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 and 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.  

Furthermore, FIFA has asked the Egyptian authorities for a full report on the incidents in order to evaluate what happened.

It is important to recall that FIFA has established strict safety regulations for all of its competitions. As is mentioned in article 1, paragraph 2 of those regulations (check the safety regulations PDF on the right hand side), the regulations may only serve as guidelines for competitions and matches not organised by FIFA, in which it is the responsibility of the respective organiser and local authorities to apply their own safety regulations.

Finally, FIFA has offered its full support to the Egyptian Football Association and will provide the EFA with any assistance it needs with regard to this tragedy.

Both sides were well organised outfits and so neither team was able to control the match as they would have liked in the opening exchanges. A pot shot by Yohan Cabaye which was comfortably saved by Stockdale proved to be the only effort on goal in the first ten minutes.

The Whites’ England ‘keeper had to be on hand again on 18 minutes after Hatem Ben Arfa rode the challenge of Senderos to arrow a shot towards the bottom right hand corner of the net. Luckily for Fulham Stockdale was well positioned to palm the ball away.

Duff and Ruiz were switching wings throughout and on 25 minutes Duff nearly scored against a former club for the second time in two games. Cutting in from the left after beating his marker, the Irishman unleashed a curling effort on his right foot which forced Tim Krul into a decent save.

The best chance of the game fell to Coloccini on 34 minutes but once again Stockdale was in the right place to keep out the defender’s half-volley.

The addition of Steve Sidwell to the starting line up added bite to the team and Fulham’s number 4 was doing a stellar job of keeping a creative Newcastle midfield in check. Unfortunately his game was cut short due to injury on 37 minutes. Jol showed his attacking intent by replacing him with striker Andrew Johnson.

Newcastle were finishing the half the stronger and took the lead two minutes before the break through a stunning Danny Guthrie goal. The Newcastle man gave Stockdale no chance with a vicious strike from 25 yards out.

Determined not to go in at half-time behind, Fulham rallied and Johnson found himself through on goal before being brought down cynically by Davide Santon. The capacity Cottage crowd wanted blood but the late arrival of a covering defender meant the punishment was only a yellow card.

Fulham started the second half brightly and within two minutes of the restart Duff, now back on the right wing, fired over following good hold up play by Johnson.

The Whites’ pressure was rewarded in the 51st minute when Duff was hauled down just inside the penalty area. Captain Danny Murphy stepped up to calmly slot home his 50th Premier League goal.

Moments later Fulham nearly took the lead. First Zamora smashed a shot straight at Krul before Chris Baird, a half-time replacement for Ruiz, forced a superb acrobatic save from the Dutchman.

Martin Jol’s men were now in control with Zamora, Johnson and Duff causing the Newcastle defence all sorts of problems.

The momentum told just before the hour mark as Fulham went 2-1 up through Clint Dempsey. Great link up play between Johnson and Zamora saw the latter skip inside Coloccini before his shot skidded off Krul and into Dempsey for the American to bundle home.

The lead was no less than Fulham deserved for a reinvigorated performance at the start of the second period.

The home side’s grip on the game was tightened on 65 minutes with another splendid team goal. Johnson headed down for Zamora to slip through an excellent ball for Dempsey who finished past Krul with aplomb.

Fulham were rampant and killed the game as a contest on 68 minutes when Johnson was brought down in the area by Krul. This time Zamora took the kick, rifling home the penalty in front of the watching Fabio Capello.

Newcastle pulled one back five minutes from time when Ben Arfa lashed home at the near post but Fulham restored their three goal advantage shortly after.

Zamora was again the provider as he sent a looping ball over the top of a high Newcastle line for Dempsey to chase. Fulham’s top scorer beat Coloccini to the ball and showed great composure once again to dispatch the ball past Krul.

Jol promptly replaced Dempsey with Kerim Frei; a substitution which gave the delighted Whites’ fans the chance to thank the match winner with a standing ovation.

http://www.fulhamfc.com

The LA Galaxy announced today that the club has re-signed midfielder David Beckham to a two-year contract, extending his stay with the MLS Cup Champions. Beckham, who had the best season of his five-year MLS career in 2011, helped lead the Galaxy to their first MLS Cup title since 2005.

Since joining the club as the first Designated Player in MLS History, the Galaxy have reached MLS Cup twice and won the Supporters’ Shield twice while also seeing the club reach new heights in terms of international recognition and popularity.

“This was an important decision for me,” Galaxy midfielder David Beckham said. “I had many offers from clubs from around the world, however, I’m still passionate about playing in America and winning trophies with the Galaxy.”

“I’ve seen first hand how popular soccer is now in the States and I’m as committed as ever to growing the game here,” he added. “My family and I are incredibly happy and settled in America and we look forward to spending many more years here.”

In five years with the Galaxy, Beckham was twice named to the MLS All-Star Team and finished the 2011 season with a career-best 15 assists, earning him a spot on the MLS Best XI. Beckham’s individual success helped translate to team success last season as the club repeated as Supporters’ Shield winners, finishing the season with a 19-5-10 record for 67 points, which were the second most in League history. That form continued into the postseason where the Galaxy won all four of their postseason games, culminating with a 1-0 win over Houston at The Home Depot Center in MLS Cup 2011. Beckham had an assist in that game, just as he did in each of the club’s first three playoffs games, giving him a league-best four postseason assists on the year.

“I am thrilled that David has chosen to re-join the Galaxy, especially as he had numerous options where he could continue his career,” Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. “I felt that he was one of the best players in all of MLS last season and we could not have achieved the success that we did without him. We look forward to trying to replicate that success this season with David once again in a Galaxy uniform.”

In 74 career regular season games in a Galaxy uniform, Beckham has 31 assists to go along with 11 goals with the club going 15-2-4 in the past three seasons when he scored a goal or recorded an assist. Additionally, the 36-year-old has helped lead the Galaxy to the postseason in each of the last three seasons, tallying seven assists in 11 postseason games. The Galaxy also qualified for the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in club history last season, with Beckham playing in four of the club’s six games while setting up a pair of goals in the competition.

In addition to Beckham’s on-field success, the former England captain has also had an historic impact on the game in the U.S. and globally. His mid-season arrival in Southern California coincided with the launch of the club’s new logo and colors, strengthening the Galaxy’s reputation in the global game and making the club’s jersey the best-selling in MLS and one of the best in the world.

“There has been much speculation in the past four months on where David was going to play and we did not get caught up in this and remained focused on re-signing him,” said Tim Leiweke, President & CEO, AEG. “David had many options and we are pleased he felt comfortable, not only with our organization but also with Los Angeles, and will remain an important part of our club, our AEG family and our City”.

“The Galaxy had an unbelievable year in 2011, David had a great year individually and the club were deservedly crowned Supporters’ Shield winners and MLS Cup Champions,” added Leiweke. “The 2011 Galaxy team may have been the best club in MLS history and like David, we are focused on repeating that success in 2012 and fielding the most exciting team for our fans.”

“When David and I discussed making the move from Real Madrid to the LA Galaxy back in 2007, our minds were firmly focused on the massive opportunity of helping to grow soccer in the United States,” added Simon Fuller, Beckham’s Business Partner and Manager. “We have made great progress over the past 5 years in raising the profile of soccer domestically and the MLS on a worldwide stage, and we are encouraged by all the results. However, clearly this is an ongoing mission and this new deal confirms our commitment to continuing our journey and making sure the world’s biggest sport, soccer, continues to grow in the world’s most passionate sports loving nation, the USA.”

In the past five years, the Galaxy emerged as a truly international club with worldwide recognition through tours that have drawn record crowds and major sponsors in such countries as Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines and South Korea. Locally, the Galaxy have hosted sellout crowds against international powers such as AC Milan, Barcelona, Boca Juniors, Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid, playing in front of more than 330,000 fans at The Home Depot Center, L.A. Coliseum and Rose Bowl in those matches.

Major League Soccer has also experienced exponential growth in the first five years that Beckham has played for the Galaxy, growing from 12 teams in 2006 to 19 teams this season, including the expansion Montreal Impact. In that time, the expansion fee for clubs has quadrupled from $10 million to $40 million, with $170 million being raised in expansion fees since the start of the 2007 MLS season. In that same time, nine new soccer-specific stadiums have been built in Major League Soccer, giving the League a total of 15 in 2012, while average attendance rose to 17,872 last season, making MLS the 10th best attended league in the world.

“What David has accomplished since joining the Galaxy five years ago is truly remarkable,” said Jeff Frasco of Creative Artists Agency (CAA). “While David has been a tremendous ambassador for soccer in the U.S., he has set further goals for himself, both professionally and personally, and we are pleased to be part of the team to help him achieve these and more.”

Iconic Chicago Brands Team Up to Unveil New 2012 Jersey

Fans can customize their own special edition white/gold adizero F50 micoach on www.miadidas.com.

For more images of Messi’s cleat, check out 
www.Facebook.com/adidasSoccer

Monday night was a special occasion with Thierry Henry making his comeback but I was not surprised that he scored the winning goal.
Already in training I have seen that he is sharp and ready to play, and I would not put him on the pitch if he was not ready because that would be unfair.

Thierry is a special player and what is good for the young players at the club is that a guy who has done it all comes and prepares 100 per cent, warms up, is focused and motivated, and comes on with an immense desire to do well.

Before he went on I just told him to play through the middle. You don’t need to tell him too much more because he has seen it all and done it all. You could see when he came on he had a presence on the pitch and if we could find him, we knew he would be dangerous.

He was already a legend here and now he has added a bit more to the story. It was a very happy dressing room afterwards because the players were very happy when he decided to come back. He gives us other options offensively as well.

As for Thierry’s goal, it was a little bit like a dream. It’s the kind of football story you tell to children because our game is not often like that. But sometimes it happens and it happened for Thierry.

Robin van Persie will be back for the Swansea game and I have not decided yet whether I will play him and Thierry together from the start. They can play together, of course, and they did play together before Thierry left five years ago.

Thierry got all the headlines after Monday night but it was a team effort and I want to praise my players for their spirit and determination against a difficult Leeds United side. We worked very hard and just missed something in our finishing until late in the game.

The only negative was that Francis Coquelin suffered a hamstring injury and I expect him to be out for a few weeks. I hope Johan Djourou will be back for Sunday’s game at Swansea and if we can find another defensive solution we will take it.

We are pleased to collaborate with 90Soccer, as we are complementary to each other and both offer a platform for the active fans, those who love soccer, attend matches and have an opinion on our beautiful game. Where 90Soccer operates from the US, we are based in Europe. Where the focus of 90Soccer is on your opinion, we focus on the coverage of matches by fans with reports, pictures and videos.

Together FootballFans build the collaborative history of football matches, with statistics, line-ups, events, photos, videos, reports, comments, collectables and last but not least their own presence. FootballFans is some kind of Wikipedia for football matches, created by fans! A reference site for all football lovers.

FootballFans also (pl)eases the fan life with handy features like a Quick Match Locator, to find matches nearby or a season scheduler, enabling to organize ticket exchange, travelling together or meeting with other football friends. They can log their collection of memorabilia on-line and keep track of their progress for the 92-club. All features for the real fan.

FootballFans contains:
• 750,000 matches covering all major competitions in the world
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Join us, contribute and share your experiences of your attended matches!

 VIDEO: Messi Thanks Fans for FIFA World Player of the Year Award

Pep Guardiola, the Spanish coach of FC Barcelona, and Japan’s women’s national team coach Norio Sasaki were the respective winners of the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football and FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football.

Messi’s and Guardiola’s FC Barcelona side concluded 2011 with victory in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, sealing another fine year which also included the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles.

Japan’s women’s team, known as the Nadeshiko, memorably claimed their maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup with a thrilling performance, twice coming back from behind to eventually defeat the USA on penalties after extra time.

These awards were decided after a poll in which the captains and head coaches of the men’s (for the two men’s football awards) and women’s (for the two women’s football awards) national teams, as well as international media representatives selected by French football magazine France Football, voted for candidates in each of the four categories. Each group’s votes represented one third of the final result.

It was an unforgettable night, with many former and current football stars on the stage and on the red carpet. The international audience were entertained by Swiss music group TinkaBelle and British singer/songwriter James Blunt.

The FIFA Ballon d’Or was awarded for the second time tonight, following the amalgamation of the FIFA World Player of the Year award with the France Football Ballon d’Or in 2010.

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Ballon d’Or after polling 47.88 of the votes, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (21.6)%) and Xavi (9.23%).

Sawa, winner of the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award, led Japan to the title at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 in Germany, where she also won the adidas Golden Ball as the best player of the competition and the adidas Golden Boot for her five goals. She collected 28.51% of the votes, ahead of Brazil’s Marta and Abby Wambach from the USA, who received 17.28% and 13.26% respectively.

Pep Guardiola secured the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award with 41.92% of the votes, ahead of Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson, who received 15.61%, and Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese coach of Real Madrid (12.43%).

Meanwhile, Norio Sasaki led the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football category with 45.57% of the votes, ahead of Pia Sundhage, the Swedish coach of the USA women’s national team (15.83%), and France’s women’s team coach Bruno Bini (10.28%).

FIFPro, the world players’ union, had invited 50,000 professional players from all over the world to select their best team of 2011, the FIFA/FIFPro WORLD XI. The honours went to the following all-star squad: Iker Casillas (Spain) in goal; Dani Alves (Brazil), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Sergio Ramos (Spain) and Nemanja Vidic (Serbia) in defence; Xabi Alonso (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain) and Xavi (Spain) in midfield; and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Wayne Rooney (England) up front.

The FIFA Puskás Award for the “most beautiful goal” of the year as voted for on FIFA.com and francefootball.fr by more than 1.5 million fans was also handed out. This prize, created in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, went to Brazil’s Neymar for his fantastic goal in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A match between Santos FC and Flamengo in São Paulo on 27 July 2011.

Sir Alex Ferguson received the FIFA Presidential Award from President Joseph S. Blatter for his outstanding dedication, commitment and service to football. On 6 November 2011 Sir Alex Ferguson completed 25 years as manager of Manchester United. During that period the club have won over 30 different trophies, including 12 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, two UEFA Champions Leagues and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The FIFA Fair Play Award was given to the Japan women’s team, who had to endure many hardships following the earthquake which struck their country in March 2011, and during which many people lost their lives. The team showed great courage to make it to the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011, ultimately lifting the trophy for the first time. The award was collected by the President of the Japan FA, Junji Ogura, and by the captain of the team, Homare Sawa.

Simone Farina was recognised on stage for his courage in denouncing an attempt to get him to fix a match. The player of Serie B club AS Gubbio in Italy was complimented by the FIFA President for his action and applauded by the audience.