OK...so I'm looking at stuff on the interwebs and trying to educate myself on jerseys. In America, we have the following designations: Replica: It looks like what the players wear. Authentic: The same jersey the players wear. Game (match) Issued: A jersey that was made for the player to wear, but was never worn during a game. Game (match) worn: A jersey that a player wore during the course of at least one game or a jersey that the back up goalie (in soccer or hockey) wore while on the bench during a game. What are the designations and descriptions of such in England?! I'm seeing jerseys being listed as "matchworn" for what I'd call an authentic jersey. Case in point: Nasri's "match worn" player issue shirt. (Sorry, I'm also a supporter of the Arsenal....
Hi guys, long time not here. The best way to describe the difference is replica jerseys are cheap knockoffs. The colors may be close, but not exact. The lettering will be screen printed. Authentic will be exact. The lettering will be stitched on. Game issued is just that. Since players perspire and uniforms get damaged, they will likely have more than one available. These didn't get worn. Game worn is self-expanitory. The value goes up through each category. There are no "game issued" Pete Rose jerseys. He'd wear them all whether he needed to or not to move them into the higher priced category, It is said that during the game he got his record breaking hit, he changed jerseys every half-inning. Therefore, I call "matchworn" the same as game-worn, rather than authentic.