#29 Timor-Leste (Away, 2012/2014)

21:08 asia football shirts , east timor football , east-timor away shirt , east-timor shirt , rare football shirt , timor away shirt , timor futebol , timor-leste futebol , timor-leste shirt 6 Comments

The East-Timor (or Timor-Leste in local language) fits in the "amazing and rare" category. A few months ago, I believe Timorese shirts would top some of the "toughest to get" shirt-list, but that changed when a seller from Thailand launched a few on the market. Unsurprisingly, most collectors got it for actually a reasonable price. I was afraid there was no shirts left, but I'm quite glad I was wrong. I'd kill myself if I missed this one. Seriously, I would. Someone from the UK is selling this one right now (probably he got two and he's making a quick profit), and with still 2 days left for the auction to end, it's costing £41 + shipping already. I got mine for £28 + shipping.

A few of the buyers are actually not sure if this is an official Timor shirt. It's definitly original Nike, but it's hard to be 100% sure that the shirt is not some kind of fake. My bet is that the guy got it directly from some Nike factory in Thailand (where he's based). At least I hope so. My guess would go for "good one", as it definitly looks exactly the same used by East-Timor on a World Cup 2014 qualifier against Nepal.

They lost 7-1.

It's pretty obvious this is a Nike template with just a badge and Timor's flag printed on it. No hard-work from Nike for sure. But according to Wikipedia, Nike is providing the kits right now, so let's believe the shirt isn't fake. I don't think someone would actually spend time trying to fake a East-Timor shirt, specially using original Nike shirts. That'd be expensive and stupid, as I'm sure there's not more than 150 people around the world wanting to put their hands on a Timor shirt.

The material is definitly good, but the printing is quite poor. I'm not wearing it that much, because I'm afraid the flag can just vanish, and the FA's logo, even though it is a beauty, is far from perfect quality printing.

It look ok here, though.

As you probably know, Timor-Leste used to be a portuguese colony, until 1975, when they became an independent country. Just to be invaded by Indonesian troops three day after. The Indonesian occupation of Timor went largely unnoticed for many years, but in the 90's, footage of a massacre changed it all.

In Portugal there were some pro-independence demonstrations, and a huge solidarity wave put Timor in everyone's mind. If you talk about Timor, I'm pretty sure everyone in Portugal would mention those days. Things went specially emotional after the 1999 referendum, when the people massively decided they wanted to free themselves from Indonesia. Pro-Indonesian militias then started a campaign of violence in Timor, killing hundreds (or thousands) and destroying important infrastructures. I suppose they weren't even thinking of playing football back then. In Portugal, Timor was a really big deal, and there's actually an iconic song that still echoes in everyone's mind when you think about the country.



Things calmed down after a UN force entered Timor and restored order. After very tough years, East-Timor was finally able to start a new life. And so did their football national team!

In 2002, Timor joined AFC, and they took part in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. No success yet for the minnows: they are currently ranked 205 in FIFA rankings, just ahead of San Marino, Montserrat and Andorra. Things seem bright for them, though. According to Wikipedia, they do have two training camps - one in Brazil and one in Australia - and they are trying to get some foreigners with Timorese roots to play for the national side. Let's see how it goes.


Alfredo Esteves seems to be their most talented player ever. Now 35, he represented some clubs in Portugal, and then headed to the United States. Now he's playing in Australia. His star-status might be in danger, though, as now there are some Timorese playing in Brazil and neighbour Australia. I hope they are any good, as it sucks to see a portuguese-speaking-country so low in FIFA Rankings.


A quick look at the Superliga shows that, unsurprisingly, most Timorese clubs have strong connections with portuguese football. You find FC Porto Taibesi, Académica, Firma Sporting, SLB Laulara and Sporting Clube de Timor. There are no references to Boavista, but I know we're big in Timor. After we won the league for the first (and only) time, a portuguese television actually interviewed some Boavista supporters in Timor. They were quite happy with it, and some of them actually owned Boavista shirts. No idea how the jerseys got there, but it was great to see.

And talking about jerseys, here is the design of the very first East-Timor football shirt (1967):


I'm really not sure about the story behind the shirt, but it really looks a lot like Boavista's:

They all had facial hair. Good old times.

Timor loves Boavista so much that they actually used chequered shirts. Beat this.

#28 Millwall FC (Home, 2003/2004)

14:41 championship , dag and red , football shirt collection , millwall , millwall fa cup shirt , millwall fc , millwall home shirt , millwall west ham , rare football shirt 3 Comments

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.

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

10:59 cfr cluj , craiova shirt , football shirt collection , ion timofte , jeremie n'jock , rare football shirt , romania football , romania shirt , universitatea craiova , universitatea craiova shirt 5 Comments

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.

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

23:38 antonin panenka , bohemians 1905 , bohemians prague , bohemians praha , czech republic football , fk bohemians , football shirt collection , gambrinus liga , panenka , panenka shirt , rare football shirt 5 Comments

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.

#25 Cambodia (Away, 2011/2012?)

13:29 asia football shirts , asian football , cambodia football , cambodia jersey , cambodia national football team , cambodia national shirt , cambodia shirt , sok rithy 4 Comments

Now, this is the ideal Christmas present. Too bad I had to buy the shirt myself, but it was a great moment anyway. This Cambodia Away Shirt is surely one of the rarest items in my collection, and arrived from Thailand. Probably from the same guy who was selling the East Timor ones. I'm keeping an eye on his items, he might be an important source of great buys.

I must confess I don't know much about football in Cambodia. To be completely honest, I know almost nothing. They usually don't do very well, and are quite weaker than neighbours Vietnam. A quick look on their recent record shows wins are as rare as their shirt. They recently beat Laos 4-2, but were smashed 6-2 on the return game. That victory was actually their first in World Cup Qualifiers, so I believe people were celebrating around Phnom Penh like crazy.

Things are a little bit better if you look at local tournaments. They did participate in AFC Challenge Cup in 2006, but were knocked in the Group Stage. They occasionally take part in ASEAN Football Championship, but again failed to get through the Group Stage.


According to the seller, this shirt was used by the U23 squad in the Sea Games 2011, that took place in Indonesia. I have no clue if that's true, but I did find a picture of some players wearing it against Indonesia, in what's described as a "qualification match" for the South East Asian Games.

Love the hair.

I'm glad their football talent isn't directy proportional to their shirt design: apart from poor results, the shirt is pretty much impressive. Nice work from FBT lads. They were a bit creative, and even though the shirt is not as fancy as a Puma one, it still looks ok.

Now, take a closer look to that last picture. As you can (hardly) see, one of the players is wearing the number 3, the same as in my shirt. I don't know anything about him, except his name is Sok Rithy, who played 8 times for Cambodia and represents Preah Khan Reach, a team somehow connected to the police forces.

I also used to wear #3 when I played amateur football.

So, Rithy is something like my new hero. Hope to hear from him soon. I know he's a defender, and probably a left-defender.

I'm not really into Cambodia's local league, but Phnom Pehn Crown seems to be the dominant force. They actually have some nigerian and japanese players, and their coach is David Booth, an english lad that once managed Darlington. Then he started a successfull (??) carreer in smaller clubs in exotic countries. Nice choice, Booth. I've seen a Phnom Pehn Crown shirt for sale on eBay, but it was too expensive. Maybe later.


I actually like their flag: it's great when your national symbol has a temple in it. I guess it wasn't too easy to put that up on the shirt.

But is there any hope for the national team? Not really, I'd say. Most players are still playing in the local league, that doesn't seem that strong at all. There's some nigerians playing there right now, but I believe their quality isn't exactly top-class. The national coach is Lee Tae-Hoon, an unkown south-korean manager. Let's see how it goes.

I'm still delighted with the shirt.


More to come soon. I've been quite busy, but in the next few days I'll post some new (and old) shirts.