In The Arverne Shield, excellent opus of the adventures of Asterix, the said shield deposited by Vercingetorix at the feet of Julius Caesar after the battle of Alésia then passes from hand to hand, to the point that we end up losing track of it (we reveal the epilogue to you at the end of the article). For the trade in football shirts, it’s a bit the same thing.
“People sell jerseys at exorbitant prices on eBay or other sites, saying they were worn in matches, but you have to know where it comes from, observes Ildefons Lima, former captain of the team. from Andorra, at the head of a collection of 1,000 tunics. It’s hard to be sure of the authenticity of a piece when the person explains to you that it was a friend of a friend who gave it to him, or the club manager. »
The subtle difference between worn and prepared jerseys
For Lima, no concern for traceability. Almost all of his relics were recovered after a match during his very, very long career, which earned him admission to Guinness Book. Between 1997 and 2022, the current reserve defender of FC Andorra compiled 134 selections, and recovered almost as many jerseys, including those of stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Andriy Shevchenko or Gareth Bale. “Most have been worn, the rest have been prepared,” explains the 43-year-old defender.
Let us immediately shed light on this very important point, which concerns national teams and big clubs, including the majority of those in Ligue 1. “Basically, there are three jerseys per player and per match, explains Jean-Marc Leynet, at the head of an independent consulting firm which is an authority in the field. One for the first half, another for the second and a backup, which is called a prepared jersey. Already, it is a question of verifying that we are in the presence of an authentic jersey, that is to say the real professional version and not a shop version. And then, to see if this jersey could possibly have been worn by a player. »
Because that’s where the shoe pinches, very often. “It’s a huge, international market, with its share of unscrupulous people and scams, continues the specialist, who works with collectors but also auction houses. Many of these jerseys come with bogus certificates. Some act as if they were selling a Picasso without certification. »
Without reaching the 179 million dollars spent by a wealthy amateur of the Spanish painter in 2015 to recover The Women of Algiers (version O), the most legendary jerseys are expensive. Very expensive. Very, very expensive. In May 2022, the one Diego Maradona wore during the unforgettable quarter-final of the 1986 Argentina – England World Cup sold for nearly $9.3 million in London, at Sotheby’s auction house. A record for a sporting object, only surpassed last September by a Chicago Bulls shirt in which Michael Jordan sweated during game 1 of the 1998 final ($10.1 million), still at Sotheby’s.
Beware of PSG jerseys sold on US sites
Inevitably, the prospect of big profits is often accompanied by trickery of all kinds… “In the United States, it’s a disaster. People have bought PSG jerseys for a few thousand or tens of thousands of euros when they were provided with false certificates from the club’s foundation, notes Jean-Marc Leynet. In France, it would have been settled in five minutes. But over there, the market weighs in the billions and professionals turn a blind eye. »
Dubious description, bogus signatures… More than half of what Americans call “Sports memorabilia” (sports memorabilia) would be fake. “It is not the collectors who are concerned, at home the degree of expertise has been increasing for years, assures the sexagenarian installed in Essonne, who also manages the immense collection amassed by “Loulou” Nicollin, the former president from Montpellier who died in 2017. It’s the average person who says to himself: “Here, a Mbappé jersey! I’m going to have fun!” And this person pays 2,000 euros for something that is worth 200.
Of course, we are not talking about a gross counterfeit offered at the Ventimiglia market but rather a trick based on an incomplete or even misleading description, which makes a simple “replica” model pass for a tunic worn in matches. “Traceability is very complex, especially on old jerseys where there were no serial numbers like today, explains Clément Gouban, from The Football Market website, specializing in vintage jerseys. It doesn’t matter much: details on the seams, the sleeves, the actual color of the flocking, the thickness of the embroidery…”
“It’s a real business for loved ones,” he adds. We are regularly contacted, for example by the family of this former French international who wanted to part with about fifteen shirts that the player had exchanged during his career. It can really count. A jersey worn can be sold between 300 and 500 euros for an average Ligue 1 player.
Clubs are perfectly aware of this, and are increasingly asking their players to avoid throwing their work clothes in the stands at the end of a match. Because an economic system has developed over the past few years, with the Dutch MatchWornShirt as major players. Created in 2017 by two brothers who are fans of Ajax Amsterdam, this company works with 300 clubs, including fifteen in L1 and almost as many in L2.
Finished (or almost) the throwing of jerseys
“We launch auctions from the kick-off, for a week, explains Thuur Tonnaert, its manager for France and Belgium. So when a club striker scores, people can convert their enthusiasm and place a bid on the shirt. These are collected directly from the locker room after the match. Most often, we have them signed, then we receive them by courier. We have a team that checks them based on match footage. We also have a base of collectors who see everything. »
Traces of clay during a game played in the rain can almost count as a certificate of authenticity, even if smart guys are able to dirty a tunic to increase the note.
The dirtier it is, the more expensive it is?
“Generally, clubs are asked not to wash them, this kind of detail adds a lot of value, recognizes Thuur Tonnaert. Our best sale to date is Messi’s PSG-Reims jersey [le 29 janvier dernier], with traces of white paint due to the lines of the terrain. ” But another marketing factor, probably more important, played that day: “The names of the players are flocked in Mandarin, on the occasion of the Chinese New Year, and it sold for 55,000 euros, thanks to two Chinese collectors who outbid. »
More modestly, a jersey worn by TFC midfielder Branco van den Boomen against Lille on March 18 was valued on Wednesday evening at just under 300 euros. 20% goes into the pockets of MatchWornShirt, the rest for the clubs, often for their foundation or targeted charitable actions (support for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria for example).
It’s not cheap, but overall very reliable, as indicated Jean-Marc Leynet, which also relies, in addition to its own staff, on collectors dedicated to a single club, unbeatable on the second jersey worn by their favorite team during the 2005-2006 season. Not to mention an impressive database.
“We keep in our archives a trace of each jersey that passes through our hands, and which is the subject of between eight and 10 photos depending on the model”, indicates the expert, who also works with the FFF and juggled during our phone call between a Kylian Mbappé jersey during the last World Cup (“not worn” but “prepared”) and two other French international tunics, one from 1960, the other from 1966 (“a piece costing several thousand euros”).
Ildefons Lima does not give up
In summary, like life in general, the market for worn jerseys is a jungle, and it is better to avoid venturing alone into lost corners of the Web or risk leaving your shirt there. No need to ogle the authentic treasures of Ildefons Lima either.
“Many collectors, especially English and Irish, contact me, but I have no intention of selling,” warns the indefatigable Andorran defender. If certain jerseys that the Pyrenean recovers are sold to his association Gol Solidari, for the benefit of underprivileged children in the small principality, the others have a clear destiny: “I want to create a small museum of the history of Andorran football. »
Ah, by the way, for those who have read the article to the end (thank you by the way): the Arverne shield that Caesar is trying to recover at all costs is the one on which Abraracourcix, the village chief of Asterix , moves from album to album.