The Many Colors of the Soccer Uniforms

And its serious business with specialists designing custom fit, durable, comfortable, easy to breath fabrics and cuts. As you can imagine, colors play a huge role in the scheme of things. After all, each color has a distinct effect on the players behavior and emotions. Let's take a quick peek at the various shades that bring soccer to life. Soothing, flashy, subtle, pristine, modern, classic, they all make their presence felt on the green of the pitch...

Color me up!
Soccer uniforms come in a variety of designs and color combinations, but the colors usually aren't coincidental to the teams. They are deliberate, usually well thought out selections meant to make the team stand out. At times, the color choice is decided through a consensus of the players. Though often, team colors originate from a particular association with the country or city that the team represents. Soccer team uniforms first made an appearance in the 1870s, and even then, the team's colors were often linked to a sports club, university or school. Since the early days of the game, team colors had an emotional connotation.

Dressed for Success
The color and design of a team's soccer shirt has to match with the shorts and socks. It should all come together seamlessly as an ensemble assembled for success! Since referees need to stand apart from the players, their uniforms are traditionally black. As a color, black is usually associated with power, mystery, sophistication, formality and conventionality, not to forget, its inherent quality of making people look slim!

Fire Brand
If the color red is associated with passion, intensity, energy, ambition, masculinity, strength, courage and excitement, it is also intrinsically linked with the club Manchester United. The team adopted its red and white team colors as far back as 1902! It's latest home kit is again a red soccer shirt with white shorts that have red stripes on the sides. Other teams inspired by the color and identified with it, are the Reds of Liverpool and the Rojas of Chile.

Blue By Design
Think blue and peace, loyalty, constancy, reliability, confidence, unity, harmony, trust, coolness and wisdom come to mind. The legendary teams behind the 'bluing' of the pitch are Argentina in its famous sky blue and white stripes, France's Les Bleus and Italy's Azzurri. Looks like the club FC Barcelona has ensured it gets the best of both worlds with a return to vertical stripes of red and blue on its soccer jersey! And it sure has worked for them!

It's White, Yellow and Blue!
Representing purity and radiance, the color white has always been associated with the clubs Leeds and Real Madrid. On a national level, the English and German squads usually mark their presence in pristine white soccer uniforms. Yellow stands for warmth and joy, while green recalls the hues of Nature in terms of freshness, calmness, rejuvenation, energy, growth and balance. No wonder the national team of Brazil took inspiration from their national flag and embraced these colors as their own!

Orange Works!
But it's the Dutch Oranje who contrast the green pitch the most in their striking orange soccer shirts! This color represents energy, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness and a 'let's-do-it' attitude, which the team seems to have assimilated!

As you can see, team colors are related to team identity, as much as football is related to dribbling!

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Soccer Shoes - Football Boot Materials

The construction of modern day football boots is much more advanced compared with how they used to be manufactured. In the past soccer shoes were very basic and there was only a small amount of difference between the leading manufacturer's products. The only visible identifying factor was the logo or brand that each manufacturer included on the boot.

The main football boot materials were black leather and plastic. Nowadays sportswear giants have a huge budget to spend on design and development of new soccer shoe designs. Extensive research goes into how improvements can be made by using certain materials. The aim is often to make the boots more lightweight while still providing ample protection for the feet.

The materials that are used on modern boots are often man made and synthetic fibres are commonly used alongside leather. In some cases, synthetic fibres are used instead of leather as this is a much cheaper option for the manufacturer. Synthetic materials also allow ground breaking designs and the famous Adidas predator boot was one such example. Ridges were included on the boot which helped players to swerve the ball. The use of synthetic material in football boots may not be to everyone's liking but this is considered to be environmentally friendly compared to using leather.

Another major change in design has been the introduction of blades. These are an alternative to the studs which are located on the soles of football boots. Boots are now made with both changeable and moulded blades just like footwear with conventional studs. One criticism of blades is their performance in wet weather conditions and some managers do no approve of their use for this reason.

There has been some recent controversy regarding football injuries. In particular metatarsal injuries seem to be on the increase. Critics of modern football boot design claim that the materials used in the construction of today's boots do not offer the same level of protection as the boots of old. They claim the footwear is too lightweight with the emphasis on speed rather than strength. Most manufacturers dispute these criticisms and point out that player safety is of paramount importance to them.

Today soccer shoes have become a fashion accessory as well as an essential piece of equipment for all players. Football boots are designed in a variety of bright colours intended to catch the eye and stand out from the crowd. There are still some examples of boots made with black leather although these are in the minority compared to the more extravagant designs.

The author contributes to the English Football Blog website. This is a popular Football Blog that provides soccer news and comment. It covers the premiership and the English football scene in general. He has also worked on the Soccer Wealth website. This is a Soccer Betting Tips service that offers profitable football betting predictions, tips and advice. Information is provided on a range of domestic, European and international football matches.