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#42 Belarus (Home, 2014/2016)
For some reason I stopped updating the blog, but hey, some people complained and here we are again. I didn't stop buying new stuff (today I bought a Myanmar shirt, hopefully it'll get from Thailand all the way to Porto), and the last count is around the 150 mark. A nice number, I guess.
So, let's have a look at this awesome Belarus shirt. I got it on a work trip to Minsk (to cover the match between BATE Borisov and FC Porto), and it wasn't too easy to get. As you can see, the Belarus FA is sponsored by Adidas. I came across a few Adidas shops, but found nothing of their national team. I did buy a really cool ushanka, though, that was really useful in recent trips to Switzerland and Russia.
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| In Saint Petersburg with my Adidas ushanka from Minsk |
The guys at the shops told me that maybe there was this small chance they had a few Belarus shirts in a shopping mall just outside the city center, but hey, I was working and didn't have time for that. I was starting thinking all I could get would be a BATE shirt, which was cool anyway, but it'd be a wasted chance to get a nice Belarus one. It's not that they don't pop up sometimes on eBay or other shirt shops, but they're usually quite expensive - it's a rare item.
But luck protected me, and in the new BATE stadium, in Borisov, they had BATE shirts and Belarus ones! For a reasonable price also, I think I paid around 35eur for this one. Not bad at all, because it's quite classy.
It's not a big deal, of course, but it could be worse (like a total white Adidas template). It has this nice red and green details, and the badge is a beauty - straight outta CCCP times.
I absolutely loved my trip to Minsk, it's definitly a great city. A must if you're into Eastern Europe, it's probably the most USSR-like capital still around. Don't forget they have their own dictator - Lukashenko. In 2016, Belarus is probably the last real dictatorship in Europe. I even worked on a report about the opposition movements, and how they always get in trouble. It felt like a massive thing to do, specially having in mind I work for a sports channel. It was great, I'll never forget those days.
Minsk is really cool, they even have a huge Lenin statue in the main square.
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| That's Lenin and the Parliament. A photo I took in Minsk. |
BATE is surely their biggest and most successful side at the moment. I also bought their shirt, even though I was disappointed to get only a XL, which is a bit too large for me. Will post it later.
Belarus is not exactly a superpower when it comes to football, and never qualified for a major tournament. I was expecting they'd have a chance now that the European Championship has 24 teams, but they weren't even close. Maybe in the near future they can do a little better and push for a playoff place.
You probably heard of Hleb, who played for Arsenal and Barcelona (among others), who is probably their best player in recent times. Putsila or Kornilenko also worth a mention.
A few last pictures of the shirt in action:
Man, that badge is so fucking awesome.
PS - as you maybe noticed, I changed the layout of the blog a little bit. Hope you guys like it.
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