With a UEFA Champions League winners’ medal on the line, Ibra now goes head-to-head with the team he once called his own. 

Check out Ibra’s Nike Sportswear Bespoke Destroyer jacket, inspired by his own iconic tattoos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIpdnmKGDgk

In 2007, David Beckham transferred to the Los Angeles Galaxy from Real Madrid, where he had also been a mega-money signing, for a reported $250 million in total potential earnings over a five-year deal, including endorsements. The hype was nearly out of control.

The “next Pelé” angle was great in theory, except that David Beckham isn’t Pelé, and soccer in America has grown exponentially since that much-lauded Pelé arrival.

The teams have endorsements of their own, well-maintained soccer-specific grounds and legitimate, ever-growing fan-bases complete with wildly passionate ultras groups.

The Galaxy, to give a great example of this, play in the $150 million soccer-specific Home Depot Center and had an average 2011 fan attendance of 23,335, a number which is increasing. They have three organized groups for the hardest-core of supporters: the Galaxians, the L.A. Riot Squad and the Angel City Brigade.

Furthermore, not only have American soccer clubs been importing
players from Europe and South America for a while now (Thierry Henry
at the New York Red Bulls; Robbie Keane and Juninho at the Galaxy),
but there’s also a host of homegrown stars whose profiles are
rising. Landon Donovan has nearly 600,000 fans on Facebook; FC Dallas
upstart Brek Shea has more than 12,000 followers on Twitter.

But even with all these changes, can the increase in interest and
attendance and rising profile of the L.A. Galaxy and the MLS at large
be attributed, at least in part, to the arrival of Becks? Did he play
a role in speeding up this transformation and helping American soccer
gain legitimacy?

Has the English superstar given the Galaxy a return on their
multimillion-dollar investment?

If we’re just talking money, absolutely. If we’re talking
overall attendance, yes.

It’s easy to write him off as a disappointment (we’ll get to
why he was to an extent in a minute), but the arrival of Becks was
the equivalent of Jed Clampett hitting that oil well on The Beverly
Hillbillies.

As critics were still writing off the MLS as generally being
unprofitable following the arrival of Becks, the L.A. Galaxy was one
of three clubs that turned out a profit that season and generated
nearly double the revenue of any other MLS team.

Shortly after his arrival, weight-loss supplement company
Herbalife signed a $4 million annual jersey sponsorship deal,
breaking league records. Big-money sponsors like Delta Airlines,
American Express and Valero Energy soon followed. Even before ticket
sales, Becks helped generate mass revenue for the Galaxy.

Beckham did account for an increase in attendance and ticket sales
in his first two seasons with the club. A 2008 study from the
International Journal of Sport Finance suggests that the presence of
Beckham nearly doubled ticket sales when he was on the roster, even
more so when he actually played.

During the 2008 season, when average MLS attendances were on the
decline, they not only shot up more than seven percent for the
Galaxy, but team attendance hit record highs. An increase in fans to
away matches where Beckham was present was also evident, indicating
his appeal not just with the Galaxy and the possibility of bringing
in fans of other teams.

When Beckham and captain Landon Donovan went to Europe, on loan
spells at AC Milan and Bayern Munich and Everton respectively,
attendance sharply dropped. Correlation is not causation, but it’s
certainly something to consider.

Attendance has since been on the upswing and is now at the highest
it’s been since that 2008 season, which could have something to do
with the return of Beckham, or at the very least the retention of
some fans whose interest in the club may have piqued with his
arrival.

If we’re talking his performance on the pitch, it’s a toss-up.
The first two seasons he was with the Galaxy didn’t fare too well
for the team, despite the increase in attendance, and Becks struggled
initially in his debut season thanks to ankle and knee injury.

The Galaxy failed to make the playoffs, and the special treatment
given to the megastar—particularly his immediate appointment as
captain, edging out longtime skipper Landon Donovan—caused a lot of
discord between him and the rest of the team.

He did have a share of high-impact moments in spite of this, most
notably helping the Galaxy win the North American SuperLiga
semi-final against DC United and advance to the final with a goal and
a solid assist to Donovan.

Even though he was mostly nonexistent through the 2009 season due
to his AC Milan loan deal, drawing ire from fans, he did come back at
the end and played a role in bringing the Galaxy a Western Conference
championship—scoring one of the goals in the final penalty
shootout.

He helped clinch the regular-season Western Conference
championships for them in 2010 with a goal against FC Dallas, and
contributed to their earning the MLS Supporters’ Shield.

In the 2011 season, the same old song and dance. He trained with
Tottenham Hotspur, sparking rumors about another loan move which is
still the subject of speculation today. More recently, Beckham has
made headlines through rumors of a move to Paris Saint-Germain more
than for his prowess on the pitch.

That being said, he did reasonably well as a player, making a very
respectable 15 assists and raising eyebrows with an impressive
free-kick goal against Sporting Kansas City (a contender for Goal of
the Season) and another against the Chicago Fire taken directly from
a corner. The Galaxy also saw a second consecutive Supporters’
Shield come home.

So his tenure with the Galaxy wasn’t all bad in terms of
on-pitch performance, and the Galaxy certainly saw some success. But
while he had some standout moments, was it enough over the course of
five seasons to really merit all that money, purely from a playing
perspective? Probably not.

If we’re talking his status as an icon within the club, his
relationship with the game itself and spurring that impassioned fan
base that makes international football so engaging—no.

His loan spells with Milan, and his handling of the situation,
caused a rift with the fans, who booed him upon his return to the
Home Depot Center and greeted him with signs that read “Part-Time
Player” and other such slogans. A scuffle almost started between
him and a fan, and Beckham’s attempts to extend his loan spell at
Milan don’t really help his case in terms of commitment to the
Galaxy.

So Beckham may not be Pelé and he may not have been the spiritual
savior of American soccer in the way the MLS might have hoped, and he
wasn’t exactly a hit with the league’s most passionate fans. But
he did generate a whole lot of revenue, bring attendance to record
highs, likely converted a few casual fans and score a few really
great goals in the process.

The full extent of his impact remains to be seen as the MLS
continues to grow and will do so regardless of whether or not he goes
to PSG, but he wasn’t a total bust.

Source: bleacherreport.com

“Charm, style and tradition. The
new FC Internazionale collection and in particular the Nerazzurri
home shirt are a tribute to the elegance and sartorial excellence
that has made Milan famous throughout the world,” said Andrea
Rossi, General Manager of Nike Italy. “Our constant commitment
to technological innovation has allowed us to create an Eco-friendly
and extremely lightweight shirt which will weigh 13% less than
previous shirts.”
“The launch of the new kit designed
for Inter by Nike has become a pleasant tradition,” said
President of FC Internazionale Massimo Moratti. “It’s a special
occasion; it’s the start of a new season for all of us and
particularly for the fans who love to wear the official shirt to show
their allegiance to the Nerazzurri. Inter and Nike, Let’s hope for
another winning partnership this time.”

The home shirt has maintained its
classic blue and black stripes although they are thinner than those
of previous shirts and a collar with two buttons, giving it a
refined, elegant look. On the inside, at the back of the club logo,
the word “Nerazzurri” is printed, while the word “Inter”
appears under the collar.

This year for the first time the Inter
logo has been hot-pressed to make the shirt even lighter and allow
the fabric to breathe in this area.

The shorts are black with a blue stripe
on both sides. The socks are also black with the word “Inter”
printed on the calf to complete the strip. The shirt and shorts are
particularly well finished with careful stitching.

Fabric created from recyclable
materials, Nike Dri-FIT and aerodynamic design

The new kit (shirt and shorts) are made
from one hundred percent polyester recycled by Nike. Each of these is
obtained directly from the recycling of fourteen plastic bottles.

The strip actively contributes to the
regulation of the player’s body temperature during matches thanks to
the Nike Dri-FIT material.

The shirt is more aerodynamic than
previous ones due to its 17% increase in elasticity.

This year for the first time as well as
the playing strip a collection for training and lifestyle wear have
been presented. The Training range, created in high-tech fabrics,
allow optimal training in any weather conditions. The collection is
completed with an Express line of lifestyle wear for fans who want to
dress with style and elegance and show their passion for the
Nerazzurri colors in their leisure time.

Below Inter Milan new home kit video presentation

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoSqQ6ajE4

Do you like this soccer jersey? Please
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Source: www.inter.it