CYPRUS

Home 1991/92

Matchworn (player and match unknown)

Manufacturer: Lotto

Source: Collector

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THE COUNTRY

The Republic of Cyprus is a weird hodgepodge of borders, claims, territories, zones, and agreements, with the Greek part of Cyprus, the Turkish, Brits and also the UN all contributing to this political mess. I go into detail about the country’s history in my article about Northern Cyprus, but with a spectacular shirt like this, I don’t want to bore you with political facts.

Sitting right in the middle of the FIFA table, the Cyprus national team certainly had its ups and downs, especially from 2010 to 2014, when the team dropped a whopping 100 places, from their highest position (43rd) to the 142nd place.

During the 2016 EURO qualifiers, Cyprus had a realistic chance to qualify for the play-offs, but due to a narrow loss against Bosnia, they finished their group in fifth place.

THE SHIRT

Cyprus had some terrific jerseys in the 90s. In the most beautiful was certainly the blue Erreà design , which Cyprus wore from 1996. Not to be despised is also this very jersey based on the popular Lotto template, which was also worn by the Estonian national team. In contrast to the Estonia jersey, the blue tones are slightly different and there are shimmering Lotto logos processed into the fabric. The association crest is only printed on the jersey and not embroidered, unfortunately. The design was rarely used and given the scarce squad information I can not determine exactly in which game and by which player it was worn.

Cyprus wearing the shirt in 1991 against USSR