When we revealed the limited edition red Speciali boots a couple of weeks ago, a lot of you were understandably excited about them, and interested to know when they’d be available to buy. The good news is – they’re out now.

You’ll have to be quick to snap up a pair though, as there’s only 300 of these limited edition Specialis available. As you can see from these pictures, the boots come in a very special presentation box, complete with everything you’d need to keep them in tip-top shape – leather care, a boot brush and shoe horn. Head over to Pro Direct now to take a closer look and to grab a pair for yourself.

If red isn’t your thing, but you still fancy treating yourself to a pair of very special Specialis, there’s also some of our limited edition boots customised by artist Stuart Semple and fans around the world still available. The boots, which have been worn by Darren Bent, Deco, Michael Owen, John Terry and Gael Clichy, add a spark of individual personality to the classic Speciali look.

We’re sure you’re all aware of the Customise Your Speciali competition we ran last year, in which thousands of you submitted your designs in the hope of seeing them feature on the feet of some of the Premier League’s finest. Now, we’re going global. Today we’re launching a design competition that could see your idea grace the feet of Umbro’s players at this summer’s World Cup. Stars such as John Terry, Deco, Wilson Palacios and Pepe will be wearing Specialis in South Africa, and we want you to design the image that will feature on the soles of all their boots.

If you want your ideas to grace the world’s biggest stage, it’s quite simple: head over to Umbro’s website, and upload your design. We’re looking for something that’ll fit the occasion, so be sure to put only your best ideas forward. We’ll be picking just one winner that’ll be worn by all Umbro’s players in the World Cup, plus one runner-up who’ll get a pair of Specialis featuring their design. So get thinking, get over to Umbro.com/MyDesign and get designing – the deadline for entries is March 12.

You might have already read about the customised Specialis that we’ve made for Deco and Darren Bent, with both players extremely pleased with the results. But what about those designs that came from yourselves as part of the Customise Your Speciali competition?

Over 10,000 designs were submitted for the competition, with the final winners being chosen by a team of footballers, designers and boot specialists. We revealed the winners in this blog post late last year, but today we can finally show you the finished product. Michael Owen’s Eat My Gooooaal design (top), John Terry’s Tailored design (above) and Gael Clichy’s Speciali Pride (below) have all been passed on to the players, who will be wearing them on the pitch. They’re also being talked about on TV and in various newspapers -if anyone spots them, don’t forget to let us know!

We spoke to Michael Owen when he received his Eat My Goooaaaaal! Specialis earlier this week, here’s what he had to say about the designs: ‘I think the design looks really good. Obviously I picked the design out of all the ones I saw, I liked it then and I still like it now. It lightens the boots up a lot, and I’m looking forward to wearing them in a match. I think these designs open up a can of worms – when you see something great like this, then you think ‘what else can you do? What other designs can you make?’ I’m sure it’ll capture the imagination of a lot of people, including my team mates when they see them for the first time.’

Here’s a selection of the other winners, who all received their own pair of customised Specialis to cherish – you can check out all the designs in detail over on Umbro.com or on Umbro’s Flickr page. A limited number of the boots worn by Michael Owen, John Terry, Gael Clichy, Darren Bent and Deco are available to buy – check them out on Pro Direct now. So which ones are your favourites?

Last week Darren Bent was tweeting about the new designs on his Umbro Specialis, now this week Portugal and Chelsea star Deco can reveal the exclusive design he’ll be sporting on the bottom of his boots very soon. Deco’s boots feature a very special design entitled ‘Believe’, which was created by acclaimed contemporary artist Stuart Semple. Stuart examined Umbro’s unique cultural history in order to create the design – as this video explains.

The resulting image – pictured below, was then transfered onto a boot template, and made into a pair of Specialis which also feature the new white/black/gold colourway. We then presented the results to Deco, and here’s what he had to say:

“It’s fantastic, they’re really different boots with a really great design, and I’m looking forward to wearing them in the next game I play in. I’m sure the other players in the dressing room will be very impressed.”

A very creative pair of boots for a very creative player – if you think you could also do these boots justice on the pitch, a limited number will be available to buy from Pro Direct now.

It started with a Tweet. Back in September, Darren Bent spotted that Umbro were running a competition for people to design their own Speciali boot outsole, and wanted to get involved.  James Else kindly designed some boots for Darren using our customisation tool on umbro.com

On Twitter, DBTheTruth then tweeted “I want this on the bottom of my boot safc fans will know why“  So our designers got down to work and designed some options. 

Darren then put these to the public vote and what you see here is the end result!  The white/black/gold boots are the latest colourway for the Speciali due to go on sale in the UK on February 1st.  You can learn more about the Speciali boots over on umbro.com.   

After announcing our fifteen winners of the competition to customise the sole of your Specialis last week, today we’re very excited to announce the designs that have been chosen by Michael Owen, John Terry and Gael Clichy. All fifteen winners will get a pair of boots featuring their design, but the three that have been chosen to be worn by the players are:

Tailored by David Smith, which will be worn by John Terry

Here’s what David (pictured) had to say about the inspiration behind his design: “After uploading my design I was a little unsure as to whether the concept would come across strongly enough, whether the design would be clear or whether people would see it as a simple cream and black thing!

Whilst I loved my idea, I didn’t believe it would make it this far, there were so many great designs up there. I was trying to continue the Tailored By England campaign which you’d kicked off for the latest England kit, so the natural progression in my mind was to show the sole of a formal shoe on the Specialis – something like a loafer or a good old British brogue. I’ve just got to hope now that I can appeal to John Terry’s sartorial taste…” Looks like it worked!

Speciali Pride by Marko Govorusa, which will be worn by Gael Clichy

Here’s what Marco had to say about his design:    “My idea came from trying to show the passion and desire in a football match. From players screaming to one another, to the fans cheering them on and hopefully filling rival teams and fans with fear. A roaring lion made up of Umbro Diamonds is a simple but effective depiction of this.

Fitting the roaring lion to the sole of the boot was a little more tricky, as the stud holes were obstructing either the lion’s fangs or its eye. So I was trying to rotate or scale the illustration to fit, and after a couple of attempts, and adding more hair to the lion’s mane I was happy to submit my entry.
The king of the jungle becomes the king of the pitch, in a pair of Specialis – hence the name Speciali Pride.”

Eat My GOOOAAL by Tom Fournier, which will be worn by Michael Owen

Here’s Tom’s description of how he came up with Eat My GOOOAAL: “For this, i was trying to think of a new, unique and quirky way to look at the base of the football boot. The positioning of the studs reminded me of teeth in an open mouth and like a big light bulb appearing above my head i came up with “Eat my Goooal”.  I sketched away for a couple of hours and then got to work on the computer and this is the end product. ”

Here’s a clip of Michael Owen deciding on his choice from the shortlisted designs:

The boots are now being manufactured, and will be worn by the players later this year.

All the boots for each shortlisted finalist are also in production now, and will be sent out to all the winners. You can read the stories behind the other shortlisted designs here.

Designer Stuart Semple helped to draw up the original shortlist of fifteen for the Speciali competition. He’s also created a unique design for the Speciali which will feature on a limited run of boots. You can see Stuart coming up with his ideas for the design in the video below. Esquire magazine have 25 pairs of the Stuart Semple designed Specialis to give away – head over to their website here for a chance to grab some.

Esquire, Umbro and Stuart Semple from esquireuk on Vimeo.

We’re about to announce the designs that have been picked by John Terry, Michael Owen and Gael Clichy to feature on the soles of their Speciali boots later this year. They were chosen from a shortlist of fifteen, each of which has its own story to tell. Here’s where the other finalists got their inspiration from:

Aeiko by Pete Harrison

“Basically I wanted to create something that stood out on the boot and went well with the Speciali colours. I created a boot template then played around with a few vectors and positioned them the best way I could to fit the shape of the boot, the concept was just freestyle, a mashup of graphics onto the sole of the boot..

I wanted to make the design pop and stand out using splashes of red and keep the Umbro logo red.”

Zombie by Stuart McCluskie

“I concentrated on the idea of the passion of football. I played around with the idea of following the sport, and in particular your own team, and the almost blind devotion fans display week in, week out, season upon season. Coupled with the lure and attraction that the sport has on so many people I arrived at the symbolism that football supporters become single-minded and mesmerised in a way not dissimilar to that of ‘the undead’.

Drawn to the support of your team – never more apparent than in a World Cup tournament – fans become zombie slaves to the game! The application of that to the canvas of the Speciali then followed suit. The design of the chrome, shiny stud caps had to become protruding hypnotic eyes and why not multiply that beyond the number of studs on the boot to increase the crowd of zombie fans jostling for space on the design.”

Football Of The World by Tom McDonald

“We decided that football was one thing that everyone in the world understands and so we decided to do flags of the world. We used the studs for the flags that had circles in like Japan and put the United Kingdom’s flag in the centre. I DREW AND COLOURED ALL THE FLAGS MYSELF IT TOOK FOREVER !!!!!”

Face Red by Joaquin Cordoba

“The image I chose is a picture of a friend who I always see in the place of work. I believe it is very elegant, as English football is. Besides liking the colour scheme, wiping her face gives some fear while allowing anyone to identify with the drawing.”

Koi Kick by Andrew Ashbourne

“As the name implies my design was based on a Koi using its tail fin to hit an Umbro ball. I used a Koi in my design because they are known to symbolise strength, courage, determination and good luck, traits we all need to have on the pitch. The contours of the Koi naturally fitted to the shape of the boot and the waves and cherry blossom were used to give the design more impact. I used a background of red and white to match the colours of the Speciali boot and to help the Black Koi stand out. I believe that the writing translates to seize the day and overcome all difficulties which I feel was fitting for the design.”

Subbed by Jeff Jardine

“As a boy I loved Subbuteo and I came across the picture and I thought I had to use it on the boot. I like the way the figure had a used look, just like the ones I had owned and I thought the fact it was an Argentina player would give it some special meaning to England players and in particular Michael Owen. Originally I wondered if the shape was all wrong for the boot but I played with it a little on Microsoft Office Picture Manager and then pasted it onto the boot, the Umbro website made this really easy and you didn’t have to do any difficult cropping.”

Reach For The Stars by Miha Oluru

“This idea just crossed my mind, I admit it is not original but I felt it had to be done. As a matter of fact I thought some of my other ideas were very original and stood a better chance (reading that Michael Owen likes and owes horses I tried to find a photo of one of his horses, fastest one preferably – he would have chosen my photo for sure had he seen it – but I  could not find any)”

Aaarg by Scott Pollard

“I wanted my design to be fun and colourful. It depicts a giant stampeding like a force of nature and not stopping no matter what. If your caught sleeping then he will get you.

I drafted my design out on paper and once I was happy with my design I created the artwork and uploaded it straight away. It was great to be able to upload it to the site and make slight changes so it was just right. ”

End Of Summer by Tian Lan

“My life is like a jigsaw, each piece of it gets together to form my life. One of the important pieces is about the soccer pitch and soccer, so I’d like to share it with everyone. I hope that I can put on the END OF SUMMER to fight for my dream just like Michael Owen.”

And remember, the competition may be over, but you can still upload and share designs for Speciali boots over here at the Umbro website.

After thousands of entries, here at Umbro we can unveil the finalists in our competition to customise the sole on a pair of Specialis. The response we had was amazing, with a fantastic range of designs from different ages and different countries around the world. These are the final 14, chosen from the thousands of different designs by a team of judges which included Umbro designers Stuart Semple and Stewart Scott-Curran, and Esquire’s art director David McKendrick. Initially we planned to have 11 winners, but the points system used by the judges to pick their favourites meant that we ended up with four designs tied in 11th place!

Here’s what Stuart Semple had to say about the entrants:

‘There were some unbelievable entries, I was pretty surprised by the diversity. At the top end the standard was incredible – I was particularly impressed with the entries that dealt with the architecture of the boot within their work. There were some really hilarious entries too. I think overall the shortlist shows an exciting breadth of talent and some exciting non-literal interpretations. It seems the Speciali competition has bought some incredible talents out of the woodwork.’

Each of the winners will have a pair of Specialis with their design on the sole made up for them, but that’s not all. Michael Owen, Gael Clichy and John Terry will each pick their favourites from the final 15 and wear them on the pitch later this year in a Premiership match.

Here, in no particular order, are the winners, with comments from designer Stewart Scott-Curran:

Tailored by David Smith                     Zoom Zoom by Luke Tonge

On Tailored – ‘This is a really clever design that seems obvious when you see it but those are the designs that often stand out. The ones that make you go “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”

On Zoom Zoom – ‘I really like the simplicity of the design and the balance of colour. It’s a very eye catching design and proves that sometimes the simplest is the best.’

Aeiko by Pete Harrison                       Zombie by Stuart McCluskie

On Aeiko – ‘Another beautifully executed design that really pops on the red and white speciali. I love the clean lines and the little details that reveal themselves on the second or third look.’

On Zombie – ‘There’s a lot of humour in football and I love the sense of humour in this design. I also loved how the designer used the placement of the studs as eyes. I like it when the design is tailored to the canvas rather than the other way around.’

Football Of The World by Thomas McDonald / Muscle Du Pied by Jessica Fayard

On Football Of The World – ‘This was a very popular concept but this was the only version of the flags theme that has been hand drawn and really considered. If you notice, the designer has matched flags that contain circles to where the studs are placed. It was that attention to detail that really made this stand out from the rest.’

On Muscle Du Pied – ‘Again, this was a popular concept but for me this really talks into the idea that the Speciali boot is designed around the anatomy of the foot and that the footwear designers have considered every aspect of muscle structure and pressure points. I love the visualization of that concept in this design.’

FaceRed by Joaquin Cordoba                    Koi Kick by Andrew Ashbourne

On FaceRed – ‘Beautifully drawn. I love how the artist keeps it really tight at the bottom but the drawing gets looser as you reach the toe.’

On Koi Kick – ‘The execution and colouring of this is phenomenal. It really flows with the shape of the footplate and the inclusion of the ball takes it to the next level.’

Subbed by Jeff Jardine                    Winners Never Quit by Jack Allen

On Subbed – ‘Great eye catching design using a real iconic image of football. I love the fact that the designer is playing with scale so you can really see the detail and imperfections of the figure.’

On Winners Never Quit – ‘Simple, hand crafted design that really uses the monochromatic colour scheme to full effect. Great sense of humour too.’

Speciali Pride by Marko Govorusa    Eat My Gooooal! by Tom Fournier

On Speciali Pride – ‘The use of the Umbro Diamond in this design is inspired. The end result is vibrant and alive.’

On Eat My Gooooal! – ‘Again, my favourite designs are the ones that really use and enhance the shape of the canvas available. This is probably the best example of this that I’ve seen. It also has a great sense of fun, epitomized by the placement of the diamond. Fantastic.’

Reach For The Stars by Mihai Oluru         Aaarg by Scott Pollard

On Reach For The Stars – ‘The contrast of the dark design against the white boot makes this design really pop. It’s also a reminder that football is the world’s only truly global game.’

On Aaarg – ‘I love the humour in this design and the colours are great. If you snooze you lose!’

End of Summer by Tian Lan

This afternoon, Sunderland’s Darren Bent will debut a very special pair of Umbro Specialis in the game against West Ham. As you can see from the pictures featured here, Darren’s Specialis feature the logo from social networking site Twitter, plus the name @DBTheTruth, the name that the striker goes by online.

Here at Umbro we designed the boots for Darren after we realised what a massive fan he was of Twitter – he posts on the site a few times every day, and often takes pictures of things that catch his attention and uploads these as well. At the shoot for the pictures featured here, Darren snapped three different designs that we’d taken along for another pair of boots we’re designing for him, and asked his Twitter followers to pick out the one they liked best. He’ll wear the dynamite boots in another upcoming match.

Darren is the highest profile Premiership player to regularly use Twitter, something which famously got him into trouble earlier this year when comments he posted over his protracted move to Sunderland became public. He’s not the only footballer to Tweet though – two weeks ago, Darren was joined by Aston Villa goalscorer James Collins in celebrating scoring the winner through his Twitter posts. If you want to discover which other footballers are Twittering on a regular basis, we’ve collected the best ones that we can find here.

Making a brief trip from Manchester to Belfast to talk about the Umbro Speciali boots, Manchester United striker Michael Owen was given the superstar treatment on his visit to the Northern Irish capital. From the moment he stepped off the plane, Michael was signing autographs and answering questions on his career and that massive move to the English champions. Luckily, amongst the police escorts, excited fans and autograph-hunting aeroplane staff, Umbro’s Emma Wilson was at Michael’s side, armed with questions from our Facebook and Twitter followers. During a brief 5 minute calm amongst the storm, she sat Michael Owen down and got his answers to your queries. Here’s what he had to say…

Q: (from Andy Hunns on Facebook) Who was his hero when he was growing up?

‘Gary Lineker, he was a great player and in the England Squad when I was growing up so a real inspiration.’

Q: (from Sean James Hindle on Facebook) If you get back into the England team who would be your favourite player also in the squad to assist you upfront?

‘It would have to be Wayne Rooney. He’s one of the top players in the world and it would be good to work with him at Man United and then take the relationship onto international duty .’

Q: (from Philip Wigham on Facebook) Was it a hard decision to make when you moved to Manchester United, knowing the rivalry between them and Liverpool?

‘No not really. Manchester United is a great club with some of the top players and coaches in the world with a great manager. It was an easy decision for my career. ‘

Q: (from Michael Cunliffe on Facebook) Have you ever messed with your football manager stats to make you the worlds greatest striker, and if not, why not?

‘No, sorry I don’t play it.’

Q: (from Bryan Chavez on Facebook) What’s it like training with players like Rooney, Scholes, Ferdinand, and countless others? Have they pulled any pranks on you yet?

‘It’s great training with the guys because as I mentioned, they’re some of the top players in the world, but they havent pulled any pranks on me…yet!’

Q: (from Eduardo Andres Henriquez on Facebook) What do you remember from the 1998 World Cup?

‘Everything. It was my first major tournament and I scored a couple of goals so its was a great time for me.  I loved every moment of it.’

Q: (from howieboss on Twitter) Michael, you have kids – in Toy Story why if Buzz Lightyear doesn’t think he’s a toy does he not talk when humans come in the bedroom?

‘Sorry I haven’t seen it… I’ve only every watched a handful of films ever as I find it hard to sit still for that length of time. I’ve seen most of the Rocky films, Cool Runnings and Heat…’
(We here at Umbro luckily have seen the film, and we reckon it’s because the other toys stop Buzz before he has chance to introduce himself to the humans. Glad to be of service.)