FROM Bishop Auckland and Bognor Regis Town to Azam FC in Tanzania and Alianza Lima in Peru.
Those are just four of the 3,000 football shirts in Arjan Wijngaard’s truly epic collection.
Arjan Wijngaard received shirt No3058 just before our interviewCredit: Arjan Wijngaard
Wijngaard has one of the most impressive football shirt collections aroundCredit: Philip Pruim / http://www.philipphoto.nl
The Dutchman admitted he has probably spent £50,000 on football shirtsCredit: Philip Pruim / http://www.philipphoto.nl
The Dutch football fanatic, 47, started gathering jerseys as a teenager after being gifted his first one, an Everton strip in 1997, by Toffees fans he met on holiday in Gran Canaria.
In the 28 years since, he has racked up 3,058 shirts from 84 different countries, including around 900 English kits from 288 clubs right through the football pyramid.
An entire room in Wijngaard’s carefully-selected house is purely dedicated to his incredible kaleidoscope of kits.
To say it has become a lifelong obsession would be an understatement – and the investment has come at a hefty cost.
Wijngaard, who works as an analyst in a bank, told SunSport: “After the gift, I started buying them… one, two, three, four, five and then it got on to 20, 25.
“At which number does it become serious? Some people say it’s serious at 200, some say it’s 500.
“Between 2010 to 2020 was the period of the biggest increase and now nearly 30 years later I have more than 3,000 shirts.
“At the time and still now, it’s expensive to buy new shirts and I started before things like eBay and online shops so I normally had to pay full price, probably £50, or maybe £30 in the end-of-season sales.
“Starting at 18, 19, 20, it was an expensive hobby.
“It’s difficult to say exactly how much I’ve spent as I’ve got some shirts for free, some for £5, £10, £25, £50 but if I had to give a good estimation for the whole period, I think it would be around £50,000.
“I keep them in the biggest bedroom in the house.
“I didn’t buy this house particularly for this room but when I was searching for a house to buy, it is one of the things on the list – a big room for the shirts.
“I live by myself so I have no one to explain to or to give an explanation.
“I’m doing this for a long time and some people think it’s a little bit crazy.
“Even some family members or friends who are not into football like it and try to help me when they go to a place on holiday or for work, they ask if I have a shirt from the area.”
Wijngaard’s mind-boggling conglomeration has prompted an unlikely cult following among football hipsters, racking up thousands of followers on social media.
Every shirt is carefully documented on his detailed online database and hung on the stacked rails.
That includes a whopping 98 Everton shirts, 23 jerseys, 109 from Scottish clubs and approximately 200 from his beloved FC Groningen.
A page on his website is dedicated to his newest additions, featuring the 3,000th shirt from Caversham United, the Berkshire non-league side in the Thames Valley Premier League Division One and 3,001st from world champions .
He is now up to 3,058 with the latest arrival, from fourth-tier Norwegian outfit Ridabu IL, delivered just before our interview.
Can you help Arjan out?
ARJAN WIJNGAARD has an almighty collection of more than 3,000 shirts from 84 countries – including 900 English jerseys from 288 clubs.
But his quest to source non-league shirts knows no bounds.
And he is desperate to get his hands on some very specific kits from English teams he has watched live but does not have their shirt.
There are:
- Chalfont St Peter
- Chertsey Town
- Westside FC
- Eversly & California
- Croydon FC
- Illford FC
- Witham Town FC
- Marine AFC
If you can help Arjan get his hands on any of these shirts, please contact him by heading to his Twitter , Instagram or website
But one holds a particularly special place in Wijngaard’s heart above all the rest.
He added: “My team is FC Groningen, who produced famous players like Arjen Robben, and Ronald Koeman.
“I try to collect every shirt they produce and one of the most special ones is the oldest I have from them.
“It’s a match-worn shirt from our first European games in the 1983-84 Uefa Cup. I’m 95 per cent sure it’s match-worn.
“We don’t play in Europe that often but in 1983-84 we beat Atletico Madrid and the lost in the second leg to .
“It’s an old shirt from more than 40 years ago. You don’t see them very often and of course match-worn makes it more special.”
Wijngaard regularly travels from the Netherlands to London to watch as many non-league matches as possible.
There are still some English non-league teams he has seen live but not managed to get hold of their shirts – and is calling on SunSport readers to help out and contact him if they can get his hands on a kit from Chalfont St Peter, Chertsey Town, Westside FC, Eversly & California, Croydon FC, Illford FC, Witham Town FC or Marine AFC.
Wijngaard admits he is “more picky” with his selections these days but is determined to get his hands on one specific jersey above all – for a very special reason.
It’s more fun to collect the ones that are not easy to get, teams no one has ever heard of
Arjan Wijngaard
He explained: “I have completed the , Championship, League One probably. If I’m missing one in League Two, it’s very easy to get them. It’s not fun anymore to collect those.
“It’s more fun to collect the ones that are not easy to get here, teams no one has ever heard of. That’s the most fun.
“I’m looking more for the teams I don’t have and there’s still a lot that I don’t have but I’m more picky and those are the clubs that are more difficult to get.
“But Groningen won one trophy in their history: the KNVB Cup final in 2015.
“I would like to have a match-worn shirt from that game. That’s one I really want to add.
“I would also like to have a match-worn shirt from because he’s our most well-known homegrown player.
“But they are not really easy to find because he didn’t give away or sell a lot of those. The price if you do find one is incredible, it’s too much.”
Although after stumping up £50,000 already, maybe Wijngaard would allow himself to splash out a bit extra for some memorable real Robben memorabilia…
Wijngaard would love a match-worn Arjen Robben shirtCredit: Arjan Wijngaard
Wijngaard admitted the football shirts came into consideration when he was looking to buy a houseCredit: Philip Pruim / http://www.philipphoto.nl
He keeps a detailed account on his databaseCredit: Philip Pruim / http://www.philipphoto.nl
It all started when he was gifted an Everton shirt from people he met on holidayCredit: Philip Pruim / http://www.philipphoto.nl 
