Guinea-Bissau 2019 Home (TONY SILVA #15) Jersey/Shirt

This is a Puma Guinea-Bissau national team 2019 home jersey featuring the name and number of star winger Tony Silva.

Tony Silva has had a remarkably eventful career for a 30 year-old, with the Guinea-Bissau international having played in a number of major leagues throughout Europe since coming through the ranks of the Liverpool youth system. Silva was signed to Liverpool from 2010-12, however did not make an appearance for the senior team and then spent several seasons playing in England’s lower leagues for Northampton Town, Barnsley and Dagenham & Redbridge. He then moved to Bulgarian giants CSKA Sofia, where he played arguably his best football over a two-year spell, which ended in unfortunate circumstances after Silva was subjected to racial abuse from his own fans. Since then, he has spells at Şanlıurfaspor in Turkey, União Madeira in Portugal, Greek clubs APO Levadiakos, South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns before moving to Egypt to play with Al-Ittihad and most recently in Kazakhstan with a range of clubs in their top tier. At international level, Silva initially played for Portugal’s youth teams, however made the decision to represent Guinea-Bissau in 2016 and was an important figure in the qualification for their maiden AFCON appearance in 2017. He remains a key member of the squad and has played a total of 18 international matches, scoring 2 goals.

Guinea-Bissau’s national team were traditionally one of the weaker teams in the West African region and dropped to an all-time low FIFA ranking of 195 in early 2010. Since then however they have improved significantly, largely helped by their European-based diaspora, who make up almost their entire squad. In 2016, they shocked African football by securing qualification for AFCON 2017, their maiden appearance in a major tournament. To qualify, the ‘Djurtus’ needed to finish first in a tough group containing Congo, Zambia and Kenya, however a string of incredible performances saw them make it through. Despite not making past the group stage of AFCON 2017, they performed admirably and earned a point when they drew 1-1 with hosts Gabon. In 2019, they backed-up with feats of 2017 by qualifying for AFCON 2019, again finishing first in a difficult group and with a strong squad they are expected to continue to rise over the coming years.