Home 2011/12 (?)
Matchworn/Matchprepared (player & game unkown)
Manufacturer: Valero (?)
Source: Collector
THE COUNTRY
Aruba already broke away from the Netherlands Antilles, which were dissolved in 2010, in 1986, making it the first country in the archipelago to become part of FIFA. For an island that is part of the Dutch kingdom, has just under 100,000 inhabitants and regularly loses its best players to the Netherlands, the sporting success is limited. This is also reflected in its position in the FIFA world rankings, where Aruba is currently ranked 193rd. In 2015, they climbed to a respectable 112th place by beating the British Virgin Islands 7-0, among others.
However, Aruba's greatest success remains winning the ABCS (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Suriname) tournament in 2012, where they defeated Suriname in the final.
THE SHIRT
Like my other matchworn Aruba shirt, this jersey does not look like a professional football jersey.
And it obviously wasn't worn by Aruba's first team either – at least that's what the lettering “LIFIDA”, which stands for “Liga Infantil di Futbol di Aruba”, i.e. Aruba's youth league, suggests.
Even if the design doesn't look overly interesting, the history of the jersey absolutely is:
It comes from a German businessman who, during a business trip to Aruba with his colleague, after a few beers had the idea of looking for a national team jersey. After unsuccessfully visiting a number of sports stores, the two eventually found themselves in the office of the president of the football federation, who promised to get them a jersey as a souvenir. And indeed, the next day, the coach of the national team at the time rang the hotel doorbell and surprised the businessmen with this rather obscure shirt. According to him, the jersey was in use in 2012 and as numbers 1 to 11 were still needed, # 12 was given away.
Even though I will probably never find a match photo with this jersey, it is still an exciting addition to my collection.
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