Some things should be left in the 70’s; Flares, skimpy football shorts and Ageing Glam-Rockers. But one thing that we’re happy to see revived is the legendary New York Cosmos.
In a time before the MLS as we know it today, there was the NASL, and the New York Cosmos were a team to be reckoned with.
Thanks in part to their 1977 squad that had names like Beckenbauer, Pel© and Charlie Aitken, they were the glamour team in the division, attracting an average attendance of over 46,000 at their height – before the name was sadly dissolved in 1983
Now, Pel© has revived the name and has begun laying down the groundwork for a new generation of Cosmos.
Establishing youth excellence centres on both the East & West Coasts of America and hosting tournaments to promote the Cosmos name is a good start, but the 2010 New York Cosmos is nothing more than a concept at the moment, but eventually the club has a goal of becoming part of the MLS.
To help them realise that dream, Umbro have signed up to become the official Kit supplier to the New York Cosmos. As part of the club™s rebirth, Umbro has applied its celebrated football-tailoring ethos to a new on-field performance and off-field lifestyle line for The New York Cosmos club.
The yet-to-be-revealed white home shirt, with the unique green and yellow collar, will be available in December (£49/$75). It™s inspired by the one worn by its star players in 1977, including Pel©, but with the performance benefits of a modern football shirt.
The wider range, including the green walkout jacket worn by Pel© in the above pictures, will be available in February 2011 (£70/$100) with further apparel and equipment pieces in the pipeline, all inspired by the legacy and promise of The New York Cosmos.
Trevor Cairns, Chief Marketing Officer for Umbro International commented, œUmbro was a partner of The New York Cosmos during the 1970s when they were unquestionably the world™s coolest football club. It™s a great opportunity to once again be involved with the club and we are committed to working with them to develop world-class soccer players worthy to wear the legendary New York Cosmos crest. From the reaction we™ve had from the few people who™ve seen the line, we™re confident it will become a modern day classic.
Relaunched in August 2010, The New York Cosmos is committed to helping improve the future of football with significant investment in grassroots and youth football and providing elite coaching philosophies and training opportunities.
Here at Footy-Boots.com, we reckon it’s great to see the New York Cosmos name attached to such a positive project, and sincerely hope that the club can return to competitive football sometime soon.
But the logistics for such a move will be difficult, the team will need a stadium (we doubt the Red Bulls will let the share the new Red Bell Arena!) and if Umbro’s involvement is long-term, it will be very interesting to see how they handle adidas’ exclusivity agreement with the MLS.
It seems when you click on the pictures above the “picapp” widget loads pictures of Gary Glitter as well.
Not good Footy Boots, you may want to fix that.
You’d think, with all the mentions of PelĂ©, New York and the New York Cosmos, Picapp would display pictures of those things… Sigh!
Wow, Pele was with Puma, then he had his own brand, and now he’s doing Umbro ads. Seems like no-one can pin this man down.
The Cosmos could join the USL. There’s no kit sponsor in that league. The Vancouver & Portland teams will be moving to MLS next year and Montreal will do the same the year after. I’d think that the USL would love to get another team into the mix…especially with the publicity spin that Pele & Co. could bring.