As anyone who’s played pub football on a boggy pitch in a British winter will tell you, it’s not the winning or the losing that counts – it’s making sure you’re not the one who takes home a kitbag full of washing at the end of the game.
The further up the footballing pyramid you go, the less these little inconveniences apply – and when you get to the pinnacle of the game, you can even swap your shirt with your opponents, knowing another one will be provided for the following weekend.
You’ll see players swapping shirts at pretty much every match at the World Cup – unless you’re watching Iran.
Apparently, the tight-fisted Iranian FA has banned its players from exchanging shirts at the end of games for financial reasons.
“We are not giving the players a shirt for every game, the players have to be economical with the shirts,” an Iranian FA source said, which seems a bit harsh considering they’ll make around $8million from the tournament. It also means the Iranian kit-man will head to Brazil with his pockets full of Centavos in order to pay the many launderettes of Curitaba, Belo Horizonte and Salvador. Even worse, given the team’s shirt colours are white and red; one mistake and they’ll be sent out in pink for their second group match.Considering the team were also forced to pay $30,000 in excess baggage fees on the flights to a training camp in South Africa, it’s times like these where a few words from an inspirational coach might just get the team firing for Brazil.
“Don’t expect much from [Iran] in Brazil,” said manager Carlos Queiroz. “We will not make it to the next round.”
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