The new Puma Goalkeepers Union website delivers a community for goalkeepers worldwide, with a stylish look and great appeal. I recommend it to goalkeepers interested in equipment and advice. Check it out, and maybe you find some nice football shirts for goalkeepers or learn a thing or two.

The all new Nike designed Manchester United shirt is a complete success. It’s not hard to be a fan of Nike football shirts this year because they are unveiling some really sick shirts for the new season. The only thing that can really be improved about this new Manchester United jersey is the collar, I’m not the biggest fan of it. The black on the front of the shirt really fits, and it looks much better than last season’s front.

Keep it up Nike.

Nike has done a fantastic job with most of the new 2009/2010 football shirts they’ve designed, and I want to start posting my personal favorite kit designs for the new season. The first one comes from the champions of Europe, Barcelona. This shirt really brings out a sense of tradition and professionalism, giving nothing fancy and sticking to a classic catalan look. The new shirt is, in my opinion, a lot nicer than last year’s, and the best Nike football jersey for the new season.

The drawback however, is in the away shirt, which is a salmon-ish colour. That doesn’t attract me too much, but the home jersey is amazing.

Ruth Mortimer, from Marketing Week, wrote this article about why Kaka is worth so much money to Real Madrid. She explained the high sums of money that are being spent by Real Madrid, like the 56 million price tag for Kaka.

But why are these deals, which seem extraordinarily enormous in cash terms, still so popular with clubs? Well, according to Professor Simon Chadwick, who was commissioned by Weber Shandwick Sport to run the figures, the Kaka deal could be worth as much as $100m per year to Real Madrid.

This is because the signing is likely to boost shirt sales, sponsorship revenue, match ticket sales and the team’s global fan base. If Manchester United’s current golden boy Cristiano Ronaldo was to join Kaka at Real Madrid, this could be worth up to an additional $75m a year, should Manchester United sell the current FIFA World Player of the Year – meaning a double-signing could be worth $175m each year for the Spanish club.

It’s interesting that one player can add 100 million in revenue in one year, mostly through football shirt sales. But she went on to put this in parallel to the David Beckham experience at Real Madrid.

When David Beckham moved to Real Madrid, his tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu earnt the club $600 million in sales of shirts and other merchandise alone (with a million shirts sold in just six months), increasing merchandising profits by 137% over four seasons between 2003/4 and 2006/7.

Not only is that insane, but quite scary. It seems Perez is not trying so much to make the best team in the world, but rather make the most profitable team in the world. Crisis? What crisis?

As Real Madrid spends 200 million euros for new players, they have to find ways to get some of the money back. Because of this, they’ve asked Adidas to double the sponsorship amount from 30 million a year to 60 million. Reports have said that if Adidas will not agree, it’s possible that Real Madrid will sign with Nike.

I think a Nike collaboration with Real Madrid would be pretty exciting, with something new for the Real Madrid shirt. It’s the club policy to keep things relatively the same, but even with Barcelona or Manchester United or Arsenal, Nike has kept them relatively the same, but changed small things that make a difference. Adidas is not as creative as Nike, and that shows in most of the teams they sponsor. Let’s hope they don’t agree for the 60 million, change is not always a bad thing.

Uniqlo is a brand that I really love, and I’m really not so much into brands. But what I love about this Japanese t-shirt brand is how creative they are, how well they promote, and how good their price to quality ratio is.

They’re opening a location in Paris, and they’re promoting it by trying to make the longest website in the world (in pixels that is.) So far they’re at 16,200 pixels in length… full of amazing designs and competitions and creative promo bits. This is really a lesson in promotion and attention-getting. They’re really going to take over the world with this brand, and I hope they keep making money.

Here’s to Uniqlo, with the new Paris location.

adidas Originals Superstar fillm - Left/Right Project from HypebeastTV on Vimeo.

This is AMAZING. It’s the story of two giant shoes, shipped to opposite sides of the US, and designed by different artists. It’s awesome to see what they come up with and how they begin with the same canvas, but the end is completely different. I like the West Coast shoe better. Check it!

Punk Football makes some decent shirts, but this hoodie caught my eye when I was looking around their site. It’s simple, but the slogan is fantastic. At only £24.99, it’s a bargain. Check it out.

I came across this website a while ago, but didn’t think it was much to write about. I do know what they have some decent traffic, and probably decent sales. But in terms of their football t-shirts, I think the phrase in the shirt above its best - they’re bollocks.

I would compare these shirts to some college humor shirts, and some ideas are borrowed and re-designed slightly from other websites. Creative? Not so much. High quality design? Not really. Can they sell? Of course.

I tried really hard to find a shirt on their site that I couldn’t make in 15 minutes, and it was a bit hard. Typical fonts, easy traces, and pretty standard designs. If you’re into these kinds of shirts, do give it a look. Some of you out there might just like these tees.

They say that they sell “Unofficial shirts as clever as the game you support!” And their main “market is the USA and Canada.” Hailing from Boise Idaho, you can’t expect quality design and humour from this company, which is why they don’t sell in the UK.

Visit who are ya designs.
PS: The name is pretty bollocks too.

Nike Mercurial Superfly from Unisport WebTV on Vimeo.

Check out the way the new Nike Mercurial Vapour Superfly football boots are built. I think Nike hired some architects for this project :). They look cool and light, but from past experience, they aren’t so comfortable.

Another awesome shirt coming from Amsterdam, this time with another famously weed-loving superstar. The guys at footballculture.nl rocked another design, featuring Snoop Dogg, a joint, and the very popular Ajax Amsterdam shirt. It’s well known that Snoop is often wearing football shirts, and it’s well known that he loves Holland. It’s a nice change to see him wearing something else than the Brazil jersey.

Wear this shirt .

Fair Trade Sports from Groovy Green on Vimeo.

Something a bit weird is going on, football is starting to be as green as the grass it’s played on. Fair Trade Sports has launched a line of footballs that are environmentally friendly and are fair trade. This is way cool, and I like their idea. Companies like these rock, so go on and buy some balls.

Nike Soccer Website

In the realm of football, there is one company that takes design seriously. That company is Nike, a constant innovator in the field of design. Their design efforts reach beyond product design, and touch into the fashion, web-presence and advertising. If you haven’t seen the Nike Soccer website (how could you not?), check it out and be expected to spend at least 30 minutes looking at all the cool stuff. They just need to make some cool soccer tees now. We’ll eagerly wait for that day to come.

Nike Soccer