NY Coed Soccer

Nike Bruised After Injury

Modern lightweight boots have been blamed by some experts for the spate of metatarsal injuries, as experienced, once again, by Wayne Rooney:  Nike & Rooney

Nike Donates Soccer Fields

Nike is set to donate three soccer fields in Los Angeles, three fields in New York and four fields in Chicago as well as provide soccer equipment for 12 additional cities:  Nike

Nike, Cantona, Cheats & Liars

They urge us to "play beautiful" and rally against cheats and liars. But are Eric Cantona and Nike really the ones to push such a message:  Play Beautiful

Keeping Soccer Beautiful

Nike's new ads cleverly slam rivals Adidas. Apparently:  Nike

Meanwhile, Nike have extended their deal with Brazil until 2018, with the current World Champs netting $12.4 million per year. Here is the latest commercial:  Nike

Thierry Henry Completes Transfer!

In a move set to go through after the World Cup, the Frenchman confirms the deal that is set to earn him an additional GBP1 million a year...  Henry drops bombshell by moving to Reebok

New Nike TV Commercials: It Doesn't Get Better

Our favorites: Wayne Rooney's goalkeeping performance and the cutest kid on the block, Ronaldinho.  The Commercials

Adidas and Nike Trade Further Blows

One of the biggest rivalries of World Cup 2006 will not be on the field. With Adidas shutting out Nike commercials on U.S. television, the latter have hit back in a rivalry that is sure to become even more intense as June approaches.  Adidas' World Cup Shutout

Nike and Puma Make a Run on Adidas

Nike and Puma have invested heavily in their soccer brands -- and this will be most evident at this year's World Cup.

# of National Teams Wearing Adidas: 6

# of National Teams Wearing Nike: 8

# of National Teams Wearing Puma: 12

Adidas is an official sponsor of the World Cup and will have the opportunity to advertise in other important ways, including in the stadiums.

With a total global audience of 32 billion expected to watch the 64 matches on television -- 10 percent more than in 2002, according to TV rights agency Infront -- the competition to raise brand awareness has never been tougher.  Nike, Puma chase Adidas in World Cup battle

Joga.com

Nike Soccer and Google partner up to create a social networking web site, joga.com, for soccer fans.  Joga means play and is taken from the Portuguese phrase "joga bonito," which means "play beautiful."

Joga will be made available in 14 languages: English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Russian, Thai and Czech.

Google and Nike Take Stab at Footballer-Generated Media

Annoyingly, joga.com is "invitation-only." Sheesh.  I can't believe I need an invitation to view Nike ads.  Anyway, does anyone have an invite that they want to send our way?

Round is Round, right? Not Quite.

Adidas teamed up with Bayer MaterialScience, a plastics producer, to develop the official game ball for the 2006 World Cup.  The objective: make the ball rounder.

"With every new ball, Adidas tells us exactly what it wants in terms of design and performance. This time the aim was to make the ball even rounder and to maintain its attractive appearance over a long time." But how round is round? Finding an answer to that question is not quite as easy as the former Hungarian International, Gyula Lorant, once put it: "The ball is round. If it had corners, it would be a cube." Bayer Materialscience and Adidas Team up to Produce Better Ball for World Cup - +Teamgeist

And if you want more techno specs on how this new 14-panel designed ball (as opposed to the traditional 32-panels) is expected to perform, go to where else but soccerballworld.com.