World Football Quest

The 2nd most populated and the 7th biggest country in the world, India is one of the most exotic countries in the world, since they have been homeland of many different cultures since the early times of the humanity, unfortunately for them, India has not developed as fast as they did in ancient ages. India has been a british colony until 1947, when the movement of Indian nationalism was successful,under the leadership of their great leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Right now, India is one of those countries where a economical and political power has not been awakened yet, but some clues have been seen lately that maybe this time is not so far.

Although the most popular sport in India is Cricket, football has had little eras when it was popular in India. They have never classified for a World Cup, and their best result in the Asian Cup is the 2nd place in 1964. Right now, the only competition where India has some power is the SAFF Cup, where they have been champions in 6 of 10 editions of this competition. Right now but, football is suffering from a small decadence since the Indians doesn't have many interest in this game, a shame.

The shirt here is the home design from 2008. It came from ebay for 12€ as it had some defects from use. Even with that, the shirt is in good enough condition to use it, and since I really like the colour, sometimes I wear it anyway.

One of the two special administrative regions of China (with Macau), Hong Kong is one of the biggest and most important financial markets worldwide. Maybe this can sound a bit rare, if we think that China is, theoretically, a communist country, but that's why they are a special administrative region: their political and economic system is the called "One country, two systems", in which they are part of China, but they don't have the same system, so that's why they have this capitalist resources. Talking about their culture, Hong Kong has great part of the Chinese culture inside, but you can already find many things of western cultures, since they were a British colony until 1997, so it's a place that really deserves to be visited.

Considering the issue that Hong Kong has its own political system, that system affects sport and football as well. Hong Kong had their own National Team since 1954, when they still were a colony, but when they returned to China they maintained their own football structure, including its own local league.

This away design is a player issue one, from 2007. It's very common to be found on ebay, and I got it for only 16€, but you won't have any problem finding one at a similar price by yourself.

One of the oldest (if not the the oldest of all) nations in Europe, considering its name and frontiers, Portugal it's a great resume of a lot of different european cultures of many different ages. Just like Spain, Portugal has been inhabited by cultures from different places, that have made a culture very diverse in almost every aspect you can see, like music, architecture, cuisine, art...

Portuguese football has some resemblances with Spanish one, maybe with a lower level if we talk about the local leagues, but very similar between the National Teams. Portugal has always had great teams, with many great players, some of them some of the best of football history, like Eusebio, Futre, Figo, Pauleta and Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfortunately for them, those impressive teams have never been realy powerfull once they got out of the theory, as their best performance ever has been a 3rd place in 1966 World Cup and the long time remembered 2nd place in the 2004 Eurocup against Greece.

The shirt here is the home design of 2008, when they were eliminated by Germany on the quarter finals. This is a XL size, very big for me, but as it came from ebay for just 10€ I'm happy to have it anyway. I would have liked that it has the number 7 and Ronaldo on the back, since as I'm a Real Madrid fan it's not difficult to know what player I would like the most of that team.

One of the most famous things that Austria have, possibly worldwide, is the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, but this is not just the only thing you can find here. This is a country that has the honour to be the homeland of many of the greatest musicians ever, great names like Schubert, Haydn, Strauss Senior and Junior and, of course, non other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Many other people were born in Austria, and if you are a freak of that kind of quantum physic theorems, you have to know who Erwin Schrödinger is.

Austria's national team is not at the same level of talent as their musicians, that's pretty clear. They have only made good competitions at the 1934 and 1954 World Cups, when international football was not as developed as it is right now. Apart of that, they haven't done anything big in their history yet.

Here we have to talk more about the history of how I got this shirt than about the shirt itself. It comes from a local store here in Spain, in where some unskilled employee had some troubles with the alarm they put on the shirt, making 3 holes on it: one on the badge, one on top of it and one behind the neck. Only the last one is visible, as you can see in the picture I post here. The good thing (for me) was that they can not sell the shirt with that tiny hole, as no one wanted to pay 75€ for a shirt that is not perfect, so they sell it to me for just 10€. Yes, 10€, a brand new shirt, with almost no defect for only 10€, I couldn't be happy with the deal. So, watch closely if you go to a shop where they sell shirts, maybe next time you get some luck like this.

Sincerely, I don't know too much about Tajikistan, only that is one of the "stan" countries that you can find in the central Asia area, that was part of the ancient USSR and... not too much. It looks like the typical nation of that area: many mountains, many rivers and not too many forests. Wikipedia says that has been part of an ancient persian empire, and other different cultures in the past. I would like yo say more about this country, but I don't want to say something that is not true, and I don't know anyone from there so... that's all

The shirt here is a design that probably this is not the first time you see it, as many people who we have a Tajikistan NT shirt we have this one from Grand Sport. It's from 2011, the home design, when they didn't classified for any competition and didn't made any important match. Have I said that I don't have almost any idea about Tajikistan?

Recently more known by their conflict with Russia than for any other thing, and hopefully this changes soon. Ukraine has not been, almost never, a nation with real political power in the international stage, but it had (and still) a great influence in strategic movements in almost every era. Very important because their cereal production, Ukraine has almost ever been part of a bigger empire or nation, as they were the Kievan Rus', the Lithuanian, Polish and Ottoman domination, and finally as part of the ancient USSR, so if you study history or you're a passionate of it, Ukraine can really be a heaven for you (or a hell if you don't like it).

Of course what you can find here is not only history, as their culture is great at a similar level at least, with many different types of influences that have forged a very rich culture, architecture and cuisine.

About sports (and specially football), as many other ex-soviet countries, their base is very powerfull, so that's why many great players have come from this land. 3 Ukranian players, 2 of them under the USSR Flag, have won the Ballon D'Or in their history: Oleg Blokhin in 1975, Igor Belanov in 1986 and Andry Shevchenko in 2004. Since their national team is relatively new (first match as an independent nation in 1992), many of this great players have not defended the yellow and blue shirt of the Zbirna, and the actual national team doesn't have the great level that the USSR team had in the past (in other way it's logical, as that was composed by 15 different nations).

The shirt here is the away design used in 2006, when they played in the World Cup (and we won them 4-0, equalizing their worst result ever in a single match). That was unfortunately the only World Cup where the world could see Shevchenko in action, a great miss for football lovers. I found this shirt on ebay for only 9€ and it's almost new, I wanted one of their national team specially as one of my best friends was born here. I'm always talking to her about my collection, even she doesn't like football (Hi Iryna!)

One of the recently famous Arabian peninsula nations, Qatar is one of the tiny emirates that you can find in the Persian Gulf south coast (not part of the United Arab Emirates, where you can find Dubai and Abu Dhabi). As you can suppose, the country is majorly known by their oil industry, which is one of the biggest in the world, just like almost every other nation in the Arabian peninsula, and the 3rd biggest natural gas reserve in the world.

About football, Qatar has become one of the greatest topics in the latest months as they have received the chance to organize the 2022 World Cup. This issue is not definitive, as many suspicious of corruption around the voting session in which they received this honour have come in the recent days, so maybe this World Cup will never be a reality when the year comes.

The shirt here is the away one they used in 2013, a Player Issue one, as you can see in the holes at the sides. The shirt itself is quite simple, almost a generic template with the Qatar FA logo pasted on it. Even with all, it's a beautiful shirt, and quite nice to wear. I would have prefered if it was the home shirt, as I like the colour, but it's a Qatar shirt, so it's good enough to complete this tiny hole in the map.

Possibly, if we say that Switzerland is the world's bank, we can't be wrong, at least not to much if we count on the other "pirates paradises" as Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Maldives, etc. Many people, and not all "clean" have their money there, that's the main reason why Switzerland is almost invulnerable to economic crisis and things like this, that everyone on the world are suffering right now. Apart from banks, Switzerland is famous because its clocks and its chocolate, which are all 2 ones of the bests in the world. Special mention have the archi famous Swiss Army Knife, everyone knows what kind of polivalent tool is this.

Swiss national team is, historicaly, a medium level team in UEFA, but those recent days they have make a quality improvement, majorly because of the great number of new incomers in Swiss society, majorly from Portugal, Italy, Spain and other parts of the Balcans. That has made of the Swiss team a very diverse one, that's why actually they are the 6th classified on FIFA ranking, and has become a decent team in the world panorama.

This shirt came to me at the same time with Bulgaria's one, all 2 as a present. This is a prototype too, as you can see in the pic were it says "Sample". Not many differences has with the final design, just the flag, which is not in this wide version you see here, the FA logo that it was in white and not in red, and.. that's all. A beautiful shirt, with the name and number of the further SS Lazio player, Stephan Lichtsteiner, who is now on Juventus.

For once, let's talk about the shirt itself first. This is a players shirt, just the one like they wore on 2010, but not exactly the same shirt. As I said, this is a players one, with all details and materials you can expect on them, but this is maybe the only shirt like this you're going to see (unless it exists more, what I'm not sure at 100%). This shirt is a prototype made by Puma to show the Bulgarian FA the designs they made previously to be produced, in a physical mode. The truth is that this shirt and the definitive design they produced doesn't have almost any changes, just the detail that the badge is in the center, not in the right of the shirt as it's usual. I have to say I'm very proud to have one shirt like this in my collection, I think it gives some kind of special level to have a unique piece like this.

One of the most complex countries in Europe. Belgium was declared independent from the Netherlands in 1830, and is still united in the present. What I mean with that? Belgium is a country with a great inner division between its three main language areas, that create some political and cultural problems. The most recognized element on the Belgian culture, at least internationally, is its chocolate industry, which is one of the best you can find (I prove that, chocolate in Antwerp is simply wonderful).

Les Diables Rouges/Rode Duivels are their national team. Historically it's a good team in European structure, that has finally overcome this year from 12 bad years since their last World Cup match. And they have done it pretty well, as right now is considered one of the most talented and promising teams of all national teams, with players like Hazard, Courtois, Vermaelen, Kompany, Lukaku, Januzaj, etc. Maybe we'll se them winning the world cup on Rusia in 4 years. Why not?

Even I'm talking about their promising future, the shirt here talks more about their bright past, as it comes from 1993. It's an away design, made by Diadora and, if you like retro and vintage designs, I think this has to be one of your favourites. Just a white shirt, with a watermark design in all the shirt. Red neck and cuffs with the Belgium flag on it. Just classy and classic.

Unfortunately, many people remembers that name with the horrible war that took place here in the 50s, 60s and 70s, a totally useful conflict (we can discuss if have existed any war that had any real meaning) that ended with a destroyed country and a poor image that many people still has in their minds. But, the bad things never lasts forever, and today Vietnam is more famous for tourism and their exotic culture, some things that are typical on the southeast of Asia.

Their national team, actually the highest ranked one in the asian southeast, is a pretty decent team, with no famous players but with a level which enables them to be a respected rival for all nations on the zone. Vietnam never classified for a World Cup, and their best result in the Asian Cup has been the quarter finals in 2007, when they hosted it with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, but has not classified in any other edition of the tournament.

The shirt I have is from 2004, unfortunately I don't have any picture of it in use, but I'm very sure of its legitimacy and that is an official one. The bright fabric of the shirt gives it a different touch, but as it doesn't have any special detail, is just like many other red shirts that you can see on football worldwide.