How are Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku so good? It must be the boots. Nike Mercurials to be exact. We all know that’s certainly not the case — there’s no question that the footballer makes the boots and not the other way around.
In two of the greatest developments to come out of Nike since some corporate honcho inadvertently created their slogan and logo after screaming “Just do it!” at some poor design team crafting a simple swoosh, Nike has finally solved the riddle of muddy cleats while simultaneously dropping the new Croatia home kit.
We don't pretend to know everything there is to know about football boots (or soccer cleats, or whatever), but, since our readers asked, we got our resident expert on the case and created this video countdown of the top football boots you can buy today. These range from the most hi-tech boots money can buy to retro classics inspired by the heroes of yesterday.
As the new EPL season rolls in with transfers and sponsorship deals, so too do the new kits for the entire Premier League. Before 1993 and the introduction of the modern day league, it was a rare sight to see any club change the color or design of their shirts. Fast forward to today and we see the introduction of three new kits every season, which creates much hype among fans when purchasing their new club's colors.
Here are the most recent confirmed and leaked kits of the upcoming 2015/16 season:
Fabric bands have slowly arrived on the heads of young and injured soccer players. Other than keeping those waving locks in place, are these bands any good at protecting your brain after you’ve had it rung?
While Americans dominate flag couture, other countries are getting in on the fan fashion. Below you’ll find ten inspiring ideas for either a trip to Canada or your local pub.
Boy do we love the Internet. An awesome designer by the handle of Skaranger13 created home and away kits for all 50 states.
Sure it might of been for fun, but we all have our allegiances to our home states and these kit designs are straight ballin! Take some time to check out your state's kit and go through the other 103 home and away kits. The designer did a pretty awesome job taking each state's identity into account and it shows in all 50 different designs.
Italy: a bastion of suave sophistication. It is the country that brought us Ferrari, Armani and the Cappuccino. It bestowed upon us the art and architecture of Da Vinci, the political reasoning of Machiavelli, the literature of Dante and the silver-screened beauty of Sophia Loren. And now, hot from the streets of Naples, it brings us its latest gift in sartorial elegance: the denim soccer jersey. Not since USA 1994 and Alexi Lalas has a team looked so terribly in fashion:
Each week (or so), The18's Mike Smith takes a look at how football is portrayed and covered in the media and popular culture. This week, we review the classic book, Among the Thugs by Bill Buford.
The18 World Cup Kit Championship has come down to the end. With over 64 kits in this tournament, we saw the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let’s just say that, by our standards, the look good, feel good, play good mantra couldn’t be a better tool to predict the outcomes of tournaments.
Quarterfinals: