There’s never a dull moment at Eastlands these days. New players seem to arrive every 5 minutes and the moment they do so, they are fitted up with the latest City gear.

Today is no exception as the City away kit for 2009 / 2010 goes on pre order ahead of the launch on 15th August.

Manchester City away shirt 2009 / 2010

Speaking about the new kit, designer David Blanch said:

All of the kits have a resonance in some way with both the club and the city. The away kit was partly inspired by the Manchester’ Bee’s (a symbol of hard work and used in the city’s coat of arms) industrious connotations and colour symbolism; which for me was power, strength and confidence.

As with the home kit, colour balance is a really important factor. That said the away kit needed to look both bold and imposing. We chose to use the gold from the crest and use it at the shoulders to focus the upper body to open up the chest and define the upper torso.

The rest of it is completely black. In relation to the black, this creates a completely different personality to the home shirt but both speak about the club’s heritage.

As with the new home shirt, the away version features the brand new club crest which has been re-mastered by the Umbro team. Explaining the process, Blanch said:

Every stitch on the crest has been specifically drawn. From the beginning, we knew we wanted to create the best looking City crest ever. The aim was to make the crest look so technically crafted, using the most technical machines available to us but combine that with the sensibility that is associated with craftsmanship.

What we wanted to move away from was making the crest too flat; we needed to breathe life back into the crest and make it really stand out from the shirt.

With the crest, we have embedded it onto the shirt. Each stitch has been carefully considered.

Two shirts down, one to go. Chelsea have already revealed details of two shirts for the new campaign - the home version (so-so) and the away (top effort).

Now it’s the turn of the third kit which is available to pre-order now ahead of it’s launch on 27th August.

Chelsea Third Shirt 2009 / 10

The new adidas third kit is white with silver pinstripe hoops and has incorporated the highest sporting technology and design standards into the shirt.

Engineered mesh in the fabric on the front of the shirt, coupled with the 3D Formotion cut allows complete freedom of movement. Waffled Climacool fabric and mesh panelling across major sweat zones will increase comfort and ensure players remain cool and dry.

The 3-stripes, neckline and sleeves are popped with dark navy which ties in the shorts and socks to give a very classic and stylish finish to the shirt. The crest is executed in the tonal colours of the shirt to give a great look to the kit as a whole.

Get your hands on the new Chelsea third shirt, Order Here

Everton have rejected an offer of £18 million from Manchester City for defender Joleon Lescott.

The Merseyside club had already turned down a bid of £15 million and wasted no time rebuffing City’s renewed offer by posting a statement on their web site which read:

We have received an offer of £18m for Joleon and that offer has been rejected outright.

Earlier this summer, Everton boss David Moyes said no player would leave the club without his approval.

City though did have more success yesterday when they tied up the move of Kolo Toure from Arsenal for a reported fee of £16 million.

The international defender becomes City’s sixth major signing of the summer joining the likes of Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Toure was linked to City in January but at the time Arsenal said he was not for sale.

His purchase by City follows their unsuccessful attempts to persuade John Terry to join them from Chelsea.

We do like a good list at Footy Boots. And what better way to celebrate the release of the Manchester United away kit for the new season than by putting together the 1 to 10 most popular shirts of the summer.

We’ve trawled through the records at the Footy Boots Shop and can now reveal which shirts have made it to our exclusive countdown.

Manchester United Home Shirt 2009/10

The release of this shirt was a cloak and dagger affair masterfully handled by the club and Nike.

The shirt takes it’s inspiration from the teams that first played at Old Trafford as the ground celebrates its centenary.

Some have argued that it resembles a previous Mexico World Cup shirt - but you can’t dispute the figures. It’s the number one best seller - FACT.

Order the Manchester United Shirt - Here - U.S.

Liverpool Away Shirt 2009/10

Hot on the heels of Manchester United come Liverpool and  their away shirt in black and gold, or to use the official description, phantom and gold trim.

Most Liverpool fans agreed that its a vast improvement on the kit used in season 2008 / 2009, hence its massive popularity.

Order the Liverpool Away Shirt 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

Real Madrid Home Shirt 2008/09 with Ronaldo 9 printing

You just can’t keep keep Cristiano Ronaldo out of the news.

He goes to Madrid for £80 million, and then 80,000 fans turn up at the Bernabeu to see him paraded by the club.

And amazingly, its an individual players shirt that takes the number 3 spot.

Order Real Madrid Home Shirt 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

Real Madrid Home Shirt 2009/10

So with CR selling shirts like hot cakes, or should that now be hot tapas, it only seemed fair to make the number 3 spot a shared position with the Real Madrid club.

Mind you, they’ll need to shift a few more of these to claw back the millions they’ve spent on the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema.

Order Real Madrid Home Shirt 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

Chelsea Away Shirt 2009/10

Chelsea’s home shirt for the coming campaign got something of a mixed reaction but fans have gone potty for the away version.

No wonder really as it’s got all the makings of a classic.

The dark navy and neon yellow affair doesn’t feature the home shirts chest panelling and is miles better for it.

Order the Chelsea Away Shirt 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

Italy Confederations Cup Shirt

Not only did PUMA do a great job with this shirt, but also with the entire King XL Italia range.

A shame then that Italy were about as useful at the Confederations Cup as Kate Moss at an ‘eat all you can buffet’.

Still, you can’t argue with style and this shirt has bags of it.

Order the Italy Confederations Cup Shirt 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

Barcelona Home Shirt 2009/10

Perhaps a surprisingly lowly position for a club that won a unique treble last year.

Mind you, nothing much changes with the Barca home shirt and why should it, being an iconic look in the world of football.

The shirt sports the unicef charity logo again but with all the superstars now gathered in Madrid, will it be Barca who need a helping hand?

Order the Barcelona Home Shirt 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

England Home Shirt 2009/11

Fair play to Umbro. Their marketing campaign ahead of this shirt’s release was spot on and that’s refelcted in a top 10 position.

A world away from some of the more recent (and some might say tacky) England shirts, this design exudes thought, skill and tons of traditional tailoring ability.

Each England player has his own fitted version, but the design even lends itself favourably to Joe Public.
Order the England Home Shirt 2009/11 - Here - U.S.

Arsenal Away Shirt 2009/10

Not the first time that the Gunners have chosen blue for an away kit. They first time they did so was in 1918 since when, it’s featured a total of 8 times.

Preferred by many Arsenal fans to next season’s home kit.

It even got a few votes of support from Man Utd supporters which is really saying something.

Just shows you that pinstripes don’t have to be confined to the boardroom.

Order the England Home Shirt 2009/11 - Here - U.S.

Aston Villa Home Shirts 2009/10

Do what, we here you cry. Aston Villa? What about Everton, Spurs or Man City? Well, what about them?

The figures don’t lie and Villa are worthy of their number 9 slot.

They’ve got a top manager in Martin O’Neill, they’ve done the business on the pitch and even their most ardent critics agree that this is their best shirt for years.

Order the Aston Villa Home Shirts 2009/10 - Here - U.S.

Celtic Away Shirt 09 -11

A cracking shirt but will it be seen beyond the confines of the Scottish border after the club’s defeat by Dynamo Moscow in Champions League qualifying? The smart money says not.

It’s certainly striking, ironic really given the chances they missed last night.

Already affectionately known in the trade as the ‘bumble-bee!

Order the Celtic Away Shirt 2009/11 - Here - U.S.

So there you have it. The best top 10 list we’ve come up with on Footy Boots since…..well, since the last one we did.

By the way, which shirt do you prefer from these recent releases? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Perry’s recollection of his first pair of football boots is vividly clear, aged six he had a pair of Winfield’s.

Winfield was the Woolworths own brand of football boots and were designed with four stripes on the side. Of course one stripe was removed and the Winfields four stripes became adidas or so Perry would claim.

A young, make that very young Perry Groves

Three years later and Perry’s talent must have been shining, his parents bought him a pair of adidas Beckenbauer Super football boots. A popular choice at the time with Beckenbauer being amongst the worlds best players. This was a traditional black, three stripes football boot, only the stripes were yellow not white.

Perry’s professional career began at Colchester and at that time players supplied their own boots. But when he became George Graham’s first signing for Arsenal, things started looking up for Perry and his feet.

At a club like Arsenal, boot company rep’s and agents were on the prowl to get the players wearing their boots. It was no different for Perry. Arriving with the adidas boots he bought and used at Colchester, they were replaced by the club for a new pair. But it wasn’t long before PUMA paid Perry to wear their boots for the season, with bonuses if he wore them in a cup final, which he did.

He switched back to adidas after the PUMA contract was up, but Perry’s best boot deal was with Italian football boot brand Lotto.

Following the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Lotto were keen to extend their presence to the top English league. They approached Perry and offered him a three year contract to wear the Lotto brand. They paid well for the time, with Perry receiving £2,000 in year one, £3,000 year two and £4,000 year three, plus all the leisurewear he wanted. Not that it suited him!

Perry felt their clothing was made for the typical Latino bodyshape, tight round the hips, something Perry felt highlighted his large behind. He likened his look at the time to a gay Jimmy Saville.

Perry felt his boots were also built for the Latin shaped foot, too thin for his liking and he’d ask his “boot boy” to wear the boots in for him before he’d train or wear them in a competitive game.

The modern day Lotto boot - Zhero Gravity Tre

Towards the end of his time at Arsenal, Perry switched to Brooks football boots.

Although Perry was delighted with all the leisurewear Brooks supplied him, he felt the football boots were like wearing bricks. This led to him switching back to adidas, removing the branding and adding the Brooks logo on to the boots.

Perry got away with masking the boots but fellow team-mate, the late David Rocastle, didn’t have such luck when he tried the same manoeuvre. Rocastle had painted the Nike logo on his adidas boots but a shower during a match washed the paint off, leaving him in hot water with his sponsor.

Perry has now swapped his boots for a pen, having turned literary sensation. His first book, an autobiography, “We All Live in a Perry Groves World” outsold Ashley Cole’s memoirs which was released at the same time. This was a result of its honest approach and the fact that Arsenal fans wanted to elevate the cult figure above Cole in the book charts.

His latest read sees Perry pick out his own 20 heroes of the game, hence the title “Football Heroes”. Including a range of players from Pele to Matt Le Tissier, its Perry’s take on the characters and their ability, yet carries his signature humorous character.

Perry Groves is a judge for the Footy Boots Football Boot Awards. If you haven’t voted yet, get your skates on and register your vote here.

Crowd image courtesy of arsenalpics.com

Following on from the successful launch of the Manchester United home kit last month, the club and Nike have now released details of the away strip for the 2009 / 10 season.

On pre-order today ahead of the full launch on August 13th, the strip follows the inspiration of the home kit which itself drew on a number of design features that pay homage to the side that first played at the Theatre of Dreams in this, the Old Trafford ground’s centenary year.

The new shirt features a large chevron across the chest, which echoes the same pattern United wore on their shirts during the 1909-10 season when Old Trafford first opened.

The distinctive angle of the chevron also directly replicates the one found at the bottom of the club crest containing United’s red devil.

The chevron augments the upper chest area of the shirt and Nike maintain that it gives United’s players an even bigger and more intimidating appearance.

The shirt also includes a number of other new elements. The entire back of the shirt has an engineered mesh, which is a series of small chevrons, a performance feature to offer players even greater ventilation during games.

The shirt is made from Nike Dri-Fit fabric, which keeps players drier, cooler and lighter by drawing sweat from the body to the fabric’s surface, while its three-dimensional construction gives more air space around the skin to reduce clinging.

To pre-order your Manchester United away kit for 2009 / 2010, click here.

The chances of Owen Hargreaves appearing in a Manchester United shirt anytime soon appear to be receding.

Hargreaves has only played 25 times for United since his £17 million move from Bayern Munich back in 2007. His last game was the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on 21 September 2008.

He had hoped to be back by the end of this September after operations on both knees to cure tendinitis. He’s currently in the USA being treated by renowned knee surgeon Dr Richard Steadman and has missed out on United’s trip to Germany for the Audi Cup.

Sir Alex Ferguson said:

We had hoped he would be joining us but he is still in rehabilitation.

He has had major operations on both knees and we are not rushing that.

Early kick off

Does it not seem bizarre that Celtic will play one of their biggest games of the year tonight, way in advance of the start of the season proper? Over 55,000 fans will flock to Parkhead this evening to see if Tony Mowbray’s side can overcome Dynamo Moscow in what could the first of four matches to qualify for the 32 team group stage of the Champions League.

Incredibly, this two-legged affair is sandwiched in between friendlies with the likes of Sunderland and Manchester City. How can it be that Europe’s so-called top sides, with a potential windfall of between £8 – 10 million per club riding on qualification,  have to turn out so ridiculously early in the season in monumentally important matches? If you ever needed persuading that the Champions League is too big and unwieldy, then surely this will do it for you?

Fergie’s warning

Talk about getting your retaliation in early. The Mind Games Master was at it again recently when he spoke about Real Madrid and their collection of superstars. Sir Alex said: “There’s a very good example of a team in the 1950s, Sunderland, who spent so much money it was known as the Bank of England club. They didn’t win anything and in the end they got themselves relegated.

“I’m not saying Real Madrid will get relegated, but it’s difficult and they will have plenty of problems with balance. I wouldn’t want to be Manuel Pellegrini [the coach] picking his first team with all those individuals. I told Ronaldo he will end up playing centre half because they don’t have one.”

He may be getting on in years, but he’s still got it – in spades!

Ref does a runner

If you thought the behavior of Didier Drogba and his Chelsea team mates towards referee Tom Henning Ovrebo was bad after the CL semi against Barca, then get on line and check out the shenanigans of Chinese team Tianjin.

Hugely upset after 3 of their players were shown red cards in a game versus Beijing, the remaining players on the Tianjin side chased the ref off the field, pushing him over in the process. Security guards got involved in the melee while in the stands; rival fans threw water bottles at each other.

One can only imagine the official Chinese news agency response: ‘Referee breaks national 100m record with help from players while rival fans keep each other cool in glorious, non American conditions’…..or something like that.

Enrique’s woes

Spanish defender Jose Enrique has apologized to Newcastle United’s fans after the Championship side were thumped 6 – 1 by Leyton Orient in a pre-season friendly.

Enrique said: “I’m sorry for them. We were all very bad. I’ve never played when everybody made so many mistakes.” Ah, the season is young Jose – you’ll get used to it.

Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic has moved from Italy to Spain and has signed a five-year contract with Barcelona.

The Catalan giants have paid £40 million for the player and the deal also sees Samuel Eto’o moving to Ibrahimovic’s old club Inter Milan as does Aleksandr Hleb who makes the switch on loan. The agreement includes a buy-out clause of £216 million.

Speaking to the club web site, Ibrahimovic, who will wear the number 9 shirt, said:

It feels like I’m living a dream now. It was not easy for me in the last weeks.

I’m not coming here to be Samuel Eto’o, I’m somebody else, somebody new, but I will try to achieve as much as Eto’o, or even more.

Ibrahimovic was the top scorer in Serie A last season, while Eto’o was equally prolific as Barca clinched an unprecedented treble after landing the La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League crowns.

But with 28 year old Eto’o only having one year left on his current deal, Barca were willing to sell.

So, what a week it’s been in the world of football boots! Topping the list of talking points has to be the John Terry ‘adidas vs Umbro’ battle (with ‘Chelsea vs. Man City’ undercurrents). 

One debate that this convulted tale has thrown up is the idea of player obligation to their sponsor during the pre-season; in a perfect world a player would spend pre-season deciding what boots best suit him, decide which they love by the first game of the season and subsequently be sponsored for doing so; but as we all know this is not the case!

So when a player decides to ‘test drive’ a pair of boots from another brand in a training session or pre-season friendly there are many things that people can read into it; i.e. the player is not happy with his current boots or maybe his team-mate has recommended a pair that he feels would suit their style. But sometimes the reason is far more pedestrian, or in Umbro’s case; downright bizarre.

So, why all the fuss about a preseason kickabout - surely it’s the best time to try out other boots?

As a fan and boots anorak, I love to see players really considering their choice in boots in the summer months - placing the same amount of thought you or I do in what boot best suits their game. I’m a Leeds United fan (stop laughing/jeering at the back!) and during last year’s pre-season matches I watched Jermaine Beckford test 3 pairs of boots (f50.8, Vapor III and adiPure, for those interested) before settling on the tunit range for the rest of the season.

However, as difficult as it may be to summon sympathy for multi-billion pound conglomorates; is it fair on the sponsors to see players trailing another company’s wares? In short, no. While a player is signed to a boots company he really should be playing in their boots - pre season, summer tournament or mid-season.

It matters most  for teams like Chelsea, Barcelona, AC Milan and Manchester United - where the pre-season usually involves some pretty far flung travels - so for sponsors of the players on these teams this is a great opportunity to see their boots reach a new audience - for example, during Real Madrid’s notorious 2003 pre-season of the Far East; can you imagine how many extra pairs of ‘Beckham-San’ colourway Predators adidas sold?

A great example of a happy medium is Ashley Cole’s recent trials of Puma’s speed boot, the v1.08, which has been a fantastic example of a player doing things respectfully - while his contract is up from negotiation, see which brand best represents his interests as a player and find out which boot that they produce that best compliments his style of play.

Personally, I’d like to see that all sponsorship contracts run in terms of seasons, with the pre-season and post-season exempt from their contracts which I think would work on several levels:

Firstly, it’d be added incentive for the players - if they want additional sponsorship for the summer tournaments like World Cups, European Championships or Confederations Cup they’d obviously be having to play well enough to be selected for the national team.

This would also work well for the sponsors, as they wouldn’t be paying money for players to be wearing their boots who aren’t actually playing during the summer.

Secondly, it’d be a constant push for manufacturers to be at the top of their game - players are tied to boot manufacturers for years at a time, so they always get the latest models and colours but then you see Luka Modric and Yossi Benayoun playing in older versions of the Mercurial Vapor range and Kaka in modified adiPure I’s so they’re clearly not too bigger fans of the newer models. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what they really prefer playing in when there’s no money involved?

However - the Chelsea ‘Bootgate’ scandal was enough to get the Footy Boots users posting and speculating in droves, perhaps it’s hypocritical to say I don’t enjoy the rumourmill as much as everyone else!

According to the kind of men who wear white coats and look through telescopes at the moon we inhabit a dodecahedral cosmos. An unusual opening gambit for a Footy Boots article, but for those of us who obsess about the beautiful game, science and sport are inextricably linked.

The two go back as far as Leonardo Da Vinci’s days (the Alex Ferguson of his era) when he and his philosophical chums worked out that the universe is dodecahedral shaped – like a football.

Since then the science of sport has moved on, we no longer kick a pigs bladder about, preferring the occasional cowhide or sweet sound of PVC rattling the back of a net. Indeed, the major players manufacturing the contents of our kit bags and lockers spend millions on research and development, and even more convincing us that only they provide the competitive edge.

Whether it be compensating for the mental fatigue or the physical stress of a game, yesterday’s Bunsen burners and Petri dishes have been replaced by supercomputers and design technologies, which play a critical role in the theory and practice of new product development targeting top athletes and you and me.

There is science behind everything from the ice-baths of Premier League training programmes (reduces the negative effect of soft tissue damage) to the compression, cold gear and heat gear garments we wear to facilitate rapid recovery from exercise or stay warm during a January blizzard.

Many football clubs spend more than half their revenue on players salaries. So, anything science can do to protect these princely assets is key to their survival. Top clubs invest in equipment, consultants and research that would put your local NHS hospital to shame. Biomedical software designed to predict injuries is commonplace having been trialed as far back as 2002 by clubs such as AC Milan. And countless millions has been spent employing scientists to help players understand the bend of Beckham’s balls!

The most obvious expression of science on players is their boots. Beyond the fancy-dan styling, the majority of R&D is invested in technologies to protect metatarsals and ligaments, add power, stabilise momentum and combat the effects of water, mud or sweaty feet on performance.

Aside from the move from wearing clogs, to lace ups, boot technology didn’t really evolve much last century, until former Aussie Liverpool legend and Footy Boots Awards consultant Craig Johnston, became the Godfather of Football Boots with his creation of the Predator which was unveiled by adidas in the 1990s. Johnston designed the Predator to create extra traction between the boot and the ground.

Under Armour Dominate Pro

Today companies such as Under Armour, Nike and adidas take this further, investing more and more into stability, protection and speed. As you’ll see in the Footy Boots Football Boot of the Year competition, a lot rides on their success as combining style with science.

As the newbies on the scene Under Armour’s Create and Dominate football boots give a first impression that they were conceived by a cross between an Italian couture designer and NASA. No wonder they are nominee for Safest Football Boot and Most Innovative Football Boot Feature.

Under Armour ArmourForm

The science of feet shapes has shaped both boots – fit and comfort were the starting point for Under Armour’s professors, followed by the performance of insoles and outsoles for added metatarsal protection, enhanced ball contact and moisture control. Such innovations can’t make everybody a top scorer, but science can provide the critical difference between a boot that performs well the first time you lace it up and one that blisters your skin leading towards an early bath and the physios.

So, why not take a trip into the science of football boots with this exclusive and revealing video which goes behind the scenes of Under Armour’s Create and Dominate boot development.

The Making of Under Armour Football Boots

Chelsea captain John Terry has revealed that he is to remain a Chelsea player despite the efforts of Manchester City to take him to Eastlands.

City have already made a number of bids for the England international and there have been reports that they were preparing an increased offer in the region of £40 million.

Chelsea have always insisted that the player was not for sale but speculation continued as to Terry’s future while the player himself failed to comment on the situation.

But now, the England captain has broken his silence, telling the club web site:

I am totally committed to Chelsea, always have been. Me leaving was never a possibility.

When you are linked with any club, or with a manager who I have huge respect for, it will always make headlines.

But Chelsea have made it clear to me consistently that there was never any intention to accept any kind of offer.

I know there has been comment that I should have made a statement earlier.

However, throughout this period there have been numerous discussions between myself, the owner and the Chelsea board and we all agreed that the timing of any statement would suit everyone involved in those talks, not any outside influences or agendas.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed Manchester City’s chances of challenging for the Premier League title by saying that they are a ‘small club with a small mentality’.

The city centre billboard featuring Tevez.

Ferguson’s comments come as a result of the way that Manchester City have handled the signing of former Old Trafford loanee Carlos Tevez. A city-centre billboard has appeared saying ‘Carlos Tevez, welcome to Manchester’ under a sky-blue picture.

This is something that has clearly angered Ferguson who says that ‘all they (Manchester City) can talk about is Manchester United’ and that ‘they can’t get away from it’. As for the Tevez transfer, Ferguson believes the fact that City view this as a triumph over United is ‘poor stuff’.

As we all know, Mark Hughes has spent a lot of money in recent weeks to secure the signatures of Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz. However, as you would expect, Ferguson has his own views on the transfer policy shown by Manchester City.

The United boss says that money is the only reason these players have moved to Eastlands and that anyone who claims otherwise is kidding themselves. The ‘big attraction’ in playing for Manchester City right now is the money you are going to earn, according to Ferguson.

As for Adebayor – who cost City £25m from Arsenal – Ferguson claimed that Adebayor’s agent had contacted Manchester United after he had agreed terms with City to see if something could happen at ‘the last minute’.

The same was done with Chelsea and Ferguson finished by saying that the Togo striker was ‘desperate to get either Chelsea or us’.

adidas to supply match balls for UEFA club football competitions.

adidas and UEFA have announced an extension (until 2012) to their partnership for the UEFA Champions League and also an agreement for the newly created UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super up. For the first time, adidas will be supporting all official UEFA club football competitions.

For the competitions in the 2009/10 season, adidas, together with UEFA, has designed three match balls;

adidas Finale 9. The match ball for the UEFA Champions League until the final in Madrid on May 22nd, 2010

Europa League ball. All games of the UEFA Europa League – including the Final in Hamburg on May 12th, 2010.

UEFA Super Cup. In Monaco on August 28th, between FC Barcelona and FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

adidas and UEFA will also be developing the following initiatives:

- adidas will offer a UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League product range

- The UEFA Champions League match officials will sport a special kit featuring the UEFA starball design

- adidas will be on site in a different city before every match for the UEFA Europa League

adidas producing official match balls since 1970

adidas’ experience in football production is unequalled. adidas has been making footballs since 1963 and is now the world’s leading manufacturer, always at the cutting edge of technology.

adidas has supplied the official match balls to all major UEFA and FIFA tournaments since 1970, and since 2006 is also the Official Supplier of the match football for all UEFA Champions League games. The adidas Finale ball has been used for the UEFA Champions League Final since the 2000/2001 season.

Since 2008, adidas is also the Official Supplier of the match ball for the Africa Cup of Nations. Starting from the 2009/10 season, the UEFA Europa League will also be played with
adidas balls.

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