Third 2008
Matchworn by Aleksandre Kobakhidze 06.02.08 GEO 🇬🇪 : LAT 🇱🇻 1-3
Manufacturer: Diadora
Source: Collector
THE SHIRT
I'm a connoisseur of weird third shirts or unusual one-off kits that don't have much in common with their respective country either in style or in color:
There is the strange maroon-colored San Marino shirt or Liechtenstein's rare white kit and there is also this blue Diadora shirt, that Georgia only wore in a single match.
Prepared with unusually high numbers like 31, 53 or 99, Georgia, who were coached by German manager Klaus Toppmöller at the time, faced Latvia for a friendly match in 2008, which they would ultimately lose 3-1 against the Baltic side. Why on earth someone decided to let the team take the field in blue jerseys and not in their usual white or red (or in some cases also black) shirts, is unrecorded. It can only be speculated that maybe the Latvian's only had their maroon shirts with them and the Georgian's also only had their red shirts at hand.
The shirts, however, are no hastily prepared template shirts, but rather have the same features as the team's home and away designs. Most prominently, a giant GFF badge sublimated into the front of the shirt as well as en embroidered federation badge.
My shirt was worn by defender Aleksandre Kobakhidze who came on the field as a substitute in the second half., but wasn't able to help his team very much.
