Pokals, five DFL-Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup. They also have the coolest man on the planet as their manager – the fantastic Jurgen Klopp.

Their Signal Iduna Park home is brilliant and always has a fantastic atmosphere created by the ‘Yellow Wall’. I’m definitely hoping to get to a Dortmund game one day because let’s face it, the Germans just do football better than us English.

Seattle Sounders Third Shirt

No respected football shirt blog should be without a Seattle Sounders shirt. And only the best have two! I have already spoken about the awesomeness that is the Sounders so head on over to my other Seattle shirt to read more about them.

I believe this was their third kit in 2012 and it’s pretty damn awesome. The colour is described as “super cyan” – they even create their own colours! Just take a minute to appreciate the greatness.

FC Dallas Away Shirt

Second MLS shirt to add to the blog and it’s another lovely shirt in my opinion. This is the 2012-13 away shirt from FC Dallas, who are one of only ten MLS starter clubs having been in the league since its formation in 1996. Until 2005 they were known as Dallas Burn.

They are yet to win the MLS but got close in 2010 before losing in the final of the play-offs to the Colorado Rapids and are currently fifth in the Western Conference which would see them through to the MLS Cup knockout round.

Apart from that I don’t know too much about the club. I have always wanted to visit Texas as it just seems like a crazy place like nowhere else in the World. Unfortunately Dallas has quite a bad name when it comes to sports mainly because of the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL who everybody hates and laughs at.

I’ll give FC Dallas the benefit of the doubt though as this shirt is lovely. The home is the same but has red instead of blue but I preferred this one. It was also picked up in the CFS sale so it was great value for money. Whatever people’s opinions of the MLS are, their clubs have some awesome shirts!

Ajax Home Shirt

Well known for having one of the best academies in World football, there’s a lot to like about Ajax. From being in an awesome city such as Amsterdam to their seemingly always awesome shirts, Ajax are a fantastic club.

They are the most successful club in the Netherlands with  33 Eredivisie titles and 18 KNVB Cups and they were ranked as the seventh most successful European club of the 20th century. They won the Champions League in three consecutive years from 1971-73 and again in 1995. Unfortunately with the ever increasing amounts of money being thrown around by other European leagues, Ajax aren’t the dominant force they once were.

Under Frank de Boer they have won four straight league titles so domestically they are still a big name, normally fighting for the Eredivisie with PSV, Feyenoord and FC Twente.

The amount of quality players that have come through the ranks at Ajax is quite scary. Some of the biggest names to progress through their academy are Johan Cruijff, Edwin van der Sar, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Marco van Basten, Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Maarten Stekelenburg, Eljero Elia and Nigel de Jong. Belgian trio Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Thomas Vermaelen also made their names at Ajax.

I got this shirt in the CFS 20% off sale. I had always wanted an Ajax home shirt. It is a classic design and one I have always liked. This is their 2010-11 home shirt and includes a nice X design at the top of the shirt by the club badge. Another iconic shirt added!

Brondby Away Shirt

Brondby are probably one of, if not the most, recognisable Danish clubs. They have won ten national Danish football championship titles and six national Danish Cups since joining the top league in 1981.

They compete in the ‘New Firm’ derby against FC Copenhagen but have had some tough times recently. They haven’t won the league since 2005 and have had financial troubles which have seen the club close to bankruptcy.

I always remember Brondby for being the club Man United signed Peter Schmeichel from. I also used to play as them on the old Champions League games as they were one of the weaker teams. Unfortunately they’ve not quite reached those heights for some time.

I found this shirt for just £10 in a Sports Direct store. It was a pleasant surprise as Sports Direct unfortunately don’t carry that many cheap, obscure football shirts like the good old days.

This was Brondby’s away shirt in the 2011-12 season (I think) although it’s hard to find much about it. I think they were sponsored by Unicef so I’m no entirely sure why this one doesn’t have a sponsor but maybe they were produced without the sponsor on. Either way, I’m not complaining as it makes the shirt even better in my opinion. It’s a lovely colour (listed as shale whatever the hell that is) and the bright yellow really works with it. A great shirt at a great price!

Senegal Away Shirt

I just put up a Senegal home shirt with this the away version from the same year. As I mentioned, I’m pretty sure these were used at the 2002 World Cup where Senegal shocked the World to reach the quarter-final stage on their first and only trip to the World Cup finals.

If you want to read more about Senegal’s journey and more about the shirts, please check out my other post, the Senegal home shirt.

Senegal Home Shirt

 

Every World Cup tends to feature at least one country that do much better than expected and grab people’s attention. Back at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Senegal were that team as they shocked opponent after opponent to reach the quarter-finals, one of only three African countries in history to do so.

The fact that it was their World Cup debut made their performances even more special. They famously knocked off World Champions France in their opening group game before drawing with Denmark and Uruguay to go through in second place. In the round of 16 they saw off Sweden in extra time before losing to Turkey who would go on to finish third.

Off the back of such a great tournament, Senegal players including Papa Bouba Diop, El Hadji Diouf and Aliou Cisse flocked to England and the Premier League. Cisse joined my team Birmingham and was a good servant for us. He also had a strong connection with the fans with us holding up a giant Senegal flag and having a money collection after he lost 12 family members in the MV Le Joola ferry disaster.

Since 2002, Senegal have failed to qualify for the World Cup so still have a pretty amazing record of reaching the quarters on their only visit. The year was a pretty special one for Les Lions de la Teranga as they lost to Cameroon in the final of the African Nations Cup. They are yet to win the tournament.

I managed to find this shirt for sale cheap on eBay and the auction also included the away shirt from the same year. After doing a bit of research, I believe this was the shirt used in the 2002 World Cup which makes it a bit more special. The shirt is a pretty nice design by Le Coq Sportif who are hardly known for their brilliant attempts.

Another African team added to the blog and it’s always nice to have a bit of history sitting in your wardrobe!

Red Star Belgrade Home Shirt

Red Star Belgrade are the most successful club in Serbian history with a record of 26 national championships and 24 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions. They also won the Champions League in 1991, and became the only Serbian team to ever win it, after seeing off Bayern Munich in the semis before a penalty shoot-out victory over Marseille in the final.

It’s fair to say that their best days are behind them, at least on the European stage. Domestically they are back to their best, winning the Serbian SuperLiga last season for the first time in seven years. They are the best supported club in the country and share the ‘Eternal Derby’ with fellow Belgrade side Partizan.

The shirt itself is very nice indeed and was a bargain buy from UniSportStore. I believe it was on special offer and I managed to pick it up for just €6! A fantastic price for a simple yet stylish shirt, what more could you ask for?

Seattle Sounders Long Sleeve Home Shirt

Seattle Sounders have quickly become one of the biggest teams in American football (no, not that type of football!) in their brief five year existence. They’ve also got a pretty iconic shirt which has gained them fans from around the World.

I don’t personally support an MLS side but always keep an eye out for Sounders results as they currently have Obafemi Martins on their roster (that’s just for my American viewers!) and he is a Birmingham City legend. I also met a Sounders fan at the NFL game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers last year at Wembley. Unfortunately for me as a Jags fan, it was a pretty miserable day. Anyway, on with the shirt…

I have been after a Sounders shirt for a while and I’m very glad to be able to add this one to my collection. This is also the ‘authentic’ version which has the US flag patch heat pressed on the arm and has some nice added details such as the Sounders name inside the lining. To top it off it is also long sleeve which is always an added bonus.

As I mentioned, the Sounders were only added to the MLS as an expansion team in 2009. Since then they’ve become the best supported team in the league and won the Open Cup three years in a row while also losing in the final of the Supporters’ Shield. They are yet to win the MLS but with such a strong support, I’ve no doubt that will come.

They are currently top of the Western Division having won 12 of their 18 games so far. Go Sounders!

Ivory Coast Home Shirt

I’ve just added some iconic club shirts so thought it was about time to go back to my bread and butter with a great international shirt. Luckily it was just delivered by the postman so I can bring it to you here now!

Ivory Coast, or Cote D’Ivoire for any French readers, are the highest ranked African team at 23 in the World rankings and were very unlucky not to make it through to the knockout stages of the World Cup. They were beaten by Greece courtesy of a 93rd minute penalty to send them crashing out.

Their ‘poor performance’ even led to Ivorian Football Federation president  Augustine Sidy apologising to the country. They say they have learnt their lessons but there are rumours Giovanni Trapattoni will take over as their new manager so maybe they haven’t.

On paper they have a very good team with the likes of Cheick Tiote, Yaya Toure, Wilfried Bony and Didier Drogba but as we often see with African nations, they underperformed again on the big stage. Their sole tournament win was the African Cup of Nations back in 1992, hence the star above the crest.

The shirt itself is one of a number of excellent efforts by Puma. They really do great work with the African teams and make sure they stand out from the crowd with unique features. There is a print on the shoulders, on the cuffs and down the side of the shirt which looks great. They’ve got the shirt, now The Elephants just need to do the business on the field.