Which Brand Will Dominate the 2013-14 Champions League Season?
Sep 17, 2013, by Chris
The new 2013-2014 Champions League season starts today. Footy Headlines takes a look at the dominaTing brands of the 2013-2014 Champions League Group Stage. Adidas will be again the official tournament sponsor providing the 2013-14 Official Champions League Match Ball.
In the last two season two teams sponsored by Adidas won the most important club trophy in the world. The German brand got the most attention from all kit suppliers of the competition even it was Nike who supplied more teams than any other brand including Adidas.
The 2013-14 UEFA Champions League Group Stage in general
As one of the the six offical Champions League sponsors, Adidas will gain more attention from the broadcast camera with advertising billboards. Adidas also released a special UEFA Champions League Boot Pack in early September including boots with special Champions League design elements.
While Adidas is the offical tournament supplier, Nike got some of the best players and has probably few more world star players under contract than Adidas. With Neymar as new Barcelona signing we will see the face of the Nike Hypervenom Boot in the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League. Nike also has players like Cristiano Ronaldo, who has over 60 million fans on Facebook, 2013 European Footballer Franck Ribéry and several other players under contract.
4th time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi and last years UEFA Champions League final goal scorer Arjen Robben are alike the new Real Madrid 100-million Euro signing Gareth Bale under contract with Adidas. Even Adidas also signed contracts with several world class players Nike has more star players in their portfolio.
Puma will not get beyond the big two brands, even they secured several top players in the last years. Together with Borussia Dortmund sponsorship, the Big Cat has signed Borussia Dortmund player Marco Reus, Cesc Fàbregas and Kun Agüero. Even Puma has signed contracts with some well known players the are not on the same level as Nike and Adidas.
With the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League Final, which will take place in the home stadium Estádio da Luz of the Portugese club Benfica , the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League Ball takes the colors of Benfica as inspiration for the ball design.
The new 2013-2014 UEFA Champions League Ball features the main color white with red and grey application and will be used in the 2013 UEFA Champions League group stage in all matches.
The kits of the 2013-14 Champions League
After Nike took over Umbro, they now are the kit supplier from three of the four Premier League clubs participating in the 2013-2014 Champions League. Nike also have three Champions League teams from Spain under contract, while Adidas supplies the kits for three teams from German Bundesliga.
Unlike last season, when seven brands were kit suppliers for the 32 teams in the Group Stage, the 2013-14 Champions League features only four different kit suppliers.
Nike is the offcial shirt supplier from 15 of 32 UEFA Champions League Group Stage teams, while Adidas supplies 13 teams. Puma is the sponsor of three teams, while Macron is the kit supplier for Napoli.
| Group A | Group B |
Manchester United - Nike | Real Madrid - Adidas |
| Shakhtar Donetsk - Nike | Juventus - Nike |
| Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Adidas | Galatasaray - Nike |
| Real Sociedad - Nike | Copenhagen - Adidas |
| Group C | Group D |
| Benfica - Adidas | Bayern Munich - Adidas |
| Paris Saint-Germain - Nike | CSKA Moscow - Adidas |
Olympiacos - Puma | Manchester City - Nike |
| Anderlecht - Adidas | Viktoria Plzeň - Puma |
| Group E | Group F |
| Chelsea - Adidas | Arsenal - Nike |
| Schalke 04 - Adidas | Marseille - Adidas |
| Basel - Adidas | Borussia Dortmund - Puma |
| Steaua București - Nike | Napoli - Macron |
| Group G | Group H |
| Porto - Nike | Barcelona - Nike |
| Atlético Madrid - Nike | Milan - Adidas |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg - Nike | Ajax - Adidas |
| Austria Wien - Nike | Celtic -Nike |
Nottingham Forest Women Wear Training Tops vs Southampton to Avoid Color Blindness Clash
In an unusual kit occurrence, Nottingham Forest Women took to the pitch wearing training tops instead of their official 26-27 away kit during their match against Southampton Women at St Mary's Stadium on Sunday. The late switch was implemented specifically to avoid color blindness visibility issues that would have arisen from a red-versus-green clash. Huge thanks to @david_g_cooper for the spot.
With Southampton wearing their traditional red-and-white home kit, Nottingham Forest's primary alternative option - their green 26-27 away shirt - posed a serious dilemma. Red and green kit pairings are strictly discouraged by governing bodies and accessibility guidelines because they become indistinguishable to individuals with red-green color vision deficiency, which affects roughly 8% of men and 0.5% of women.
Since Nottingham Forest's home shirt is also red, the club resorted to dark training gear with match numbers applied on the back to provide adequate contrast for players, referees, and spectators.
Forest could have worn their light blue kit, but apparently they did not bring it.
Dominik Szoboszlai Reveals Nike Air Max 95 'Liverpool'
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has officially debuted the upcoming Nike Air Max 95 'Liverpool', a special-edition release designed in partnership with JD Sports ahead of their annual 1.10 Day celebration. Deeply rooted in local street culture, where the model has long been nicknamed the '110' after its original UK retail price, the sneaker is packed with bespoke details paying tribute to Merseyside. The shoe features mismatched accents of dockland-inspired 'Rust Factor' orange alongside 'Steam' green referencing the city's Liver Birds, complemented by a reflective brick pattern, a River Mersey map printed across the insole, a custom 'Liverpool' tongue badge, and 'SCOUSE' lettering visible beneath the outsole.
