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Matchworn by Jurijs Ševļakovs 05.10.97 LAT 🇱🇻 : SCO 🏴 0-2
Manufacturer: Tro
Source: Classicfootballshirts.co.uk
THE COUNTRY
Latvia’s football history already began in 1922, when they played their first match against Estonia. Sixteen years later, the team almost managed to qualify for the 1938 World Cup, after finishing second of their group.
In 1940, however, Latvia’s football ambitions were suddenly brought to a halt, when a few hammer-and-sickle-equipped guys showed up and decided that the country is now theirs.
After fifty-one years of being part of the Soviet Union, Latvia played its first game as an independent country against fellow ex-commies Estonia in 1991.
THE SHIRT
It’s a banger!
Maroon stripes, representing Latvia’s flag on the bottom, a flag-shaped collar and a shiny wine-red #5 flock in the typical 90’s 3D-sytle on the back make this shirt a serious contender for Latvia’s best football shirt ever!
Made by Austrian manufacturer Tro Sport, replicas of the shirt were never commercially available. Unlike later jerseys, where the team wore a maroon (or red) home shirt and a white away, it seems like Latvia wore this maroon & white shirt for most of their matches during the 1998 World Cup qualification campaign.
This particular shirt was worn by Latvia’s captain Jurijs Ševļakovs in a game against Scotland in October 1997. After the game, the shirt was traded with Scottish player Darren Jackson who later sold it to Classicfootballshirts who then sold it to me, along with a certificate of authenticity, signed by Jackson.
Like every good matchworn shirt it comes with proper “battle-scars” in the form of a soiled right sleeve, showcasing Ševļakovs’ relentless commitment to prevent Latvia’s eventual defeat against the Caledonians
