We are all used to seeing top international footballers flashing their bling when out and about.

Gold chains, designer watches with diamonds aplenty, flashy earrings and huge jewelled rings. If it’s expensive, they’ve probably got it. Or two of them. And one for the wife.

And now Spanish manufacturer Kelme have taken things to a brand new level with the release of a range of football boots and training shoes that, shall we say, dazzle.

The boots and trainers are embedded with Swarovski crystals and are going for around £350 a pop.

They’ll be available soon from Kelme and, should you happen to be in Austria anytime soon, you can go and see them all on display at Swarovski’s Kristallwelten Musuem.

Of course, Kelme have a reputation for producing football boots at the luxurious and expensive end of the market. You may remember ‘The One’ boot, a limited edition boot of which just 500 pairs were made to order.

‘The One’ was constructed from 90% Shark leather (good in the wet then) and retailed at around £300.

After shark leather and crystals, we await to see what Kelme will come up with next. Perhaps a boot for Barcelona players which will stop them from being so appallingly bad the next time they face champions Real Madrid.

If you’re like the Footy Boots team, your experience of 5 a side football is probably a week night kick about with some mates preceding a large amount of beer or perhaps a Sunday morning get together following a load of beer.

Either way, the results are probably mixed at best.

On the continent however, the indoor game or ‘Futsal’ is massive with leagues and well paid professional players, who like their outdoor colleagues, have well backed shoe contracts.

The game’s name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, which can be translated as ‘indoor football’.

Futsal, which can be traced back to 1930, is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. In addition each team may have 7 substitutes. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the court is delimited by lines, and not walls or boards that players can use to rebound the ball. Futsal is played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a football.The emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique.

And the undoubted star of European Futsal is the captain of Spain, Javier Rodriguez.

Last November, Rodriguez led his Spanish side to a fourth European title, as they beat Italy 3 – 1 in the final in Oporto. It was his second time as a European champion to go along with a couple of World Championships and two European club titles.

For the past two seasons, Rodriguez has had his own make of indoor shoe, provided by sponsors Kelme who’ve been involved with the indoor game for many years.

The ‘Javi Rodriguez’ shoe is made from a combination of mesh and synthetic leather with a professional EVA and rubber wedge outsole and rotation point.

The perforated heat moulded insole also helps to prevent perspiration build up, an important feature if you are on the pitch the day after 8 pints and a Ruby Murray.

Other Kelme models are the Ruedo (UK sizes 5.5 to 11) and the Casta (UK sizes 5.5 to 11) with the new Malga range being introduced later this year.

According to the Football Association, Futsal is still in the embryonic stages of development in England.

Until the introduction of the first official National Championships organised by The FA in July 2003, it had been left to individual groups of futsal pioneers to develop the game in their local areas.

Kick-started firstly by the visit of the first international futsal team to English shores, when Tranmere Victoria hosted the Iranian National Futsal Team in October 2002 and then by the interest generated from a pilot futsal tournament hosted by Sheffield Hallamshire FA in the November of the same year, the Football Association began to put in place plans to take the game forward at a grass roots level in 2003 through the establishment of a National Championships and the participation of Tranmere Victoria in the 2003 – 2004 UEFA Futsal cup.

Also in 2003, an England team competied in their first major international competition in Malaysia and then the preliminary rounds for the 2005 Uefa Futsal Championships in January 2004.

Javier Rodriguez fact file

Date of birth: 23.06.1974, Santa Coloma de Gramanet (Barcelona)
Weight: 77 Kg
Height: 178 cm
Current Club: Barcelona F.S.
Position: Winger-Centre

Achievements
4 Generalitat Valenciana Cup
1 Super Cup (2004)
1 Silver Ball (2004)
2 UEFA Futsal (2002 and 2003)
1 Best Player of LNFS (2001)
1 European Cup (2001)
2 Leagues (1999-2000 / 2000-2001)

Achievements with the Spanish National Team
2 World Championships
2 European Championships
2 Four Nations Tournaments

Back in the spring of 2006, as we waited for Sven to lead England to World Cup glory (ahem) Footy Boots brought you the definitive list of boots worn by the England squad.

Two years on and with the cream of the Premier League about to be unleashed on the Parisian public, we thought it was high time to see how things have changed, particularly with the announcement of the new Nike Total 90 Laser II as worn by Wayne Rooney and the new colourways from Umbro for the SX Flare, Michael Owen’s football boot, and the SX Valor, the choice of defender John Terry.

So, after exhaustive research which involved at least 3 emails to a couple of mates with nothing better to do over Easter, here’s our guide to who’s wearing what in Fabio Capello’s 23 man squad to face France.

Of course, if you know better, we’d love to hear from you.

Goalkeepers

Paul Robinson - Nike T90 Laser White/Black/Charcoal

David James – Kelme (working with Kelme on the design of a new boot)
Robert Green - Umbro Speciali

Defenders

John Terry - Umbro SX Valor Red/White/Blue

Rio Ferdinand - Nike T90 Laser II
Ashley Cole - adidas F50.8 Tunit (contract) using Predator Absolute
Wes Brown - adidas Predator PowerSwerve TRX Black/White/Red
Joleon Lescott - adidas F50.7 Tunit II White Blue
Wayne Bridge – Puma King Exec - White/Black
Glen Johnson - adidas Predator Absolute Champions League Black/White/Zest
Jonathan Woodgate – adidas Predator Power Swerve TRX Black/White/Red

Midfielders

David Bentley - Puma V-Konstrukt II FG White/Silver/Insignia

Frank Lampard - adidas adiPure TRX White/Black
Joe Cole - Nike Air Legend II White/Black
Steven Gerrard - adidas Predator PowerSwerve TRX Black/White/Red
David Beckham - adidas Predator PowerSwerve TRX FG DB White/Gold
Stewart Downing - adidas F50.7 Tunit II Poppy Red
Gareth Barry - Umbro Speciali Italia Black/White/Red
Owen Hargreaves - Nike T90 Laser White/Black/Dark Charcoal

Forwards

Wayne Rooney - Nike T90 Laser II Black/Green

Michael Owen - Umbro SX Flare Red/White/Black

Peter Crouch - Puma V1.06 K-Leather Black
Theo Walcott - Nike Mercurial Vapor SL Orange Peel

(With thanks to Matthew Hannant)

Football Boot Endorsments

Not long ago on Footy Boots we were singing the praises of England and Portsmouth goalkeeper David James.

The 37 year old is enjoying one of his best ever seasons. At International level, Fabio Capello picked him for the friendly with Switzerland last month whilst on the club front, Pompey are riding high in the Premier League and are semi finalists in the FA Cup.

This success however, has come despite the fact that James has been having a few problems with his football boots. As he wrote in his Observer column, following the cup tie against Manchester United, “In the tunnel things were tense but Wayne Rooney couldn’t help himself laughing at my boots. I’m supposed to wear sponsors’ boots but they don’t fit very well so I end up having to get different ones and plastering them in stickers. He said they looked a joke.”

With player endorsements such a vital part of the football boot business, this perhaps wasn’t the brightest statement to come out with.

As it happens, James is working very closely with Kelme on a new type of football boot and the company is happy to report that their relationship with the player, who they signed up in 2007 ahead of a long list of competitors, remains as strong as ever.

On a similar theme, Footy Boots does get tipped off from time to time regarding players who are not wearing their sponsors’ football boots in either games or on the training pitch. Indeed, we were recently advised that at a training session ahead of a vital match in Europe, a certain Premier League player had blacked out the sponsors markings on a set of football boots that were not from his official suppliers.

Both stories admirably illustrate the power of player endorsements and the interest their patronage generates.

Speaking exclusively to Footy Boots, Andy Sutherden, MD of Hill & Knowlton, Sports Marketing and Sponsorship specialists said: “The football sponsorship market is a crowded place. It is cluttered with more and more brands and companies trying to stand out from the crowd, and the use of ambassadors is a common way of bringing to life a particular campaign or promotion.

“Careful consideration is needed before associating yourself with a particular player. After all, they’re brands too so pick the wrong one and it can have a negative impact on your own image.

“However, most sponsors would say their player associations help them sell more product. Think Beckham and Gillette, or Lampard and Gerrard for adidas. Young fans are inspired by their footballing heroes and their behaviours and purchasing habits are proven to be influenced by player endorsements. All the time that’s the case, player sponsorship will continue to flourish”.

So it would seem that even with the occasional player packing a large black felt tip pen as a vital part of his kit bag, player endorsements are here to stay, and may well be on the increase.

Happy New Year from Football Boots!

Footy-Boots.com was launched in April 2006. Since it’s birth, we have written over a 130 articles and our readers have made over 550 comments!

In 2006 we covered football boot launches, including the first lace less football boot - Lotto Zhero Gravity, a football boot made from Shark Skin - Kelme Tiburon, the Tiempo Ronaldinho - Ronnie’s own football boot and witnessed just two new Beckham football boots….. Swerve, Lion.

The most popular articles written this year, as voted by visits were;

3rd Zinedine Zidane’s Football Boots

Written just before Zizou head butted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final, you just couldn’t get enough of Zinedine Zidane’s Gold Football Boots.

As your comments highlighted, it’s a shame that Adidas didn’t produce the football boots for sale.

2nd Thierry Henry - Reebok Football Boots

Was this the signing of the season? Thierry Henry left Nike for Reebok, this article reported Henry’s first game in his Reebok football boots.

1st Nike Total 90 Supremacy - Rooney’s New Football Boots

Rooney launched Nike’s Total 90 Supremacy football boots.

Unfortunately, wearing them competitively for the first time, he broke his metatarsal and struggled for fitness during the World Cup.

Thanks for reading and here’s to 2007 and some great football boots!

The KELME Tiburon, a football boot made from Shark leather!

A few years ago, you’d buy a pair of football boots and they would either be made of cowhide leather or a cheap synthetic material.

Recently kangaroo leather and high end synthetic materials have become more popular.

Then KELME released “The Shark!”

KELME are a Spanish company, that was formed by two brothers back in the 1960’s. This year they launched a unique football boot made from sharkskin, KELME Triburon commonly known as The KELME Shark.

So why Shark?

Shark leather is said to be between 7 and 11 times stronger that a conventional leather.

Sharkskin when looked at close up, is like house tiles, with lots of overlapping pieces making up one strong surface. This is similar to the way fibreglass and concrete is made.

These ’tiles’ make the leather feel a little like sandpaper, which helps the ball grip to the football boot and aids your swerve on the ball.

As you would expect from sharkskin, the football boots are extremely water repellent, yet also flexible and light.

And the rest of the football boot?

The KELME Shark football boot has a TRX4 sole unit. This features a ‘gill’ ventilation system and heel to toe cushioning system for improved comfort and shock reduction.

The outsole features also features TRX4 technology, with biomechanically engineered stud placement for optimising surface contact and traction.

Options: Currently only available in black, although July next year will see a new range, likely to include grey and a red or burgundy football boot.

Soft and hard ground versions of the KELME Shark are available.

Price: From £108

Images: View the KELME Shark images.