Home 2018/19
Matchworn/Matchprepared Désiré Sègbè (game unknown)
Manufacturer: (unbranded)
Source: Collector
THE TEAM
The Lions, the Panthers, the Elephants, the Crocodiles, the Eagles, the Stallions, the Fennecs, the Leopard, the ferocious Zombie-Hyenas from Hell…. this is a small selection of the intimidating nicknames of Africa’s national teams (well, the latter maybe not so much).
Benin also decided to come up with their own moniker: The Squirrels!?
It is beyond me, why someone would choose such a tame name, when there is a plethora of dangerous local animals to choose from!
Unfortunately, the Beninese football association has now also noticed this and renamed its national team “Les Guépards” (The Cheetahs).
Unfortunately, the name change has not led to more successful football: since then, Benin's national team has not been able to qualify for the Africa Cup.
The last time was in 2019, where they surprisingly made it to the quarter-finals, eventually losing 1-0 to Senegal.
THE SHIRT
This jersey is extremely strange:
Not only is there no indication of the manufacturer, there are also features on the shirt that you would usually find on a Nike jersey – only in much poorer quality.
There is the “Dri-Fit” logo on the bottom of the shirt, which was typical for Nike shirts around 2010. On the other side is the Nike “Authentic” label, only without the familiar Nike Swoosh.
However, the jersey also has features that you wouldn't find from the American manufacturer:
in addition to the rather unusual box pattern, which represents the Beninese flag, there is also another pattern embossed into fabric, spreading over the entire jersey.
The jersey comes from Désiré Sègbè, who gave it to a referee during his time at Slovakian first division club FK Senica, who eventually gave it to me.
According to Sègbè, it was worn during some friendly matches in 2019, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos of Benin wearing the jersey without front numbers. Sègbè is probably known to German football fans as the best friend of Sadio Mané, who moved to FC Bayern Munich at the same time as him – albeit to Munich’s second team.
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