When Mexico’s Luis Ernesto Michel arrived at Mexican Primera Division outfit Chivas Guadalajara in 2003, as a young inexperienced keeper understudying the great Oswaldo Sanchez, by all accounts it wasn’t exactly viewed as the biggest event in goalkeeping history.

But with the departure of his great mentor in 2006, all this changed, and after being given the chance to step into the limelight, Michel took it with both (safe) hands.
The goalkeeper did so well that he allegedly now even has a wax figure in Madame Tussauds! In the spirit of keen and impartial reporting, we haven’t actually verified this with a visit to the museum itself, and we don’t know if Michel appears in his goalkeeper gloves, but it does leave the exciting prospect that Rinat could have the illustrious distinction of being the first goalkeeping brand to have won a place in one of London’s top tourists attractions!

Michel initially had a tough job filling the shoes (or gloves) of the great departed keeper Oswaldo Sanchez, who was a huge fans’ favourite at the Chivas, and had remained first choice keeper under 10 different coaches during his time with the club, while notching up close to 100 international caps for Mexico.

But Michel’s performances won acclaim and he has over the last couple of seasons become a Chivas hero in his own right, apparently nicknamed ‘Fray Michel’ (i.e. ‘Friar Michel’), after Oswaldo Sanchez, who had been known as ‘San Oswaldo’ (‘Saint Oswaldo’).

Admittedly, many people in the UK and Europe still don’t know about Michel’s heroics between the goalposts, but the success of the Rinat ‘Michel Professional’ range in Europe might be something to change that…

Designed and developed in conjunction with Michel himself, the gloves very much reflect the key priorities of a top flight keeper in the Mexican Primera Division. First on the list - must be impossible to ignore. The gloves must look great. But in addition to this, a very lightweight, breathable, flexible construction is one clearly appropriate to the warmer conditions of Mexican football, with a design also focused on comfort, movement, and natural feel.

In our opinion, the latex foam of the Michel Professional goalkeeper gloves is slightly less soft than some European foams – but this is by no means a bad thing. It creates a foam that is slightly longer wearing, yet Rinat have managed to produce a foam palm whose gripping performance is still outstanding. The gloves also feature internal latex, which fixes the gloves much more closely to the palm of the hand, reducing glove movement and giving a very secure fit.

Michel himself, on colour choice is for once a slight disappointment, opting for the black and white glove model in professional games. But in Mexico he is well known for this choice of colour scheme in his attire, and has been labelled ‘El Caballero Negro’ (‘The Dark Knight’) in acknowledgement of his dark kit. So perhaps it wouldn’t do to turn out in orange and green…

Rinat ‘Michel Professional’ goalkeeper gloves - technical specification

Palm:

Dual Grip Latex Technology
3mm latest generation Mega Grip Latex foam. Flat cut.
2mm PU high density backing foam, reducing shock on impact.
1mm Super Soft internal latex foam. Adheres to skin, moulds to shape of hand. More comfortable fit. More secure feeling.

Backhand:

3mm Super Soft latex foam backhand with 5mm fused PU foam lining.

Glove Body:

100% Polyester mesh weave fabric body panels. Breaths. Absorbs humidity. Dries quickly. Keeps palm interior cooler and dryer.

Wrist Strap:

18cm Nylon/Polyester elasticated wrist band. 5cm x 12cm latex exterior adjustment strap. Velcro closure. Comfortable and secure fit.

Change We Can Believe In

Never ones to dip our toes too deep into the dark and murky waters of global politics, at a time when so many people are looking to the future and wondering what change Barack Obama’s election as US president will bring, we thought it important for us to turn our own attention to the future of an area of even greater global importance: the world of goalkeeping products.

This week, focusing on uhlsport’s revolutionary – really – Akkurat goalkeeper glove design, we gaze off towards the horizon and consider for a moment one major recent development that may well alter the future of goalkeeping equipment …

OK, so we are probably as guilty as anybody else of proclaiming every week’s latest release as “the next revolution”, or “a turning point in goalkeeping product design”. But with the Akkurat we feel a bit like the Boy Who Cried Wolf – this time we mean it!

Let’s start with the uhlsport spiel:

“The Akkurat. A revolutionary, very tight-fitting goalkeeper glove with half-negative seams. For a direct ball contact and advanced ball control… Tight-fitting and ergonomically adjusted palm: newly developed two-colour palm made of Absolutgrip latex with an additional pulse cushioning backhand… Newly developed hook and loop fastener-closure with long flap and pulse protection…”

Almost lost in this outstanding example of goalkeeping product jargon is the very uniqueness of the Akkurat innovation.

Essentially, what is really important about the Akkurat design is the focus uhlsport have placed on stripping away all unnecessary bulk from the glove – not merely taking weight out of the backhand, but removing excess latex foam from the palm side of the glove, in areas where glove-to-ball contact is minimal. The desired effect of this is to take the glove design right back to basics – an extremely comfortable, close fitting glove, with the addition of latex foam palm and backhand material precisely where it is needed, not elsewhere.

The body of the glove, from a tight-fitting but stretchy fabric, is constructed with half negative seams in the fingers – meaning part of the stitching is inside of the glove - giving the gloves an even tighter and closer fit. The development follows clearly the recent popularity of negative cut gloves – with the likes of Van Der Saar, Cech, James and Casillas now all  choosing negative cut gloves (for adidas, adidas, HO SOCCER and Reebok respectively) – and uhlsport looks to build on the essence of the design that has made the negative cut model so popular with top players.

The ‘Aquasoft’ version of the Akkurat glove, for wet weather conditions

The removal of inessential features of the glove, as well as giving it an exceptionally close fitting and natural feel on the hand, make the glove remarkably light weight. Not first choice, then, for keepers who prefer outsize bulky roll finger gloves, but a real alternative for keepers who prefer a much more natural fit.

So is the Akkurat here to stay? Many a goalkeeper is typically quite a conservative-minded fellow – it goes with the territory – and won’t necessarily be quick to embrace change like this. But you don’t have to have the risk appetite of Rene Higuita to see the obvious advantages an innovation like the Akkurat offers: we think it has a great chance of taking off in a big way.

We’re warming up a theme here on goalkeeper glove classics. This week - the uhlsport Cerberus Supersoft Rollfinger goalkeeper gloves. A bit of a mouthful to say, but that’s often the first condition of a classic goalkeeping product…

uhlsport of course – decades of goalkeeping heritage – has more than a few classics up its sleeve. The pink and white gloves worn by Shilton and Zenga in the 1990 World Cup, for example, must be one of the most requested gloves for a comeback ever.

But the glove in question this week, the Cerberus Supersoft Rollfinger model, was probably a bit of a surprise for those German gurus of goalkeeping products.

It’s one of those gloves that no doubt makes the guys who develop uhlsport’s latest and highly innovative technology shudder. Years spent on new innovations, cash ploughed into the latest developments and marketing budgets thrown at new releases in the manner of a Coleen Rooney shopping trip… And then a glove like this comes along without any of that really, and threatens to steal the show.

Finger protection technology? Nope. Uhlsport Absolutgrip foam? No. Contoured palm for improved hand flexion? Nooo. Fancy embossed backhand?? No! No, the Cerberus Supersoft Rollfinger goalkeeper gloves strip it down to the basics – but the essential basics. Really nice foam, a great fit, the ever popular rollfinger glove cut and – let’s be honest – a price that keepers at all levels of the game can afford.

Obviously, the Cerberus Supersoft Rollfinger goalkeeper gloves do include a huge amount of technological development that we tend to take for granted these days. The performance quality of the Supersoft latex foam palms, and the comfort of the uhslport rollfinger glove cut, that has been many seasons in development, for example. Similarly, the lightweight materials employed in the construction of the glove backhand.

The gloves were first released at RRP £29.99 (possibly going up a few quid in coming months thanks to inflation). But it’s clearly not all about price. A fine seal of approval came, we believe, when the Chelsea supremo and uhlsport endorsee Carlo Cudicini took to the gloves and wore a slightly customised version of them in last season’s Chelsea first team games. They’re flying off the shelves…

GLOVE SPEC: UHLSPORT CERBERUS SUPERSOFT ROLLFINGER GOALKEEPER GLOVES

GLOVE CUT: Rollfinger cut
PALM TYPE: Supersoft latex foam
FINGER SUPPORT: N/A
FASTENING: Bandage with comfortable hook and loop fastener-closure-system
CONDITIONS: Dry/damp, soft ground
PALM LENGTH: Wrist length

MANUFACTURER’S COMMENTS:   

uhlsport’s Supersoft latex produces excellent gripping characteristics in dry and damp conditions thanks to a unique, micro-porous foam construction.

Backhand: YCAP® TR is an exclusive uhlsport foam for glove backhands. Highly flexible due to soft foam construction and formed using 3D Thermo rubber foam, YCAP TR promotes excellent surround grip.

High competition glove: perfect fit and maximum flexibility.

Lego, bacon, Carlsberg (probably): the world would certainly be a worse place without the creations of Denmark.

That list of three slightly unglamorous exports – the first things we could think of as we asked ourselves what we knew about the Danes – sadly probably reveals more about our intellectual shortcomings than about the achievements of the Danes. Nonetheless, for all our ignorance, one thing we do know is that in the football world, alongside tidy passing football and the Laudrup brothers, Denmark is rightly associated with great goalkeeping.

The Danish national team, proudly lining up with SELECT footballs.

Probably, a lot of this is attributable to one goalkeeper in particular, the inimitable Peter Boleslaw Schmeichel - the original ‘Great Dane’ - who is one of a very small number of people impressive enough to be able to carry off that middle name. Not enough people today remember how good Schmeichel was: in one of the early seasons of his career in the Danish top flight, for example, Schmeichel helped his side to the 6th best defensive record in the league – only to see his side relegated from the division anyway!

But in Denmark, goalkeeping is by no means a subject on which Big Pete has had the last word. And with Denmark’s SELECT brand, hugely popular in Denmark and successful across continental Europe, particularly as a producer of goalkeeper gloves and footballs, the tradition of Danish goalkeeping continues in full force.

Danish international Stephan Andersen, wearing SELECT goalkeeper gloves in a Brondby game.

Content on their separated island, many people in the UK won’t have encountered SELECT before. So in this article, we take a summary look at SELECT, and see why it is one of Denmark’s biggest and most successful football brands.

As befits a great goalkeeping brand, SELECT was founded by a goalkeeper, and not only any goalkeeper. Eigil Nielsen, once the star goalkeeper for the Danish national football team, created the company way back in 1947. According to SELECT, under Nielsen’s guidance it pioneered many of the inventions in the football industry, including the first lace-free ball and 32-panel ball. And SELECT has grown hugely, now selling more than 2.0 million balls a year around the world and still growing.

The SELECT Brilliant Super flagship professional match ball.

SELECT is known for quality, and really seems to pride itself on a commitment to producing top performance high end products. See its public statements on its footballs, for example: “We offer the best warranties in the industry. A 3-year warranty for stitching and shape for our Pro series balls and a 2-year warranty for our Club series balls.”

In goalkeeping, SELECT’s goalkeeper glove range for the 2008-2009 season features five key adult models, and two junior models, and we’ll be looking at them in more detail in future weeks. SELECT has endorsements at the highest level, recently well profiled by Karim Zaza for AaB in their Champions League group game against Manchester United. Zaza wore the top of the range SELECT 88 goalkeeper gloves.

SELECT also have Danish international and Brondby keeper Stephan Andersen as a proud endorsee of the goalkeeper gloves, as well as Rune Pedersen of Lyngby, Jesper Hansen of FC Nordsjælland and Steffen Rasmussen of AGF –all keepers playing in the Danish Superliga.

While perhaps not matching Nike, Adidas and co. on pure popularity stakes, SELECT continues to focus on the quality of its products, and keeps a large number of loyal followers for that very reason. Now available in the UK for the first time, SELECT goalkeeper gloves and equipment should attract the attention of keepers looking for performance and quality, and are produced with an obvious disregard for bling. We’ll look in more detail at the SELECT gloves over future weeks – you’ll hear it here first.

A few weeks back we looked at the brand new Kaliaaer Touch / Feel goalkeeper gloves, and speculated whether the future really is orange (and blue or pink and yellow).

Bury FC’s Wayne Brown is one goalkeeper who clearly thinks so, and the Gigg Lane press room has reportedly been inundated with confused questions about the bright gloves Brown has been wearing in recent games. Kaliaaer, the guilty party, is unrepentant, and believed to be continuing their development of pioneering goalkeeper glove designs on their mission to fundamentally alter the goalkeeping equipment world.

In any case, neither Wayne Brown nor Bury fans have anything complain about: at time of writing the club sits in 2nd place of the League 2 table, and Brown has been in fine form for the early part of the season.

But in spite of all the focus on the dazzling Touch / Feel goalkeeper gloves, we wanted to take a look at Kaliaaer’s milder side, and examine their top of the range flagship hand protecting Shok-Lock goalkeeper glove release.

With no luminous colours in sight, the Shok-Lock is clearly a glove that aspires to the ‘classic’ goalkeeper glove genre. The ‘wedding day white’ look of the glove aligns it in spirit with legendary gloves like the Selsport Wrappa Classic, the Sells Adhesion Ultra Aqua, and the Reusch Serie A goalkeeper gloves. But at the same time, Kaliaaer have done something commendable, and managed to stay far enough away from many of the all-too-imitated features of those gloves.

For a start, the Shok-Lock gloves seem to have been inspired by the idea of a bolt of lighting. The whole foam backhand of the glove is innovatively moulded with jagged zigzag patterning throughout, mirroring the look of the famous ‘Kaliaaer Bird’ logo in the centre of the backhand. In a really nice detail, the Shok Lock wrist strap is also cut into a jagged zigzag shape.

Kaliaaer have their own unique range of latex foams, and the Shok-Lock gloves incorporate the 4.2mm Kaliaaer aerGRIP Foam. A bit of the technology spiel on the foam palms:

“The “aerGRIP” micro fibre structure of the foam enables the glove to absorb and release sweat through the palm surface, giving superb gripping qualities in all weather conditions. It also incorporates “Reflex” foam retention technology, giving maximum shock absorption while retaining shape.”

Big claims perhaps, but on early form there may well be more to the Shok-Lock gloves than just hype – the gloves have already been extremely popular, with great reviews from the first batch of Kaliaaer keepers.

A word on the hand protecting features of the Shok-Lock gloves. Of course, they feature the mandatory flexible spines in the backhand of the gloves – four ‘Kaliaaer Carbon-Tec’ spines in the backs of the fingers in this case, removable too – but what will no doubt give keepers added comfort is the overall sturdiness of the Shok-Lock model. The gloves feel thoroughly strong and well constructed, with thick 4mm foam palms and padding throughout the glove, particularly in the backhand.

We’re waiting for the luminous lime green Christmas release, rather like the one’s above perhaps?

After last week’s profile of the new Reusch Pure Contact goalkeeper gloves, this week we take a look at some of the other highlights of the new Reusch range for 2009 - the ‘Raptor’ and ‘Core Line’ goalkeeper glove lines.

First, the Raptor. A clear follow on from the popular Reusch ‘Goaliator’ glove model, the Raptor range keeps many of the features that have made the Goaliator range so popular, and builds on them.

The Raptor is very similar to the Goaliator in the detail and construction of the backhand, with a complicated jagged cut of foam running diagonally over the backhand, and the backhand in general produced from numerous separate pieces of material with a fairly complicated stitching production.

As with the Goaliator range, the Raptor range includes the usual variety essential Reusch goalkeeper glove options, catering to a huge variety of glove cut and technology preferences, as well as to different weather conditions. For instance, the Raptor is available with or without Reusch removable Ortho-Tec protection, and comes in models with or without internal latex, and with any of Reusch’s specialist X1, G1, R1, Aqua Grip or Mega Grip latex foams.

There is also a comprehensive choice of glove cuts, including the unique Reusch Wide Cut, Bowl Cut, Negative Cut and Roll Finger cuts.

To their credit, Reusch again seem not to have opted for simplicity and lower cost production, but instead to have aimed at a superior looking, better produced and innovative goalkeeper glove design.

This must be a good thing: with a growing number of new brands coming into existence producing gloves mainly in the £20 - £40 price range, Reusch needs to continue to mark itself out with superior quality production and technology, in order to justify the £60 - £80 price of its top of the range gloves. But that’s exactly what it does, and in our view there are very few brands competing with Reusch in terms of quality of production and the level of detail in the Reusch gloves today.

In a strange way, the biggest change in the any of the visual styles of the goalkeeper gloves in the 2009 Reusch range, is at the same time possibly the least innovative change Reusch have made for a long time.

The new ‘Core Function’ line strips away the visual colour and complexity of the backhand design of the Reusch Raptor and Goaliator ranges, taking the design right down to a comparatively simple pure all white appearance. Really, the only colours in the Core Line range are some detail in silver on the logo, and a fine strip of blue, black or red running vertically down the back of the third finger.

At first sight, this brings the Core Function line much closer to the popular glove models run over recent seasons by other goalkeeping brands like Sells and Selsport, which have both frequently utilised predominantly white designs in some of their most popular glove models.

But to suggest that Reusch is following other brands would be mistaken. Even this direction change to the more simplistic predominantly white visual design is done in the typical Reusch way, with a great amount of technical detail still retained in the glove.

Like the Raptor, the Reusch Core Function gloves are available with all the key Reusch technologies: removable Ortho-Tec protection, all the essential glove cuts, and a variety of foams. However, it’s interesting that of around 10 glove models in the Core Function range, there are 3 negative cut gloves and 4 roll finger gloves. That leaves only 3 in the more flat cut style, which has previously been by far Reusch’s glove cut of choice. Goalkeepers who may have wished Reusch would provide greater choice in their roll finger and negative cut glove selection will be very pleased by this interesting development.

The new Reusch range will be available from around February 2009, and is eagerly anticipated.

What do the following all have in common: Sepp Maier, Ubaldo Fillol, Toni Schumacher, Joel Bats, Jean Marie Pfaff, Chris Woods, Bodo Illgner, Peter Schmeichel, Jorge Campos, David Seaman, Claudio Taffarel, Andreas Kopke, Dida, Julio Cesar?

They were or are world beating, truly legendary goalkeepers, obviously, but what else?

Answer: they are all goalkeepers who have played at the highest level of football wearing Reusch goalkeeper gloves.

Many, many world and European champions, at club and international level, so many true goalkeeping greats – Reusch is a brand whose history has always been closely entwined with goalkeeping legend and folklore.

Present day Reusch stars, Rost, Abbiati, Cesar, Dida

Fortunately, the quality and reputation of Reusch’s goalkeeper gloves continues to live up to the company’s great name.

Arguably, where Reusch stands out most is in its attention to detail. Many brands today are capable of producing high quality goalkeeper gloves, with top performance latex foams, good construction and fit, and innovative technologies. But consistently across its ranges of gloves, Reusch manages to go beyond the general standard of quality, and is well known among goalkeepers for this.

With 2008’s Reusch Goaliator Pro goalkeeper gloves, for example, almost every inch of the glove seems to feature some different use of materials, colours or technology. The backhand of that glove is produced from many separate pieces of material, at greater difficulty of production and probably cost, but it is features like these that set the gloves apart.

At the very top end of the range, this is reflected in the prices – Reusch, along with a small number of other goalkeeping specialists such as uhlsport and Sells, is one of the few contemporary brands confident enough to produce a pair of goalkeeper gloves for sale at £80.

So the 2009 range, as every year, will be released with huge expectation. Here we give one of the first public profiles available anywhere of the new Reusch range of goalkeeper gloves, most of which will be available from early 2009.

Reusch has opted for an interesting split in the new 2009 range, dividing the range of goalkeeper gloves between the more conservative and the more progressive. On the progressive side, the Reusch “Raptor” range is added to the existing Reusch “Goaliator” range (which will still be available throughout 2009), and continues in very much the same spirit.

The colour schemes are maintained, and the visual design is very much in the same mould, although with some interesting cosmetic innovations. More on that coming soon! But this week we look at Reusch’s move to the more traditional and classic visual appearance, with the Reusch Pure Contact (aka ‘The Gentleman’) goalkeeper gloves.

The Gentleman introduces a brand new palm type from Reusch – the ‘C1 Cyberstretch’ palm material. Sounding a bit like a comic book robot hero, the Cyberstretch material has been developed to give even greater flexibility in the gloves. In Reusch’s words, “The palm material is exceptionally flexible compared to normal latex and can be stretched both horizontally and vertically in a unique way. This offers excellent wearing comfort and fit…”

This development from Reusch can be seen as part of a trend forming over recent seasons, with the increasing popularity of the negative cut goalkeeper glove. Many pro keepers like Van Der Saar and Cech are now wearing negative cut gloves, partly because of their ability to give a more natural ball feel. Although the Reusch Pure Contact goalkeeper glove is still in fact essentially a pre-curved flat cut glove, rather than a fully negative cut glove, the Cyberstretch fabric aims to continue and develop the ability to give a very close and natural ball feel, by enhancing the sense of contact between the hands and the ball via the gloves.

Also aiding this close and natural fit, the Reusch Gentleman features a unique “inserted thumb”, with negative stitching creating a very close fit to the hand, as with negative cut gloves. In fact, the backhand of the Pure Contact glove is also constructed from C1 Cyberstretch material, meaning that the whole glove shares the C1 material’s flexible properties.

Cosmetically, the Reusch Pure Contact goalkeeper gloves are a real step away from the Reusch ranges of recent seasons, and a really interesting new development from them, with a much more classic and simple colour scheme and plainer one piece glove backhand. The Pure Contact glove comes in black and gold or white and gold, with the options of a full latex wrist strap, or a neoprene strap for wet conditions.

In the coming weeks we look at the rest of the 2009 Reusch range, including the classic ‘Core Function’ line, and the excellent new ‘Raptor’ models.

Selsport has long been one of the UK’s most popular goalkeeping brands, since its foundation in 1998, with a reputation for “No Nonsense” goalkeeping products that have won and kept their popularity by the level of their performance.

The brand has a great heritage, and many top keepers down the years including Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson, Mark Bosnich, Thomas Myhre and Shaka Hislop have all been Selsport goalkeepers. Today Selsport still has a strong following and is worn by a large number of professional keepers in the Premier League and Football League.

For a lot of this time, the famous Selsport Wrappa Classic goalkeeper glove, in many different versions, has been the iconic Selsport glove. Its use of 2mm “impact” grooved latex foam for the glove backhand has arguably been one of the most imitated features of any model of goalkeeper gloves, with many similar styles from other aspiring brands still following that appearance today.

Although the Wrappa Classic continues to be hugely popular – a bit like Adidas Copa Mundial or Asics Testimonial in the world of football boots - Selsport continue to innovate and update their ranges, releasing new designs to complement their popular classics. The Selsport Sympro range is the latest of these new Selsport releases, hitting the shelves in time for the 2008-09 season.

We take a look at the Selsport Sympro models below, and start with Selsport’s own take on the new range: “‘Stop and pay attention’ was the concept behind the new Sympro family. Embracing the more dynamic thinking goalkeeper, Selsport has introduced four gloves which offer concentrated technology with a powerful degree of agility and performance.”

The Sympro models all share the same core common features, built around a great visual design incorporating the trademark Selsport “Winged S” logo, embossed on the lower backhand of the gloves. The range is also stamped with some nice commemorative ‘EST-98’ wrist strap designs, to mark Selsport’s 10 year anniversary in 2008.

Selsport have also worked a variety of the latest goalkeeper glove technology into the range, with “flex zones” embossed in the backhand of the fingers to enable the gloves to bend more freely and more naturally at crucial bending points. The Sympro gloves also all feature surround cut thumbs, removing thumb stitching to reduce damage and wear.

Selsport have opted for their Ultra Supasoft latex foam throughout the Sympro range – one of 8 types of latex foam in use in their current ranges – “a tried and tested latex foam still widely accepted as the pros’ choice”. As would be expected from Selsport, a pioneer of the roll finger cut, every model in the Sympro range also comes in roll finger cut.

In spite of the shared features of the gloves in the range, each of the four Sympro models has its own unique offering, as we explain below.

Selsport Sympro Tect ST

“The Tect-ST heads up the protection element for this exciting fresh family, engineered to provide ultimate protection by way of robust yet lightweight finger sticks.” Interestingly, the Sympro Tect glove also uses a Neo Max fabric in the backhand of the glove, which is designed to keep the hands warm. The theory is that warmer hands are less likely to suffer injury, and the Neo Max fabric works in conjunction with the flexible spines in the backhand of the fingers, aiming to reduce finger protection from several angles.

Selsport Sympro Interna

“Designed from the inside out”: the Sympro Interna uses double sided latex “for superior glove to hand fit”. Basically, by increasing the friction between the hands and the gloves on the inside of the gloves, the internal latex keeps the gloves better in place on the hands, giving them more of a “second skin” fit.

Selsport Sympro Fleece ST

The “extreme conditions” glove in the Sympro range. Uses Selsport’s PolarTec smart fleece fabric – very helpful when playing in severe cold weather.

Selsport Sympro Embossed ST

The all-rounder and classic model of the range, the Sympro Embossed glove is distinguished by the IP (Impression Palm) palm technology, which gives improved flexibility of the gloves by ergonomically embossing the palm and allowing the hand a greater degree of flexibility at key bending points.

Chelsea stopper Petr Cech hit the headlines in the weeks before the 2008 European Cup Final, with his choice of a bright orange coloured goalkeeper shirt for Chelsea.

The shirt was supposedly developed by a Russian scientist, after painstaking research that discovered that the colour was particularly distracting and imposing for opposition players. Perhaps that’s why Holland, a nation of only around 16 million people, has always done so well at football. But then again, it didn’t help Chelsea win anything last season.

Perhaps then we will have to wait to see Chelsea, and Cech’s, performances in the Premiership this season, but the craze might just take off.

The logical corollary of the insanely-brightly coloured goalkeeping shirt, is the insanely brightly coloured goalkeeper glove; and with the new ‘Touch / Feel’ goalkeeper gloves, specialist goalkeeping brand Kaliaaer have produced exactly that.

With the first release in what is to be a sequence of fluorescent goalkeeper glove designs in the Touch / Feel range, the pink and yellow Kaliaaer goalkeeper gloves come with the express job spec of making a glove that “not only looks unique, but also makes the hand seem larger and more distracting to oncoming players”. And distracting they certainly will be. It’s not impossible that goalkeepers may even employ new hand waving tactics in one-on-one situations in order to mesmerise oncoming strikers into tripping over their own feet. Well, perhaps that’s taking it too far, but you get the picture.

One thing that Cech didn’t do with his orange jersey was to vary the colours. He probably felt that bright orange was enough. But the Kaliaaer Touch / Feel goalkeeper gloves are highly unusual in that each hand of the gloves is actually a different colour. The right hand features a traditional white body with fluorescent pink stripe and wrist bandage, with the left hand identical but in fluorescent yellow instead. This is one of the features that sets out the Kaliaaer T/F goalkeeper gloves as one of the most interesting goalkeeping equipment releases of the season.

Importantly, the new Kaliaaer T/F goalkeeper gloves aren’t just about appearance. They are a very finely constructed model of goalkeeper gloves, well cut, incorporating a number of top technological features.

The palm is constructed from Kaliaaer’s own ‘aerGrip’ foam, which received very strong reviews from senior goalkeepers in trials and pre-release. The gloves also feature SSG grooved latex foam on the inside of the palm, aiming to increase friction between the hands and the gloves, thereby reducing movement and slippage.

One of our favourite features of the glove is the moulded “tyre track” backhand, which is a design feature contributing to the gloves’ unique appearance.

For full details on the glove specification, see below.

There’s no getting away from it, the Kaliaaer Touch / Feel gloves will fiercely divide opinion. For the shrinking violets among goalkeepers, the idea of stepping out onto the pitch in such bold and stark apparel may well be a bridge too far. Nevertheless, with goalkeepers, like Cech, more interested in technological development, innovation and – let’s be frank – just making a statement, the Kaliaaer Touch / Feel goalkeeper gloves will prove hugely popular.

Glove Spec:

BRAND - Kaliaaer
GLOVE CUT - Roll finger / Gunn cut
CONDITIONS - All weather, soft ground
PALM TYPE - 3.2 aerGrip latex
PALM INTERIOR - 3.0 inner SSG grooved latex
PALM LENGTH - Wrist length
CLOSURE - NeoSecure’ neoprene wrist bandage.Full latex “Vault.2″ wrist strap

KALIAAER TOUCH / FEEL GOALKEEPER GLOVES

There’s a debate about padded goalkeeper clothing. A bit like the kind of people who think that going to the doctor is indulgent, or people who refuse to read the instruction manual, there’s a strong contingent of people who think that wearing padding is sort of a sign of weakness.

Take the great Everton and Wales goalkeeper Neville “Baggy” Southall as a good example. Now Southall was no ordinary human being – one of the finest goalkeepers ever to grace an English football pitch – and impervious to pain to such a degree that when playing on the old “plastic” Astroturf pitches of the 1980s at grounds like Boundary Park and Kenilworth Road, instead of wearing goalkeeper trousers to protect himself, Big Nev just slapped a bit of Vaseline on his knees. And as would be expected, Southall was no fan of padded anything. Although he would wear several layers of goalkeeper shirts in matches (explaining why he would typically leave the pitch sweating as though Goodison Park shared the climatic conditions of the Libyan desert), he used to take the padding out of the official Everton jerseys as he felt it restricted his movement. Specifically, he disliked elbow padding: “I don’t need elbow padding, because I dive properly and land on my shoulders”. Southall also seemed to wear nothing thicker or bigger than cigarette packets for shin pads.

Irregular man that he was, the Southall perspective in some ways brings out a good point. Padding is after all a pretty new phenomenon. For the vast majority of the history of the game, keepers just wore a different colour jersey to the rest of the team, but no padding or protection to speak of. “And they – Yashin, Banks and co. - did fine didn’t they?”

Well, plenty of the modern goalkeeping manufacturers would disagree. Neville Southall, they would say, is like the guy who smokes 40 a day to the age of 95 and dies a peaceful death from old age: it can happen, but it defies the odds. Most keepers, they would say, can gain great benefit from using padding.

Let’s have a look at a couple of great examples of major padded goalkeeping products.

McDavid ‘HexPad’ technology
Invented in the U.S.A. – home of the new-fangled contraption and many a fine development in sports technology – McDavid technology has been applied to a large variety of sports including basketball, American football, and of course soccer. McDavid is worn by a huge number of top sporting stars, and has had as endorsees from the goalkeeping world Jussi Jaaskelainen, Francesco Toldo, Morgan De Sanctis, Sebastiano Frey and Angelo Peruzzi. We’ll cover McDavid goalkeeping kit in more detail soon, but the important thing to point out now is McDavid’s method of applying padding to goalkeeping clothing while aiming to maintain flexibility, by creating the padding in small hexagonal shaped units – rather than in large segments of padding. All this is fused into an under layer of goalkeeping clothing, designed to be worn underneath goalkeeping match shirts or training kit.

Reusch Guardian Pro Longsleeve Goalkeeper Shirt
Reusch can hardly make a bad goalkeeping product. One of the longest established goalkeeping specialists, Reusch really don’t mess around! The Guardian Pro goalkeeper shirt is a great example of padding technology taken to the limit. Including their ‘Duraguard™ Technology’, ‘Proguard™ technology’, ‘Pro Tube technology’ and a load of other stuff to fulfil the goalkeeper’s wildest padding dreams.

We’ll leave it to Reusch to explain what those technology names actually mean:

Duraguard™ Technology
“With the Duraguard™ technology Reusch relies on a super-rugged material which has also found its way into motorcycle clothing: Kevlar. What can endure asphalt on the road should also be first choice for the penalty area.”

Proguard™ Technology
“With the Proguard™ Reusch has developed a new elbow and knee pad which offers even better damping qualities than conventional foam. The dual-layer construction featuring a dimensionally stable shell with a soft inside pad is anatomically pre-shaped, lightweight and extremely rugged.”

Protube™ Technology
“One flying dive and the arm padding has moved from its correct position. With Reusch Protube, a cuff in the shirt keeps the pad at the elbow without limiting the goalkeeper’s movement”.

Padding – good or bad then? Obviously the goalkeeper padding manufacturers have some incentive to tell keepers that they can’t live without padding. We also have some sympathy with the likes of Big Nev, especially from the point of view that padding can restrict movement and prevent the development of good technique. But at the same time, there really are clear benefits of padding. Hard ground, Astroturf, tough challenges, bad landings from dives – all these things frequently leave the goalkeeper limping from the pitch with cuts and bruises and even lost confidence. For the goalkeeper who plays on a regular basis, it can be costly to suffer this type of minor injury, restricting training and performance in future games. Technology and equipment that helps out in this way we think must be a good thing. Pad me up!

Lotto Goalkeeper Gloves – underrated range formerly worn and developed by Petr Cech.

England 2, Czech Republic 2. Another game that will see England players and boss pilloried in the press, with the usual bitterness and bias that we all expect. But from a goalkeeping perspective, the game saw a decent performance from Czech stopper Petr Cech, who made some solid saves in a first return to the big international stage since his confidence-shattering mistake in his country’s catastrophic exit from Euro 2008, after he dropped an 88th minute cross… Cech, in spite of recent lapses, is still a man mountain, a goalkeeping extraordinaire, keystone of the Chelsea defence and still generally rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. We looked at England’s David James’ latest HO SOCCER gloves last week, and so this week we take the chance to look at his opposite number Petr Cech’s old goalkeeper glove sponsor, Lotto.

Cech was in Lotto gloves from 2004 – the year of his outstanding 2004 European Championship performances in which he won goalkeeper of the tournament – and the year he signed for Chelsea. In 2005 he beat Dida and Buffon to the famous IFHHS World Goalkeeper of The Year award, and also set a Premiership record for 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal. He also appeared in Lotto goalkeeper gloves at the 2006 World Cup in Japan, before moving on to his current sponsor adidas at the beginning of the 2007-08 season.

Cech’s time with Lotto draws attention to something that has often been overlooked: the professional standard Lotto goalkeeper gloves are a really well produced, excellent quality range. Featuring only 3 models, it’s a very focused range, but each glove is very different from the others, and all are well constructed with high quality materials and include some interesting technologies.
Surprising claims? Well, probably they shouldn’t be. Lotto’s current ‘pin up’ keepers include Roma’s Brazilian international goalkeeper Alexander Doni, and Sevilla’s Italian international Morgan De Sanctis, who travelled to the Euro 2008 tournament as backup to Gianluigi Buffon. All the Lotto keepers have an involvement in the design and production of the gloves, which in part explains the very interesting diversity of technical features in the current Lotto range.

What’s striking about all the Lotto gloves is how well constructed they are – the materials used and quality of production really is excellent. We look at the top three Lotto gloves and examine some of their key features.

Lotto Drago goalkeeper glove

Brand new top level release from Lotto, worn by Morgan De Sanctis with the Italy squad at the Euro 2008 championships. De Sanctis was the Lotto keeper most closely involved in the design and development of the gloves.

The Drago is a hugely padded, protecting glove, with a real focus on support, solidity and protection. The padding in the upper backhand really is extensive! As a result, it’s probably not for goalkeepers who prefer lightweight gloves. But for those concerned about hand protection and support, it’s a very good option. The Drago glove still offers the flexibility of being able to choose the desired level of protection, and the thermoplastic finger supports (“ESO-Frame”) to support the fingers, and the gel inserts in the wrist area (“G-Force”), which add additional support to the lower hand, are both removable.

Lotto G-Force Evo goalkeeper glove

The glove made famous by Petr Cech, and developed with extensive input from him, now with some slight updates for the 2008-2009 season. The negative cut of the glove was a request from Cech, and Lotto are proud that instead of releasing a flat cut version to the general public and keeping the more expensive negative cut style only for their pro keepers, they made the negative cut version available to the public. This gives the G-Force Evo gloves a very slim fit, snug on the hands, which is exactly what Cech specified in the glove’s development stages.

As well as the G-Force technology – hand protection in the lower backhand and wrist area, as opposed to the more common finger area – Cech placed huge emphasis on the development of lightweight gloves. So unlike the Drago model, the G-Force model is a slimmer, lighter weight glove, without the finger protecting plastic inserts in the backhand.

Lotto Neo Concept goalkeeper glove

Our pick of the range. The glove first developed by Lotto for Cech’s first two seasons with the brand, and was very much inspired by Cech’s demand for a lightweight and flexible glove. A very traditional, flat cut glove, but well constructed, super lightweight, and extremely good value. The Neo Concept goalkeeper glove features extensive use of lightweight mesh fabric in the backhand, as well as stretchy black neoprene fabric around the thumb area, keeping the glove really flexible and light.

Roma’s Doni also wore the Neo Concept during the 2007-2008 season, in spite of the option to wear or develop more expensive models, as he liked its simple design and super lightweight construction so much. A glove developed and worn by some of the world’s top keepers, at £29.99 RRP? Definitely worth a look….

HO David James Goalkeeper Gloves – Black & Gold ‘Pro Mega Negative’

Last weekend’s Community Shield game between Manchester United and Portsmouth turned out to be the modestly, but not sensationally contested pre-season warm up game that many people had expected, with too many players still shaking off the effects of the summer rest. But one man for whom that could not be said was Portsmouth’s ever present goalkeeper David James, who looked as sharp as ever. James pulled off some good saves including one ‘straight out of the top drawer’, turning away at full stretch Carlos Tevez’s effort from the edge of the box and leaving the Argentine clearly frustrated.

Under the always watchful gaze of ‘Fab’ Capello, James must have been secretly delighted. He builds up more chips in his stake in the competition to be England’s Number One, with a rejuvenated Ben Foster now back in the frame, and Hart, Kirkland and others chasing hard.

James marshals the Pompey defence in Sunday’s Community Shield match against Manchester United

David James’ continuing recognition as the best current English goalkeeper has created a great deal of interest from goalkeepers in the black and gold goalkeeper gloves he has been wearing since the end of last season. James lifted the FA Cup in the gloves and they featured in England’s Wembley defeat of the U.S.A. in May, as well as the weekend’s Charity Shield game, and they will be the gloves in which he begins the 2008-09 Premiership and European campaigns with Portsmouth. The gloves in question – the HO SOCCER Pro Mega Negative Black and Gold goalkeeper gloves - specially developed for David James with an enormous amount of input from him. They’re due to hit the shops in September and will be available in negative cut and roll finger versions.

David James’ HO SOCCER Pro Mega Negative goalkeeper gloves. Release date September 2008

David James is a fascinating guy. Like a fine wine, a player whose game has only improved with maturity, everything he does is meticulous. While other players were enjoying the summer break, James allowed himself only a week of cooked breakfasts after the end of the season, before getting back onto the salad, cold showers and early morning meditation. Well, we’re not sure about the cold showers and meditation, but it wouldn’t be surprising. James worked over the summer on maintaining his fitness with regular runs, and competed in the international Free Kick Masters Tournament held in Houston, Texas, against free kick specialists including Lionel Messi and other top goalkeepers including Francesco Toldo. Best Goalkeeper prize? James won it.

‘Numquam Dubitatio’ – ‘Never a Doubt’. James has added his own motto to the wrist strap of his gloves, seen here on the palm side of the right hand

In his choice of goalkeeper gloves the story is no different. Everything has to be right. James and HO SOCCER worked closely together in the development of the HO SOCCER Pro Mega Black and Gold release. After signing with HO at the beginning of the 2007-08 season, James originally started with the blue Pro Mega Flat gloves, before moving to the Pro Mega Roll. He then developed a preference for black colouring on the backhand of the gloves, and coloured in the blue of his Pro Mega Roll gloves with a black marker himself! HO SOCCER obligingly released the Pro Mega Roll in black and white, saving James the time of colouring in the gloves. But as last season wore on, James began trialling the HO Enigma goalkeeper gloves, and became a big fan of the negative cut style. The HO Pro Mega Black and Gold gloves were developed with this in mind, and James now wears the negative cut version. After some initial consideration of a Black and Pink design, the Black and Gold model was settled on, and HO SOCCER decided to use the pink colour on the new Protek Negative model instead.

Expect to see the Pro Mega Negative Black and Gold goalkeeper gloves starring in Portsmouth and England games throughout the season, quite possibly with an interesting variety of James’ Magic Marker customised touches…

Technical info: HO SOCCER Pro Mega Black and Gold goalkeeper gloves

GLOVE CUT - Roll finger or negative cut versions available
CONDITIONS - Dry, damp, wet, soft ground
PALM TYPE - Mega Grip latex foam
PALM THICKNESS - 4mm latex, plus 3mm backing foam
PALM LENGTH -  Wrist length
SPECIAL FEATURES - MAS technology (Micro Adjustable Strap). Adjustable strap in the lower backhand of the glove at wrist height, allowing the fit of the gloves to be tightened loosened according to the goalkeeper’s preference. Provides greater choice to the goalkeeper, and greater ability to tailor the glove fit to exact requirements.

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The Story Of A Classic

The word “classic” is sometimes bandied about all too freely. This is particularly true in the excitable world of goalkeeper gloves, where every season scores of new releases are branded as “classics in the making”, only to fade away again into obscurity the following year.

But when Sells Goalkeeper Products created the Sells ‘Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua’ goalkeeper gloves, they found an exception to the rule. A classic in its own lifetime, the Wrap Aqua has been worn – and continues to be – by large numbers of top professional goalkeepers, including, over recent seasons, Ben Foster, Rob Green, Craig Gordon, Anti Niemi, Dean Kiely, Tony Warner, Mike Pollitt, Stuart Taylor, Jimmy Walker and Darren Ward – not to mention a huge number of pro goalkeepers outside the English top flight.

Keepers have placed so much trust in the Wrap Aqua gloves that they have often been reluctant to move on to upgraded versions released by Sells. Right across the game, from park to the Premier League, the Sells Wrap Aqua has become a mainstay among goalkeeper gloves, and is now one of the most popular professional quality goalkeeper gloves around.

7 years in the making

Technically, the current Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua is a descendent of the Sells ‘Adhesion Plus’ latex foam goalkeeper glove that was originally released in 2001, just as Sells was launching itself into becoming the hugely popular and successful brand it is today. Since then, the glove has seen a variety of modifications and enhancements, with the Adhesion Plus latex foam palms replaced by Adhesion Ultra latex, and the addition of the wrist strap sweat band feature, for example. But it is over these 7 years that the glove has built its great following.

The Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua – design simplicity, technical excellence

So why exactly is the glove so popular? As is often the case with true ‘classics’, the success of the Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua is built on a simple and functional design, with a predominantly all plain white latex foam backhand, a natural all-white latex foam palm and without a special finger support system. It has no embossed or grooved palms, and doesn’t feature any weird or especially inventive technologies at all. But, for its simplicity, it’s a design that includes all the most critical features of professional quality goalkeeper gloves, and incorporates them to the highest standard:

• Sells “Wrap” roll finger cut: the Wrap Aqua features a roll finger glove cut, which has become one of the most popular goalkeeper glove cuts over recent years. Since the launch of the Wrap Aqua, the ‘Wrap’ cut has been gradually and slightly modified, perfecting the fit over time.

• 4mm Sells Adhesion Ultra latex: extremely soft latex foam, with gripping qualities that many professional goalkeepers swear by, and the extra ball-cushioning thickness of 4mm latex, preferred by many goalkeepers. More on this below.

• ‘Aqua Stem’ water repellent lining: keeping the hands drier and improving performance in wet conditions

Sells Goalkeeper Glove Philosophy – “Grip, grip, grip”

If Sells stands for something above all else, it is producing gloves of the highest possible performance. Sells is very self-conscious in its pursuit of this goal, as Dave Baxter, Director at Sells, told us: “every product is a performance product” – every product exists, first and foremost, to provide supreme performance. Baxter adds that Sells “only produces goalkeeper equipment – we are purely goalkeeping”, meaning that 100% of Sells’ time is spent on refining and perfecting the goalkeeping products. Not every brand can boast to be so focused.

“We take feedback from many many keepers and retailers, and what it always comes back to is grip”. Crucially, according to Sells, the hardest thing about perfecting grip for goalkeeper gloves is finding latex foam that functions in wet conditions. Good performing foam for dry conditions is easier, but it is in damp and wet conditions, where goalkeepers have to deal with fast moving slippery balls, wet playing surfaces and gloves saturated with water, that a latex foam really differentiates itself. Hence the development and popularity of the Adhesion Ultra “Aqua” glove, featuring Sells exclusive Adhesion Ultra latex foam, which is designed precisely to meet this demand.

A great moment in the history of the Wrap Aqua: Adam Sells customises Rob Green’s Sells Wrap Aqua gloves to show “England’s No. 6” on the wrist strap, after Green is again overlooked for selection to the England squad in the 2007-2008 season, in spite of some excellent performances for West Ham.

Sells proudly talks about its commitment of a great deal of time and expenditure to the research and development of premium quality latex foams, in search of the next great innovation. Sells gloves are still produced by German manufacturers - with that famous reliable German precision - even after many companies have moved operations east. The reason? Sells believes that this gives them an advantage in quality that they are not willing to compromise, even to save money.

The Adhesion Ultra latex foam used on the Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua was produced exclusively for Sells, and is available only on Sells goalkeeper gloves. Interestingly, the 2008-2009 season sees the release of the Sells H20 Ultimate latex foam palms, described by Dave Baxter as “even better” than the Adhesion Ultra latex foam! The H2O Ultimate foam will be used on the Sells Adhesion Ultimate Total Contact Exosphere Guard goalkeeper gloves – aka the NASA technology gloves (also aka “the £100 goalkeeper gloves”), and may become the natural successor to the Adhesion Ultra latex foam for Sells goalkeeper gloves.

The perfect glove?

We had to ask. Dave Baxter of Sells, again, on the question - “Is the Wrap Aqua, for you, the perfect glove?”: “For now, with one or two others in our range, yes it is. But the technology is evolving so fast, and we’re continually doing so much research and development - some of the things we’ll be bringing out in the next 5 years you won’t believe…”

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Jorge Campos did a lot for the reputation of Mexican goalkeeping. At only 5 feet 6 inches tall, “El Brodie” Campos was never a likely candidate to become the first choice goalkeeper for a football crazy nation of over 100 million people. But, after playing professional football (very well) as a centre forward just to get noticed as a goalkeeper, he eventually managed to find his way into the limelight and finally notched up 130 caps and became Mexico’s most capped goalkeeper in the country’s history. But for all his success on the field, ironically Jorge Campos is perhaps remembered most for his outrageous goalkeeping kits and gloves.

According to popular reports, Campos was the designer of his own kits and possibly also some of his gloves, which he appeared to design by throwing as many different clashing coloured paints as possible at a canvas, especially fluorescent yellow, pink and green, and turning it into a goalkeepers shirt. The pint-sized keeper also had a bizarre preference for fashion of the “baggy” genre – well, it was the 1990s – and would often wear his kit about 5 sizes too big. Possibly no goalkeeper before or since has managed to create such an impression with his kit alone.

If Jorge Campos made goalkeeping shirts…

Although Campos himself was associated with Reusch and Nike goalkeeper gloves, Mexico has since been overtaken by a new goalkeeping brand, which takes up the Campos spirit of loud, bright and unashamedly flamboyant design. Welcome to the stage, Mexican goalkeeping specialist, Rinat Soccer.

Rinat is now one of Mexico’s biggest goalkeeping brands, with current Mexico international goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez wearing the Rinat Premier Uno goalkeeper gloves for the 2008-2009 season. Sanchez is known as “San Oswaldo” (Saint Oswaldo) in Mexico and is a hugely popular keeper, himself now on over 90 international caps and closing on Jorge Campos fast. Rinat goalkeeper gloves are also worn by a number of the Mexican top flight’s leading goalkeepers, including Miguel Calero, who notched up almost 60 caps for Colombia before his retirement from international football in 2007, Luis Michel of the Chivas Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s biggest club sides, and Omar ‘El Gato’ Ortiz of Necaxa, famous for his extensive tattoos and Rinat ‘Fenix Flame’ goalkeeper gloves, which feature flame images along the backhand of the fingers of the gloves.

Actually established in Mexico in 1986 – the year of Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ Mexico World Cup – Rinat has taken some time to reach the international stage, launching in North America during the 2006-2007 season. But in the true spirit of Jorge Campos, Rinat comes with a barrage of bright, stylish, and sometimes frankly ludicrous goalkeeping kit designs, particularly its goalkeeper shirts.

Traditionalists – look away now. Here we look at some of our favourites of the Rinat goalkeeping shirts for 2008-09:

The Rinat ‘Joker’ Goalkeeper Jersey
Available in red and green
“Mesh polyester fabric with a unique breathable weave that helps keep the player cool on those hot matchdays. Elbow padding” - available in youth and adult sizes.

The Rinat ‘Aztec’ Goalkeeper Jersey
Available in white as shown
“Short sleeved Aztec design jersey - 100% mesh polyester fabric with a unique breathable weave”.

Based on its success in North America, where women’s football is a very big deal, Rinat is also proud to be one of the goalkeeping brands that best caters for women’s goalkeeping. The 2008-2009 season sees the launch of the Rinat Frida Kahlo range of women’s goalkeeping shirts, inspired by the designs of famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The Kahlo jerseys feature a special cut designed specially for women.

The Rinat ‘Frida’ Kahlo Goalkeeper Jersey
Available in Black, Pink, Green and Blue
“Light weight mesh fabric and light elbow padding. 100% polyester with sublimated design.”

Rinat hopes its bright designs will capture the imagination of European goalkeepers in the same way it has in the Americas. You may have to have the arrogance of a South American goalkeeper to wear some of these, but brave enough to wear them or not, you can’t help but like them – Rinat stands out today as a fairly unique phenomenon in the goalkeeping world.

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