Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Barcelona

The New Barcelona Kits for the 2017/2018 season are now on sale via their webshop.

Brentford Football Club and LeoVegas announce Shirt Sponsorship and Title Partnership

Brentford Football Club and LeoVegas are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership. The West London club and the industry-leading mobile gaming company have signed a two-year agreement today, Monday 19 June, that will see LeoVegas become the Title Partner of Brentford FC as they look to challenge for promotion to the Premier League.

Award-winning mobile casino and sportsbook operator LeoVegas.com, will have its branding on the front of Brentford’s home and away shirts for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. The logo will also appear on selected team Training Wear and be featured prominently around Griffin Park.

The two-year partnership means that when Brentford’s new adidas shirts are revealed shortly they will feature LeoVegas’ iconic branding. The mobile gaming company will also be displayed above the goal at the Brook Road end of Griffin Park and on the Braemar Road stand as well as on pitch side and programme advertising and at various promotional events. The deal is set to cover Brentford’s final two years at their historic Griffin Park home before a move to the Brentford Community Stadium and will start as The Bees begin their fourth consecutive season in the Championship after three top-ten finishes.

LeoVegas has cemented its position as a world leader in the mobile gaming industry, and since summer 2016 has been growing its sport offering – with the launch of its sportsbook and growing sponsorship roster, including partnerships with Leicester Tigers and professional golfer Mathias Schjølberg. The partnership with Brentford FC aims to increase its presence in the football industry and make the company a household name amongst sport fans.

Mark Devlin, Brentford FC Chief Executive, said: “I’m delighted to welcome LeoVegas on board as a partner of the Club. We are pleased to add a rapidly growing brand like LeoVegas to an already strong commercial family that includes local, national and international companies.

“During our discussions with LeoVegas it was clear that they were a company we could work with. There was a synergy between us and the benefits of the relationship appealed to all parties. We believe there are common values we share and we look forward to working closely with LeoVegas over the next two years.”

Jon Sinclair, Head of LeoVegas in UK and Ireland, said: “We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Brentford FC. The much-loved club is, like us, ambitious and innovative – which perfectly aligns with our technological expertise and mobile first ethos.

“This partnership marks an exciting growth in our sports offering, and offers the perfect platform for us to engage with more football fans – something which is important for us to do over the coming months as we focus on the evolution of our sports betting product.

“Brentford play in one of the most-watched leagues in the world and have incredibly loyal fans – we’re thrilled to be at the heart of the action with them.”

Bier & Ballen

This is the shirt we designed for the 10th edition of football cult festival ‘Bier en Ballen’. Our gift to all ‘Bier en Ballen’ volunteers and available in limited numbers, exclusively at the festival. Saturday, June 24, Breda – The Netherlands.
Bier en Ballen

This shirt is not available in our webshop, but can be ordered exclusively at the Bier & Ballen festival. All other COPA Football Shirts can be found on copafootball.com

Away Fans Matter

In support of the Football Supporters’ Federation’s ‘Away Fans Matter’ campaign and inspired by a line from Herman Melville’s evocative 1851 masterpiece, Moby Dick, this design romantically portrays the unconditional devotion of the dedicated Away Fan, as a restless, driven adventurer.

The design presents a beautiful visual analogy for the extreme lengths that the Away Fan goes to; the incredibly arduous journeys, the ups and downs, the joy and the suffering… which, for most dedicated souls, is more often than not, the latter.

Away Fans ‘really do’ Matter. In an age of increasingly outrageous ticket prices, travelling costs and tough economic conditions, their support and enthusiasm is unwavering. They are the lifeblood of the game and bring considerable and much-needed revenue to clubs and local economies. Bringing noise, colour and character to football stadia, they are the catalyst to generating the unique atmospheres that have made watching the game so exciting, either as a live or televised experience. Football would certainly be less interesting and largely soulless place without them, so, bang the drum for Away Fans now and show your support for the FSF’s national campaign at:
www.fsf.org.uk/campaigns/away-fans

”As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.’
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

See the original article here

Virgin Media

Virgin Media and disability charity Scope are teaming up to highlight disability discrimination in football grounds at Southampton’s game against Manchester United next week.

New research published today shows that disabled football fans feel excluded from live games. Eight in ten who attend football stadiums across the UK say they have experienced some form of discrimination or other issues resulting from their disability.

As a result, the majority (62%) of these disabled fans said these experiences had stopped them from going to a live match again.

To highlight the issue and to put disabled fans at the heart of the game, Southampton will wear a special Scope-branded shirt for their home match against Manchester United FC on Wednesday 17 May.

Virgin Media, the official shirt sponsor of Southampton FC, is removing its logo from the club’s strip to support its charity partner, Scope, in order to get behind disabled football fans.

It forms part of the company’s partnership with the charity to help transform the lives of disabled people.

To read the full story, click here

If you are in the UK and are interested in becoming a Virgin Media customer please feel free to email me.

Geoff Thomas

Geoff is a former professional footballer. He recently sent me details of his awe-inspiring challenge for 2017.

“This year, I am taking on the “Three Tours Challenge”. This epic feat will see me cycle the three Grand Tours; The Giro D’Italia, Le Tour de France and La Vuelta a España consecutively.

This challenge is a monumental one. We will cycle a total of 10,504km, all in only 63 days of cycling just one day ahead of the likes of Chris Froome in the main professional events and I am delighted to have the support of Farr Vintners and my former team, Crystal Palace.

Find out more about the challenge: www.3tourschallenge.com

Only 39 professional cyclists have taken this challenge. No amateur or professional team or female cyclist has done it before and we would love a woman out there to join us. We are just 5 amateur cyclists who are passionate and driven to test ourselves to the limit for a great cause and this challenge will certainly take us to our limits and it is certainly for a wonderful cause.

Why are we doing it? We are trying to raise £1m to help blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia fully fund the expansion of the internationally renowned Centre for Clinical Haematology. Not only will the expanded Centre immediately save more lives but it will also hasten global progress towards eradicating all forms of blood cancer within 25 years, a goal that we all want to reach even sooner.

We have had great support from so many already including the current England football manager Gareth Southgate. Gareth said:

“As a former teammate of Geoff’s I know what a brave and committed player he was and these qualities will have no doubt helped him through his own battle with blood cancer. His fundraising since he beat the disease has not only raised millions but also inspired so many people in the process. I am in no doubt that Geoff and the team will complete this monumental cycling challenge and raise considerable funds towards Cure Leukaemia’s £1m Appeal so I hope the football community will unite behind this wonderful cause.”

Please give what you can because every single penny will go towards a charity that can help cure the 3rd biggest cancer killer in the UK. Please help us Cure Leukaemia.

The tour started on May 4th in Italy, any donations would be greatly appreciated.”

Refugees and Cycles

Obviously, I could not pass on this newsletter I was sent today. You could say that it sort of had my name on it!

The Bike Project is an award-winning charity and social enterprise that refurbishes second-hand bikes for refugees in London. Refugees arrive in this country with nothing, are forced to live on a £36 per week and are not allowed to work.

13,500 asylum seekers flee to London each year. 27,500 bikes are abandoned over the same period. Just one of these abandoned bikes can help save a refugee £20 a week on bus fare. That’s £1040 a year!

The Bike Project sell the more valuable bikes that are donated through their online shop and rely on donations of second-hand bikes from members of the public to refurbish.

For more details visit the Bike Project website

Play at the Camp Nou, Barcelona

Have you ever dreamed of playing at Camp Nou? Now’s your chance with Beko!

Win the chance to play on the pitch at Camp Nou, an exclusive training session with FC Barcelona’s expert coaches and a tour around Camp Nou. Travel, accommodation and food is all included too.

Simply complete the form to qualify. Winners will be picked and contacted after 20th May!

The 92 Grounds Shirt

There are a couple of interesting offerings from Copa this week.

The ‘terão’ or urban field is an oasis in the Brazilian urban landscape and the place where family, friends, adults and children are cheering together for their local team. A breath of fresh air in the daily lives of those who live in the city outskirts of Sao Paulo.

These fields, the basis of Brazilian football as we know it, are increasingly rare to be seen because of property speculation and land occupation. Brazilian photographer Renato Stockler managed to catch a few of these last remaining typical fields in his beautiful serie ‘Grounds from above’.
The Ground From Above All Over T-shirt can be found on copafootball.com, in our flagshipstore in Amsterdam and via selected retailers and online resellers.

Isco

I came across this wonderful story about Isco (Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez) who plays for Real Madrid. Many years ago he lived down the road from me in Arroyo de la Miel (“The Stream of Honey”) on the Costa del Sol. He moved from Málaga CF where he made his name after being released by Valencia CF and has been a lynchpin in Zidane’s squad this season. As such I have always watched his progress. Many will know that I am myself sincerely “hearing impaired” which, apparently is the new politically-correct expression for what I really am ….deaf! I was therefore delighted to read this article in this week. #RespectIsco

Isco fulfills goal celebration promise to young fan in a big way

An encounter at an autograph signing leads to a lovely gesture

On Friday (14 April), Isco took part in an autograph signing that gave him the chance to meet eight-year-old Manar, who attended the event with her parents, who are deaf. As she got Isco’s autograph, she asked him if he could do the sign for “I love you” if he scored a goal in the next day’s match against Sporting Gijon. Isco told her that he would.
Fast forward to Saturday and just 17 minutes into the match, Isco scored and did the sign. But he wasn’t done. Isco then scored a 90th minute winner to beat Gijon 3–2 and did the sign again. After the match, he explained that he thought of Manar in those moments, prompting the gesture.

Making this whole thing even better is the fact that their encounter at the autograph signing was caught on camera. Take a look:

And as if all that wasn’t wonderful enough, now Isco even has his young son doing it (in a full Real Madrid kit, above).

So that’s how I became an Isco fan.

Article first produced in Howler Magazine