One thing I noticed at the end of every match is that one player goes to one other player in the opposing team, they both take off their jerseys and trade them. It seems that every player does that, and they walk away. It also seems like a tradition that has been going on for years. Does anyone know where this idea of exchanging jerseys originate from? I think it's a pretty cool tradition as well, especially playing for a national team because you get to collect all these free jerseys around the world that are worth a lot of money (well not a lot if you are a professional)....
Well, I think it's just an individual stuff. Some players don't trade jerseys because they think it's disrespectful towards the fans. The shirts worth gold if the match is important and the owner sells them 20 years later. Most of Pele's shirts were sold for thousands of dollars.
So it's more of the player's choice rather than a tradition? Trading jerseys also seem like a gesture of good sportsmanship as well don't you think?
Sometimes players that know each other well exchange jerseys. Like let's say Real Madrid faced Man U, maybe after the game Neville and Beckham would exchange jerseys.