The new away soccer jersey has a very clean design; it is mostly white with blue details on it. Home’s center line was not included in this version. The blue adidas logo is on the top right while on the opposite the Japan’s national emblem with its flag on top.  In place of the center line there is a subtle graphic of the “Yatagarasu”, the mythical three legged crow which is part of JFA’s emblem. It has a round white collar neck with blue on its side.  The three blue Adidas stripes were placed on its shoulders all the way to half of its white sleeves.

And finally, the Nadeshiko (women’s team) soccer jersey has also gotten an upgrade with subtle pink Nadeshiko flowers on the front.

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Gerald Woodman, President of Umbro Canada set the stage with a short video building up the reveal and upon it’s completion a handful of Canada’s National Team members from different teams across the board came out in the red and white.

The look is certainly more streamlined with nothing loud off the top (aka chevron) as the most notable features is the materials the kit is made from – with the jersey looking like a lightweight cotton and the shorts a more synthetic blend. Aside from piping, the only other fine detail was in the collar is the recording/audio spikes from O’Canada.

While the Canadian kit is a vast improvement from the short-notice, rushed, templated version from a year ago, the new track jackets were by far the best addition.

Come the summer of 2012, the CSA and Umbro should have no problems pulling together a sea of red and white for their friendlies, World Cup Qualifying and London Olympics.

Worn with pride by the Canadian Soccer teams, this new jersey exemplifies Umbro’s ability to have our past inform our future with sophisticated styling and modern fabric technology.  The main body of the shirt is crafted from an innovative material that manages moisture to keep the players cool on the pitch.  The hand of fabric is rich and soft with a matt finish for a distinctive look on the pitch.  Umbro’s tailoring and smart styling is predominant in this shirt with subtle contrast details on the neckline and shoulders balance the proud Canada branding.  Neck taping and a call out on the right hip take our Sonic Footprint story to the shirt:  Our fans singing O Canada has been forged into a sonic wave and embedded on the shirt.  One Nation.  One Voice.  One Shirt.

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Source: Umbro, CSA

The Brasilian home jersey, affectionately known as Amarelinha (“Little Yellow One”), has become a revered national symbol that represents both the hopes of the Brasilian people and their vibrant and diverse culture.

In line with Nike’s commitment to superior athletic performance and lower environmental impact, the fabric of the new shorts is made with 100% recycled polyester, while the fabric of the jerseys is made with at least 96% recycled polyester. Kits are made using an average of 13 recycled plastic bottles.

The new kit marks a return to tradition with a classic, authentic design that recognizes the country’s glorious football history. The shirt boasts a clean yellow body and a classic V-neck collar with a thin green trim. The shirt also features deep green cuffs, which can be turned over to reveal the rallying cry of Nascido Para Jogar Futebol (“Born to Play Football”) written in the style of Pichacao, a distinctive form of urban graffiti.

Printed on the inside of the back of the neck is a graphic by Brasilian artist Don Torelly. The graphic depicts an outline of the Brasilian federation’s crest containing the Southern Cross, a constellation of stars that was seen over Rio de Janeiro when the Brasilian republic was founded in 1889.

The design of the bold green numbers on the shirts is inspired by the numbers on Brasil’s national bank notes.

The new home shorts are a traditional blue color with a thick white stripe along the side.The new home socks, now with improved cushioning for greater comfort, movement and protection, are white with a green band at the top. A band of diamonds wraps around the center, echoing the tattoos of indigenous warriors.

The new kits are Nike Football’s lightest ever — up to 23 percent lighter than the previous versions. Nike Dri-FIT technology is incorporated throughout the kits, which helps regulate players’ temperatures on pitch by removing sweat from the body to keep them dry and cool. Laser-cut ventilation on the shirts delivers localized cooling where athletes need it most.

Thanks to a new double-knit structure and yarns, the kits are 20 percent stronger than previous versions, without compromising on fit and feel. A small amount of natural cotton has been added for comfort.

Brasil 2012 Away Kit

The new away kit contains the same distinctive features as the home kit, but is entirely in varsity royal blue with yellow trim. The shorts are blue, and for the first time feature a thick yellow stripe along each side. The socks are blue with a tonal band of diamonds around the center.

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Source: Nike

The new home soccer is mostly sky blue with black and white details on it. On the front right side of the shirt there are three, black and white, bands that start at the right sleeve all the way to the bottom of the shirt. The black All Kasi logo is in the upper center while the National team’s badge on the left side. It has a black cut in “v” neck with a stretch front ending. The left shoulder is black all the way to the end of its sleeve, while the right one is white with black details on its sleeve.

The away soccer jersey is has two main colors (Black and white) with sky-blue accents. On the front side has a white background with black patters spread all over it. The ak sky blue logo is in the top right while on the opposite the national team’s badge. It has a sky blue round collar neck, followed by black shoulders, and black sleeves with sky blue hems.

Lastly, the third soccer jersey is mostly white with sky-blue and black details on it. The front, and back side of the shirt is characterized by having wavy sky-blue and black bands on its front, back, and sleeves. The black logo is in the upper center while the national team’s badge on the left side. It has a black square collar neck. There are no details on its shoulders, and they are followed by plain white sleeves with black hems.

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The new home soccer jersey is mostly red with yellow and green details on it. On the top front side the player’s number (yellow color) while on the opposite the national team’s badge, and in between the black Puma Airness Logo. There is a green and yellow diagonal band that starts at the right shoulder all the way to the left side of the chest. It has a bicolor (yellow, red) cut in “v” neck. There are no details on its shoulders and on its red sleeves with a yellow detail on its hems.

On the other hand the away soccer jersey keeps home design, and template, but white as its main color with red, yellow and green details on it.

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The current 2011 Asian Champions (FIFA Ranking 19) which are managed by Alberto Zacccheroni, presented its new home soccer jersey for the 2012 season made by the sportswear company adidas.

The new home soccer jersey is mostly navy blue with white and red details on it. On the front side of the shirt there is a red vertical line that divides the shirt in two halves. On the top right the white adidas logo while on the opposite the JFA’s badge, and on top of it Japan’s flag.  It has a round collar neck with a lighter blue on the sides. The adidas three white stripes are on its shoulders all the way to half of its sleeves and sitting on a light blue color. The sleeves have shirt’s same color and on the inner side of it the blue seen on its shoulders.

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The kit is also lighter and more durable than any previous kit the team has worn, and is the most environmentally friendly in Nike’s football history. Each shirt and short are made from 100% recycled polyester, which equates to approximately 13 recycled plastic bottles per kit — eight for the jersey and five for the short. 

“The new jersey represents our flag and our pride to play for the White and Red. This will be the most important year in Polish football history, so the jersey will be remembered for many years to come. We will fight to play the best we can,” said Kuba Błaszczykowski, captain of the Polish National Team and the face of Nike’s “United We Fight” campaign that celebrates the unity and spirit of the team.

In a striking photo depicting the iconic Polish Eagle imprinted onto the player’s chest, Kuba celebrates the return of the national crest, introduced in response to the passion of Polish football fans after the first kit launch last November.

“We were very impressed by the movement created by fans and the strength of their voice. Nike’s mission is to inspire and bring innovation to all athletes and sport fans around the world. This time we saw how fans can inspire and influence change in the world of sport,” said Christophe Merkel, GM, Nike Poland.

Innovative design for minimal environmental impact

Produced from lightweight fabric called Atom, the jersey weighs only 149 grams, making it the lightest kit that Nike has ever designed.  It is also 110% stronger and has more breathability than previous kits. Additional Dri-Release cotton yarns give superior player comfort and increase moisture management.

A newer slim fit helps prevent opposition players grabbing the shirt during the game, and strategically placed ventilation zones enhance breathability. The shorts have a simple, slightly extended fit. They also have special ventilation holes below the waistband and near the base of the spine to help players stay cooler.

The kit embraces Nike’s commitment to creating product for maximum performance with minimal environmental impact and is made from micro-fiber polyester that is derived entirely from recycled plastic bottles. The manufacturing of recycled polyester reduces energy consumption by up to 30% compared to manufacturing traditional polyester. Thanks to this technology Nike diverted the equivalent of 285 million plastic bottles from landfill by using recycled polyester in its products last year.

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Source: Nike.com

While top club wages, bonuses, endorsement deals and TV deals continue to defy the recession, international football associations appear to have been hit in the pocket by the economic downturn.

According to separate findings by the sports marketing companies

SPORT + MARKT and PR MARKETING the FAs of Germany, England, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Spain have taken a combined hit of £6.4m a year compared to their deals enjoyed in 2010.

The 2010 deals v the 2012 are as here (story continues below):

National associations are reluctant to confirm the exact values of their sponsorship arrangements, but research by these well connected companies offer the best alternative data.

The biggest financial losers are the English FA, following the FA’s decision to accept a £5m a year deal with Vauxhall – an estimated hit of £3.6m a year on its previous headline sponsorship deal with Nationwide.

The German Football Association has lost an estimated £2.5m a year compared with its previous arrangement with Mercedes – but continues to enjoy the most lucrative deal of its kind.

From the six major deals across Europe, only the French Football Federation has enjoyed a moderate increase of £500,000 a year compared with 2010.

International sides tend to have more than one sponsor, but the headline sponsor is the most lucrative deal and the company involved tends to have its branding appear on team training kits and leisure wear, tickets, backdrops during press conferences and signs at home games and training sessions.

Dr Peter Rohlmann of PR MARKETING told Sportingintelligence: “The recession is a substantial factor for getting new sponsors at the same level as in an economic boom.

“But my experience is that the influence of sporting failure and negative affairs, for example with Italy and England, has been more important for the acquisition of new sponsorships by the football associations than the economic environment.”

The English FA is about to take a hit in the value of its domestic TV deal with ITV although foreign rights values are expected to growth to around £48m a year.

As Sportingintelligence reported in October, England’s £26m-a-year kit deal with Umbro is second only to France in the world of football in terms of high value.

Source: sportingintelligence.com

Even in the country itself, most Brazilians don’t give fermented grape juice much thought.

It is very much a beer drinking nation, lager to be specific. And served as cold as possible to refresh in the hot weather.

Yet Brazil has had a small wine industry for hundreds of years, started by the first Portuguese settlers, and then continued by Italian immigrants.

For, despite the widespread perception that Brazil has a tropical climate too hot and humid for grapes, in the far south of the country, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul that borders Uruguay, the more temperate weather is ideal for planting vineyards.

Currently exporting only very small quantities, the Brazilian wine industry has high hopes that the country’s staging of the 2014 World Cup can be used as a springboard to achieve ambitious overseas sales growth.

Speaking at the Soccerex Global Convention in Rio de Janeiro, the annual gathering of football business leaders, Ana Paula Kleinowski from Wines of Brasil, the national trade body, says the World Cup can help put Brazilian wines on the map.

“2014 is going to give Brazilian wine a tremendous promotional opportunity,” she says. “We can use it to showcase the quality and range of our wines, and drive export growth.

“Brazilian wines are the only ones available at Soccerex, which we are very proud of, and come the World Cup we intend that as many visiting football supporters as possible can easily find and try them.

“And then continue to be able to buy them when they return home.”

Good reviews

Brazil’s wine growers may be targeting the world, but they have a long way to go to catch up with fellow South American wine producers Argentina and, especially, Chile.

Last year Brazil exported just $3.3m (£2.1m) worth of wine, compared with $1.6bn from Chile.

However, the only way is up for the Brazilians, and they have recently started targeting seven countries – the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Poland. In addition to Hong Kong.

In the UK, you can now buy Brazilian wines from a number of smaller wine merchants, and Ms Kleinowski says feedback from some of the UK’s best-known wine critics has been very positive.

“Jancis Robinson and Oz Clarke have both recently given Brazilian wines very good reviews, it is just a question of us getting more people to taste them.

“The quality is there, and the prices are reasonable.”

Award winning

Talking of taste, is Brazilian wine really any good?

The simple answer is a resounding yes.

The best Brazilian wine is typically made from French grape varieties, and the country produces the full range of red, white, rose, sweet, and sparkling wines.

The latter is made in exactly the same way as champagne to produce the bubbles naturally.

The reds and whites taste similar to Chilean wines, and while the fizz might lack some of champagne’s finesse, if someone gave you a bottle you’d be very happy.

Arley Firmino Pereira is winemaker at Miolo Wine Group, which was founded in Rio Grande do Sul in 1897 by an Italian family.

“We already sell our wines to one UK wine company, and it is going very well,” he says.

“Our vineyards enjoy a very nice temperature, and very good soil. This is reflected in the quality of our wines, and our 2005 merlot won a global prize for the best merlot for less than $100 in a blind tasting test.”

Mr Pereira adds that Brazil’s winemakers also have a giant domestic market to conquer, where the average Brazilian currently drinks just two litres of wine per year.

That is equivalent to what thirsty wine fans in Europe will polish off in a weekend.

Price critical

Yet if the Brazilian wine industry wishes to make a substantial breakthrough in the UK and across continental Europe, it has to crack the big supermarkets.

Wine critic Robert Joseph says it may all come down to price.

“Basically in Britain most consumers will buy any wine if it is cheap,” he says.

“So if Brazilian wine can get its prices right, and promote itself, it could be a success in the UK.

“In general they aren’t making great wine yet in Brazil, but it is OK, it is do-able.”

UK wine merchant Oddbins says that while it currently doesn’t sell any Brazilian wine it would be keen to if the demand was there from its customers.

Emma Nichols, head of buying at Oddbins, says: “Oddbins could quite happily stock Brazilian wine, but it really depends on the quality.

“Our customers are always interested experiencing new and interesting wine. But we won’t stock something simply for the novelty value – it has to taste fantastic.”

Source: bbc.co.uk

In a deal with World Sport Group, SAFF’s exclusive marketing and media partner, YouTube will not only provide the platform for live streaming of the SAFF Championship matches, but clips of all the top action from every match will also be posted on each game day.

The live matches will be accessible globally through http://www.youtube.com/SAFFChampionship except in India, where they will be available on a delayed basis the following day.

In addition, a full archive of match highlights from the 2009 edition of the event is already available on the site.

“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with World Sport Group and have our platform for live-streaming used to help national associations and leagues make deeper connections with their fans wherever they are in the world,” said John Vamvakitis, YouTube Head of Sport Partnerships, Asia-Pacific.

“We are pleased to make the 2011 SAFF Championship available live on YouTube,” said James Clarke, Senior Vice-President, Content, World Sport Group. “Now, football fans all over the world can catch all the action live, or relive the event’s top moments on demand through the highlights videos.”

The SAFF Championship is a biennial competition that is contested by SAFF’s eight member nations Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Defending champions India will host the seventh edition of the event to be held from December 2nd to 11th.

Source: goal.com