As we look forward to a new footballing season, here at Umbro we’re also looking forward to seeing this brand new colourway for the Speciali boot appearing on the feet of some top players. In black and white with a gold trim, the latest Speciali blends the traditional with flashes of bright, vivid colour.

At heart, it’s got the same fantastic features that has made the Speciali one of Umbro’s most popular boots. With our special A-frame to provide balance and support in the middle of the foot, a leather outsole for comfort and dozens of other little touches to bring out the best of your game, the Speciali continues to represent the best boot technology that Umbro has to offer.

Last year, while he was judging the entries to our competition to customise a pair of Speciali boots, Michael Owen casually mentioned that he’d love to have a pair featuring a picture of his favourite horse, who happens to be called Speciali! Once we heard this, we knew that we had to get the boots made, and set about getting a picture of the horse, shaping it to fit the boots, and getting them produced. Here’s what the soles featuring Speciali look like:

Yesterday, Michael was here in Manchester for a photo shoot, so we thought that it’d be the perfect time to give him the finished boots as a belated 30th birthday present. As you can see in this shakily filmed video, he was certainly impressed with the finished product:

Michael is currently working his way back to fitness with the aim of being ready for pre-season training in the summer, and we hope that his new Specialis give him a boost as he continues his recuperation from injury. After we’d passed on the boots, we had a quick chat with the Manchester United and England man about why Speciali means so much to him.

So Michael, what’s so special about Speciali the horse?

“I think he was the third horse I ever bought, when I came back from the World Cup in 1998. One was named Etienne Lady, after the goal I scored against Argentina in St. Etienne, and the other one I bought then was named Speciali after my boots. He was one and-a-half then, so I think he’s thirteen now and we’ve still got him – that picture is from our paddocks at home.”

How was he for racing?

“He’s a bit like his owner, he’s always injured! My wife rides him now, and my eldest daughter will probably be riding him in a year or so when she gets big enough. He’s like a member of the family really, we love all our horses but he’s got a special place in our hearts.”

Are you looking forward to playing in the boots?

“I certainly am, I will be coming back with a bang wearing them! They’re great looking boots, with a touch of the personal side. My rehab is in full swing now, but I should be ready to start pre-season with the rest of the lads.”

As if having two of the most stylish boots around wasn’t enough, today we can show you the latest colourways in which our Stealth and Speciali boots will be worn over the coming months.

White & Gold Speciali

The Umbro Speciali is a design classic, which offers players such as Michael Owen and John Terry the comfort and movement they need on the pitch. This latest colourway will be worn later this year, with a host of international stars sporting this fantastic white and gold design. We can’t wait to see it in action!

Black & Silver Stealth

We launched the Stealth boot last month, and it’s already had a brilliant response from fans and players, with Premier League stars such as Gael Clichy, Phil Jagielka and Wilson Palacios sporting the existing colourways on a few occasions and feeling the benefits of a boot that’s built for the player who likes to outfox the opposition. Soon, they’ll be spotted in this beautifully sleek black and silver colourway as well, so keep an eye out for it on the pitch!

For more pictures of both the new Stealth and Speciali, check out our Flickr page. If you want more information on the boots or want to find out where you can get hold of a pair, head to Umbro.com, where you’ll also find tons of info on all of our great products.

Having announced the winners of our World At Your Feet competition last week, we recently spoke to both our winner and runner-up about their designs. Both were very excited about having their designs chosen from the thousands that were entered, here’s what they had to say:

Winner: Jorge Angulo – South African Soul – whose design (top left) will be worn by Umbro’s players this summer

“When I read about the competition, I took the challenge seriously. I wanted to show the true soul of South Africa through what I thought are its traditional symbols; with a design that includes all my ideas of the host country of the World Cup. Some of them were folk art, the South African flag, and the patterns on an animal’s skin, like leopards.

I succeeded in my task by creating a geometric design that clearly represents what I was looking for; also, I was able to place all the colours properly making it a unique, colourful and different design.I’m pleased and surprised that my design was chosen as the winner of this competition, and I want to thank Umbro and their team for their recognition.”

Runner Up: Eduardo Napeleao – Zebra – who will receive a pair of Specialis featuring his design (above right)

“This is amazing! You have no idea of how happy I am to have my design chosen to be used on the Umbro Speciali. This is really awesome!

As Umbro usde to say: Only Football. This phrase is almost a rule in my country and in my case it’s not much different. I remember that my first football shoes were Umbro, and also my favourite team (Figueirense Futebol Clube) wore Umbro jerseys for almost ten years. Having football boots featuring my design made by Umbro is like having all my passions come together.

The Umbro Zebra was created in honour of one of the African symbols for strength and velocity. These skills, when combined in football players, makes an excellent game. Also, the zebra stripes look great – a kind of natural, classic, clean and wild design. Watching a football player wearing an Umbro Speciali Zebra would be like watching the match on a savana field with powerful zebras, fighting to survive in the competition.”

Congratulations again to both winners, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Recently, we launched our competition called The World At Your Feet, where we asked you to submit artistic ideas that would fit on the sole of a Speciali football boot. These wouldn’t be any normal Specialis though, but the boots that will be worn by Umbro’s players during this summer’s tournament in South Africa. The likes of Deco, Pepe, Gael Clichy, John Terry, David James and Wilson Palacios will all be sporting them on the world’s biggest stage, meaning that the chosen design will have a starring role in front of an audience of millions. That’s some first prize! One other design would also be picked out as runner-up and made into a pair of Specialis as a special memento for the lucky designer.

It’s a pretty big prize then, and there have certainly been plenty of entries to choose from – over 2,000 in fact, with a lot of excellent designs inspired by the tournament, Africa and football as a whole. We also received over 26,000 votes from people eager to pick out their favourites, so thanks to all of you that took the time to look through all the submissions and pick out your favourites.

After much deliberation, our runner up was chosen: congratulations to Eduardo Napoleao from Brazil, whose ‘Zebra’ design was picked out by the team here at Umbro.

That left one more decision to be made – which design would be the winner, worn by the players this summer? That honour goes to Jorge Angulo from Ecuador, whose ‘South African Soul’ design was chosen as the finest to be submitted. Congratulations to Jorge for creating a beautifully eye-catching design, and don’t forget to keep an eye out for it on the feet of our players as they take to the pitch in June and July!

The World At Your Feet competition has ended, but if you want to see how your designs would look on the sole of a Speciali, you can still head over to the Umbro website now

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 or Kitbag 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.