Zimbabwe – Home – 2017
Another shirt from the 2017 African Cup of Nations, there’s a bit of a story behind this one, although I’ll admit that I’ve forgotten most of the details. Zimbabwe qualified for their third major tournament and decided to ditch Joma just months before the tournament began. They sign a contract with unheard of Thai based Mafro Sports, releasing the design just one day before the tournament began – possibly to avoid the outrage over the trim being red instead of the traditional green. However, the shirts had not arrived in Gabon, so the coaches had to scout around local sportshops trying to find some yellow kit for them to wear for their first match – Joma meanwhile were feeling particularly smug. They drew their opening game with Algeria, before defeats to Senegal and Tunisia in the new Mafro shirts.
Zimbabwe’s first tried to qualify for the 1970 World Cup as Rhodesia and for whatever reason entered in the Asia/Oceania region. 7 teams entered, with South Korea and Japan exiting in the group stage. Australia went through to play Rhodesia in a two team group. Both games were drawn, so a 3rd play off match had to be played. In the other group North Korea refused to play Israel, so the other group was also reduced to two teams with Israel prevailing over New Zealand.
