Residents of the UK could well be forgiven for thinking that they’ve been transported back in time. Just look at the evidence.

An extremely unpopular Labour government is in power, the Conservatives are on the rise, the Union’s aren’t happy about the power companies, the economy is on its backside, the Yanks have possession of the Ryder Cup, Great Britain has only got one half decent tennis player and The Two Ronnies, Open All Hours, Columbo and Last of the Summer Wine are still all on the box.

It’s a retro world in which we live. And so too with football boots.

Old School is back in a big way and while innovation continues to flourish in the football boot market, some old favourites are more than holding their own in the market place.

So, for old time’s sake, we’ve been listening to records by Queen and Roxy Music, dressing up in flares, though some in the Footy Boots office have never realised that they went out of fashion (yes Roger, you) and we’ve picked out our current top three old style boots.

Adidas adiPure

Inspired by the iconic footwear Adidas made famous, the adiPure boot reflects a growing trend for a return to simple football values.

The boot is made from 100% K-leather which moulds to the shape of your feet, making it one of the most comfortable boots on the market and it incorporates many Adidas technologies as standard.

But it also meets the demands of many football fans who admire traditional football values, be that in boots, shirt design or even conduct on the field of play itself.

Chelsea and England’s Frank Lampard is a major fan and agreed with Footy Boots when he said: “adiPure to me is the finished article in football boots, clean, classic and does everything a modern day boot should do, while staying traditional to football values”.

Nike Brown Boots

You’ve got to hand it to Nike. Their decision to redesign their top makes in brown for Euro 2008 was a master stroke. And they don’t look half bad either.

OK, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t  wear them, preferring his green Mercurial’s, and Cesc Fabregas went back to his new style Tiempo’s but in the main, the Nike decision was hit.

The collection was inspired by the host countries of the 2008 European Championships (Austria & Switzerland) and the style of football boots seen on-field during the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

The Mercurial Vapor, the T90 Laser and Tiempo all incorporate clean and technical outsole plates in a vivid blue, contrasted with vintage soft & crafted chocolate brown leather.

Each football boot has a different tonal laser graphic on the heel to represent the location of the  tournament and it is also screened in the sockliner.

Puma King XL

Celebrating it’s 40th birthday this year, it just wouldn’t be possible to put together a feature on retro football boots without including the Puma King XL.

Worn by legends such as Eusebio, who was instrumental and indeed the inspiration for its creation, Pele and Maradona, the boot was relaunched this year and boy, it looks great.

The Puma King XL (XL stands for Roman numeral “40″) football boot stands for quality, heritage and tradition. The newest edition includes classic lines and traditional styling, but with updated materials, enhanced features and new design details.

With raised bead line, toe overlay and lateral stability insert inspired by the Eusébio boot 40 years ago, the King XL is executed with today’s best production technology. Super-soft, ultra-thin full-grain leather is complemented by a high-density silicon heel counter and conical firm ground stud construction for optimal stability and maneuverability.

The upper is embossed with a leaping cat logo on the vamp and King logo on the lateral side - with the limited edition version featuring the “Eusébio 68″ signature.

So, do you agree with our top three? Why not drop us a comment or an email.

Sunday’s Euro 2008 final will no doubt be an intense affair. One key battle will undoubtedly be between two Premier League midfielders; Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas and Michael Ballack of Chelsea.

Luis Aragones has only decided to start the young Arsenal playmaker in his side once during Euro 2008 so far – in the final group game victory over Greece. Despite this, it seems that Fabregas may be set for a starting berth in the final following his excellent performance in their 3-0 semi-final win over Russia; this after coming on for the injured David Villa in the 34th minute.

Ballack has been an ever-present starter in the German squad at Euro 2008 and scored a crucial goal in their 1-0 Group B win over Austria, as well as the eventual winner against Portugal in the quarter-finals. The Chelsea schemer is yet to assist a goal however, unlike Fabregas; who has managed three so far – all coming in the two matches against Russia.

Ballack has managed to run the furthest of any German player in all five of his matches so far at Euro 2008. However, in the one match that Cesc Fabregas did manage to start for Spain, he ran further in that game than Ballack has managed in any of his five appearances in the finals.

Which of the leading midfielders will triumph in the final?

Powered by Castrolindex.com

With Germany safely through to the final of Euro 2008 (how do they do it every tournament) and due to face the flair side that is Spain, conversations in bars and clubs across Europe and indeed the world are now focusing on who is the tournaments top player.

Whilst, in previous years, these arguments may have stayed between friends and family, this time round Euro 2008 sponsors Castrol are offering fans a chance to have a say as to which player will be crowned as the best.

Fans will be given the chance to nominate three players to be put forward alongside three choices from the Uefa Technical Study Group (TSG). The TSG will then make their selection based on this final list of six.

However, fan opinion will also be combined with subjective analysis. Players will only become eligible to be voted for once they enter the top ten of the Castrol Performance Index (CPI), a player ranking system which uses positional, speed and distance data provided by the Uefa Tracking System combined with data on player actions to create a definitive index of performance.

Voting is taking place now at www.castrolindex.com and the final winner will be announced after the Final which takes place on the 29th June.

Castrol ambassador Arsene Wenger is backing Michael Ballack: “So far for me Michael Ballack is the most influential player in his team. I like the simplicity and efficiency of his game and the fact that he works very hard for his team. He makes final balls, good passes, he makes the difference in midfield when it’s needed and when you need him to score a header, he’s there as well. So you can’t fault him.

“I’m happy for him, because he didn’t always get the respect he deserved when he played in Germany. He leads now. He was quiet for a long time. I felt too quiet. He was leading by example but not with his communication. It looks like in this tournament he is leading by both.”

If you agree with Wenger (and as it stands he’s backed up with the statistical data as we reported on Footy Boots yesterday) you can support his selection, if you don’t, you can nominate your own choices.

Footy Boots will publish details of the vote at the end of the tournament. Watch this space.

Which player is the quickest? Who covered the most ground during a match? Who’s our player of the tournament so far?

Now that we are at the business end of Euro 2008, the tournament statistics are painting an interesting story about some of Europe’s finest players.

In association with the Castrol Performance Index, we’ve put football boots to one side temporarily whilst we get an insight into the player performances.

Fastest Player - Ivica Olic

The Croatian striker who plays for Hamburg, has been recorded as the fastest player in Euro 2008 so far.

Thanks to technology that was used to track missile targets and using sixteen match cameras, Ivica Olic was measured running at an impressive 31.76 kmh - 19.74 mph, in his Zhero Gravity Due football boots.

Runner up is Robin Van Persie of Holland and Arsenal, recorded at 31.53 kmh - 19.59 mph. Robin van Persie wears the Adidas AdiPure football boots.

Most Ground Covered - Sergey Semak

The player that has covered the most ground to date is Russia’s midfield dynamo Sergey Semak. Semak has played 390 minutes of football so far. That’s four games, plus the extra time period against Holland in the quarter final round.

During that period he’s run a colossal 50.03 km - 31.09 miles in his Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boots. Not bad for a 32 year old!

Russia have players taking 1,2,3 in the pecking order for most distance run. Proving that Guus Hiddink’s side are a team high on effort and stamina.

Tournament Player - Michael Ballack

With three fixtures to go, Michael Ballack looks like our favourite to be crowned player of the tournament.

The analytics prove that the German captain is an outstanding team player, who contributes all round.

Speed - Ballack comes in at a healthy 8th place with a top speed of 30.88 kmh - 19.19 mph.

Distance - Ballack has covered 46.27 km - 28.75 miles. He is sitting 5th in this league, but has played 30 minutes less football that any of the players who have covered more distance.

Passes - In his 360 minutes of football, Ballack has totalled 192 passes, just 18 less than the tournament leader, Ballack’s compatriot Philipp Lahm. 152 of Ballack’s passes were completed too, that’s a respectable 79%.

Fouls Suffered - He’s been fouled 12 times by his opponents, only four other players have suffered more fouls.

Michael Ballack is an attacking force too, he’s scored twice, hit the target three times and has seen three shots wide. As captain of Germany he has most definitely led by example.

Michael Ballack wears Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boots.

Zidane turns up in Vienna, has a run around then talks Ronaldo.

Former French football legend Zinedine Zidane was in Vienna this week, running an Adidas Predator Youth Clinic where a number of youngsters were given the chance to play with Zidane.

Famed for wearing a pair of Gold Predators during the 2006 world cup, in which the great Zidane was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the final, Zidane now only laces his football boots up for promotional appearances and testimonial matches.

Following Zidane gracing the small pitch with the kids, he was inevetibaly asked about the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer situation. He’s a relevant source of information as Zidane Zidane is still the costliest player in history when Real Madrid paid Juventus £45.8m for his contract in 2001, although Ronaldo may just surpass that if the move goes through.

Zinedine Zidane:

Every time Madrid want good players they get them. He’s had a great season, and he’s a Champions League winner, and if he wants to play there, then he can.

If he goes to Madrid, it will be a big amount, but Madrid is ready to pay far more than they paid for me. This will actually lift a weight from my shoulders. Hopefully they will pay more for Ronaldo than they did for me.

The group games are history and now it’s knockout football only at Euro 2008.

As a result, the 8 remaining coaches will have included one extra drill in all training session as from today, that of penalty taking.

Past competitions are still wet from the tears of players who’ve blown it from the spot, causing personal, team and national angst.

But today, Footy Boots with tournament sponsors Castrol can reveal the most detailed analysis ever of the penalty kick ? though sadly, they’re aren’t any figures provided on resultant pizza commercials.

The main upshot is this - it’s looking good for Germany and Portugal but ominous for Spain and Holland.

Holland have been involved in shootouts in the past four European championships, losing three. England have lost more shootouts in major competitions than any nation ? two in European championships and three in World Cups.

The table below highlights penalty performance of the teams remaining in the competition who have taken part in previous penalty shoot outs. For the record, Croatia, Russia and Turkey have yet to face the dreaded spot kicks. We’ve left England in there just to remind Fabio that he’s got his work cut out in the future!

In addition, Castrol has analysed every single penalty from the last three seasons in the top five leagues in Europe and the Champions League and Uefa Cup (the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1).

Of the 1527 penalties:

• 74.7% resulted in a goal
• 18.2% were saved
• 3.5% hit the woodwork but didn’t result in a goal
• 3.6% were off target

So, three quarters (74.7%) of all penalties are successful and if the shot is on target the keeper will save just under one in five efforts (18.2%).

Regarding individual performances, if Portugal have to take spot kicks, then Cristiano Ronaldo will be one of their five players to make the long, lonely walk forward from the halfway line. The graphic below shows his success and failures.

As for goalkeepers, Gianluigi Buffon’s save against Romania in Italy’s group game is the main reason why they’ve made the quarter finals. His personal graphic is as follows.

Before Euro 2008 got underway, Nike went all retro.

New versions of the Mercurial Vapor IV, T90 Laser II and Tiempo football boots were brought out in a brown colourway, their inspiration taken from the type of boots that were worn in Switzerland when the country last hosted a major football tournament, the 1954 World Cup.

The new look football boots have been show cased, amongst others, by Franck Ribery in his Nike Mercurial Vapor IV’s, Gennaro Gattuso, Fernando Torres and Florent Malouda in the Nike T90 Laser II football boots and Ruud Van Nistlerooy and Andrea Pirlo who all wear the Nike Tiempo.

However one or two players including Cesc Fabregas, who was due to wear the brown Nike Tiempo have reverted to their old colour boots.

Sensing a major bust up, Footy Boots also decided to go Old School, stuck on a Private Dicks Fedora and went all ‘Maltese Falcon’ to uncover the truth.

After chasing through the streets of Oregon in a classic Studebaker, chatting up peroxide blondes in bars, chewing gum and smoking heavily in an aggressive manner, our investigations turned up a massive scandal that will shake the football boot market to the core. Well, actually it didn’t. But you’ve got to justify your daily expenses somehow.

Nike, it seems, are more than happy with a few individuals going their own way.

Talking exclusively to Footy Boots in a little known Speakeasy a Nike representative told us: “As footballers around the world know, especially the readers of Footy-Boots, getting in the right pair of boots is vital to performance. Some players will have a special affinity with a pair or will want to wear a certain colour for superstitious or aesthetic reasons. We’re committed to helping every footballer take their game to the next level and we work with all our players to ensure that they are totally happy with their boots”.

So that’s that then.

However, our Footy Boots appetite for undercover work has been whetted. So if you want a football boot story investigated, do get in touch at www.wemademostofthisup.com

Who would have believed it?

Going in to Euro 2008, the Czech Republic must have thought they had one of the safest pairs of hands between the sticks in the competition, in Chelsea stopper Petr Cech.

And yet, even the best make mistakes. And when that howler is largely responsible for your sides early departure, you can be sure that the subject of goalkeeping clangers will be reported and regurgitated all over the world.

Not to be left out, and just to remind everyone that England do play football (though sadly not at the moment), here’s the Footy Boots list of England’s top 5 goalkeeping disasters.

David Seaman v Brazil, June 2002

Was it a cross or was it a shot? No matter. Ronaldinho’s free-kick in Shizuoka left Seaman stranded ? and sent England crashing out of the World Cup. On the bench, manager Sven Goran Eriksson shows no emotion or indeed any tactical nous whatsoever waiting until 10 minutes before the end of the game before making an attacking substitution.

Paul Robinson v Croatia, October 2006

The seeds of England’s failure to make the European Championships were sewn on 67 minutes in Zagreb. Gary Neville passes back to Robinson. Robinson misses ball. Ball goes in net. Robinson looks accusingly at the grass. Steve McClaren writes something down in his notebook. Probably “must remember to buy umbrella for return fixture.”

Scott Carson v Croatia, November 2007

Same opposition, different keeper, same disastrous result. Carson’s England career was set to start on this rain-swept Wembley night. Unfortunately for him Niko Kranjcar’s early shot slipped through his hands and that career stalled before it had begun. The result saw Steve McClaren get the sack. So not all bad news then.

Peter Bonetti v West Germany, June 1970

The Cat, as he was known, was in for Gordon Banks and all was going smoothly in this World Cup quarter-final. England were 2-0 up against the team they beat in the Wembley final four years earlier and more success looked around the corner. But then Bonetti failed to deal with an innocuous Franz Beckenbauer shot, Germany scored twice more and England had made their last World Cup appearance for 12 years.

Peter Shilton v Poland, October 1973

Even the man with more goalkeeping caps than any other was guilty of the occasional cock-up - and no less crucial. Needing to beat Poland to reach the World Cup finals in 1974 Shilton made the job much, much harder when he dived over a tame Jan Domarski shot to put the Poles one up. Unfortunately for Shilton and England, the Polish stopper Jan Tomaszewski had a blinder, England missed a hatfull of chances and Sir Alf Ramsey’s side stayed at home the following summer.

With every team having played in EURO 2008, we look at the statistics to find out who the top performers are.

One round of matches gone and Spain, Holland and the Germans all look strong. Portugal, the Czech Republic and Sweden won’t be too disappointed with a win in their first game either.

Footy Boots have teamed up with the Castrol Performance Index for the duration of EURO 2008, so that we can delve inside and find out what the stat’s say about the players performances so far…..

Goal Keepers

Not surprisingly Petr Cech leads the table between the sticks. The world’s best goalkeeper leads the way from Edwin Van der Sar and Jens Lehmann.

1 Petr Cech, Czech Republic, Chelsea, 1795 points

2 Edwin Van der Sar, Holland, Manchester United, 910 points

3 Jens Lehmann, Germany, Stuttgart, 905 points

The worlds best goalkeeper Petr Cech wears Predator Powerswerve football boots

How do goalkeepers score points? Find out here - goalkeepers statistics Euro 2008

Defenders

Swede Petter Hansson heads this group, following their destruction of the negative Greek side. Hansonn’s goal and the goal’s by defender’s Pepe of Portugal and van Bronkhurst of Holland puts them at the head of the charts.

1 Petter Hansson, Sweden, Rennes, 1083 points
2 Pepe, Portugal, Real Madrid, 743 points
3 Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Holland, Feyenoord, 654 points

Leading defender Petter Hansson wears V1.08 X-ray football boots

How do defender’s score points? Find out here - defenders statistics Euro 2008

Midfielders

The creators are also goal led. Interestingly Cesc Fabregas sneaks into the top three, despite only seeing 27 minutes of action in the first game for Spain against Russia.

1 Raul Meireles, Portugal, FC Porto, 875 points
2 Wesley Sneijder, Holland, Real Madrid, 827 points
3 Cesc Fabregas, Spain, Arsenal, 818 points

Leading midfielder Raul Meireles wears V-Konstrukt II football boots

How do midfielder’s score points? Find out here - midfielders statistics Euro 2008

Strikers

Spain’s David Villa hit a hat trick, the first one in this competition since Kluivert 8 years ago, that means the hit man is top striker at the moment and the top points scorer overall after round one.

1 David Villa, Spain, Valencia, 1944 points
2 Ruud van Nistelrooy, Holland, Real Madrid, 1173 points
3 Lukas Podolski, Germany, FC Bayern Munchen, 1092 points

Top marksman David Villa wears F50.8 TUNiT football boots

How do striker’s score points? Find out here - strikers statistics Euro 2008

“Boo Hoo. It’s not fair. No-one loves us and the football’s they are making us play with are going to make us look stupid.”

Ah, how Europe’s top goalkeepers took it upon themselves to take a pop at the Adidas Europass ball being used at Euro 2008.

Petr Cech announced that “The new ball is really unpredictable. We will see lots of goals from 30 metres out.The balls are so quick, they have scarcely any wind resistance and they can change direction any second, also in the last five metres. It therefore won’t help at all to see the ball coming from a distance.”

Never one to sit on the fence, as opposed to the Arsenal bench, Germany’s Jens Lehmann also got his retaliation in early saying “”The ball is very difficult for me. It is once again different to the ones before it. I had a situation in the first half against Belarus (a pre tournament friendly) where I wanted to hold on to the ball and then it started to move around.”

Croatia keeper Stipe Pletikosa joined the chorus of concern, saying: “Those balls are going all over the place, changing direction all the time, especially if fired from a distance.”

Holland’s Edwin van der Sar said: “They are not designing balls for goalkeepers.” And Portugal’s Ricardo added: “Everything that is new in football today is to hurt us. Nothing is done for our benefit.”

It’s interesting to note that out of the goalkeepers quoted above, all 5 have played one match in the tournament and not one of them has let in a goal.

Adidas maintains that the ball has been rigorously tested, as all balls are before every major tournament, and that they are 100% happy with the product they have provided.

Still, the moaning shot-stopper is nothing new and if anything, it gives us a perfect opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane and take a look at some of the other balls that have reduced goalkeepers to tears.

First off, remember the Tango Mundial?

No, not the drink and the Ray Wilkins voice over, but the official match ball of the 1984 tournament in France which, incidentally, England failed to qualify for. The hosts went on to win the title with Michel Platini scoring 9 goals in their 5 matches.

On to 1988 and it’s still Tango time, the Tango Europa to be exact.

England did make it the finals and then promptly wished they hadn’t of done, losing all 3 group games against the Republic of Ireland, Holland and the USSR. Holland won the tournament which was unique as no player was sent off, none of the knockout matches went to extra time and at least 1 goal was scored in every game.

By 1992, the Tango had had its chips after its name was hijacked by Hollywood and featured in an average type of film starring Sylvester Stallone (Tango) and Kurt Russell (Cash). Teri Hatcher from Desperate Housewives and TV’s Superman was in it too. Jack Palance overacted brilliantly as the villain. Anyway the Tango was replaced by the Etrusco Unico, first used at Italia 90 and inspired by Italy’s ancient history and the fine art of the Etruscnas.

As they did 4 years earlier, England were eliminated in the group stages without winning a game (there’s a theme developing here) with the eventual winners being the surprise package of Denmark. The Danes had originally failed to reach the finals in Sweden but were parachuted in at the last minute in place of Yugoslavia who were involved in a different kind of parachuting.

Come Euro 1996 football came home, sadly to Berlin, as Germany beat the Czech Republic in the final having ousted England in the semis on penalties.

The ball that Gareth Southgate ultimately failed with from the spot was the Adidas Questra Europa. Alan Shearer liked it though, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer with 5 goals.

Four years on and we are in Belgium and Holland for Euro 2000. The Questra was history by now and was replaced by the Terrestra.

Despite beating Germany, England were, yet again, eliminated before the knock out stages after a last gasp defeat to Romania. If only Phil Neville had got a touch to the Terrestra Silverstream rather than to Viorel Moldovan to give away the match winning 89th minute penalty.

And so to Portugal and Euro 2004. For this tournament, Adidas unveiled the Roteiro, the first ever official match ball produced with the innovative thermal-bonding production technique which they had been developing for the previous 4 years.

The change of ball did nothing for England’s luck as, Rooneyless, they went out on penalties to the hosts. Portugal themselves were to suffer heartbreak in the final, losing to Greece. Silver linings and all that.

So there’s today’s European Championship history lesson. Hope you were taking notes as there will be a test later.

Rate this post

 Loading …

After looking at the new F50 TUNIT 16 for Euro 2008, Groups A and B, now it’s the turn of those teams in Groups C and D.

Every nation competing at the tournament will have its very own F50 TUNiT 16 design featuring a variety of country-specific details and the country’s colours. Indded, Adidas representatives have spent the past few days hand delivering the boots to the players’ hotels.

During Euro 2008, the Adidas F50 TNUiT 16 will be endorsed by some of the brands top names.

In Group C, they include Samir Nasri (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands) and Bogdan Lobont (Romania).

And in Group D, look out for the boots which will be worn by David Villa (Spain), Christian Wilhelmsson (Sweden), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia) and Theofanis Gekas (Greece).

The F50 TUNiT 16 concept is part of Adidas’ modular TUNiT technology which allows players to customize and tune their football boots.

The individual F50 TUNiT 16 uppers will be available at retail from June 2008.

Adidas are bigging it up over in Austria & Switzerland.

With Euro 2008 kicking off tomorrow, Adidas have launched their latest marketing stunts in the hosting nations.

1. Zurich Station

Come out of Zurich station and you will be greeted by a huddle of 11 giant footballers;

Ballack and Lahm (both Germany), Van Persie (Netherlands), Cech (Czech Republic), Charisteas (Greece), Villa (Spain), Benzema and Vieira (both France), Chivu (Romania), Ivanschitz (Austria) and Barnetta (Switzerland).

Swiss locals are reported to be particularly pleased by the installation. Renowned for building the finest clocks and watches in the world, the Swiss locals will now be able to check the accuracy of their instruments at 8:00 am and 6:00 pm, daily. For not only do the players stand arm in arm and stand 17 metres high, they also cheer for each other at the top of their voices, in their own language twice a day.

2. Vienna Leisure Park, Prater

The Vienna Leisure Park’s ferris wheel now sports Petr Cech, supersized to 42 metres.

We think its overkill and that the Swiss would struggle to get past a ‘mini Cech’ in their opener tomorrow (SWITZERLAND v CZECH REPUBLIC).

3. MuseumsQuartier in Vienna

The final part of the Adidas Euro 2008 trilogy is also featured in Vienna, this time at the MuseumsQuartier. And what you may ask can Adidas plant at the cultural complex of Vienna? Why giant football boots of course, 16 in fact!

Adidas have designed an individual Euro 2008 football boot for each of the 16 participating nations featuring the different national colours, details and facts of the respective country. These 16 car sized models are on display in front of the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.

Prior to their placement, the oversized football boots took a long journey on two Adidas trucks through both host countries, visiting the various national teams’ quarters. There, the individualised football boots were handed over to the players who will wear the shoes during Euro 2008.

When the truck got to Geneva, Portugal’s base, Cristiano Ronaldo immediately got on the phone to ask his agent if Nike could construct him a similar sized football boot to match his ego.

Over the next couple of days, Footy Boots will be bringing you some absolutely stunning images.

With Euro 2008 just a day away, Adidas have revealed details of the F50 TUNiT 16 football boot, the design for which has been inspired by characteristic elements and the flags of the countries participating in the tournament.

Every nation will have its very own F50 TUNiT 16 design featuring a variety of country-specific details and the country’s colours.

During Euro 2008, the Adidas F50 TNUiT 16 will be endorsed by some of the brands top names.

Today Footy Boots takes a look at Group’s A and B.

Group A Adidas F50 TUNiT 16 players include Hugo Almeida (Portugal), Vaclav Sverkos (Czech Republic), Johan Vonlanthen (Switzerland) and Tuncay Sanli (Turkey).

In Group B, it’s Lukas Podolski (Germany), Robert Kovac (Croatia), Jacek Krzynowek (Poland) and Andreas Ivanschitz (Austria).

Look out for Groups C and D in the days to come.

The F50 TUNiT 16 concept is part of Adidas’ modular TUNiT technology which allows players to customize and tune their football boots.

The individual F50 TUNiT 16 uppers will be available at retail from June 2008.

The uppers can be combined with any F50 TUNiT component and thus adapted to different surfaces and weather conditions.

Michael Ballack - Germany

One of the biggest Adidas names and one for whom the brand and his country will have high hopes.

Came in to his own in the latter part of the club season with Chelsea in the English Premier League and was seemingly a far more effective player for Avram Grant than he was for Jose Mourinho.

Made his debut in 1999 and has since played 81 times for his country scoring on 36 occasions. Missed out on the final of the 2002 World Cup because of suspension.

Became captain of the national side under Jurgen Klinsmann. Always wears the number 13.

Wears the Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boot.

Daniele De Rossi - Italy

A one club man having come up through the youth ranks at AS Roma where he still plays.

Won an Olympic bronze medal in Athens having made his club debut a year earlier. Could have led Roma to European club glory this season but missed a vital penalty against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Made his international debut in 2006 but got himself sent off at the World Cup finals for elbowing USA striker Brian McBride. He received a four match ban but was still described by McBride as ‘classy’ after apologising.

Came on as a second half substitute in the final against France and scored in the penalty shoot out as Italy won the tournament.Has played 33 times for his country.

Wears the Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boot.

Kevin Kuranyi - Germany

Not many German internationals could claim to have been born in Rio de Janeiro but Kuranyi was to a German-Hungarian father and Panamanian mother.

Speaks 5 languages.

Currently with FC Schalke 04, he made his debut for Germany in the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Lithuania.

Failed to make the squad for the 2006 World Cup finals but has since returned to form. Has scored 19 times in his 46 international appearances.

Wears the Adidas F50.8 TUNiT football boot.

Dirk Kuyt - Holland

Well known to English Premier League fans after his exploits for Liverpool.

Before moving to Merseyside, he played for FC Utrecht and Feyenoord in his native Holland, once turning out on 179 consecutive occasions between 2001 and 2006.

Made his international debut in 2004 in Marco van Basten’s first match in charge as Dutch coach.

Has since scored 7 goals for his country from 36 appearances.

Wears the Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boot

David Villa - Spain

One of the hottest properties in Spanish football and currently being chased by a number of the world’s top clubs.

Started his club career with Sporting de Gijon before moving on to Real Zaragoza whom he helped to victory in the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid. Moved to Valencia in 2005.

Scored 18 goals from 19 league starts this season but couldn’t prevent Valencia finishing in mid table. Some respite was achieved as Villa collected another Copa del Rey winners medal.

Got a gentle introduction to international football making his debut in 2005 against San Marino.

Scored twice against Ukraine in his first World Cup finals appearance and has now racked up 14 goals in 31 games.

Wears the Adidas F50.8 TUNiT football boot