Reunion 2023 Home

Now here’s quite the shirt! They certainly leaned in hard on the French theme, you shan’t forget who owns the island in a hurry. Strong use of red and white on the blue shirt leads to a lot of French flags if you look for them! The wavy dotted patterns from red to white (and therefore arguably creating 2 more flags) makes for a very visually appealing front to the shirt, and the LRF logo is superb, with us also getting the flag in too. Label Sports potentially get a little greedy with 2 logos, and quality isn’t great, but Réunion have a solid shirt here.

Used in the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games, La Réunion would have a thoroughly uninspiring start. A 0-0 draw with fellow French islanders Mayotte left them needing a result against Comoros, with the subsequent 1-1 draw sending them and their opponents through on goals scored. 2 goals either side of half-time allowed them to dispatch Mauritius 2-1 but a penalty deep in extra time would lose them the final against the hosts, Madagascar. They failed to defend their title, but once more proved their mettle against FIFA opposition.

Primarily active in the Indian Ocean, from the original Triangulaire, against Madagascar and Mauritius, from 1947-1963 (in which they did poorly) they are active these days in the Indian Ocean Island Games against a slightly broader range of opposition. They’ve also taken 5 titles from 11 games and made a further 4 finals, so have thoroughly made their mark. Sadly, they’re yet to participate in COSAFA or CAF competition. They did, however make every Coupe de l’Outre-Mer final, only losing the 2010 edition on penalties. Their women’s side has had limited activity, taking part in the 2000 African Women’s Championship and the 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games as hosts, the only women’s tournament there to date (Madagascar in 2023 withdrew it). For the former they beat Kenya on walkover and then edged Egypt 5-4 over 2 legs. A 3-0 opening loss to South Africa was followed up by them surrendering 1-0 leads twice to Uganda and Zimbabwe with them not returning since. With three 3-1 victories, they were fairly comfortable taking home the title in 2015.

Previously surprisingly active at youth level, Réunion attempted to qualify for 4 U20 AFCONs and 3 U17 editions. The U20s were active in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2009 while the U17s were in 2007, 2009, 2011 and withdrew in 2013. The U20s twice came close against Madagascar before beating Mozambique in 2009 only for South Africa to thrash them 8-2. The U17s grabbed a win in every campaign, with 2011 seeing them fall 3-1 in the final qualifying stage. They also played in 2010 in the women’s U20 qualifiers, thrashing Madagascar 7-2 before South Africa swept them aside in turn 6-3.

Very quiet since the change in CAF leadership, there’s limited evidence to even suggest they are still associate members. Expect to see them every 4 years at the Indian Ocean Island Games but, strong as they are, they seem thoroughly frozen out.

Monaco 2014-17 GK, matchworn/prepared

The template isn’t a bad one, with the concentric circles expanding out from the logo. Despite their limited funds, the Monegasque FA even managed to centralise their logo in it properly, which can’t be said of all the teams to have used it… The logo being circular itself also helps with this. The lack of colour to the shirt except for the logo does make it feel a little washed out, however, and there really isn’t a lot else to talk about here. Alright, but nothing to write home about.

Used only in friendlies, as Monaco are wont to do, it is hard to narrow down much more information. They managed a win and a draw with Vatican City (2014 & 2017), both reasonable results, but other matches were played that are tricky to identify. Limited activity, but any activity is great to see from them.

These days seemingly defunct, Monaco have rarely been an active side. Often restricted to a friendly a year, they played regularly from 2000 to 2014, with activity starting to drop off from then onwards. They’ve played a number of smaller club sides as well as teams such as Kosovo, Gibraltar, The Vatican and several of the French regional non-FIFA sides. Results have been fairly mixed, as expected, but several have been thoroughly respectable. An extremely limited player pool means they tend to struggle against more established opposition, however, and their 2-2 draw against Gibraltar would be highly unlikely to be replicated. They did compete for a time in the local 7-a-side league, but information is limited and they started to struggle to fulfil their fixtures. Astonishingly, they did compete in beach soccer, in 2004, joining the Euro Beach Soccer League for a singular season. Placed in the inaugural Division C season, Monaco would start off getting annihilated 12-1 by Hungary, have a walkover against Slovenia but finish off with a respectably narrow 4-2 loss to Greece. Slovenia’s withdrawal amusingly meant that they finished above Sweden.

It is hard to see a path for Monaco in the future. With no formal support from the Prince and his government combined with an ageing playerbase with extremely limited replacement, there are significant worries for the near future. I hope to see them play again, but it has been some years…

Martinique 2023 Home, matchworn Andy Marny v Panama

Finally shedding their colonial colours on kits, Martinique shift across to the new flag colours and showcase it on the sleeves here. Green, black and red make for a striking kit, though actual design beyond that point is limited to the point of non-existence. There’s a little effort made down the sides and the logo might be more interesting if it wasn’t sublimated and so barely standing out. Stands out visually, but the colours do the heavy lifting here.

Used across the 2023 Gold Cup, Martinique would open up with a 2-1 win over El Salvador and follow it up with a loss by the same scoreline to Panama. Needing just a point to advance, they’d shockingly go 5-1 down to Costa Rica by the 75th in a manic game that would still somehow end 6-4 with the Martinicians out. Maybe not the most successful football campaign ever, but possibly the most chaotic.

In general Martinique are a relatively strong side in CONCACAF, though their non-FIFA status and CONCACAF’s slow acceptance of them has restricted game time in the past. On their Caribbean Cup debut they’d take home the title, defend it in the next edition and lose the final of the 3^rd in a row. Then not qualify! Since then they’ve taken another title and final loss and three 3^rd places but tailed off a little until the tournament was cancelled. Generally unsuccessful at Gold Cups, they’ve reached 8 tournaments, but only escaped the group stage in 2002. Having been to 4 editions in a row, their qualifying rate is impressive, however. An underwhelming start to the Nations League barely kept them in League A, with the reformat saving them in the 2^nd season, though they were steadier in the 3^rd. they also managed to make all 3 Coupe de l’Outre-Mer finals, winning the 2010 edition on penalties.

Highly sporadically active, Martinique have withdrawn from 2 Women’s Caribbean Cups, coming 4^th in the other edition to date. They did make the 1991, 1998 and 2014 Women’s Championships but are a rare sight in qualifying and have conceded at least 8 in a single match at all 3 tournaments. Solidly in League B of the W Gold Cup qualifiers, let’s hope they play more consistently from now on. Extremely sporadic in youth football, they’ve been to three men’s U20 Championships, one U17, all four U15s and two girl’s U15s. Qualifying attempts are extremely rare, with only one from each U20 and U17 to date from their women’s teams. The men tend to be a little more successful, like the senior team, rather rooted in the middle of the confederation and exiting each tournament in the first round, while the women have typically struggled, though do have 2 U15 semi-finals from their League B campaigns. The U17 women did, however, fall short of the 202 tournament on goal difference alone, not that it ended up being played.

The closest Martinique have come to futsal or beach soccer is their withdrawal from the 2021 Futsal Championship qualifiers before any matches were played. They’ve yet to be seen since.

A strong CONCACAF member, if not one that typically overwhelms, expect to see them try to keep up their streak of gold Cup qualifications. Unlikely to be let into FIFA anytime soon, they’ll look to try and finally escape the group stages once again too. Best of luck to them!

Sri Lanka 2015-20 Home, matchworn
Sri Lanka 2015-20 away, matchworn

For a country known mainly for boring templates, the switch to Grand Sport and the reveal of some of the greatest ever national shirts came very much out of left field. The brown and gold colouring stands out amongst more traditional colours, the front has diagonal pinstripes, which can only be a plus, there’s use of both colours across the shirt to help break out any plain portions and let’s not forget the dirty great lion on the right shoulder! No, there’s nothing on the sleeves or the rear and the numbers are even sublimated, but these shirts are special.

Used across a long period of time, from 2015-20, the design was used in multiple qualification campaigns and minor tournaments. The main focus was the 2018 World Cup/2019 Asian Cup combined qualifiers while would be later followed up by the start to 2022 qualifiers. In the former they were drawn up against Bhutan, who were competing in their first ever World Cup qualifiers. Sri Lanka lost both legs by a single goal and were thus eliminated from the qualification campaign. In the latter they lost 1-0 to Macau in Macau but would end up progressing after Macau refused to travel to Sri Lanka due to a crisis on the island. During the second round of qualifiers they would change shirt design.

These results would be a familiar story for Sri Lanka. They typical occupy some of the lowest ranks of the FIFA rankings and only have 4 wins in 8 World Cup qualification campaigns to date. While they’ve seen a little more success in Asian Cup qualifiers, they haven’t performed significantly differently. Where they see real improvement is in the regional SAFF Championship and in the lower tier AFC competitions. The first 2 SAFF Championships in 1993 and 1995 brought 2 finals and 1 title with them reaching 4 further semi-finals in the next 11 tournaments. Wins are still somewhat thin on the ground though. They also managed 2^nd in the inaugural AFC Challenge Cup in 2006, though they’d only take 1 win from the next 2 editions and not qualify for the 2 after that. The restructuring to the Solidarity Cup did not bring major change and they were more competitive, but finished bottom of the group. Two 3^rd places at the South Asian Games add a little success though.

Their women’s team has not been massively active, mainly competing locally. They’ve finished bottom of every South Asian Games they’ve played in but do have 3 semi-finals from 6 SAFF Championships. They’ve never had a positive goal difference there though and the local titans of India and Nepal have always dealt with them comfortably. Their sole AFC participation was for the 2016 Olympics where they would lose 4-0 to India and 16-0 to Myanmar to be eliminated. As with the senior side, positive results for the men’s youth teams are few and often far between. At SAFF level they have a 3rd/4th place in the 2022 U17 tournament while at AFC level they’ve struggled in qualifiers. The last Asian Cup they reached was the 1986 U20 one, the only level at which they’ve reached one. While they’ve been to 10 tournaments, progression was limited. Their women’s youth teams have been to 3 combined qualifiers, collecting a single draw, and 1 SAFF Championship at each level brought only further losses. Extremely limited in scope, we’ve not seen much of them and it hasn’t been ideal.

Sri Lanka have not played either futsal or beach soccer to date and with the troubles they’ve had, are unlikely to do so anytime soon.

Macau were expected to be an interesting task for 2022 qualifiers, but the 3-0 awarded match to let Sri Lanka progress for the first time since 2006 qualifiers was a massive bonus. Anything further would’ve been considered a bonus and they did struggle though single goal losses to Korea DPR and Lebanon were very impressive. There’s potential there that can hopefully be realised.

Chad 2021-23 Home

Is there much of interest here? Not really, but the stripe pattern on the front is at least mildly interesting. That doesn’t even extend to the rear. Other than that there’s the colour down the sides, the additional logos on the shoulders and whatever is happening with the collar. It plunges at the front, but is cut off, and is patterned at the back. Why? Who knows. Chad do tend towards the templates and there’s nothing very objectionable here, but there’s also little to excite, so I had to whine about the weird collar to fill space.

Mainly used to date in 2022 CHAN and 2023 AFCON qualifiers, they haven’t seen much success. For the AFCON they were drawn up against recent AFCON sensations The Gambia, and narrowly fell 3-2 on aggregate to end their journey instantly. CHAN qualifiers pitted them against DR Congo who swept them aside 7-1 on aggregate to do much the same.

Is this fairly typical for Chad? Not entirely, but it isn’t entirely inaccurate. They have regularly been eliminated in preliminary qualifiers, never winning more than 3 matches in a single qualification campaign. They’ve also been disqualified and banned a few times, just to add variety, and have mainly been active since 2000 despite joining FIFA in 1988. Being fairly central means they also have an uncommon regional tournament. Here they’ve had a little more success, with runners-up UDEAC Cup finishes in the mid-80’s,a  2005 CEMAC Runners-up spot and a 2014 title from the same tournament that appears to have been so surprising that the tournament’s not been hosted since.

Chad’s women’s team has been a recent development, debuting in 2019. They respectably lost 3-1 on aggregate to Algeria in Olympic qualifiers and the next year cane 4^th from 5 teams in the 2020 UNIFFAC Cup, drawing 3 matches. They’ve never played in CAF competition to date. While they certainly have an U17 UNIFFAC title to their name, Chadian men’s youth football has been plagued with withdrawals. They’ve never been to an AFCON at any youth level and, when they enter/are allowed to enter, generally don’t progress in qualifiers. Women’s youth football has not existed to date, perhaps not a surprise given the lack of senior match time.

Chad have never played either beach soccer or futsal, though neither are as widely spread as they could be, so this is unlikely to be a shock.

Drawn up against Sudan for 2022 qualification, Chad were not expected to progress and delivered on that. They lost 3-1 and then respectably drew 0-0, but the brutal qualification format meant that ended their journey instantly. Nothing unusual from Chad, but a shame to see.

Jordan 2001 Home, matchworn v Hungary

Always a difficult nation to source thanks to the existence of so many more popular things called Jordan. Then, when you do finally source them, you get something boring like this! There’s nothing wrong with this Adidas template, there’s a good split of red and white, everything’s set out nicely, but there isn’t anything special here. The flag badge is pretty cool and the giant “Jordan” on the back, just in case you forget which nation they are, is always interesting. However, there’s a lot of space taken up without much of interest. A decent shirt, but not an interesting one.

While sometimes also used with a shield logo, this design was used across their 2002 World Cup qualifiers. Up against Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Chinese Taipei, they fell short. They beat Chinese Taipei home and away and drew both matches with Uzbekistan, but then lost both matches against Turkmenistan to leave them 3^rd in the group and out of contention. Not an ideal performance when only the group winners would progress.

While not a highlight, that certainly isn’t unusual for Jordan. They tend to be competitive without achieving a lot, reaching the final World Cup qualification round in 2014 qualifiers, but only having a 5-0 play-off loss to Uruguay to show for it. They tend to be the side that competes well with everyone but the top teams. In the Asian Cup, they’ve only missed out on 1 tournament since the expansion to 16 teams (2007) and escaped the groups all but once so far. However, they’ve never reached a semi-final. In the WAFF Championships they’ve come runners-up three times, the Arab Cup has brought a 3^rd and a 4^th place finish but that elusive title finally comes in the 1997 and 1999 Pan Arab Games.

Debuting in 2006, the Jordanian women’s national team has struggled in Asia as a whole, losing all 6 of their Asian Cup matches to date and missing out on 2022 qualification on penalties alone. They’ve also never won an Asian Games match, with only a solitary draw to their name. They tend to be strong in early qualifiers and much weaker in later ones. However, WAFF is where they shine, with 5 titles from 7 tournaments, showing their domination of West Asia. Men’s youth football is slightly better than the senior side, taking WAFF titles in 2021 (U23) and 2022 (U16) as well as an U20 World Cup appearance in 2007 after a 4^th place in the Asian Cup. However, they’ve only recently started to reach the Asian Cup at U20 level consistently and never have done so at U17 level. Their only good U23 finish happened outside of Olympic qualifiers. Their women’s youth sides fall a bit shorter than the senior side, but still have WAFF titles at every age level and an Asian Cup appearance for both U20s and U17s, though only a solitary win.

Perhaps surprisingly, beach soccer is not something that Jordan have ever participated in. But they have been active in futsal. Reluctant to enter AFC competition, their exposure has been limited, with only 2 Asian Cup appearances in recent years (but no wins). However they’ve twice been runners-up at WAFF level and made reasonable progress at the likes of the Arab Futsal Cup and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. They’ve been less active in women’s futsal, withdrawing from AFC futsal but finishing 2^nd in both WAFF Championships they’ve played in. They also came 3^rd and 2^nd in their 2 appearances at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. When active in both genders they’ve achieved some positive results, but they’ve not been active enough for huge success.

Drawn in a 2022 qualifying group with Australia, Kuwait, Nepal and Chinese Taipei, Jordan were expected to try to compete with Australia. A place as one of the best 2^nd place nations and therefore a spot in the final qualifying round would certainly have been the goal, but their 2 draws with Kuwait and a worse goal differences consigned them to 3^rd place with neither side progressing any further. Progression was expected to be their limit, really, but not achieving that certainly feels like a disappointment.

Grenada 2019-20 Home
Grenada 2021-23 Home

Let’s get things started with Skyros. Not a huge amount to the shirt, but definitely some care gone into it. Bright yellow on the collar and sleeve cuffs, with the milder yellow pattern across the front, mildly reminiscent of an older Adidas template. In the wider stripe we have “473,” the country’s dialling code tiled. This is something I’ve never seen before and don’t think we’ll see from any other country, but it is done pretty well and, if nothing else, is intriguing. The 7 stars are from the flag, representing the administrative districts and the capital, helping to add some personality to the shirt. The rear of the shirt is blank though, and the FA logo is fairly cheaply done. Good, but not quite great.

Used only for a short time, this shirt saw action across Grenada’s 2019-20 Nations League season. They’d qualified for League B and, drawn with French Guiana, St Kitts and Nevis and belize, could have been in for a tough time. Instead, they beat all three in their home matches by a single goal, did the same away to belize and managed 0-0 draws in the other two other matches to top their group, gain promotion to League A and qualify for their first Gold Cup in a decade. A superb effort!

On the other hand, Canadian brand Savi took their inspiration from Puma’s 2010 template and created something spectacular. The yellow patterning goes all the way up the shirt, front and rear, and while it loses the stars we keep the 473 patterning in the middle front. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still weird, but I like it. Red on the collar and sleeve cuffs (with yellow highlighting at the cuffs too) ensure that all of Grenada’s colour is represented and the FA logo is rubberised and stands out beautifully. Savi’s logo is on a cutaway from the main pattern, which helps to avoid it being a bit same-y too. All in all, a great shirt.

The design came in time for the 2021 Gold Cup, though the away shirt was used in the 3 matches they played before they were eliminated, losing to Qatar, Honduras and Panama. Their debut League A Nations League season would also prove difficult, with a home draw against El Salvador proving to be the highlight. They lost the corresponding away match and their other opponent was the USA, where the matches did not go well. Restructuring means they’ll stay up though and here’s to better luck next time out!

These recent times are very much a highlight in Grenada’s footballing history. As a nation they’d more regularly been involved in preliminary round matches in qualifying. However, they had several highlights. These came primarily from the Caribbean Cup, where their fortunes would often be mixed (qualifying 6 times out of 20 attempts) but they’d finish 2^nd in 1989 and 2008 as well as 4^th in 1997 and 2010. The later results would bring them to their first and second Gold Cups in 2009 and 2011, though all three of their Gold Cup appearances have ended without any points. They’ve shown their strength before, but the latest generation might just cement their status amongst some of the best in the Caribbean.

On the women’s side, Grenada has struggled more. They first played in 2008 CONCACAF W Championship qualifiers, progressing on a walkover into a group stage where they’d receive a harsh welcome from Trinidad and Tobago. They would grab their first draw, 2-2 against Dominica, though. Their first win would come a year later, 3-2 against St Vincent and the Grenadines, but they’ve not entered a few sets of qualifiers since and haven’t met with much success, falling down the rankings. Men’s youth football has been a slightly mixed bag, with a number of withdrawals from qualifeirs over the years. However, they have generally been fairly middling, never qualifying for an U20 or U17 Championship (though participating in 4 U20 Championships with no need for qualifiers, mainly early years) but often taking positive results here and there. Their U15 results have been similar, not finishing top or bottom. Their women’s youth teams have been fairly active, though similar to the senior side in that they occasionally don’t participate. They have, however, performed a bit better. They qualified for the 2020 U20 Championship, in the insane system where qualification teams were seeded into the knockout rounds, and subsequently were eliminated 12-1 by Mexico. They also hosted the 2016 and qualified automatically for the 2022 U17 Championships. They lost all 6 matches quite heavily. They missed the 2018 U17 Championship on goal difference but have had little notable action at U15 level.

Neither futsal nor beach soccer have been focuses from Grenada, which isn’t uncommon for the smaller islands, with neither being played to date.

For 2022 they were drawn in a balanced qualifying group, with El Salvador, Montserrat, Antigua & Barbuda and the US Virgin Islands. Grenada were expected to be fairly competitive but they struggled a little. A 1-0 win over the US Virgin Islands would prove to be their only points, with 2 single goal losses and a 2-0 loss to group winners El Salvador. Far from dominated, but not quite enough.

Equatorial Guinea 2009-10 Home

Brokal isn’t a brand you normally see about, but they did alright by Equatorial Guinea. Stripes down one side using the flag colours and the same for the colouring around the collar. The stripes also running down the back is a nice touch. However, that’s not a lot to the shirt and it certainly isn’t what you first notice. Why are the numbers shiny gold? Who knows! But they are and they definitely stand out. Weird shirt, but a decent one. Thanks Obama.

The design came about for the 2009 and 2010 CEMAC Cups. In 2009, despite losing to Central African Republic and drawing with Congo, that was enough for Equatorial Guinea to reach the semi-finals. Here they would beat Chad before the Central African Republic would return to end their hopes of winning. 2010 would be simpler in that they’d just lose their group stage games to Chad and Congo and go straight out.

Underwhelming is generally the word of the day for Equatorial Guinea. Until the latest set of qualifiers they’d never won more than a single match in a World Cup campaign. They also hadn’t managed that in AFCON qualifiers, but co-hosted the 2012 edition to qualify for the first time. They’d host the 2015 edition alone, get two qualifying wins first in 2019 and actually qualify through the qualification process for 2021! Additionally, every AFCON they’ve been to got them to at least the quarter-finals, with them finishing 4^th in 2015! They’ve played every CHAN qualification since 2018, qualifying on their debut and narrowly missing out in 2020, though they’d lose every game at the finals themselves. Never a major force in the UDEAC or CEMAC Cups, they did manage a CEMAC title in 2006 for their only title as a senior side. They have had a bad habit of naturalising players too, but that’s hopefully behind them.

On the other hand, their women’s side has been successful. They reached all 4 AFCONs between 2006 and 2012, hosting and winning both 2008 and 2012 while finishing 2^nd in 2010. This allowed them to reach the 2011 Women’s World Cup where they’d lost by a single goal to Australia and Norway and by 3 to Brazil. However, the golden era was going to come to a close. They were banned from several tournaments, the 2012 and 2020 Olympics along with the 2016 and 2020 WAFCONs. They lost all 3 matches at the 2018 WAFCON, leaving only a 2020 UNIFFAC title as a local success. Men’s youth teams are not massively common and have fallen afoul of bans before. Generally they perform poorly and haven’t had any significant success since the early 1980’s. Considering that led to a ban, I’m not sure that really counts. Their women’s youth football has been reasonably active, but have faced a lot of walkovers so are not very experienced. They’ve been to the final qualifying rounds before but either withdrawn or been soundly beaten.

They’ve never played beach soccer, but 2016 did bring futsal to the nation. Their double headed tie for qualification against Zambia in 2016 had them fall just short, falling out on away goals only, but Cameroon withdrew in 2020 to send them to their first ever futsal AFCON! Here they would beat Mauritius (who would subsequently withdraw) before being soundly beaten by Morocco and narrowly beaten by Libya to go out in the group stages.

Drawn against South Sudan in 2022 preliminary qualifiers, they would have been confident in progressing and did so narrowly. This put them in a tricky group with Tunisia, Mauritania and Zambia which they actually excelled in. Only 2 points behind Tunisia, they came the closest they ever have to a men’s World Cup, far better than expected. I suppose that means we’ll await a ban in the near future then?

Tonga 2019-22 Home

Not a lot to talk about here, but more than you might expect for Tonga. Very basic design, but embroidered badge and a little bit of Lotto flair for the sleeve cuffs. The key part of the shirt is the almost scaled design across it though. Makes for an interesting pattern across the entirety of the shirt, which is rather nice. Otherwise, not much to it and there’s perhaps a bit too much white at the rear of the collar. But you don’t see a Tongan shirt every day!

Used across the 2019 Pacific Games, Tonga endured a torrid time of it. They started off things with a 13-0 loss to the new Zealand U23s, regained some honour with only a 2-0 loss to the hosts Samoa and then lost it again by losing 14-0 to Vanuatu and 8-0 to Papua New Guinea. This means they conceded 37 without reply, the only team that failed to score. One to forget.

While Tonga have always been one of the lowest ranked teams in the world, that sort of performance is actually unusual for them. Normally the Tongans manage to grab a win or two, competing against fellow Polynesian preliminary teams. They’ve never progressed out of any preliminary or Polynesian qualification stage nor escaped a Pacific Games group stage, though they’ve only been to 5 of those and 2 mini games. Aside from a 2003 draw against Papua New Guinea, they’ve never had a positive result against any team that wasn’t non-FIFA or a fellow preliminary side. However, only 2018 WCQ and the 2019 Pacific Games (as well as both Mini Games) had them go without a draw or a win.

Women’s football has very much been Tonga’s area, though. While the Nations Cup tends to be poorly populated with teams, they’ve still been active and, as with the men, always had at least 1 positive result. With more teams at the Pacific Games, Tonga have had more success there. Playing from the first women’s competition in 2003, they’d win bronze then silver in 2007! 2011 brought a 4^th place and the 2017 Mini Games also brought bronze, but some of their success has tapered off as larger nations dedicate more resources to the sport. They’ve also taken part in friendlies both outside and inside of the OFC which is rare in Oceania, let alone with the Polynesian nations. As with the senior side, the men’s youth teams tend to struggle and haven’t always been active, though they tend to perform better when grouped with their fellow preliminary nations. The highlight for them has to be the 2018 U19 Championship where, on goal difference, they edged out Samoa to qualify from the preliminary round.  Women’s youth teams again show a little more, even hosting the 2002 U19 and 2015 U20 Championships! Again, they tend to participate (only missing 2 U20 Championships) and almost always get at least 1 positive result. The U19s/20s took 3^rd place in 2002, 2010 and 2014 with a 2^nd place result in 2006, but again results have tailed off somewhat in recent years. However, they remain more dangerous than their size would indicate.

New to both futsal and beach soccer (both 2019 at senior level), they’re yet to register anything other than losses in either, but early days yet. In 2019 futsal they withdrew before the placement matches, but 2022 brought a close 6-5 loss to Samoa, showing that they’re likely to align with their Polynesian brethren again, as with football. They also played both genders of youth futsal in the 2017 tournaments from the OFC, beating American Samoa for the men and proving better than Samoa to take the Women’s Youth Olympics spot when New Zealand (who won the group by far) declined. While they lost every match at the 2018 Youth Olympics, they did come within 2 goals of Trinidad and Tobago, which is thoroughly respectable. They’ve only taken part in a single beach soccer competition to date, and none of the matches were terribly close. It remains to be seen if they’ll return.

Drawn in a preliminary round against the Cook Islands for 2022 qualification, Tonga could have hoped for a win to get them more than a single match. However, the eruption of a volcano back in Tonga prevented their participation and they withdrew.

Central African Republic 2020 Home

Now here’s a nation you don’t see everyday. Previously one of the trickiest nations to source, it was a mixed feeling for them to be readily supplied by Macron. While a major challenge fell, on the plus side Macron made for some nice shirts. The FA logo contained within the stripe made up of the flag’s colours is reminiscent of the old Airness template used by several African teams and works really well to both add colour and identity to what is otherwise a template shirt. Nothing groundbreaking, but individual enough to be a nice shirt.

The Central Africans hopped between multitudes of Macron designs, but they did see some use in 2021 AFCON qualifiers, where the team performed reasonably in a group with Morocco, Mauritania and Burundi, only taking 4 points and all off of Burundi, but never being soundly beaten. However, results elsewhere would still confine them to bottom of the group.

Struggle tends to the word you’d associate with the central African Republic and football. Sometimes this is a struggle to participate with them withdrawing and being disqualified several times, but generally they are above the bottom African teams without competing against those genuinely in qualification contention. They’ve never been to an AFCON, CHAN or World Cup for sure but they do have some high profile scalps under their belt. They’ve beaten the likes of Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria in the last decade or so try not to underestimate them. They’ve also played in the CEMAC and UDEAC Cups, for local based players against other Central African nations, taking the 2009 CEMAC title and a handful of 2^nd places.

Their women’s football is a pretty blank slate, with the team attempting to qualify for the 2018 WAFCON (3-1 aggregate loss to Congo) and the 2022 WAFCON (3-0 aggregate loss to Cameroon) with only the 2020 UNIFFAC Women’s Cup to give them additional gametime (2 draws, 2 losses, finished 5^th from 5). Not a deep history there. A string of withdrawals and “did not enters” marred their men’s youth football history, with them never entering Olympic qualifying. But when they do enter, they’ve taken some interesting results. The U17s have taken a few results, but the U20s made the quarter-finals of the 2021 U20 AFCON and qualified for the 2023 edition as well! All this despite very limited gametime. Women’s youth football has been understandably limited, though they played as early as 2002, with an U20 side winning 2 matches, losing 1 and then withdrawing. They returned in 2010 and 2022, but without significance and have never played at U17 level.

They’ve also never played futsal and, having no coastline, have so far ignored beach soccer too. Considering the country remains troubled and even the senior squads don’t always consistently play, don’t hold your breath.

Drawn in a group with Nigeria, Cape Verde and Liberia for 2022 qualification, the CAR were expected to fight Liberia for last place. While they lost that battle, losing twice to give Liberia their only 6 points, the CAR did nonetheless beat Nigeria in Lagos and draw at home to Cape Verde. They might not have impacted the group’s results in the end, but they certainly shocked everyone!