Why is this your favourite shirt? My favourite type of shirts are ones that integrate the flag in some way or another. So to me there’s nothing better than a shirt like this – it’s basically like wearing a giant flag! It’s even more special to me as both of my parents are South African, so I have a special place in my heart for South African football.

It's quite a rare one. How did you manage to get hold of this? I bought mine from an online shirt store, that’s where you’ll find them nowadays. They are very rare, as it’s a shirt that was never worn by the senior team – only by the U23s, Amaglug-glug. There weren’t too many commercially produced, but they were sold in South Africa during the mid-90s. However because it was only worn by the U23s, finding a player version or match worn shirt is next to impossible, sadly. I’d love to get one of those one day (there was even one instance where the team wore a very similar design with “South Africa” printed on the front in massive letters), but for now I’m happy with the one I’ve got.

Were there any Bafana Bafana greats that wore this top? There’s a few notable figures that wore this shirt, such as Arthur Zwane, Willem Jackson, Brandon Silent, Brian Baloyi and George Koumantarakis among others.

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Bafana Bafana recently qualified for their first World Cup in 16 years. How do you see them performing in North America? I think they’ll really surprise a few people. We saw Mamelodi Sundowns put up a really great effort in the recent 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, missing out on the knockout stage by just 1 point. There’s quite a big overlap with the current Sundowns and Bafana Bafana squads, which is key for team chemistry. Also, South Africa are unbeaten since losing in the semi-finals of AfCON 2023, something which has really gone under the radar. I think they’ll do Africa proud in North America next year.

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Are there any players to keep an eye out for in the team? There’s a few players of real quality that many people perhaps haven’t recognised yet. Players like Lyle Foster are well-known, or Ronwen Williams following his nomination for the 2024 Yashin Trophy. But others like Themba Zwane have been pulling the strings for years. There’s also some great young players coming through. Mbekezeli Mbokazi looks like a brick wall of a defender and most exciting of all is young winger Relebohile Mofokeng. Those two will really make waves in the coming years.

Do you have a favourite club in South Africa? I’ve always kept an eye on South African club football, albeit loosely, but growing up (before the domination of Mamelodi Sundowns) you chose either Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates. Simply due to one of my favourite footballers as a kid, Siphiwe Tshabalala, I’ve always been a Chiefs man myself.

Moving away from the South Africa questions. Do you support anyone in England? For better or for worse, I’m a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan. Although I always had an interest in football, I never really chose one club until I was about 15 or 16. My dad was never massive into football – being South African he was always more of a rugby man – so I gravitated towards the team of my grandmother. She was born in Wolverhampton before moving to RSA at the age of 1 and spending 6 and a half decades there, but her love for the Wolves never left. So I decided to follow in her footsteps and support them too.

It's safe to say that it's quite a tough time to be a Wolves fan at the moment. Do you think that you have any chance of staying up under Rob Edwards? It’s been a rough last few years as a Wolves fan, and this season the bottom has really started to fall out. Rob Edwards is a good manager – he lead Middlesbrough to 2nd in the Championship by the time he left – but leading a promotion charge is different to a relegation scrap. There’s Pep Guardiolas and there’s Big Sam. But I think Edwards is a good appointment. To get out of our situation we need someone who knows and really cares for the club. Appointing a former player, who also has significant coaching experience within our youth teams, is a great step forward, and if he can get our players firing and performing as a proper team again, then I see no reason why we can’t stay up.

You've got quite a unique collection of international shirts as seen on social media. Are there any in particular that you look for or are still trying to find? Haha, thanks. There’s a couple hundred more in my collection which I’ve not found the time to post yet – most of my best stuff is hiding in my cupboard to be honest. Like many others I’m trying to get a shirt from every nation in the world. I personally don’t limit this to FIFA-recognised nations – just because a certain organisation doesn’t “recognise” your country, doesn’t mean that you don’t have the right to be represented on the global stage. As for shirts I’m actively looking for, I’m always on the hunt for rare Bafana Bafana gear. Not simply the 1998 shirt, or even the iconic design used for most of the 90s, but I love some of the obscure, lesser known stuff. Our U23s have had some amazing shirts over the years, but as I mentioned before they’re just so hard to come by.

Who would be in your South Africa XI in the time you've been watching them? This is a tough question, as there’s so many greats from before I was born that I wish I could include. As for the South African XI since I’ve been watching them, here’s my best (or personal favourite) XI:

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Manager: Hugo Broos

Formation: 4-3-3 (attacking)

GK: Ronwen Williams

LB: Aubrey Modiba

CB: Grant Kekana

CB: Mbekelezi Mbokazi

RB: Khuliso Mudau

CM: Teboho Mokoena (current international)

CM: Teko Modise

AM: Themba Zwane

LW: Siphiwe Tshabalala

ST: Percy Tau

RW: Steven Pienaar

I recognise that some players might not be in their preferred positions, but some names I simply couldn’t leave out!

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Interested in telling the world about your favourite shirt? Email topcornershirts@outlook.com and you will be sent the questions and asked to upload an image of you wearing or holding the shirt in your reply. You don't have that shirt? Not to worry! A pictutre of the shirt will suffice.