Away 1998/00
Matchworn (player and game unknown)
Manufacturer: Adidas
Source: Classicfootballshirts.co.uk
THE TEAM
The Faroe Islands – not to be confused with the “Pharao Islands”, which sound like an Egypt-themed water park – are basically a Lord of the Rings film set, slapped somewhere in the North Atlantic. Besides looking gorgeous, the Faroe Islands are mostly known for their grass-covered roofs, their unpredictable weather, slaughtering wales and the fact that their sheep and puffins outnumber their 52,000 inhabitants.
The Faroese national team, in turn, is notorious for being a stumbling block for much bigger nations. Despite their small population, the team rarely suffers high defeats and managed to climb to an astonishing 74th place in the 2015 FIFA ranking, after demolishing Greece three times in a row. Alongside the Greek, the Austrians are also still recovering from their famous 1-0 loss against the Faroe Islands in 1990, where Faroese coach Guðlaugsson motivated his team to “throw yourself into the tackles against those arrogant Austrians […]”, which they apparently did and thus forced Austria’s coach Josef Hickersberger to resign and further caused a major shitstorm in Austria. To this day, a rerun of the game is shown annually on Faroese TV.
THE SHIRT
The 90s were a time where the body shape didn't really matter. Everyone just bought their clothes in size XL and upwards and then disappeared in a tent-like fabric. This is also true for the Faroe Islands end-of-the-90s jerseys. As seen in the pictures, the sleeves could easily house two young adults, while the rest of the shirt offers enough room to hide a growing beer belly.
I bought the shirt from Classic Football Shirts, who sold the shirt as "matchworn", however, unlike the frequently used white version (that I also own), the blue model was only rarely used, if at all. If you have any pictures of the team wearing this shirt, I'd happy if you would share it with me.
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