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Umbro Kits On Show This Summer

With the domestic football season almost over and the squads announced for this summer’s big tournament, the excitement is really starting to build for the European Championships. With three teams wearing Umbro football kits at the tournament, there’s going to be a lot of smart shirts on display – here’s our complete guide to the shirts that’ll be worn by players and fans this summer….

England

Playing in Group D, England announced their squad this week. In a white and red home shirt inspired by the St. George’s Flag and a stylish blue away kit, England are guaranteed to be looking good in Poland and Ukraine.

England Home 2012 Short Sleeve Shirt
England Away Shirt 2011

Republic Of Ireland

Competing in Group C at the tournament, the Republic Of Ireland will be looking smart in a traditional green home shirt, while their away shirt is white with a stylish green stripe down the chest.

Umbro Republic Of Ireland Home Shirt
Republic Of Ireland 2012 Away Shirt

Sweden

In the same group as England at the tournament, Sweden will be kitted out in a stylish yellow home shirt with blue pinstripes inspired by the country’s national flag. The away shirt, which captured many people’s attention during a friendly with England last year, is dark blue with a smart yellow sash stripe across the body.

Umbro Sweden 2012 Home Shirt
Umbro Sweden 2012 Away Shirt

We’re sure all the kits will look great on the pitch and in the stands on both players and supporters – they’ll all be available on the Umbro website before the tournament, so whoever you’re supporting you can be sure of looking good!

Liverpool Sound City: football and music in our neighbouring city

A terrific event taking place just down the road from us, Liverpool Sound City has become a fixture of the music calendar since it was launched in 2008, thanks to the city’s long-standing love affair with all kinds of music. The only thing that can rival music in Liverpudlian minds is football of course, so it’s only natural that the two are coming together at this year’s LSC.

Here at Umbro, we know a thing or two about football and music of course, so we’re delighted to be involved in the Kicking + Screening strand of Liverpool Sound City , which starts today and runs until Saturday. As an official partner, we’re going to be helping to host the John Peel World Cup in Liverpool on Saturday, which has become an integral part of LSC and raises money for a great cause. It’ll feature some of the great bands that are playing at this year’s event alongside teams from LSC itself, Spiel Magazine, Liverpool 1 – and of course, an Umbro team, who will sweep aside anyone who stands in their way. (I can say this as I’m not playing, so I won’t have to face the consequences….)

Alongside Saturday’s tournament, Kicking + Screening are also showing some great football related films in suitably impressive surroundings, complete with special guests, panel discussions, photography and more. It couldn’t be more of a mix of football and music than if you had Pat Nevin DJing and Dion Dublin playing his Dube.

We’ll have plenty more on Liverpool Sound City as it progresses, so keep your eyes on all the Umbro channels for the latest.

England 2012: Joe Hart answers your questions

On the day he was named as part of England’s 23-man squad for the forthcoming European Championships, you can catch goalkeeper Joe Hart answering some of the questions you submitted to us via Facebook and Twitter.

There were some great questions from you lot for Joe, asking about why he became a keeper, his inspiration and what he thinks of the new St George Collection football bootsthat he’ll be wearing this summer. Take a look at the video above to see what England’s top goalkeeper had to say!

England Squad Announced Today

England Home 2012 Short Sleeve Shirt

Today’s the day that England manager Roy Hodgson reveals his 23-man squad for this summer’s European Championships, with plenty of speculation around who will be travelling to Poland and the Ukraine. Who do you think will be going? Plenty of people have already put their hats in the ring and suggested who they think will be representing England this summer, and we’ve asked some of our football friends to put their suggestions forward, here’s what everyone thinks so far:

Marcus & Luke of The Football Ramble

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Robert Green, David Stockdale

Defenders: Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines, Kyle Walker, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Gary Cahill, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jones

Midfielders: Scott Parker, Ashley Young, James Milner, Theo Walcott, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard

Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Andy Carroll

Luke from The Right Winger:

GK: Hart, Foster, Robinson

Def: Baines, A. Cole, Phil Jones, Smalling, Ferdinand, Micah Richards, Kyle Walker

Mid: Cleverley, Gerrard, Carrick, Young, Lennon, Adam Johnson, Joe Cole, Scholes, Gareth Barry

Strikers: Rooney, Defoe, Welbeck, Crouch

Kyle from Footy-Boots:

GK: Hart, Carson, Green

DF: Cahill, A. Cole, Ferdinand, P. Jones, M. Richards, Terry, Walker

MID: Gerrard, A Johnson, Lampard, Parker, Scholes, Walcott, A.Young

ST: Carroll, Crouch, Rooney, Sturridge, Welbeck

Who Ate All The Pies and The Stiles Council have also been asking their friends for their final 23, but the only man that matters is Roy Hodgson – his official 23-man squad will be announced at 1pm today through The FA’s website, which will also host an interview with the England manager soon afterwards.

Whoever is in the squad, they’ll all be wearing the official England kit as they look for success this summer – head to Umbro.com now to see the full collection.

Win a Manchester City shirt signed by Liam Gallagher

Liam Gallagher Celebrates Manchester City's Premier League title victory

He launched the shirt in a special way last summer, so it was only fitting that Liam Gallagher was at the centre of the celebrations yesterday as Manchester City clinched the Premier League title. These fantastic pictures were captured by some of Umbro’s own MCFC fans in the ground as they joined the Beady Eye singer to salute their team’s victory.

Liam helped to launch the City shirt last summer, but this year we’re asking the fans to come up with ways to reveal the new Manchester City kits – if you’ve got a good idea, remember to Show Your City and you could be the one to reveal them this summer!

While he was celebrating, we also got Liam to sign a Manchester City home shirt which we’re giving away on Twitter today – head over to our page now to find out how you could win this one-off prize!

Liam Gallagher Celebrates Manchester City's Premier League title victory

Manchester City: Champions parade in Manchester today

Manchester City Premier League Champions Special Edition Shirt

Any City fans make it into work today? If you want to celebrate the Premier League title win with the club, there’s a parade in Manchester city centre this evening. Here’s the details:

The open-top bus tour with the team will depart from Albert Square at 6.30pm taking a 1.8 mile route through the city centre. Albert Square will be open to the public from 4pm for all the pre-parade build-up and entertainment, on a non-ticketed, free, first come first served basis.

The open-top bus will travel along the following route:

Pre-parade player Q&A in Albert Square: 6pm
Albert Square: Parade start 6.30pm
Princess Street: 6.30pm
Portland Street: 6.45pm
Deansgate: 7pm
St Mary’s Gate: 7.30pm
Corporation Street: 7.45pm

If you can’t make it there, or if you want to watch the build up to the event today, you might want to keep an eye on this webcam, which shows live pictures from Manchester’s Albert Square. It should get a lot busier as the day goes on!

Manchester City: Premier League Champions

Manchester City Premier League Champions Special Edition Shirt

What a finish! Congratulations to Manchester City, Premier League champions 2011/12 after a thrilling last minute victory over QPR. Once you City fans have got your breath back, you can celebrate with these great special edition home shirts, which are being worn by the players today as they pick up the trophy.

Manchester City Premier League Champions Special Edition Shirt

With the timeless words ‘Premier League Champions 2011/2012′ in gold lettering above the Manchester City crest, the shirt also features ‘Champions’ on the back and the number 12. It’s a great way for City fans to celebrate their historic league title in style!

The shirts – worn by the players as they celebrated with the City fans today – will be available to buy from the Manchester City website. The perfect way to show your pride in City this summer!

Canada celebrates its Centenary with a special shirt

Umbro Canada Centenary Limited Edition Shirt

On June 27th 1912, the Canadian Men’s National Team was formed, but they played their first ever game on international soil in 1925, beating their neighbours the USA 1-0 in a friendly fixture. To celebrate their 100th birthday, Umbro and the Canadian Soccer Association have created this special limited edition shirt inspired by the kit worn by the Canadian team on that occasion.

Umbro Canada Centenary Limited Edition Shirt

The shirt, in royal blue with a white collar and eye-catching red maple leaf crest, has been tailored by Umbro to celebrate this important anniversary in the CSA’s history. The shirt, and the accompanying Anthem jacket also crafted by Umbro, will be seen on the field as Canada recreates that iconic first game with a friendly against the United States on June 3rd in Toronto. We’re sure they’d be happy with the same scoreline as that first match 100 years ago as well! The game is the final warm-up before both Canada and the USA resume their World Cup qualification games, so it’s sure to be an important fixture for both teams.

Umbro Canada Centenary Limited Edition Anthem Jacket

The Canada centenary shirt is a limited edition release, with only 1912 being created – they’re on sale now from the CSA website.

Athletic Club Bilbao: European glory awaits

Athletic Club Bilbao Away Shirt

It’s a big night in Bucharest this evening as two Spanish giants meet in the Europa League Final, with one team in particular getting plenty of support from the UK. Ever since they beat Manchester United earlier in the tournament, Athletic Club de Bilbao have been the team for many English fans to follow, thanks to their swashbuckling style and their smart tailored kits.

They face a difficult task in the final tonight, with Atletico Madrid standing in their way, so that’s why Bilbao have asked fans around the world for their support ahead of the big game. Athletic Club have asked fans to send messages of support to a special website they’ve set up ahead of tonight’s match to give the team a boost. Denok Batera – which is Basque for ‘with all’ – shows how widespread the support for Athletic Club is, with messages coming in from around the world. If you want to add a message of support, head over there now.

Whatever the result tonight it should be a cracking game, as a lot of the Europa League matches have been this season – here’s Goal.com’s five reasons why they think it’s worth watching the capital of Spain and the Basque region come together. If you do want to watch the match, it’s on Channel 5 tonight from 7pm UK time.

Neo 2: our FA Cup Final competition winner

FA Cup Final 2012: Neo 2 Competition Winner

Here’s a great picture of Elliot Mercer, the 14 year-old Chelsea fan who was the winner of our FA Cup competition. Elliot won the chance to present the official Umbro Neo 2 matchball to referee Phil Dowd before the game, before watching his team beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final to lift the cup. Quite a good day out for Elliot by all accounts! Congratulations again on winning, and we hope you had a great day.