Botafogo Special football shirt 2011

2011 Botafogo special football shirt. An prototype shirt that was never released: neither sold in stores, neither match worn, neither made officially known to the public until recently.

Although it is unreleased, it is clear it\'s from the 2011 season as it has the same fabric, template and sponsors from that time.

The idea would be to pay homage to Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña, for lending their shirt in the final match of the Teresa Herrera in 1996. The match was to be played against the would-be World Champions Juventus, and both team\'s main shirts are striped black and white. Juventus refused to change from their home kit as they claimed to be the home team, although the match was to be played in neutral ground, Estadio Riazor in Spain. Botafogo was going to play with its third all black kit, but the shirt had white striped on its shoulders, and the referee thought that would be enough for a kit clash. With no other way around it since the all white shirt would cause even more trouble and the home was obviously out of the question, the home team, who had played earlier that day, lent their home shirt to Botafogo. Botafogo would them proceed to win the title after a 2x2 draw in regular time, followed by a 4x4 tie in extra time and a 3x0 victory in the penalty shootouts. Botafogo was known to quickly win the La Coruña\'s fans hearts during the match.

This shirt has \"Muchas Gracias 1996\" (Thank you very much) written in the back of the collar. However, this shirt was never released and nobody even knew of its existence until very recently, where they started to flood the informal market all over Brazil. This shirt was supposedly rejected at a very late stage, when it was to be put to sale with the other kits. Why they have emerged at least 6 years after the Botafogo-Fila contract ended, it is unknown.