It’s the FA Cup Fourth Round this weekend, and once again there’s some cracking ties to look out for. Whatever the game you should be counting the amount of times the ball hits the back of the net though, as it could win you a great prize. We’re asking you to guess the total amount of goals that will be scored in the round for the chance to win an Umbro Neo Pro ball, the official ball of the FA Cup sponsored by Budweiser. Head over to our special Facebook competition page to submit your answer, and you could be one of three lucky winners. The Neo Hi Vis will feature in every game this weekend, as teams look to take one step closer to Wembley and the chance to lift the trophy. Luckily the Neo goes where it should, so if your team are on their toes, they should see it heading for the back of the net! Best of luck in the competition, and lets hope we see plenty of goals….

It’s the Third Round of The FA Cup with Budweiser this weekend, traditionally the best occasion for giantkilling as the teams in the top two divisions join the rest in the race for the big prize. To celebrate, we’re hosting a special competition over on our Facebook page, where you can win a hi-vis Neo Pro, the official ball of the FA Cup. The Neo Pro will be used in all 32 games in the Third Round, and is sure to hit the back of the net a few times – last year there were 122 goals at this stage of the competition.

With this in mind, we’re asking you to guess how many goals will be scored in this year’s Third Round. Take a stab in the dark, or use your finest analytical skills, but you’ve got to enter them into our special Facebook competition page here. The five people closest to the actual total of goals will win the Neo Pro ball, so get your guess in now if you want a chance to win – you’ve got until 3pm on Saturday to enter, before the majority of fixtures kick off!

We’ve had a few giveaways online over the last few weeks, but we’ve saved possibly the best lot for today, as we celebrate the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Stoke City.

We’re going to be giving away one special bundle of prixes to one very lucky person who enters our competition during today’s game at Wembley. So what’s in the bundle? Well, first of all, there’s a pair of Joe Hart‘s FA Cup final gloves, which you can see him trying on in the video above. There’s only a few of these gloves being made, so they’re already a collector’s item.

Also in the bundle, is one of the special FA Cup final Neo balls. With today’s match details printed on the ball, there’s only 100 of these special edition balls in existence. But that’s not the most exciting part of the bundle….

Nope, the most exciting part is this, the ultra super mega limited edition Manchester City FA Cup Final Mercer jacket. With the Manchester coat of arms embroidered on the chest, these are a very special way to commemorate the occasion at Wembley today. There’s actually only enough of these jackets in existence for the MCFC first team squad and the one we’re giving away here. That is rare.

So, how do you win this pretty special bundle? You’ve got to be online whilst the match is on to find out – follow us on Twitter and be logged in from 3pm….

As they look ahead to Saturday’s FA Cup final, Manchester City will have a special piece of history behind them that was discovered in the Umbro archives. A telegram sent by the club to Umbro in 1934 after City’s FA Cup victory has inspired the special numbers and lettering that the team will wear at Wembley on Saturday as they aim to beat Stoke City in the FA Cup final.

As explained in the video above, the font used on the player’s shirts on Saturday has been inspired by the lettering used on the telegram, which thanks Umbro for “the fit, quality and smartness of the entire outfit” in the 1934 final that “was undoubtedly perfection”. Let’s hope that the players feel the same way this weekend!

The numbers on the back of the City shirts on Saturday will also feature another link to Manchester and the city’s past. The historic Manchester coat of arms will feature at the base of each number, a discreet nod to a tradition of using the Manchester emblem whenever City play at Wembley.

The club will also be celebrating this historic link with a special Mercer jackets that the team will wear as they step onto the Wembley turf.

As you can see from our pictures, the Manchester coat of arms has been intricately embroidered onto the jackets, putting the whole of the city (or at least a big part of it behind MCFC in the Cup Final.

We’ve also got a shot of what both Man City and Stoke City will be aiming to fire into the goals at Wembley – the official FA Cup Final ball. Detailed with the match information, these special edition Umbro Neo balls will be seeing plenty of action on May 14th. Designed for a truer flight and greater accuracy, the Neo certainly did what it should in the semi-finals, where there were six goals in total. I wonder how many we’ll see in the final?

We’re all agreed that last Saturday’s FA Cup Final was one of the best we’ve seen in recent years, with two missed penalties, a whole bunch of posts beings rattled and the debut of Umbro’s new Neo ball. It was also exciting for us as it was the first time we revealed our Terrace Tweets project, a new way to watch the big game through Twitter mentions for each team and stats around the game.

Terrace Tweets was a great success for us, with loads of you logging on to check it out, and a whole host of pictures and comments flowing from Twitter onto the site. There’s one cool aspect of the site which we haven’t mentioned yet though…

If you log on to Terrace Tweets now, you can relive the whole Cup Final experience in just 90 seconds, and get a glimpse of how the chatter around each team switched dramatically as the match went on. It’s a great way of going back to Saturday’s action and going through the highs and lows once again. Take a look here, click on ‘Replay Match’ and let us know what you think!

We’re looking to open up Terrace Tweets for more big matches in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for more chances to experience this great new way to watch the game!

Saturday’s FA Cup Final, where Umbro’s Neo ball made its debut, was certainly an exciting game regardless of who you were supporting. For lifelong Chelsea fan Ben Bradley it was even more thrilling, as he was the lucky winner of a competition Umbro ran in conjunction with The Sun.

Ben answered a question in the newspaper and was chosen as the person who would present the Neo ball to match referee Chris Foy before the game, before sitting down in VIP seats to watch the Final. We spoke to him after the match about his day out at Wembley, the result and taking his dad along for the game – here’s what he had to say:

“I was just flicking through the paper, reading all the build up around the Cup Final, and saw it in the corner of the page, so I thought ‘why not, you never know…’
I had tried to get tickets, but I couldn’t get any, my dad’s a lifelong Chelsea fan but he didn’t have any luck either. So I couldn’t believe it when I entered the competition and then got a call the morning after saying I’d won.

It all happened so fast. I was told that I’d won, so I got in touch with my dad and told him that we were going to the Final. He’s been taking me along to Stamford Bridge for a long time, so it was great to be able to pay him back a little!

We got the train up to Wembley in the morning, and we got to go straight into the ground, into the nice posh areas! We went up the escalators and into the FA Club, where we were greeted with a glass of champagne. Then we went down to the tunnel, got the ball and walked it out onto the pitch. Me and my dad couldn’t believe it, that we got to go down the tunnel and walk out onto the pitch, it was breathtaking really. Chris Foy, the referee was there, so we handed the ball over to him and had some photos taken, and it was also filmed for FA TV.”

Here’s Ben’s moment of fame, courtesy of FA TV:

“Then we were back up to the VIP area for a lovely meal, and we watched the match from the best seats in the house. I’ve been to Wembley before, but never like that, it was amazing. It would be nice to watch all games like that from now on!

Chelsea getting the win made it even more special, but for a while I didn’t think it was going to go in, we hit the post that many times. We actually got a message from a friend asking us if our fingerprints had cursed the ball!”

Hitting the target is the key to success in football, and that’s why here at Umbro we’re very pleased to introduce our new NeoPro ball, which is built to provide a ‘truer’ flight than any of its predecessors. How can it do that? There’s a number of reasons.

First of all, the NeoPro is cut using laser technology, which provides greater grip when you hit the ball, and a smoother flight through the air as it flies towards goal. It’s also made from larger panels than most other balls – 14 panels in total go into the NeoPro – offering cleaner strike zones for you to wrap your feet around.

Attention to detail on the NeoPro extends as far as the look of the ball, which is made from irregular geometric shapes and uses bright, vivid colours to aid a player’s vision, and constructed from soft materials for better touch control.

All together, the NeoPro is a ball that delivers on its aim: to provide that true experience that players are looking for. Once you’ve launched the NeoPro into the top corner of the net, you’ll see what we mean. Beware though – you’ll have no excuses now for shanking a shot into Row Z!

The Neo ball will be used for the first time in Saturday’s FA Cup Final sponsored by E.On, a fitting stage for such a terrific piece of equipment. Next season, you’ll also see plenty of teams getting the most of its fantastic features as it is used in the FA Cup from the second round onwards.