Goalkeeper 1996/97
Matchworn Jean-François Gillet (U21) (Game unknown)
Manufacturer: Diadora
Source: Collector
THE COUNTRY
In the last ten years, Belgium’s national team has actually managed to top the FIFA rankings four years in a row and thus, always been among the top favorites for the recent World Cups and EUROs , yet, they have failed to fully exploit their full potential.
Dubbed “the golden generation”, Belgium’s gifted youngsters managed to reach the quarterfinals of a big tournament three times and even achieved a third place in the 2018 World Cup.
THE SHIRT
There are ugly shirts that are just plain ugly – and there are shirts that just look awesome. Belgium’s 1996/97 goalkeeper shirts is one of the latter. Made by Diadora, the shirt features a prominent diamond pattern with a stylized chian-link fence slapped on top. To make things look even more overloaded, there is a giant grey rubber federation badge smack in the middle of the shirt. The complete the chaos, the colors look like the red color has bleed into the grey, creating a weird greyish-pink mishmash that utterly clashes with the bright red-yellow-and-black collar.
This shirt was worn by former Belgian international goalkeeper Jean-François Gillet by all indications in an under-21 match.
