Showing posts with label football shirt collection. Show all posts

#41 Chivas USA (Home, 2008/2009)



Chivas USA is probably one of the best examples when it comes to the differences between soccer in the States and football pretty much elsewhere. Imagine you own one of the most successful clubs in Mexico... Next step? To put it also in the Major League Soccer! No promotion needed, you're straight into the main league. Nice move, I guess.

So that's what happenned. Jorge Madrigal, Chivas Guadalajara owner, thought it'd be a great idea to invest in the growing american league, so he started Chivas USA, based in Los Angeles. The team never got brilliant results (yet), but one can say they're a decent side in the MLS.


Funny thing is that Chivas USA actually do not have a single mexican player this season. It'd be predictable they'd not only look for some mexican talent to send there, but also would loan some younger players from Guadalajara to the USA outfit. They never did, and actually there never seems to be a connection between both clubs apart from the name, the colours and the owners. They do have (and had) some talented players with them: Juan Pablo Angel, Francisco Palencia, Bornstein or Claudio Suarez. And they once were coached by Bob Bradley, surely a good manager.

They were also blessed with the talent of Zach Thornton, a huge goalkeeper that spent a few months with Benfica but failed to make any appearence. Crazy times.


CD Chivas USA obviously shares the crest of Chivas Guadalajara.



They use this cool red-and-white striped kit, which is the same as the mexican and original Chivas:


The USA one actually has a cool design, nice job by Adidas. I think they still sponsor every single team in the MLS, and actually sometimes you do find some quite cool kits in american soccer. Mine was a nice eBay finding, it was used but in almost mint condition, and also great price. I've been trying to get more american clubs kits, but they're either quite expensive or the shipping is absurdly overpriced. Unfortunetly quite normal these days on eBay.



They are not doing really well this season, but eh, who cares? They won't be relegated anyway. That's a really unfair systeam over there if you ask me. I guess it makes sense in the USA, but it's hard to imagine a league where your failure has no consequences at all.

Axel Torres once said football has to be democratic, and stated:

In football it has to be possible that if a team wins every single game in the next 6 or 7 years, they'll be crowned as champions in the top league.

Makes sense indeed. Something that does not happen in the MLS or the A-League, for example. Hope that changes soon.
Read More

#30 Al-Rayyan (3rd Shirt, 2007/2008)


I still remember when the first football stars started moving to middle-east clubs, back in 2002 and 2003. Qatar, Kuwait, sometimes Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates all looked like fancy destinations for ageing football players that wanted some huge loads of money before their iminent retirement. I remember Desailly and Batistuta moving to Qatar, and later Frank and Ronald de Boer joined them. The dutch twins both played for Al-Rayyan, and I guess that was the first time I heard about the club.

I was looking for some shirts to order along with some friends - to save shipping costs - and I knew I had to pick up one from a Qatari club. They were cheap, rare, and I didn't own one yet. I went with this Al-Rayyan shirt, because the design looked ok, and I knew a few things about them.


If you look back at their history, since 2003 it looks a bit of a golden retirement house for famous players. They first signed Hierro, Mario Basler and Ali Benarbia. They were all in their last days as a player.

Already a bit fat, this is Hierro in Al-Rayyan home shirt.
Many followed him: Frank and Ronald de Boer, Sonny Anderson, Salomon Olembé, Fabrice Fiorese, Emile Mpenza, Sabri Lamouchi... and portuguese striker João Tomás. He wasn't even old yet, but he moved there back in 2006 (he was like 29 or 30) after good seasons with Braga.

Buy one, get two stars!
Couldn't find a picture of him playing for Al-Rayyan, so here is João Tomás in Rio Ave.
João Tomás scored lots and lots of goals during his career, but never managed to get his place in the national squad. After he moved to Al-Rayyan, he returned to Braga and then moved to Boavista (back then already in the 2nd League). Then he signed for Rio Ave, where he's been scoring a fair amount of goals - 26 in 2 and half seasons.

In 2009, Al-Rayyan signed Afonso Alves. Now here's a guy who decided to finish his career earlier than the usual. After amazing seasons with Heerenveen in Holland, the future seemed quite bright for the brazilian striker. Middlesborough signed him, in what was definitly a disappointing transfer for such a popular guy. I guess everyone was expecting him to sign for a bigger club, but when he decided not to show up to a couple of training sessions I guess Heerenveen didn't have much option rather than selling him on the very last day of the winter transfer window. Boro got the guy, but he never delivered: just 10 goals in two seasons.

Alves then moved to Al-Sadd, and then to Al-Rayyan, where he still plays.

This shirt is way cooler than mine.
And that's pretty much it. A former Boavista and Braga defender, Moisés, plays there too. I really liked him, he was a great centre-back.

As you can see, Al-Rayyan changed shirt manufacturers recently, from local Burrda to Adidas. It's not that my Burrda shirt isn't cool, but it isn't exactly top-quality.


Here is the lion I mentioned earlier. I'm not really a fan of this kind of water-mark stuff, but it kind of gives a original look to the shirt. I've been trying to find pictures of Al-Rayyan actually using their 3rd kit, and all I got was this:

Close enough.

Yep, that's the same shirt.
And a video of a goal in this very same match (against Al-Arabi):


Quite an impressive goal! The defenders looked really lousy, but it is a great run anyway.


Now that the money has moved to China (and even India), if you want to have a look at the stars who once shined in middle-eastern football, check this 20 Minuten gallery. They do include Taribo West in their list, but it's still cool to see.
Read More

#28 Millwall FC (Home, 2003/2004)


This is a pretty old one, but it kind of represents the first spirit of my collection. I bought it during a trip to London back in 2004 or 2005, when I had no more than 5 or 6 shirts, and I still love it. Now that I own more than 60, it's great to have a look at my old purchases, and most things didn't change too much.

I headed to Lillywhite's in Picadilly Circus with two clubs in mind: Dag & Red (still got to work this one out) and Millwall. I always liked smaller clubs from London, and Dag & Red was some kind of Championship Manager favourite, and Millwall always fascinated me because of their loyal supporters, and for being an unfancied outfit in a city that has dozens of clubs.

The lads in the shop obviously never heard of Dag & Red. The Daggers were still a small Conference side, quite far away from its League Two/One status of these days. But they did have some Millwall shirts left somewhere. I guess they were glad to sell it, and good for me, it was also quite cheap. I guess it didn't cost me more than 25£, but I really can't remember the final price.

Millwall surprised everyone (except their supporters, I believe) reaching the FA Cup Final in 2004, where they used this shirt. Mine actually seems some kind of special edition launched before the Cup Final:


The sad thing is that Millwall lost 3-0 to Man Utd, but it still was surely a great moment. The Lions also managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup, eventually losing to Hungarian side Ferencvaros (4-2 agg).

There are also many other good things about this shirt. The club logo, for example, changed in 2007, so they're not using the two lions thing anymore.


And here is the new one:
Marketing stuff, probably. And maybe they needed some, as Millwall is frequently associated with hooliganism and other problems. Their "No One Likes Us" song is quite popular, and so is their motto, We Fear no Foe. I must say I love this kind of stuff.

Unfortunetly, Millwall had some hard years after the FA Cup thing. They even played in League One for a couple of years, but are now back in Championship, where they're a few points clear of the relegation zone.

An exciting thing is that local fierce rivals West Ham were relegated, so there are two thrilling matches this season between the two clubs. Things tend to be quite agressive and even a bit crazy, so it's wise to stay away if you're not really into football. Have a look of what usually happens when Millwall and West Ham face each other:


It's still quite impressive how a side that spent so many years away from the top division still has so many (and so passionate) supporters. Hats off or Millwall.

They've been changing kit suppliers in a regular basis, but I must say I was quite impressed with Macron's recent designs:

2010/2011
2011/2012
Not bad, uh? They are now using dark-blue as their home colours, and it looks classy indeed. Mine is still in the old blue-and-white-sleeves-design, by Strikeforce (never heard of them before).



Won't complain, though, as it still looks great.
Read More

#27 Universitatea Craiova (Away, 2009/2010?)


A few months ago, during my recent trip to London, my mate joked about my shirt collection. While I was looking for some rare shirts in England, he said "that one sucks, it'd be cooler if it was from some romanian club! And playing in the 2nd Division!". Et voilá, here it is, a shirt from a romanian club playing in the 2nd Division. Actually, Craiova isn't playing any football this season because of a huge mess between the club and coach Vladimir Piturca.

I tried to read more and understand what really happened, but failed my goal. As far as I understood, there's a debt dispute between Craiova and Piturca, and the Romanian Football Federation decided to suspend Universitatea from every football activity this season. I'm not sure if that means they'll have to start from zero, but that's probably the case. The latest news, from December, tell me a Romanian Court ruled in favour of Craiova, and that means now they're asking for a €250 Million compensation.

Crazy times in Romania. Remember Unirea Urziceni, champions in 2009? Their owner decided to dissolve the team last summer. Poli Timisoara were relegated after finishing 2nd. And some clubs, such as Dinamo Bucharest and Vaslui, were recently investigated because of a bribery scandal. Crazy times indeed.

Romania recently turned into some kind of oasis for mid-talented portuguese players and coaches. As of today, there are two portuguese managers and dozens of players. Cadu, a former Boavista defender, is now the captain of CFR Cluj, where he plays along other 3 portuguese mates, including Beto, former Porto and Portugal's current goalkeeper.

Here's Cadu.
I'm not really into romanian football, even though my all-time favourite player is Romanian. Ion Timofte, of course, the Boavista legend, the best player ever playing for us. He's now back in Timisoara, his home town, where he owns a Hotel named after my club. Cheers, Timo!


Look at that, he rocks!


I was pretty happy with the shirt: it was cheap (around 20€ or less), and it's a nice addition to my collection. It looks great and it's from a club that isn't playing football now! Want anything more rare than that?


I specially like the badge, and they also embroided a romanian flag with 4 stars in it, I suppose it represents the 4 league titles they won in the past. Yep, Univ Craiova used to be quite successfull: they actually were UEFA Cup semi-finalists in the 80's, during the golden-era of romanian football (Steaua won the Champions League back then).


Nice badge, a lion with a sword playing football: epic.
I bought the away jersey, but the home shirt is pretty much the same, except it has a big white stripe and blue sleeves, insted of a blue stripe and white sleeves. Clever work. I bet they were using their black 3rd shirt all the time.



Let's see how it goes for the Craiova boys, hope to hear from them soon. I first heard of them back in 2005 or something, when striker Jeremie N'Jock was linked with a move to Boavista. He was scoring a fair amount of goals in Craiova, but the transfer never happened. He actually ended up playing in Portugal anyway a few years later, when he joined 2nd League outfit Estoril. Now he's scoring some goals in Moreirense.

1.96m. The cameroonian Jan Koller.
By the way, I might have a Cambodia shirt for sale, message me if you're interested.
Read More

#26 Bohemians 1905 (Home, 2007/2008?)


Here it is, a nice Bohemians 1905 shirt. Not to be confused with FK Bohemians Praha. Prague was definitly too big to have only one team called Bohemians, that's why they have two. And if you think about it, they look pretty much the same.

Hum, yeah. So, we have two Bohemians, both white and green, and both with a kangaroo as mascot. What a coincidence. Confused? A little bit of history now, then.

In 2005, historic Bohemians Praha was facing troubled times, and were demoted to the Czech 3rd Division because of financial problems. Back then, it seemed the club had no solution. That's when FK Bohemians appeared! TJ Bohemians Praha, apparently some kind of sports franchise that used to own the original Bohemians, somehow sold the club crest to FC Strizkov Praha 9, a small club that used to play in 3rd Division. Along with the club logo, TJ Bohemians invested in this "new" club and took it to the 1st Division again. But wait, things get even more confusing.

The fans kept loyal to the original Bohemians, and actually managed to save the club. That meant Bohemians could compete again (the old one, the new one was playing in the 2nd League). So, in 2007, Bohemians 1905 (the old one) went all the way up back to the 1st Division. Actually faster than the new FK Bohemians, that only managed to reach the Gambrinus Liga in 2008. So, both teams actually played against each other in 2009/2010. The old Bohemians 1905 did better: they finished 12nd and FK Bohemians finished last in the table.

Bohemians 1905, the good old ones (I own their shirt) are still playing top-league football, and FK Bohemians plays in Czech 2. Liga, after being deducted 20 points after refusing to play against... Bohemians 1905. Crazy czech football.

In case you didn't understand any bit of it, nope, you're not dumb, the story itself is quite complicated.


I bought this shirt in Prague, while I was looking desperatly for a Slavia shirt. I managed to find this cool shop with plenty of smaller czech clubs shirts (Teplice and Brno, for example), and they had this Bohemians one. I wasn't really sure about it: I didn't know much about them, and I was really hoping to find a Slavia one. A few minutes after getting ouf of the store, I realized I had to buy it, so I went back. I'm glad I did.

There's no way you don't fall in love with a club that had an evil twin and has Antonin Panenka as president.


Yeah, that Panenka. That's one of the most brilliant moments in football, pure class and pure craziness. He was ahead of his time.

Now look at this:


Here's Panenka, many years later! The nice guy in the shop said he was "the best". It came with it, I guess someone asked for name and number and then gave it up. Good for me.


The shirt itself isn't brilliant. Even though it's Umbro, the quality is far from great, and the design is also quite basic. Still, I love the shirt.

There's so many stories around Bohemians. For example, according to Wikipedia, in 1927, the club toured Australia, and as they were leaving, they were awarded two real kangaroos. They then donated the animals to Prague's Zoo.

Nice mascot, lads. But I guess this is their handball team.
Panenka was a brilliant footballer, and now he's a brilliant president. A few years ago, he hired some hot chicks and did this to promote the club:

Party animal.
Oh god, this looks like a cheap czech porn.
I love you, Panenka. I really do.
And by the way, don't forget to take a look at Panenka, a brilliant spanish football magazine. If you can understand spanish, great. If you can't, have a look anyway, the design is good and the pictures look nice.



I'm still thinking about those chicks. Got to love Bohemians 1905.
Read More

#24 Bahrain (Home, 2010/2011)


My recent trip to London was pretty much disappointing in terms of football-shirts-purchasing. Sportshops in the city center didn't have have many shirts available (apart from big clubs and national teams). Besides, the ones that got my interest were way too expensive, and that kept me away from them. That means this Bahrain one was a nice finding: it fits perfectly in my collection, and it cost only around 25£, definitly a nice price. It's a shame I didn't manage to add some more english club shirts to my collection, but a trip to Dagenham to get a Dag & Red shirt was out of hand. What a shame.


As usual, Puma did a great job here. The shirt is mainly red, but some little details make it a little more interesting: the golden stuff on the sleeves and on the neck, and the Bahrain flag on the collar.

Original, but unnoticable unless you're Cantona. 
Poor Bahrain. They're obviously not a great team, but recently they've been quite sucsessful - having in mind the Kingdom has a population of only around 1,2 Million. A small talent pool indeed, but that didn't stop them from improving in the last few years.

They were quite close to qualify for both World Cup 2006 and 2010, but somehow managed to lose against Trinidad and Tobago and New Zealand by small margins. I bet the King was not happy at all.

I don't expect a great World Cup 2014 Campaign, as they banned and arrested some of their best players after some Arab Spring Protests in Manama. They were also forced to leave the country, and are now playing in Oman and Australia. Wicked.

I actually read both in FourFourTwo and World Soccer Magazine that football clubs and football fans actually had a major role in some of the recent Arab Uprisings, will talk about that later.


Their Asian Cup record is also not brilliant at all. And if they keep arresting their best players for political reasons, I can't see that changing soon. Their league is probably still far from neighbouring countries ones, as you won't find many big names playing in Bahrain. I guess the Oil Lords prefer to invest their money elsewhere.



 Some arabic, that's nice.
Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)