URUGUAY

Away 1995/97

Matchworn Marcelo Romero 25.08.96 JPN 🇯🇵 : URU 🇺🇾 5-3

Manufacturer: Ennerre

Source: Collector

THE COUNTRY

Despite Uruguay winning the World Cup twice, many people outside of South America still aren’t aware how successful the Uruguayan national team has been in the past. While not a lot of folks are still alive to tell the tale of the team’s triumph in the first ever World Cup in 1930, their success in the 1950 final against Brazil is still considered one of the greatest matches in the history of the tournament and to this day holds the record for the most attended football match ever, with possibly over 200,000 spectators.

Along with Argentina, “La Celeste” is also the record winner of the South American “Copa América”, which both teams won a total of fifteen times.

Even in their somewhat less successful stretch in the late 90’s and 2000’s, Uruguay has yielded some of the biggest names in international football: Luis Suárez, Diego Forlán, Edinson Cavani, Diego Godín and Paolo Montero – the guy who once wore the very shirt that you are now reading about.

THE SHIRT

I always found it strange that Uruguay used red away shirts in the 90s and 2000s. But since I have a soft spot for strange jerseys, it was clear that sooner or later a red Uruguay jersey had to find its way into my collection! So when the opportunity came to get a worn jersey, I could not say "no".

The red Ennerre design was worn only once by the national team – in a high-scoring 5-3 friendly against Japan – where this jersey also came from. It was worn by midfielder Marcelo Romero, who played through the match for 90 minutes, leaving some small dirt stains on the shirt as well. The basic design is the same as the blue home jersey, which is also part of my collection.