In a whistle-stop tour of Europe we head to Germany, Holland and across England for this week’s football shirt stories.  

First up we travel to Stuttgart in the south of Germany, for the news regarding the extension of Puma’s shirt sponsorship with Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart. Their successful partnership will now remain in place until 2015 and under the agreement, Puma will remain the technical sponsor of the professional and the amateur teams, the training centre for the junior team, the club’s football school as well as the all other junior teams. The early extension of the agreement, which was initiated in July 2002, underpins Puma’s successful cooperation with last season’s Bundesliga champions.

Moving across Europe and into the Netherlands we stop in Rotterdam where Feyenoord have also just signed a new kit sponsorship deal with Puma. The Dutch side will play with the famous Puma logo upon their shirt from the start of next season. The contract is signed for the next five seasons with Puma replacing Kappa, who in recent years have been the shirt manufacturer of Feyenoord. The contract with Kappa stops at the end of this current season.

Crossing the Channel, limited edition shirts are the flavour of the week in England. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canaries’ 1958-59 cup run success, Norwich City FC have commissioned 959 special limited edition replica shirts. Speaking at the launch of the shirt in The Mall Canary Store, current City midfielder Sammy Clingan said he was proud to wear the shirt which saw his Norwich predecessors achieve their success.

Sammy Clingan:

I think it’s good for the Club and the fans to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the cup run. Sammy commented. 

Elsewhere in a similar style, 88 Huddersfield Town limited edition Pink and White striped replica shirts were produced in support of the fight against Breast Cancer and were sold out in less than 7 hours. This week there have been requests for a second batch of shirts to be released. The Club was conscious not to ruin the ‘limited’ nature of the pink and white shirt, produced in association with stand sponsors The Pink Link, but the overwhelming response and the possibility of generating more funds for the Huddersfield HRI Breast Cancer Care Fund is arguably a bigger factor behind producing more shirts.

For all the latest information on the football shirt industry make sure to visit www.FootballShirtCulture.com.

By James Bailey