#38 Hamilton Academical (Home, 2007/2008)

 

Haven't posted anything for quite a while now - I've been terribly busy. Work is really taking pretty much all of my time, more than ever.

Anyway, that doesn't mean I stopped buying shirts. Recent purchases include:

- United Arab Emirates
- Zaragoza Away
- Galicia "national" team
- Tottenham
- Ukraine 2008
- Lazio 2002/2003 (this one was picked by my brother actually)
- Bolivia (has yet to arrive)

That makes it around 80 now I guess, will have to count them again. 

Now, let me tell you about the shirt above. As you might have noticed if you're scottish, it's an amazing Hamilton Academical home shirt. I am really not sure when it was used, but according to shirt photo archive Old Football Shirts, it's the 2007/2008 version, when they went on to win the First Division.


I really have a thing for hooped british teams' shirts, so I didn't think twice when I saw a portuguese seller offering the shirt on eBay. It ended up being a bargain (around €10 I think), and despite being used, it's in perfect condition. It's long-sleeved (a bonus), so I'm quite happy with it.

I didn't know much about them, but from what I've read recently, they are still the only professional team that actually started as a school team (hence the Academical I'd say).

They're some kind of yo-yo club in Scotland, going up and down several times every decade. Now they're stuck in Second Division again, after a few seasons in the SPL. I've just checked their squad but I guess they're all unkown players to me. This season they seem to have a lot of young players brought up from the youth ranks, so I am afraid things won't be so easy for them in 2012/2013. Czech keeper Tomas Cerny moved to CSKA Sofia, and some guy named Redmond moved to Wigan. 



These are tough days in Scotland. Rangers are now playing 4th level football (I think), something that I think is a clear sign that things are going the wrong way in European football. It's quite worrying to see historic teams facing strong financial difficulties, and even if you don't like them, you'll end up thinking that something is horribly wrong. I did agree that the clubs voted their way out of the Football League though, as it'd be a dangerous position to be in. 

The next few seasons will probably be way too easy for Celtic. The good thing is that some smaller clubs might push for a Champions League or Europa League spot, but it's predictable that Celtic will keep winning the league in easy fashion.

I met some Aberdeen supporters a few months ago, amazing lads and great club. Hope to visit them and go for a game as soon as possible. Aberdeen and Boavista were founded in the very same day - 1st August 1903 - an interesting coincidence that was enough to build a strong friendship between the fans.



The Accies play in New Douglas Park, a typical british stadium.


It seems to have only two stands though. Or two big stands and a really small one.


Their website isn't brilliant, but it has a great photo archive. So here are some pictures from their 2007/2008 promotion campaign:





Oh, poor lad.
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#37 KV Kortijk (Home, 2009/2010)


I must say I really do not know much about KV Kortrijk. A friend of mine spent a few days in the club's home town and bought it for me for a reasonable price, and that's pretty much it. I've been trying to know more about them, but they seem quite a dull club.

Their shirt is also far from exciting, but it was cool that my friend spent a few hours trying to get me one, and he eventually got this match-worn shirt from the 2009/2010 season. It was probably lost in the kit room, so it was a good deal for them and a good deal for me. The new shirts were a lot more expensive.Thanks Peixotinho!

There's a 17 on the back, so I suppose it was worn by belgian defender Brecht Verbrugghe. He spent 6 seasons with KVK before moving to Mons. He's now in Tournai, Belgian 2nd Division.


And here's Brecht.
Kortrijk actually had a decent run this season, they managed to reach the Cup Final for the first time, eventually losing to Lokeren. They also finished 10th in the league, a good thing having in mind KVK usually fights to avoid relegations. They actually played 2nd level football for some time last decade, so it's cool to see things are changing for better.

Now, there's not much more to say about KVK. But here's a list of things I found out:

- The Mpenza brothers played for Kortrijk. Remember them? They were seen as future stars in Belgium, but never made it. Emile is now a free agent, after being released by Neftchi Baku from Azerbeijan (!), and Mbo retired in 2008 after a poor season with Larissa, in Greece. Emile used to play for Schalke and Standard Liege, and Mbo represented Sporting and Anderlecht.

Actually, the first years of their career were... the same. They both started in Kortrijk, then both moved to Mouscron, and then both moved again to Standard. It's a bit like the De Boer twins, then.

- They play in Guldensporen Stadium. Here's the picture:


It looks a lot like some english stadia.

- For some reason, Wikipedia says the club's supporters are also Swansea fans. I really have no idea why some lads in Belgium would support Swansea, but well, tha's ok.

- The club filled bankruptcy in 2001 and was relegated to the Third Division.





The shirt, as you can see, is also not really exciting. It matches the club, then. It's a basic Nike template, mostly red with some white details on it.

It does have quite a few sponsors though.



Well, that's it. I have nothing more to say about KVK.
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#36 Malawi (Home, 2010/2012?)


This interesting Malawi shirt was the latest addition to my collection, and I must thank Aberdeen-based collector Joe for helping me out. He was looking for a Malawi shirt and was able to track a dealer down in the country, and after a first order he was able to get a few more to Europe. He was nice enough to contact me to know if I'd be interested in one, and I sure was, so thanks mate! Great stuff.

It is probably one of my rarest shirts, and it is definitly a original one. You probably know this Puma template already, they've been using it with different african national teams, using a special design for each one. For example, the Cameroon shirt has a lion on the the shoulder, the Algeria one has a fox, the Ivory Coast has an elephant printed in it, and I bet if Nigeria were supplied by Puma they'd have an eagle. So, Malawi has... Flames.


The Malawi national team is nicknamed The Flames, something very original and a bit lame at the same time. The flames seem a bit badly drawn, the shirt would look definitly better with some quality flames in it, and not with this cheaper version. It kind of looks like a bad tatoo, but it's always funny when tatoos go wrong.

Overall, the shirt looks cool and original, so it's ok if the flames aren't exactly perfect. It's still a nice job from Puma, but something tells me their designers didn't spend that much time with the Malawi kit.

Anyway, Malawi isn't really a powerful football nation, but I guess that's probably the least thing they're worried about right now. Malawi is an extremely poor country, with the economy mostly based on agriculture. They have a low life-expectancy, and a really high infant mortality. Things look quite tough for this small african country, let's all hope things do get a bit better over the years.


Malawi's national team never had any impact in the international stage, but I remember them playing in the 2010 African Cup of Nations. It was only their second appearence in the competition, with the other one coming back in 1984. Their major achievements usually come in the CECAFA Cup, a local tournament with teams from East and Central Africa. Malawi lifted the trophy 3 times, but failed to make it to the final since 1989.

As expected, most of their players play in local clubs, and in some small clubs from other african countries, such as Mozambique and South Africa. I must say I don't know much about the team and the players, but I know Russell Mwafulirwa, a strong forward that used to play for IFK Norrköping, my favorite club in Sweden. He wasn't a superstar but he was a decent striker, and I remember him scoring a goal in CAN 2010.



He's one of the few Malawian football players to show their skills in Europe, I am curious to see if some other will follow him in the next few seasons.


Back to the flames, this is what I think about when I see the shirt:


It's like the shirt went to Pimp my Ride or something. But it still looks nice.



I think I mentioned before the good work Puma has been doing with African teams. Some small countries (like Burkina Faso or Gabon, for example) had their shirts sold all over Europe, and also had a lot of attention from collectors and shops in Europe, thanks to Puma marketing efforts. They announced the full range at the same time and provided pictures of every kit, definitly a nice thing. There was a lot of interest in Ghana and Ivory Coast, so I guess the rest of the teams benefited from that.



As you can see, the shirt also has a nice pattern on the back. I'm not sure if that is part of the template or something that also changed in each team, but it definitly adds some style to the kit.
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#35 Finland (Home, 2010/2012)

 

I've been looking forward to get a Finland shirt for quite a long time, but never managed to buy one. When in Finland, they were way too expensive, and I was pretty confident I'd find a way to get a cheaper one online. Well, I was wrong, and it took me more than 3 years to finally have the chance to buy a Suomi shirt for a reasonable price, as thousands seem to have popped up on many different online shops! 

I felt really lucky, because not only I finally was able to order a Finland shirt, but also because this one is surely their nicest kit in ages. I honestly believe my louse photo does not show you properly how cool the shirt is, so here's a picture from Football Shirt Culture:


There's also a video of the official presentation, so here it goes too:

   

That's Stuart Baxer talking, but he's no longer in charge of the national team. Mixu Paatelainen replaced him, much for the despair of international journalists, because his name can be a little bit hard to write and spell. Finns seem to have really long names anyway.

I always liked Scandinavian football, but I always followed Sweden and Finland more closely. The local leagues are obviously not brilliant, specially in Finland, but it's great to see how unpredictable they are. In Sweden, since 2000, 9 different teams lifted the Allsvenskan trophy, and Finland had 5 different champions in the same period. Obviously HJK is a major force, and do they seem able to easily dominate the Veikkausliiga in the next few years. They have a really strong squad (for finnish standards), and they do have some promising youngsters coming in. Teemu Pukki, for example, recently joined Schalke 04 after impressive matches for the Helsinki side (actually two of those against Schalke), and is regarded as an eventual Raul replacement by the fans and Huub Stevens.

Tampere United, one of the teams who were making things a bit harder for HJK, were banned from the league last season, because of obscure connections to a Singapore-based company that was involved in a huge match-fixing scandal in the country. It was a shame, I really liked Tampere United.


I've been in Tampere a few years ago, and didn't manage to buy their shirt - you can find more about that story in my Estonia shirt post. 
Anyway, without Tampere on the league, I really stopped following finnish football so closely, but every now and then I still check Nordic Football, a really interesting blog about scandinavian football. I know Tampere Utd's fans started a new club, so I hope they reach the professional divisions as soon as possible.

The Finnish league faced serious hard moments when 9 RoPS players were arrested, accused of accepting bribes to affect match results. Wilson Perumal, a singaporean widely considered on of the most prolific criminal fixer of football matches, was also arrested in Rovaniemi (near Lapland, where Santa Claus "lives"), so Finland actually did something good for football. 

Now, a few things you probably know about Finland's soccer:

Jari Litmanen, a brilliant attacking midfielder/second striker. 


He played for Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool, and was capped 137 times. Even though he was part of one of the strongest Finland's national teams ever, the country failed to have much impact in the international scene - they never qualified for a major tournament. Something that might change soon, when the Euros will be expanded to 24 teams. But don't expect them to have any chance of getting into the next World Cup, as they will have to play against Spain and France in their qualification group. 

Sami Hyypiä, a strong defender.


Also capped more than a hundred times for Finland (105), Hyypiä was quite successful with Liverpool. After 10 years in England, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, where he became a caretaker manager a few months ago. It was recently confirmed that he'll be Leverkusen's permanent manager until 2015, so he's doing quite well. Possibly a future Finland coach.



One thing you probably don't know about Finland is that they trashed Portugal a few years ago: 1-4 in Estádio do Bessa. Portugal was getting ready for the 2002 World Cup, but the finnish weren't really afraid and completely humiliated the portuguese squad. It could have been worse. I was actually there (Bessa is Boavista's stadium), and it was a lot of fun to see the portuguese supporters cheering Finland in the final minutes, and booing (and insulting) the portuguese players. Our defenders were an absolute disgrace. Have a look here:


Finland also came to public notice in the US because of Conan O'Brien. He has a lot of fans up there, that kept sending him postcards. He then realized he looked a lot like their president Tarja Halonen (a woman). He spent a week in Finland and did a show about the trip, and it was probably one of the funniest things O'Brien did in his career. It's brilliant. You can find some of the best parts on Youtube. 


They also have a strange passion for Saunas, and things there are incredibly expensive. Helsinki is a very nice city though, and I specially liked Tampere.  

Some final thoughts on the shirt: the assymetric design is quite cool, and the white/blue combination looks specially good. It is obviously an Adidas template, but at least they did something a bit different with it. It is far better from the past boring plain-white-and-blue-stripes-on-the-sleeves Finland shirts.






If anyone does have a Tampere United shirt for sale (or knows how to get one), please get in touch. I'm looking for one for centuries now.
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# 34 Sturm Graz (Home, 2008/2009)


I guess Sturm Graz first got football fans attention not because their good Champions League campaigns, but because they named their stadium after Arnold Schwarzenneger. That's right, the muscle-man, and austrian-born Governor of California was important enough in his home region to see the local stadium holding his long name.

The stadium was built in 2000 and 2001, when Sturm was doing quite well both in domestic and european competitions. I do remember them playing in the Champions League, and I found out about their ground's bizarre name in a UEFA magazine, when I was no more than 10 or something. It didn't make much sense back then, either.

Look at how much money they spent in those letters.
But a few years ago, everything changed. The local hero was no more a local hero. In 2005, Schwarzenegger refused to stop the execution of a former gang-member, that actually changed his life and had been working for many many years in preventing kids from forming or joining criminal gangs. The issue was object of long discussions and criticism in Austria, and people in Graz didn't really want to have their local stadium named after Arnold (maybe they never did). The muscle-man himself wasn't too happy that austrians were so pissed at him because of an execution, so he asked the City Council to remove his name from the Arena.

Amazing.
Yep, that saved them a lot of money.
And here is a picture of the UPC Arena (formerly known as Arnold Schwarzenegger Arena), home of Sturm Graz and Grazer AK:


I got the shirt a few months ago, as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend. It was the perfect thing, and there's no way I could complain, as I picked it myself. I've seen many on eBay, but I was really into this one. It was a special design for to celebrate the club's centenary, and is plain black. But the sponsors make sure it looks a bit colourful.



Overall, it's a nice shirt. It's not that usual to find european shirts with such big sponsors, except in Scandinavia. They do have some heavy sponsored kits.

The special logo 1909-2009.


Here's a old Sturm Graz kit that might be familiar to some of you:


It'd be cool to get that one.

Anyway, after very tough years (when the club faced severe financial problems), things seem to be back on track in Graz. They were champions last year, beating favourites Red Bull Salzburg and Austria Wien. Nice one.



And here comes the best part: do you know who's leading Sturm Graz to glory right now? The legendary FRANCO FODA. A former German international, that was never a star anywhere, except in Portugal. His name is some kind of myth around here: many people believed he didn't really exist, but yes, Franco FODA is here to stay. In case you don't speak portuguese, imagine his name was Franco Fuck. It'd be funny, right?


Foda first came to public notoriety in Portugal when Benfica played against Bayer Leverkusen (Champions League or UEFA Cup). I'm too young to remember the match, but people say journalists were quite embarassed and tried to figure out nice ways to say his name without saying FODA. Not easy.

But Franco is not the only Foda in Sturm. His son, Sandro Foda, currently plays for the Graz side too. I'm sure he'll face a portuguese team sometime: it's destiny.

Here's Sandro Foda in a nice shirt.
Maybe I'm spending a few pounds to print FODA 69 in the back of my shirt. It'd be a sucess.
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