Here I bring you the home shirt of the football club and futsal club of Andorra. Andorra is in fact its own country home to around 86,000 citizens but they also have a club side as well. San Marino as well have a national team and club team. FC Andorra do not play in an Andorran football league though. Since 1948 they have played in the Spanish leagues and currently in the Primera Catalana division which is the 5th level of the Spanish football league system.
The shirt comes from Ildefons Lima who is the top scorer for the Andorra national side despite being a centre back. He started his career at FC Andorra before playing for teams such as Espanyol, Pachuca, Triestina, Rayo Vallecano and Las Palmas before rejoining FC Andorra this season. The shirt is signed by Ildefons Lima and the shirt colours resemble the flag of Andorra.
I do also have an Andorra national football shirt and an Andorra national jacket which you can see at these links.
First international: Suriname 3-3 Trinidad and Tobago (1934)
Biggest win: Trinidad and Tobago 11-0 Aruba (1989)
Biggest loss: Mexico 7-0 Trinidad and Tobago (2000)
Most capped: Angus Eve (117 caps)
Top scorer: Stern John (70 goals)
Star player: Kenwyne Jones (Stoke City)
Trinidad and Tobago came to most people's attention at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Trinidad and Tobago beat Bahrain 2-1 on aggregate in a World Cup qualifier playoff and became the country with the lowest ever population to reach a World Cup. Whilst at the 2006 World Cup they did not score a single goal but did manage a 0-0 draw against Sweden to give them 1 point before going out in the group stages but just getting to a World Cup is a big achievement for a country like Trinidad and Tobago. Against England they lost 2-0 thanks to goals from Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch although Crouch pulled the Trinidad and Tobago's players dreadlocks to reach over him to head it in.
One player during the World Cup who had a lot of media attention on him was Chris Birchall. Chris Birchall was in fact a white person born in England and played for Port Vale at the time. He has since played for LA Galaxy with David Beckham and now still plays in the MLS for Columbus Crew. Birchall was eligible for Trinidad and Tobago because his Mum was born in the country. It was widely thought that Birchall was the first ever white player to play for Trinidad and Tobago but during the 1980s a man named Stephen Hart who managed Canada as well also played for them despite being white.
This shirt in 2006 was in fact the best selling football shirt in Scotland. This was because one of the strikers that played for Trinidad and Tobago was Jason Scotland who played for St Johnstone at the time. This led to Irn Bru using Jason Scotland as their advertising campaign with the slogan 'Scotland's going to the world cup'. Trinidad and Tobago have had some good strikers recently with the likes of Dwight Yorke, Kenwyne Jones and Jason Scotland.
Russell Latapy which is the name on the back of the shirt was also a big star for Trinidad and Tobago. He played a lot of time in Scotland at clubs such as Rangers, Hibernian, Falkirk and Dundee United but also played in Portugal for a bit with clubs which were Academica, Porto and Boavista. He ended up managing the squad in 2009 until 2011 but did not fair well as Trinidad and Tobago did not qualify for the World Cup this time.
A recent match between T&T and Anguilla. Makes it look dry at the England vs Poland game.
First of 3 Irn Bru - Jason Scotland adverts
Second of 3 Irn Bru - Jason Scotland adverts
Third of 3 Irn Bru - Jason Scotland adverts
Watch at 2.03 to see Crouch grab the guys dreadlocks to head in.
First international: Georgia 6-3 Azerbaijan (1993)
Biggest win: Azerbaijan 4-0 Liechtenstein (1999)
Biggest loss: France 10-0 Azerbaijan (1995)
Most capped: Rashad Sadygov (85 caps)
Top scorer: Gurban Gurbanov (14 goals)
Star player: Rashad Sadygov (FK Qarabag)
Azerbaijan have been playing footballsince 1927 but back then they were part of the Soviet Union. It was until 1991 that Azerbaijan gained independence and then in 1992 the Azerbaijani Football Association was formed. Then in 1994 they were finally granted into FIFA and UEFA meaning they could compete in the qualification rounds for the World Cup and European Championships. To this day they have not managed to though or even come close to qualification.
In February 2004 Azerbaijan appointed the 1970 Brazilian World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto as their manager and started with a 6-0 loss to Israel. But despite this they managed to get their first ever away win with a 3-2 victory over Kazakhstan. Then following a 8-0 defeat to Poland, Michael Owen stated that he could even score 5 goals against Azerbaijan. He didn't as England only won the game 2-0 and it caused Carlos Alberto to say 'Owen does not deserve a guy like me talking about him. He's a midget'. Things did not get much better for Alberto as he resigned in 2005 after a 3-0 loss to Poland. Then in 2008, former Scotland manager Berti Vogts took charge of Azerbaijan and remains there till this day. Out of 4 games so far they have drawn 2 and lost 2 in the qualification for the World Cup so I would not expect to see them at Brazil in 2014.
But did you know an Azerbaijani has played a massive part in a World Cup final before? Well the linesman that awarded the goal against Germany in the 1966 World Cup final for England was from Azerbaijan. Whether it went over the line or not is another question.
Credit to my German friend Sascha for finding the shirts from the city of Baku. You can view his blog by clicking here.
First international: Sierra Leone 0-2 Nigeria (1949)
Biggest win: Nigeria 10-1 Benin (1959)
Biggest loss: Ghana 7-0 Nigeria (1955)
Most capped: Joseph Yobo (88 caps)
Top scorer: Rashidi Yekini (37 goals)
Star player: Peter Odemwingie (West Brom)
This kit is from the 1994 World Cup where Nigeria made their first appearance. They faired well in the 1994 World Cup as they topped their group which set up a tie against Italy. They took the lead in that game and was within 2 minutes of qualifying before Roberto Baggio scored a goal which took the game into extra time. Baggio then won the match by scoring a second in extra time. They returned again in 1998 and again managed to get through the group stage before losing 4-1 to Denmark. Again they returned for the World Cup in 2002 but they could not get through the group stages this time. They failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup before returning to the World Cup in 2010. They could of possibly qualified if Yakubu could score an open goal but he somehow missed it. YouTube Yakubu miss if you do not know what I am talking about.
Nigeria have won the African Nations in 1980 and 1994 but have not faired too good recently. Maybe they can win the 2013 tournament?
These Palestine shirts are made by a Chilean sports brand called Training. Palestinian football has quite a big connection with Chile because in 2002 the manager they appointed grew up in Chile and had connections within the Santiago Palestinian community and he bought a few Palestinians from Chile into the squad.
Mahmoud Al-Sarsak was kidnapped by Israel in 2009 and imprisoned for
three years without trial. He went on a hunger strike for three months
in protest over his imprisonment, risking death and likely ruining his
promising future in football. After considerable international pressure
on his behalf, including FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the Israeli
military was forced to release him in 2012.
The problems the Palestinian team face to play matches is huge with the on going conflict with the Isreali's. Facilities have been destroyed and I believe they have to play their home matches in a different country due to safety issues.
Niger
had never qualified for a major tournament until the 2012 African
Nations Cup. If you watched the tournament you would of seen Niger wore
Errea shirts for the first match before reverting back to Tovio shirts
which are the ones in the picture. I am not sure why this happened but
unless you know your shirts then you probably did not even notice it.
Niger in a group of South Africa, Egypt and Sierra Leone shocked
everyone by topping the group and qualifying for the 2011 African
Nations Cup before going out in the group. They will also be
participating in upcoming after scoring two late goals to win 2-0 and go
through 2-1 on aggregate against Guinea.
Niger had never qualified for a major tournament until the 2012 African Nations Cup. If you watched the tournament you would of seen Niger wore Errea shirts for the first match before reverting back to Tovio shirts which are the ones in the picture. I am not sure why this happened but unless you know your shirts then you probably did not even notice it. Niger in a group of South Africa, Egypt and Sierra Leone shocked everyone by topping the group and qualifying for the 2011 African Nations Cup before going out in the group. They will also be participating in upcoming after scoring two late goals to win 2-0 and go through 2-1 on aggregate against Guinea.
