Mes: julio 2022

The PFA Player of the Year Awards are almost upon us. In a season that has seen the always competitive Championship at its most unpredictable, predicting its Team of the Season is far from straightforward; nevertheless, having assessed the contenders, I shall attempt to pick out and justify a worthy eleven.

Goalkeeper: Artur Boruc (Bournemouth)

The ‘holy goalie’ will be praying his excellent form continues, as the Cherries close in on a first ever promotion to the top flight. The former Celtic custodian has had a very consistent season, marginally edging out the miserly Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday) and Middlesbrough’s impressive collection of solid stoppers.

Right back: Simon Francis (Bournemouth)

We stay on the South Coast for our right-back, with Simon Francis an integral part of Bournemouth’s play – both defensively and offensively. His link-up with winger Matt Ritchie has caused no end of trouble for opposing teams all season long. Losing out to Francis for the position is Steven Whittaker (Norwich City) who, similarly, offers as much going forward as in defence.

Centre backs: Tom Lees (Sheffield Wednesday) and Tommy Elphick (Bournemouth)

Two Toms at the back, with Lees’ defensive ability appreciated by Wednesdayites certainly ready to overlook his Leeds past. The much-improved Elphick pips club colleague and captain Steve Cook, while there’s an honourable mention for Ben Gibson, youngest member of Middlesbrough’s stingy backline.

Left back: George Friend (Middlesbrough)

Mirroring Francis on the right, Friend’s forward forays have been a crucial element in Middlesbrough’s play this year. At the same time, his defensive work has been just as one would expect from the meanest defence in the league. Friend pinches the slot just ahead of Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels.

Right midfield/wing: Matt Ritchie (Bournemouth)

Our fourth Cherry is the linking livewire Ritchie, who tops the table for goal assists this season and has hit double figures for his own goal tally to boot. His partnership with Francis has been a feature of Bournemouth’s best work all season. Team-mate Marc Pugh is the player to miss out in favour of the recent Scottish cap.

Centre midfield: Will Hughes (Derby) and Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough)

The almost impossible task of selecting only two players from a plethora of worthy contenders sees Derby’s precocious talent Hughes link up with the ever-dependable Leadbitter from Boro. Hughes, whose maturity in possession and eye for a pass belie his tender years, will surely not remain a Championship player for long, irrespective of his team’s ultimate destiny this season. He grabs the creative central position ahead of the creative Alan Judge, who has enjoyed an excellent season at Brentford. The grafting and effective Leadbitter has kept Boro ticking, and provides the perfect complement to Hughes, marginally edging out Harry Arter (Bournemouth) and Norwich’s long-shot specialist Bradley Johnson. An honourable mention is reserved for the much-improved Toumani Diagouraga, Judge’s defensive midfield team-mate for the Bees.

Left mid-field/wing/attack: Patrick Bamford (Middlesbrough)

Almost the go-to man for Middlesbrough this season in attack, Bamford’s goals have been frequent and priceless, with the occasionally sensational strike thrown in. Middlesbrough will be hoping to keep hold of the Chelsea loanee, but will probably need to be playing Premier League football next season in order to do so.

Strikers: Callum Wilson (Bournemouth) and Troy Deeney (Watford)

Fifth of a quintet of Cherries, Wilson has proved a more than adequate replacement for last season’s top scorer, Lewis Grabban. Despite his searing pace and intelligent link-up play, his hatful of goals still falls some way short of league top scorer Daryl Murphy, Ipswich’s target man, who may consider himself somewhat unfortunate to miss out on a place in the eleven. The same could be said of the Derby talisman Chris Martin, for whom injury at a crucial time limited his impact on the goalscoring charts, as well as his team’s fortunes. Nevertheless, the final place in the team is awarded to the slightly more prolific of Watford’s unstoppable front line: Troy Deeney. Fast becoming a complete centre-forward, Deeney’s sharpness, aerial strength and finishing ability see him sneak in ahead of Murphy, Martin, and his almost equally prolific Hornet team-mate, Odion Ighalo.

To recap, then, my team is:

Boruc (Bournemouth), Francis (Bournemouth), Lees (Sheffield Wednesday), Elphick (Bournemouth), Friend (Middlesbrough), Ritchie (Bournemouth), Hughes (Derby County), Leadbitter (Middlesbrough), Bamford (Middlesbrough), Wilson (Bournemouth), Deeney (Watford)

Look out for the awards ceremony on 24 April to see how many of my picks made the XI!

How about you? Who would you choose? Leave a comment below!

Camisetas ATLETICO MADRID

The 23 year old striker has achieved a lot is his career. This can be attributed to his humble nature and the fact that he is an extremely mature person who works diligently to excel. He is extremely loyal and this can be judged from his career. He started playing football with Olympique Lyonnais, when he was 9 years old, in 1996 and stayed with the club for 13 years. He was transferred from Lyon to Real Madrid in 2009 and even with his new club he signed a long term contract of 6 years.

Karim Benzema started his football career with a domestic club and later joined Olympique Lyonnais – the biggest club of the city. He started playing with the club when he was 9 years old and progressed through the ranks of the club fairly quickly. He was able to make his professional debut in the 2004 – 2005 season and played on and off during the season.

Benzema made his mark in the season of 2007 – 2008 when he scored 30 goals over the season to guide his team to winning their 7th successive league title. It was a magnificent year for Benzema indeed as he was the center of attention all around and the highlight of the season was him being named the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year award.

His services acquired by Real Madrid in 2009 for a six year contract. The start of the 2010 – 2011 season was disappointing for Benzema as he failed to make any regular appearances for the team and was only used as an occasional striker. However, the injury of his team mate Higuain meant that Benzema was to take the responsibility of Higuain’s shoes. Benzema grasped the opportunity with both hands and performed remarkably in the role of the first choice striker of the team. The sale of the Real Madrid Tickets increased majorly because of his spectacular performances.

Benzema played a key role in the Real Madrid’s Copa Del Rey. It was a match for which the Real Madrid Tickets were extremely difficult to procure for the fans. His overall superb run of performances throughout the year of 2011 led him to winning the award of French Player of the Year.

This led to everyone having high expectations from the young French striker for the next season of 2011-2012. Benzema certainly didn’t disappointed his fans with his brilliant pre season performance in which he scored a total of 8 goals in 7 matches. Benzema went to score the fastest goal in the history of El Clasico. He scored the remarkable goal in just 22 seconds to distinguish himself prominently in the history of El Clasico. He performed remarkably throughout the match and his goal gave his team an early edge in the game. However, Real Madrid failed to capitalize and lost the match 2-1.

Benzema has also represented his national side of France at the youth and international level. His brilliant performances have made him the center of much speculation – Will he take his team to the ultimate glory in the next FIFA World Cup?

Camisetas Manchester United

FIFA’s recent award of the Ballon d’Or 2014 (World Player of the Year) to Cristiano Ronaldo proves that the accolade is more about politics and personal popularity than about performance on the field.

Although players from several nationalities are nominated and win the award, they always all play for European clubs while those active in other leagues such as in South America and Mexico are generally overlooked. The best player is chosen by players and managers based on favoritism rather than merit which often creates unworthy winners. Thus the award has lost its recognition and become the object of amusement and ridicule.

The Ballon d’Or was established by a magazine called France Football in 1956 to recognize the history-makers of the game. But that is not what it has turned out to be.

LA LIGA

Between January 1 and December 31, 2014 in this competition Lionel Messi scored 35 goals in 36 matches (11 with the right foot, 23 with the left and the other with the head) while Cristiano Ronaldo scored 38 but with less versatility as only 4 were with his head and unfavorable left foot.

In addition Messi created 97 chances, 24 more than any other player and completed 164 dribbles, 63 more than the nearest rival Iker Muniain of Atletico Bilbao (MAILOnline – Why Lionel Messi should win Ballon d’Or after a record-breaking year with Barcelona; by Kieran Gill, January 12, 2015).

EUROPE

Messi conquered the continent on November 25 when he became the all-time top goal scorer in the Champions League in Nicosia, Cyprus. It was his 23rd European city, his 16th European country and recorded the 24th different stadium in which he had scored (MAILOnline etc.)

WORLD CUP 2014

At soccer’s most important competition Messi led Argentina to the final, was voted Man of the Match in 4 games (the most of any player in the competition) and won the Golden Boot as the best player of the tournament.

He had the most impact on the competition. His goals were all match-winning goals which propelled Argentina to the final. He was the third joint highest goal scorer with 4 goals and 1 assist, created the most chances, had the most successful dribbling runs, made the most deliveries into the box and produced the most through balls of any player.

In contrast, Ronaldo was a non-factor and only scored a late goal against minnow Ghana and had an assist against the USA.

HISTORY MAKER

Messi’s performance in 2014 was what the Ballon d’Or is all about, namely, history-making performances. On March 16, he became Barcelona’s all-time top goal scorer (371). One week later he became the El Clasico (matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona) top goal scorer (21) with a hat- trick.

He scored his 400th career goal on September 27 against Granada and surpassed a 59-year-old record to become La Liga’s all-time top goal scorer (253) on November 22. Three days later he overtook Raul by scoring a hat-trick to become the top goal scorer in the history of the Champions League (74).

Given all these achievements one would think that of the three nominees Messi was the most deserving to win the award. Instead he not only lost to Ronaldo but he and the other nominee Manuel Neuer got less votes combined (31.48 %) than Ronaldo (37.66%).

In 2013 Ronaldo won nothing and Franck Ribery won everything but nevertheless Ronaldo beat him.

How can all this be explained?

POLITICS BEHIND THE VOTING

FIFA’s criteria call for national managers, captains and media officials to vote for the most outstanding performer of the previous twelve months.

Not unexpectedly players vote for their team-mates and compatriots. In the 2014 contest for example, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) gave all three spots to Germans, Manuel Neuer, Phillip Lahm and Thomas Muller.

Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid) voted for his former team-mates Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois.

Vincent Kompany (Belgium) voted for team-mates Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard as the world’s two best players with Arjen Robben third.

The best example of the politics in all of this is illustrated by Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) who declared without giving a reason that he regretted voting for Ronaldo instead of his team-mate Neuer. This ‘change of heart’ can only be explained as coming from a player who wants to save face with team-mates in the dressing room rather than from a voter with any real conviction.

The same criticism applies to managers who only vote for national players. For example, Argentina’s manager Gerardo Martino gave all three places to his fellow countrymen namely, Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Javier Mascherano, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots voted for Belgian Thibaut Courtous for third place, Didier Deschamps (France) gave the final spot to French striker Benzema and Holland’s Guus Hiddink gave top honor to compatriot Arjen Robben.

Players will get a lot of votes if they are popular ‘with the boys’ and can play to the cameras to advertise commercial products. Those who defend the choice of Ronaldo as best player point to the fact that in the second half of 2014 he scored 32 goals. The problem is that 9 of those goals were penalties so his non-penalty goals were 23, the same amount as Messi who had no penalties. Ronaldo is nicknamed «Penaldo» because of his mastery of drawing and scoring penalties.

In a World Cup year such as 2014 your performance in that tournament is what defines you. On the world’s biggest stage Ronaldo was a nonfactor and his supporters excuse this by saying he was carrying an injury. If that is true that is unfortunate but injury is a misfortune, not a privilege and he can only be judged on actual performance and not on speculation as to what he might have achieved had he been fully fit.

The Player of the Year award has lost its authenticity. But it does not have to be so. It is not a personality or school prom contest. It is supposed to recognize performance on the field. Maybe the officials of FIFA should themselves become the judges, give more consideration to non-European clubs and use criteria like achievements and fair play to choose the winner. This would not be a perfect system but would be preferable to the present one which is deeply flawed and cannot be taken seriously.

Victor A. Dixon

January 18, 2015

Camisetas NBA

As almost every professional bettor will tell you, backing heavy favourites is a sure fire way to the poorhouse. That’s common knowledge, right? Perhaps, but there’s one problem with that type of thinking: it’s dead wrong.

The received wisdom is the linesmakers skew their odds on heavy favourites because the public love betting on the best teams. The bookies no doubt see a flurry of parlays involving clubs like Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus every weekend. Surely there’s value in taking the underdog in these situations, isn’t there?

In fact, numerous studies have shown that blindly backing long shots is a losing proposition in the long term. To see why that is the case, we have to understand how a bookmaker operates. Since the bookies take most of their action on short-priced favourites, it’s often assumed they are exposed to big liabilities if all the hot teams win. While this is sometimes the case, and many bookmakers suffer months of huge losses, there are several ways a bookie can protect himself.

It’s important to remember that most heavy favourites are combined in parlays involving at least three teams. A bookmaker only needs one loser to take his customer’s money. As a result, there’s little need to lower the odds on a «public» team. Many sportsbooks will even inflate the odds of a hot favourite to attract new customers, safe in the knowledge that parlay players won’t hurt their bottom line.

If the favourite’s odds are an accurate reflection of it’s true probability of winning, the bookmaker must make adjustments elsewhere. That usually means offering worse odds on the underdog and the draw. Understanding the concept of theoretical hold can make this clearer.

When creating lines, a sportsbook will offer odds on each team that give it a slight edge, ensuring a profit no matter how the game turns out. This is called the Theoretical Hold and is expressed as a percentage. It represents the combined amount of customers’ bets that the bookmaker expects to keep.

It’s called theoretical because in reality a bookmaker rarely has balanced action on all sides. If a bookie takes the bulk of his bets on a heavy favourite, he can offer it at a more generous price and accept a smaller profit margin. Short-priced favourites generally have small margins, but high volumes. Bigger odds mean bigger margins. There’s little incentive for a bookie to offer competitive odds on a big underdog if he doesn’t expect much betting interest in that team.

For evidence of this, look no further than the betting exchanges. At Betfair, for example, the theoretical hold on a soccer money line is usually 1-2%, compared with around 11% at traditional bookmakers. Because the hold is so low and the percent market is close to 100%, the exchanges represent an almost perfect market. They can give us a closer indication of the true probability of an event happening. The following table shows the odds available at several bookmakers for an upcoming match between Qatar and Argentina:

Bookmaker Qatar Draw Argentina Theoretical Hold

Betfair +1800 +660 -500 1.72%

Nordicbet +1100 +445 -500 9.10%

Bet365 +1000 +400 -500 11.05%

Interwetten +900 +400 -667 14.5%

Admiral +850 +365 -455 12.28%

Two things are immediately striking. An exchange like Betfair has significantly better odds on Qatar and the draw, which are the less probable outcomes of this game. But Betfair’s odds on Argentina, the heavy favourite, are in line with the prices offered by traditional bookmakers. In fact, even though Betfair’s market has razor thin margins, it can’t beat the odds on Argentina offered by Admiral, a bookie with a theoretical hold over 12%!

What can we learn from this? If the exchanges are a nearly perfect market, they prove that heavy favourites are fairly priced at the traditional bookmakers, but underdogs are massively underpriced and poor value. Some research has shown that backing all short priced favourites (at -500 or greater) is a profitable proposition in the long term. Now we can understand why. As a general rule, only bet on long shots at the exchanges; if you like to play favourites, stick with the traditional bookies.

Camisetas VILLARREAL

Yes, the world is in the throes of football fever. The 2010 FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup football, which wows the globe every four years is now in its quarter final stage and all bets are on to see who will capture this year’s final cup. Will the indomitable Germans beat the resilient Argentineans or, will the Netherlands score an upset? World Cup Football is hands down, the greatest and most highly anticipated sporting event of all time. Two hundred and four nations tried to qualify for thirty two spots, with the U.S. qualifying for the first time in decades. The 2006 final match between Italy and France was watched by an estimated 715 million. With shifting demographics and 21st century technology rendering borders nearly obsolete, this year’s tally is anyone’s guess. Aficionados pour into stadiums, huddle around television sets, with gladiator-like fervor. Histories are invoked, wars waged, players pilloried and publicly chastised. Allegiances for players and countries are drawn in stone with blood and sweat.

It is known universally as, «the beautiful game,» for its elegant simplicity, the divinely appointed athletic prowess of its players and its appeal to the common man. The skill of the play, the passion and the enduring love for the game creates a brotherhood that transcends the sport. The unparalleled high and mindless exhilaration of GOOOOOAAAL! Much like basketball, it elevates its gifted players to god-like status, while simultaneously connecting them with the mortals who live vicariously through them. More than any other sport, football is a great equalizer. Because not mere color of skin, or nationality or Club can dictate ability or greatness. It simply is. A boy from a favela of Brazil with a devastating strike or from an obscure village in Côte d’Ivoire can become a striker for a world-class English Club. A good number come from exceedingly difficult circumstances, where pulling yourself up by the bootstraps often means borrowing a pair of cleats and heading to a game on a dusty bowl. Today’s black football players who hail from far-flung countries to play for European Clubs such as Inter Milan, Barcelona and Manchester United. But for World Cup, they return to play only for their national team. This is not to say that racism in football is not a serious issue. Taunts and behavior of fans can be unspeakably ugly, cruel and primitive, coming as it does from a contingent that remains stubbornly ignorant and primitive. That players consistently rise above it is a testament to their personal strength and integrity. The game has become a way of life that can change the trajectory of lives and communities. Stunning paychecks are often accompanied by lofty commercial endorsement from Nike, Gillette, and others. Players share their good fortune, donating substantial amounts to build hospitals, schools, and life-saving social service programs.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is the first played on the continent of Africa and has the potential to shift global perceptions on a number of levels. From the Africa Cup of Nations to 2010 World Cup, footballers of African descent and nationality have put the world on notice: they are a force with which to be reckoned. Just ask Team USA.

And no self-respecting football fan ever calls it soccer. It’s football, now and always.

Here are eight of the world’s best and brightest black football players of the 2010 World Cup South Africa.

Samuel Eto’o

Country: Cameroon

Club: Inter Milan; Cameroon national team

Position: Striker

Earnings: $12. 7 million

The world’s been put on notice. Hands-down one of the top left-back in the world, Samuel Eto’o’s achievements are momentous for his country and his club. He exemplifies football excellence in the vein of the great legends and has surpassed expectations in every club for which he has played. His performance has been consistently excellent and he is at present the most decorated African player of all time, including African Player of the Year for three consecutive years. A goal scoring machine, Eto’o scored over 100 goals in five seasons with FC Barcelona. He is captain of the Cameroon national team and currently Africa’s best-paid football player. He has participated in two World Cups and five African Nations Cups and is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the African Nations Cup, (capturing championship twice) with 18 goals. In the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, Eto’o became joint leading goalscorer

As a member of the Cameroon national team, he was a gold medalist at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Didier Drogba:

Country: Ivory Coast/Côte d’Ivoire

Club: Chelsea

Position: Striker

Earnings: $7.5 million Endorsements: Pepsi; Nike, Samsung

Mark the name for it is the future of football. Don’t be fooled by Drogba’s late entry to the football arena, he in a powerhouse. Known for breaching impregnable defenses, Drogba is a goalkeepers’ nightmare. Signed by Chelsea for $37 million, he has proved invaluable. He has scored more goals for the club than any other foreign player and is it’s 7th highest goal scorer ever. most promising African football players, he is one of the top scorers in the Premier League. Captain and all-time top scorer of the Côte d’Ivoire national football team, Drogba was signed to Chelsea for a record breaking fee of £24 million, making him the most expensive Côte d’Ivoire player in history. Drogba came to prominence as one of the world’s foremost strikers in 2006 when he won the league title with Chelsea and captained the national team for the first time. In the 2006 World Cup he scored Côte d’Ivoire’s first ever goal of the competition and was chosen the 2006 African Footballer of the Year. He is the only player to score in six English cup finals.

But much of this pales in comparison to his humanitarian work for his country. After Côte d’Ivoire qualified for the 2006 World Cup, Drogba pleaded for a ceasefire between the combatants of his country’s deadly 5 year civil war, which was honored shortly after. In 2007, he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donated his $4.5 million signing on fee for his endorsement of Pepsi towards the construction of a hospital in his hometown of Abidjan.

Maicon Douglas Sisenando

Country: Brazil

Club Team: Internazionale AKA Inter Milan

Position: Defender

Earnings:$5.4 million

A gifted righ-sided fullback and formidable back-field, Maicon is a something of a phenomenon in Brazilian football – not an easy feat. He excels at defensive games and provides great support for his team. Maicon scored Brazil’s first 2010 World Cup goal – a tight angle shot – against Korea in their first game. Maicon’s contribution to Inter Milan have included staunch defending and offensive support, place him in contention for the 2010 ballon d’Or, the European Footballer of the year award. In a nod to his prowess, Real Madrid recently paid £28 million for him to join their Club.

Patrice Evra:

Country: France

Club Team: Manchester United

Position: Defender, Full-back; French captain

Earnings: $4 million

Evra is his own version of the United Nations. Born in Senegal of Guinean heritage and a French national, he is one of Manchester United ‘s most valuable players and oddly, captain of the French national team. Arguably one of the best left backs in the world and a wicked left wingback Evra has won Premier League titles and the Champions League with Manchester United. During United’s 07-08 season, Evra became a key member of United’s defense. But he is not without controversy. Following the dismissal of teammate, Nicolas Anelka from the squad after his dust-up with coach Raymond Domenech, Evra led a player mutiny against the decision and publicly denounced the coach. Asa result, Evra was benched for the final game against South Africa. Even so, he returns to a highly distinguished career.

Thierry Henry

Country: France

Club Team: Barcelona; French national team

Position: Striker

Earnings: Annual salary plus bonus: $6.2 million, Other income: $6.2 million

Endorsements: Pepsi, Gilette, Reebok

He is one of the most recognized and lauded players in football and certainly A worthy distinction for one of the most prominent forwards in the sport. During his meteoric rise at Arsenal, the phenomenal Henry emerged as leading goal-scorer for almost every season with 226 goals in all competitions. The phenomenal Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups and was twice nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year. Possessed of devastating speed and superhero agility, he remains the leading all-time goal-scorer in Europe with 42 goals with a flair for impossible, dramatic goals. Despite the controversy surrounding Henry’s propensity for using his hand to set up a goal, he is a football institution that has elevated the sport to an art form.

Nicolas Anelka

Country: France

Club Team: Chelsea (ENG); French national team

Position: Striker

Earnings: $5.8 million Endorsements: Puma

Though his petulance rivals his potential, Anelka has shown tremendous potential as a striker. A relentless scorer who is lightning fast with superb control, Anelka’s goal won France its World Cup match against Ireland. His three-and-a-half year deal and his reported fee means more money has been spent on transferring Nicolas over the course of his career than on any other player in football history.

Sully Muntari Country: Ghana

Club Team: Internazionale AKA Inter Milan

Position: Midfielder

Earnings: $5.3 million, Endorsements: Puma

If Ghana takes World Cup, you can bet Muntari will be instrumental to their win. A football prodigy, Muntari was just 16 when he played for Ghana at the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina. He was voted as an All-Star Player during the 2008 African Cup of Nations Tournament in Ghana.

Yaya Toure

Country: Ivory Coast

Club Team: Barcelona

Position: Midfielder

Earning: $3.7 million

Toure’s titanic stature and gushing energy combine to make him one of the best midfielders in modern football, with a perfect combination of physical power with superb technique. He is the first player from Côte d’Ivoire to win the UEFA Champions League, in 2008/09 and one of the driving forces behind the team that rewrote football history by winning six trophies in a single season. He was recently transferred from Barcelona to Manchester City for £25m, where he’ll join his brother, brother and club captain, Kolo. He was a powerful midfielder for his native Côte d’Ivoire, who made their first appearance in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Camisetas AJAX

And its serious business with specialists designing custom fit, durable, comfortable, easy to breath fabrics and cuts. As you can imagine, colors play a huge role in the scheme of things. After all, each color has a distinct effect on the players behavior and emotions. Let’s take a quick peek at the various shades that bring soccer to life. Soothing, flashy, subtle, pristine, modern, classic, they all make their presence felt on the green of the pitch…

Color me up!

Soccer uniforms come in a variety of designs and color combinations, but the colors usually aren’t coincidental to the teams. They are deliberate, usually well thought out selections meant to make the team stand out. At times, the color choice is decided through a consensus of the players. Though often, team colors originate from a particular association with the country or city that the team represents. Soccer team uniforms first made an appearance in the 1870s, and even then, the team’s colors were often linked to a sports club, university or school. Since the early days of the game, team colors had an emotional connotation.

Dressed for Success

The color and design of a team’s soccer shirt has to match with the shorts and socks. It should all come together seamlessly as an ensemble assembled for success! Since referees need to stand apart from the players, their uniforms are traditionally black. As a color, black is usually associated with power, mystery, sophistication, formality and conventionality, not to forget, its inherent quality of making people look slim!

Fire Brand

If the color red is associated with passion, intensity, energy, ambition, masculinity, strength, courage and excitement, it is also intrinsically linked with the club Manchester United. The team adopted its red and white team colors as far back as 1902! It’s latest home kit is again a red soccer shirt with white shorts that have red stripes on the sides. Other teams inspired by the color and identified with it, are the Reds of Liverpool and the Rojas of Chile.

Blue By Design

Think blue and peace, loyalty, constancy, reliability, confidence, unity, harmony, trust, coolness and wisdom come to mind. The legendary teams behind the ‘bluing’ of the pitch are Argentina in its famous sky blue and white stripes, France’s Les Bleus and Italy’s Azzurri. Looks like the club FC Barcelona has ensured it gets the best of both worlds with a return to vertical stripes of red and blue on its soccer jersey! And it sure has worked for them!

It’s White, Yellow and Blue!

Representing purity and radiance, the color white has always been associated with the clubs Leeds and Real Madrid. On a national level, the English and German squads usually mark their presence in pristine white soccer uniforms. Yellow stands for warmth and joy, while green recalls the hues of Nature in terms of freshness, calmness, rejuvenation, energy, growth and balance. No wonder the national team of Brazil took inspiration from their national flag and embraced these colors as their own!

Orange Works!

But it’s the Dutch Oranje who contrast the green pitch the most in their striking orange soccer shirts! This color represents energy, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness and a ‘let’s-do-it’ attitude, which the team seems to have assimilated!

As you can see, team colors are related to team identity, as much as football is related to dribbling!

Camisetas ESPANYOL