The summer of 2000 saw the likes of England’s David Beckham and Steven Gerrard, France’s Zinedine Zidane and David Trezeguet and the Netherlands’ Patrick Kluivert all converge for the year’s marquee footballing event: UEFA Euro 2000.
On August 21st, Nike released a new color pack called Rising Fast in their five most popular styles. If you can drink alcohol legally, play blackjack in Vegas, or have a horizontal ID Nike doesn't want you wearing their latest cleats. That is, if you're a professional Nike athlete.
If you’ve ever refereed at any level of the game, you’ll know that the job’s garments ain’t no thang. The referee’s jersey is comfortably oversized, lightweight and sensible, what with its dual pockets and smart collar. Hell, you’ve probably slightly copped out and pretended to be the legendary Pierluigi Collina for Halloween. It’s fun to record peoples’ indiscretions into a little book and theatrically show them a card, all while lounging comfortably.
But outside of Halloween and off the pitch, it’s never been entirely socially acceptable to dress like a ref.
You might’ve seen the myriad of photos throughout June or read one of the countless pieces on Florence’s annual bloodsport, but calcio storico (historic football) only seems to grow in stature and popularity outside of the city with each passing year. You best believe VICE Sports is all about this s**t.
For years now, dedicated fans and wanna-be designers have been mocking up jerseys that are infinitely better than what Nike, adidas and the rest continually roll out. It’s the fans that pay around $100 for these annual threads, but it often seems like jersey manufacturers go out of their way to mess things up.
“You guys always wear vertical stripes? Okay, we’ll make them horizontal.”
“The jersey is always just predominately red? Okay, we’ll throw in some black, white, yellow and blue for good measure.”
It’s been 36 years since Holstein Kiel played in Germany’s second division, but promotion following the 2016-17 season will see them in 2. Bundesliga having been in the fourth division as recently as 2012-13.
To celebrate the achievement and their new partnership with Puma, the German sportswear company designed a beautiful away kit celebrating the city’s standing as one of the major maritime centers of Germany. Kiel is located on the Kieler Forde, an 11 mile long inlet formed during the Ice Age.
“There are only three things that are certain in life,” says Wycombe Wanderers’ goalkeeping coach Barry Richardson, “death, taxes and goalkeepers conceding goals.”
It’s with this mentality that Richardson, who’s also listed as second-choice goalkeeper for the League Two side, went about designing a goalkeeper kit alongside kit providers O’Neills for the upcoming season.
The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off in just a few weeks, and it looks like the United States Men’s National Team has a new kit on the way. The tournament will begin on July 7 with Canada taking on French Guiana at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. While we continue to speculate over who will make the final 23-man roster for the USMNT, there’s one thing we can all come to an agreement on: the new Nike kits are a huge upgrade.
Adidas has done it again. After releasing the X and the Nemeziz, adidas fired more shots at Nike without even needing to reload. The latest cleats from adidas are true beauties and have newly developed technology that the older F50 Tunit boots first pioneered.
The Nike Vapor kits, while extremely light and perfect for those who suffer from hyperhidrosis, have been globally panned for their bland approach that makes the United States look like England look like Portugal look like Paris Saint-Germain.
