The football stars of tomorrow: Meet the Ethiopian tribal people giving new life to old kits

Thousands of football shirts, including Arsenal, Manchester and Chelsea strips, end their career in… Ethiopia. Sold in the deep south, in the Omo Valley, those second hand clothes are bought by the local tribes. Most of them ignore the meaning of those shirts, and just buy them for the colour, the logo, or the shape.

BYNATALIE EVANSJAMIE FERGUSON

Mirror

A young woman from the Darashe tribe sports an Inter Milan shirt.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)1 of 14
A young Hamer tribe member proudly wears Brazil across his back.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)2 of 14
A tribal woman in the stripes of Juventus.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)3 of 14
No warrior will go out without his little pillow/seat.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)4 of 14
A Bana tribe member matches his accessories to his blue Arsenal t-shirt.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)5 of 14
Many of these tribes will not exist in few years as the Ethiopian governement has launched a huge plan to develop the area.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)6 of 14
A Tsamay tribe member sports a Manchester United strip.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)7 of 14
A Hamer tribal woman gives a Barcelona kit a new lease of life.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)8 of 14
Soon, a highway coming from Mombasa to Nairobi will pass through the villages to reach the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)9 of 14
The second hand strips are bought by tribes in the Omo Valley.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)10 of 14
Some, like in Hamer tribe wear at the top of the head a clay helmet where they can put some ostrich feathers when they make a special action, like killing a wild animal, or…a man.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)11 of 14
The Chelsea kit proved popular with the Bana tribe.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)12 of 14
A young boy wears an Arsenal shirt in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia.(Image: Exclusivepix Media)13 of 14
A member of the Mursi tribe also wears the red of the Gunners.