Month: July 2017

British Virgin Islands – Home – 2016

I have previously managed to get British Virgin Islands ssirts directly from the BVIFA, and this time they contacted me to let me know that they would be doing a new order for the team, and did I want in. Of course I accepted (their shirts are always lovely). I am slightly disappointed that the badge is no longer the double layered version, and unlike the away shirt, I have yet to see this exact design in use.

Here’s the BVI ladies team wearing the shirts in 2016.

Zambia – Home – 2017

I was skeptical at first when I saw that Zambia were going with Mafro, the former African Champions with an unheard of Thai brand. Okay, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Kenya change suppliers all the time, but Zambia have most recently had official deals with Nike as well as wearing Kappa and Umbro. However, this is a belter of a shirt, and the photos don’t really do it justice. The quality is decent, the cut is brilliant, and Mafro have recognised that a Chipolopolo jersey needs style – not a gimmick.

Get your own Zambia shirts from the Football Shirt World online shop.

Kenya – Third – 2017

Probably the most outlandish of the three Mafro Kenya shirts, in fact, it doesn’t really look like a football shirt at all.

If you like this shirt, or would like to see what other Kenya shirts I have available. Check out the Football Shirt World online store.

Zambia – Away – 2017

Zambia are affectionately known as Chipolopolo, or “Copper Bullets”. Like many football nicknames, they are named after one of their biggest exports: Copper. In the past Zambia have played in Orange (or Copper) as their home shirts, their famous 4-0 victory over Italy at the 1988 Seoul Olympics was in their orange home colours. More recently they have increasingly worn Green at home, with orange or white as their away colours. Personally I’m all for tradition, but they’ve had some cracking green shirts.

There are a small number of orange Chipolopolo shirts are available from the Football Shirt World online shop.

Djibouti – Training – 2018

In summary: Nice design, crap quality, and as previously mentioned I was conned into buying this – the Djibouti team never wore AMS. Move along now.

Lebanon – Home – 2016

When I first started out collecting I managed to pick up the Leabnon home and away shirts from Classic Football Shirts quite easily. But as if often the case with national football shirts, they’ve been nigh on impossible to find ever since. Patience is key in this game, when a shirt might be worth £250 one week due to scarcity can easy be worth less than £100 a week later if that country suddenly decides to make their shirts commercially available.

I badgered Capelli about this shirts for months, and they finally contacted me via facebook to let me know that they are now available through their German website.

Embed from Getty Images

Kenya – Home – 2017

Following on from Kenya’s first every sponsorship deal (with Joma), they’ve now signed a more lucrative one with Mafro. In a change to Mafro’s slightly more subtle designs with Zimbabwe and Zambia, they’ve gone all out this time with a rather spectacular star pattern. Known as the Harembee Stars the Kenya national team have never qualified for the World Cup, but have qualified for the African Cup of Nations of five occasions (most recently in 2004), without ever making past the first round.

The deal with Mafro was very short lived, and in the end the white home shirt was never used in a senior team match, although was used in the warm up for the Sierra Leone game.

A small number of the new Mafro Kenya shirts are available from the Football Shirt World online shop in sizes S-XXL, along with a few of the previous Joma shirts.

Zambia – Third – 2017

Despite winning the 2012 African Cup of Nations to become African Champions for the first time it has always been difficult to get hold of Zambia shirts. Even the Nike shirt that they wore during AFCON 2017 is not easy to find, the only ones that I have ever seen available in shops was this pretty awesome looking Nike design, but even then there was controversy. Nike were selling this in the shops, and online, but the Football Association of Zambia were denying that it was their shirt – before they finally used it a year later.

Mafro (eventually) supplied the shirts to Zimbabwe during the 2017 African Cup of Nations, and have since signed contracts with Sierra Leone, Kenya and Zambia. The Zimbabwe shirts aren’t great, but I am really impressed with the quality and design of the Zambia shirts.

A small number of home, away and third shirts for the Zambia national team are available through the Football Shirt World online shop in sizes S-XXL.

Guinea-Bissau – Away – 2017

I’ve already uploaded photos of the 3rd shirt and the alternative shirt, this is officially the away shirt, although it wasn’t used at the African Cup of Nations. These are of course available through the Football Shirt World online shop.