Africa Unity Third Shirt

This is one of those marmite shirts you either love or hate. I’m on the love side as I think it’s a pretty nice design by Puma which was officially the third shirt for all African countries in 2010 to coincide with the South African World Cup.

Despite it being the third shirt for every country, I believe this was only actually worn twice in matches. The first was a special exhibition match between an All Star XI and Cameroon. I’m also informed that Namibia wore the shirt in a friendly against South Africa. The good old Namibians.

It’s a shame that such a specially designed shirt was used so sparingly but there you go. The shirt actually comes with a choice of badges that you can put on the shirt yourself which is a nice touch although I’m not even going to try and do it as it would end in the shirt being destroyed!

Africa and number 10 is also printed on the back. This is a shirt I’ve been looking to get for a while and luckily the brilliant Classic Football Shirts had them at a reasonable price so I took the plunge. Thank God for CFS!

Serbia and Montenegro Long Sleeve Home Shirt

Following on from CIS shirt I added yesterday, we have another disbanded national team who did in fact play as a FIFA member. Obviously now they play as two separate countries and were previously known as Yugoslavia.

The Serbia and Montenegro team only played for three years between 2003 and 2006 before Montegero declared independence from Serbia and hence the separate football teams. As Serbia and Montenegro, they started out pretty poorly after Yugoslavia’s turbulent World Cup 2002 qualifying campaign.

Their Euro 2004 qualifying journey was a disaster. Despite drawing twice with Italy and beating footballing heavyweights Wales (ha!) twice, they drew 2-2 at home against Azerbaijan before losing 2-1 away – ouch. Their qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup was much, much better. They topped the group ahead of Spain, conceding only one goal in their ten matches which is extremely impressive.

Once they made it to Germany, they crumbled. A 1-0 defeat to Netherlands was followed by a 6-0 thumping by Argentina – the worst ever defeat at Serbia and Montenegro. They also lost their final group game 3-2 to Ivory Coast. Much like the CIS team, just a week after their terrible World Cup showing, Montenegro applied for separate membership of FIFA and Serbia and Montenegro was dead.

The shirt is made by Lotto and I believe it was the one used at the 2006 World Cup so I doubt there are many remaining in Serbia or Montenegro! It’s a pretty cool template that was also used by Ukraine. It’s also another long sleeve shirt into the collection – I’ve got a thing for long sleeve shirts…

CIS Home Shirt

As national teams go, CIS’ 11 game stint in 1992 isn’t one filled with much glory. In fact, their 3-0 win over El Salvador was probably the only thing they had to shout about.

CIS or the Commonwealth of Independent States for short, were born in early 1992 after the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The only problem was that the Soviet Union had already booked their place at Euro 92. So to take their place, the CIS were born.

They played 11 times in total, including eight matches in the run up to the European Championships, but their performance in Sweden was pretty pathetic. After decent draws against Germany and the Netherlands, they lost 3-0 to Scotland. That’s when you know things are bad…

So bad in fact that shortly after the defeat to the Scots, the team was disbanded and its results transferred to the newly formed Russian national team. The CIS squad from Euro 92 included eight Russians, six Ukrainians (one was born in Germany), a Georgian, a Belarusian, an Abkhazian, a Circassian, and an Ossetian.

This shirt is an Adidas original from 1992 and features number 10 on the back which was worn by the infamous Igor Dobrovolski. Ok, maybe not that infamous… It’s nice to add a real retro shirt to the collection and it’s a pretty nice design to boot. Simple but effective. I know CIS aren’t technically non-FIFA as they actually played in a FIFA tournament but I thought adding some disbanded national teams would add a bit of variety to the blog!

Occitania Match Worn Home Shirt

Occitania are one of the most regular and long-standing non-FIFA international teams. Having competed pretty consistently since 2005, they have been around for a while and have had quite a lot of success. They were originally formed to preserve the medieval language of Occitan which is spoken in areas of Italy, France and Spain.

They’ve competed in four of the five VIVA World Cups and were an NF Board member before also becoming a member of ConIFA. They will feature in this summer’s ConIFA World Football Cup in Ostersund, Sweden and have a good chance of doing well.

They finished third twice in the VIVA World Cup, finished fifth in both Europeada tournaments and most recently won last year’s Tynwald Hill Tournament, beating Sealand, Tamil Eeelam and St Johns United on the way. From what I can see, their last game was a 7-1 win over Galicia in December and come into the World Football Cup full of confidence and experience.

I’d like to thank Occitania captain Boris Massare, who plays in the Danish second division, for helping out immensely in getting hold of this shirt. It is their home shirt which was worn in the 2009 VIVA World Cup in Padania. Boris himself is a very interesting character having hitch-hiked to the VIVA World Cup in Kurdistan as well as the Tynwald Hill Tournament. He then proceeded to sleep on the beach in the Isle of Man!

The shirt itself is very striking with the tartan like design and is obviously a bit more special having been match worn and featuring my favourite number on the back. I’ll be cheering Boris and his team-mates on in Sweden!

British Army Long Sleeve, Match Worn Away Shirt

The second British Army shirt to be added to the blog following yesterday’s addition of the home shirt. You can read more about that and the British Army football team here.

This is the away or alternative shirt the British Army used, I believe in 2011/12. There is a 90th anniversary Royal British Legion patch on the left arm and it was formed in 1921 which would make 90 years 2011.

Similarly to the home shirt, I also got this one from Thomas (@FootballShirt11) and he believes it is also match worn which would explain the number 17 on the back. The shirt itself is lovely and again includes lots of nice details like the home version.

The lack of sponsor makes it all the better in my opinion and I’m very glad to be able to add another Army shirt as well as my first ever match worn one to the blog!

British Army Home Shirt

Another shirt from left field comes to the blog in the shape of a British Army shirt – and what an awesome one it is.

I believe this is the Army’s home shirt which they used in matches a couple of years ago. If you didn’t know, the Army team is based at the  Clayton Barracks in Aldershot and they mainly play against the other British forces such as the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

They recently lost 3-2 to the RAF in the 2014 Inter Services and Constantinople Cup final which was the RAF’s seventh consecutive championship. You could say they’re flying high. Sorry, I couldn’t resist!

The Army side also compete in the Southern Counties Cup against Middlesex FA, Amateur FA, Sussex FA and Royal Navy FA as well as the Grenadier Guards Trophy against the Metropolitan Police.

I’d like to thank Thomas (@FootballShirt11) for swapping this, as well as another, great shirt with me. It’s made by Umbro and is a lovely looking shirt. It’s very detailed and includes the Royal British Legion logo on the left arm as well as the Army logo on the nape. Thanks again to Thomas for allowing me to add such a cool shirt to the collection!

Tibet Home Shirt

The first team to make a double appearance on the blog are ‘The Forbidden Team’ Tibet.

This is their current COPA home shirt which I quite fancied. When purchasing the Greenland shirt, I noticed they had these Tibet shirts at a very good price so decided to add one to my order.

If you want to read more about Tibet and their footballing journey, check out the other Tibet shirt post.

COPA decided to take up the Tibet national shirts and they’ve made a very nice job if it. The colours are great and are of course based on the Tibet flag.

They’ve also included an imprint of the lions, also on the Tibet flag, on the front of the shirt. I tried to take a close-up picture but it’s quite hard to see on camera. Hats off to COPA for taking their time and making a really unique shirt.

Greenland Home Shirt

Most non-FIFA teams will say that they deserve to play ‘recognised’ international football and I doubt many people could argue against Greenland having a pretty good case.

Greenland as a place is fascinating; it’s the largest island in the world with three quarters of it covered by ice. It’s an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark which is one of the hurdles they have to jump to be recognised by FIFA. The Danes have always seemingly backed Greenland’s desire to play football so I don’t see why they would ‘do a Spain’ so to speak.

One of the biggest things with Greenland is the weather and the fact that they’ve only recently (well, 2010) built a FIFA approved ground with a synthetic pitch. I imagine grass is hard to maintain when it’s frozen for most of the year…

On the pitch, The Polar Teddy Bears get most of their action in the Island Games and finished runners up to hosts Bermuda in last year’s tournament – their best ever finish. Greenland has a long way to go, both on and off the pitch, to catch the eye of FIFA. They’re not full UN members themselves, although Denmark are, so whether they’ll ever be able to play on the same stage as the Faroe Islands is debatable.

I’d been after a Greenland shirt for some time so was very happy to finally find one for sale on a Danish sports website. Umbro always make great shirts and this is a basic but classy design. It also features the Greenland flag on the back but unfortunately doesn’t have the really cool Coca-Cola sponsor on the front like some of their older shirts. Still, a very nice shirt from one of football’s more interesting stories.

Guernsey FC Home Shirt

I know what you’re thinking… that’s cheating! Well maybe it is but it’s my blog so I make the rules! I’ve tried to get a Guernsey national shirt with no luck so when I noticed Guernsey FC were selling off their shirts, I just had to get one.

Guernsey FC is basically just Guernsey’s national side playing in the English league system. They’re in their third season and are currently in the Ryman League South – seven divisions below the Premier League. They’ve won back-to-back promotions and might make it into the Ryman Premier through the play-offs this campaign.

It’s fair to say that Guernsey went a different route to other non-FIFA national sides who lobby for FIFA involvement. They decided to form a club side and go that way which has turned out to be fruitful so far. It will be interesting to see how far they can go with just Guernsey players but they do have quality performers like Ross Allen and Ryan Zico-Black.

Some people moaned recently when Guernsey put out a ‘weakened’ side for the Muratti Vase game against Alderney. With a Ryman South game the same weekend, Guernsey opted to place importance on that instead of the Vase, which they have competed in since 1905 and won 44 times.

The shirt itself is made by RAM, who I am not familiar with. That being said, I like the design and don’t have many green shirts so it was a welcome addition. The only downside is that the badge/sponsor/flag are printed into the fabric and aren’t stitched but that’s a minor gripe.

Gibraltar Home Shirt

After a 14 year fight, Gibraltar were finally accepted into UEFA last year. That it took so long makes a mockery of the European governing body’s claims of ‘politics have no place in football’. Which doesn’t explain how Spain stamping their feet and throwing a wobbly denied a nation from representing itself on the European stage for so long but I digress…

The Gibraltarians might be allowed to enter the European Championship qualifiers but not the World Cup as of yet. Whether FIFA will allow them in down the line is unknown but at least the Rock has some recognised international football to play. They kicked off their ‘official’ internationals with a 0-0 draw with Slovakia before defeats to the Faroe Island and Estonia so there’s plenty of work to be done.

They have to play ‘home’ games in Faro, Portugal, with the Gibraltar national stadium not up to UEFA standard. They do, however, have a new 10,000 seater stadium being built on the Rock. In terms of non-FIFA, the Gibraltarians have competed in most Island Games, winning it in 2007.

I’ve been after a Gibraltar shirt for some time and was hoping to get a Hummel one but have yet to find one for a decent price. I bit the bullet and purchased one of their new shirts by Admiral. You may remember them for making brilliant England shirts in years gone by and this effort for Gibraltar is also a fantastic design.

The men from the Rock have finally defeated the powers that be to play international football. They are the smallest member of UEFA with a population of just 30,000. For England fans disillusioned with the national side, Gibraltar offers a brilliant underdog alternative to root for.