Collin Benjamin's 80-shirt collection

LIMBA MUPETAMIWINDHOEKIt's not every day you see a former local footballer sharing a picture of his soccer shirt collection, but Collin Benjamin has, over his career, been in the perfect position to swap shirts with other players, building up a vast collection. Hit with the coronavirus outbreak, many sports personalities across the world are taking to social media, sharing exercise videos, however, Benjamin has taken the time to go through storage, revealing shirts he collected over the years as he plied his trade in Germany.'I collected over three bags of football shirts, which I never got a chance to look at. I have over 80 shirts, which I collected from ex-teammates and so forth.'I also have two shirts from my national playing duties,' he said. He spent mostly of his professional career with Hamburger SV, while representing the Brave Warriors at international level. Benjamin represented Namibia at the 2008 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) and earned 32 caps, leading the team for several years.Impressive collectionHis collection features headline names like Egypt's Mohamed Zidan. 'I played with him at Hamburg, he was my flatmate, and after winning Afcon, he gave me his shirt. This guy would go to lunch and dinner with his Afcon medal back in the day. Cool guy,' Benjamin reminisced.He also has a shirt previously sported by former Kaizer Chiefs and Brave Warriors midfielder, Robert Nauseb, who was part of Namibia's 1998 Afcon team.Benjamin said he has two shirts of another local player who spends most of his time playing in Germany and Turkey and also represented Namibia at international level, Razundara Tjikuzu. 'One [I got] as a fan, and one we exchanged after a derby between Hamburg and Bremen.'Asked whether he has shirts of any of the current crop of Namibian players, Benjamin said no. 'I think I need to make an effort to ask them to share some of their shirts with me, as I would like to collect those as well,' he said.Coronavirus messageWith the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown, Benjamin has also been seen on social media taking part in a toilet roll challenge, where locals tap a toilet roll to fight the virus, while practicing social distancing.With that, he urged athletes to stay indoors. 'Many are already now exposed to the message.They know the rules and should follow directives for their own good. It's not easy, but they should do it for the greater good so that we all curb the spread of the virus,' he said.

Collin Benjamin's 80-shirt collection

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-03

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Collin Benjamin's 80-shirt collection

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-03

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