Football / Soccer

Club shirts in player and fan versions:

most clubs and the Sele bring out each new shirt in two cuts, and they are not the same garment. The player version is slim and made of a lighter, more open fabric, with the crest and sponsor logos heat-pressed on. It comes up small, so anyone used to the stadium shirt should go up a size. The fan version is looser, with an embroidered or stitched crest, and it is the one that survives years of Sunday washing. New, a player-version shirt from one of the big clubs costs around ₡45,000 to ₡50,000 and the fan version about ₡20,000. Copies sold as triple A go for a few thousand colones, so an original offered at copy money is not an original. A genuine used shirt holds its value while it is still the current design with the crest and sponsor prints intact, and loses much of it the day the club unveils next season’s.

Balls by size and by stamp:

size 3 is for the youngest children, size 4 for juniors and size 5 for teenagers and adults. The printed mark says how the ball was tested: FIFA Quality Pro is the top match-ball standard, FIFA Quality sits just below it, and FIFA Basic, which replaced the old IMS mark, covers sound training balls. Thermally bonded panels soak up less water in a downpour, while machine-stitched balls cost less and take a cement court better. Futsal balls are smaller, heavier and built to stay low, and no use on grass. adidas and Nike sell each season’s match-ball design in cheaper club and training versions, so judge a ball by its stamp, not its graphics.

Goalkeeper gloves, shin guards and children’s tacos:

the soft latex that makes a match glove grip is also quickest to wear away, and synthetic turf strips it faster than grass, so many keepers train in a tougher turf palm and save the soft pair for matches. A flat palm puts the most latex on the ball; roll-finger and negative cuts wrap the fingers more closely. Shin guards come as slip-in shells held by the sock or with an ankle guard attached, sized by the player’s height. Children’s boots are the best second-hand buy of all, since a growing foot leaves them nearly new. Flag players wear the same moulded tacos, and their belts and balls are under American football; off-season strength work belongs with exercise equipment.

A genuine shirt against a triple A copy:

the difference starts at the inside tag. Genuine shirts carry a product code on the small inner label that matches that season’s design. On a player version the heat-pressed crest is crisp, flat and level; on copies it is often thick, shiny or slightly crooked, and sponsor prints crack or lift at the edges after a few washes. Loose threads along the inside seams give a copy away, and so does heavy fabric on a shirt sold as a player cut. Pump a used ball up the night before and check it is still firm in the morning, then roll it across a flat floor to see whether it wobbles. Turn gloves palm up: bald, shiny patches and latex peeling at the fingertips mean the grip has gone.

Shirt tags, ball stamps and glove palms in the photos:

are what a buyer zooms in on. For a shirt, give the club, the season, the version and the size on the label, add the width from armpit to armpit, and photograph the crest and both inside labels close up. Mention any printed name and number, which narrows the buyers to that player’s fans. For a ball, show the stamp; for gloves, the palm. A father coming over from Grecia for his son’s first pair of tacos will usually bring the boy, so suggest he wears the socks and shin guards he plays in, because boots that fit a bare foot can pinch once the full kit is on.