Football shirt sponsorship is an important source of revenue for football clubs these days. Even the mighty Barcelona have caved in to the money on offer from companies willing to pay big bucks to be featured on the front of football shirts. However, companies sometimes have unfortunate names and that leads to hilarious shirts.
This feature was inspired by the Joe Jordan and Gennaro Gattuso spat in the Champions League earlier this season. Jordan travels to Madrid this week, but it emerged that during Jordan’s time at AC Milan he had pooh on his shirt – not literally, at the time the Serie A side were sponsored by Pooh Jeans.
So we thought why not have a look the the TOP 10 funniest football shirt sponsors over the years. It’s not big and it’s not clever, but it is funny!
If you’ve got any that are as funny as those featured here make sure you let us know in the comments below…
Click on the football shirt below to see the Top TEN
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Unai Emery believes Valencia still face a tough task against a Real Madrid team likely to be focusing on the Champions League.Real will visit Valencia’s Estadio Mestalla on Saturday for the second time in four days following their victory over Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final last Wednesday.
But the La Liga meeting with Valencia is sure to be low priority for Real, who are preparing for an all-important Champions League showdown at home to Barca on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Valencia coach Emery believes the visitors could still pose a serious threat in the match between La Liga’s second and third-placed teams.
“Real Madrid will be very dangerous, especially if those who did not play on Wednesday play,” Emery said.
“It will be a duel where motivation will be at the maximum.”
Emery believes Mourinho is likely to rotate his players, adding an element of uncertainty to his own tactics.
“At the time of preparing this game it would be easier to know which players will play and how,” Emery said.
“Madrid have a defined way of playing football and I don’t think it will change much. It’s not the same as to whether Cristiano Ronaldo is there or not.
“There are differences between Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema or Emanuel Adebayor.”
“We know they have distinctive characteristics and they are dangerous on the break. They are a great team, but we must learn how to handle them.”
UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino has declared football needs the body’s new financial fair play laws to save the game from disaster.Michel Platini’s right-hand man, Infantino insists clubs that do not comply with the laws – which will be implemented from next month – will be banned from participating in the Champions League and Europa League.
UEFA said they have secured backing among Europe’s 660 top-flight clubs from 53 countries to implement the rules, which are designed to move clubs towards breaking even from next season.
As an initial compromise, clubs are allowed to record maximum total losses over the next three years of 45 million euros. From 2014 to 2017, that overall permitted loss will fall to 30 million euros.
“Everyone knows the rules and we will go through with it,” Infantino told Goal.com. “The question is, ‘will you really do something?’ And the answer is, ‘yes, of course’. The train has left the station, we have started and there is no way back.”
“The whole European football movement felt the time is right now to do something, to establish some rules in order to have a better system.”
“In 2009 top division clubs in Europe made a loss of 1.2 billion euros. This is obviously something that if we don’t do something against it will lead us to disaster for European football.”
“It should operate in a more rational way. Just like everyone of us is doing at home. If you have in your wallet 100 euros, you can spend 100 euros.”
Based on their most recent published accounts, Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City are among the European elite who would fall foul of the regulations.
But Infantino insists big clubs will get no favours from UEFA when it comes to the enforcing of the rules.
“You have to comply with the rules and if you do not comply with the rules there will be the ultimate sanctions,” he said.
“We have already excluded clubs. This year we have punished five clubs who have qualified sportingly for our competitions but who were not admitted because they did not fulfill the club licensing criteria.”
“For example, Mallorca in Spain. In the last five years, 27 clubs have not been admitted in our competitions either by the national associations or UEFA.”
“People think if it is a club from a big country they will be okay. Well, no. If you don’t respect the rules then there are different sanctions possible, including exclusion.”
“It is in the interests of all the clubs that the appropriate measures and sanctions are taken if they have to be.”
So the men from the wrong side of the M62 have reached their fourth European Cup Final under Mr Ferguson and we wish them the best of luck with the same level of sincerity that we use when discussing how good looking the Neville brothers are. Through gritted teeth I must admit that a third European Cup final in four years is a remarkable achievement but to compare Fergie’s European success to Bob Paisley ’s is quite frankly a joke.
Should United manage to somehow stop the seemingly unstoppable Barcelona to claim their fourth European Cup then Mr Ferguson would have achieved something he’s been dreaming about for decades and that is equalling the number of European success achieved by the late, great former Liverpool Manger Bob Paisley. Equal in trophies yes but the true measure of each manager’s success can surely only be determined when taking the number of years it took for each to achieve such an accolade. And of course when we do this we see there is no comparison and Bob Paisley will always stand alone looking down as others make a feeble attempt to better his record.
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Bob Paisley will go down as one of the all time great managers not just for his European success but also for the honours he led the Reds to on the domestic front. The nine years Paisley was at the club the Kop had nineteen honours to celebrate with five of them coming from European competitions. Staggering, especially considering the only method of playing in the Europe was by finishing in the top two in the league. Finishing second meant UEFA Cup football and finishing first meant you joined Europe’s elite teams in the European Cup. Seeing as Paisley left in 1983 following another English title success the Geordie only had five seasons managing in Europe’s premier club competition winning three of them. Again, staggering!
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Ferguson to his credit has had phenomenal success at Manchester United. He has taken a club that was battling relegation when he took over in 1986 and transforming them into one of the biggest clubs in the world having won 35 honours during his 25 years at the club. But as Fergie himself admits, his lack of European success is somewhat of a blotch on his CV and he had become desperate to try and somewhat emulate the achievement set by Paisley. Ferguson’s Manchester United have been in the Champions League every year since 1993. That has afforded Alex Ferguson 18 attempts to win the coveted European Cup which he has won twice although he has another chance to add to his total as his United side will face Barcelona in the final on the 28th of May.
Even if Manchester United wins the Champions League again in Wembley in three weeks time, Ferguson will equal Paisley only in one aspect. The true achievement will belong to Paisley whose success in Europe will never be beaten, at least not by Mr Ferguson anyway!
Read more of Andrew Horgan’s articles at Live4Liverpool
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Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is hoping his side can fulfill their potential and make it a Champions League final to remember against Manchester United.The showpiece event at Wembley on Saturday night has already been billed as the ‘final of the decade’ with two of the biggest clubs in Europe going head to head.
I was fortunate to be present at the screening of the Press Conference, courtesy of the good people of Champions League sponsors Heineken, and Guardiola stated he is well aware of the pressures which are being placed on both sides and hopes it will be a final to remember.
“We have to show both teams playing football. We have the audience of the world and we have to show we deserve this credit of ‘the final of the decade’,” he said.
“When you play in a final and both teams want to win and both want to play, for the rest of the world it will be a good final.”
“They have their strength, we have our skill, and we have to see who controls the situation best.”
“There have been many great teams, it’s a long history and it’s impossible to compare. We hope we can be proud in the future – that in the next five, 10 or 15 years, people will remember this team and say ‘one time I saw this team’.”
“It’s like a great film, only with the passing of time can you know if a film is good and it’s the same with us.”
Barcelona players have nothing but praise for the job Guardiola has done at Barcelona and hope he will stay at the Nou Camp for a number of years.
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Barcelona defender Carles Puyol said: “He’s the best trainer in the world and this is his place, I hope he is here for many years.”
Puyol is confident he will recover from a knee injury to take his place in the starting line-up.
Everyone is predicting the usual Arsene Wenger transfer activity, making promises that there will be changes but come the final minute of deadline day, Le Professeur will either sign an unknown and lets face it pointless squad player or no-one at all. Like so many transfer windows before, there are potential signings that are ideal for Arsenal and staring Wenger in the face, with fans, ex-players and pundits all calling for the Frenchman to open up the cheque book, but in his usual stubborn way Wenger refuses and Premier League rivals snap up the perfect signing for the Gunners instead. Here are the five players I think the Frenchman should sign, to which he will reply “I did not see them”.
Scott Parker
The West Ham midfielder has stated his desire to return to the Premier League following the Hammers relegation and will face no shortage of admirers, including Tottenham Hotspur. Surely the pleasure of getting one over your fiercest rivals in the transfer market is incentive enough, before you even consider the positives Parker would bring. The former Chelsea midfielder would add all the attributes this current Arsenal squad has been criticised for not having: experience, passion and strength in the middle of the park.
Gonzalo Higuain
Reportedly available for £15 million as Mourinho looks to fund his own transfer spree, Higuain is the perfect striking partner for Robin Van Persie. The Argentinian has an impressive goal scoring record for Real Madrid and has all the attributes of a world class finisher, something Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh seriously lack. The forward would happily share the goal scoring burden that has rested solely on Van Persie in the second half of the season.
Maarten Stekelenberg
Many believe Wojciech Szczesny is the man for Arsenal between the sticks for many years to come, but for me I’m undecided. Making a move for current Ajax goalkeeper Martin Stekelenberg would give Arsenal that world class keeper that have tried to find since Seaman. All the keepers since the Englishman have hardly been household names, Arsenal fans are crying out for a Iker Casillas or Gigi Buffon, someone who has pedigree behind their name, and the Dutchman can offer them that.
Yoann Gourcuff
With Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri widely expected to leave this summer, the Lyon midfielder could step in to become that playmaker Arsenal will need. The Frenchman has earnt comparisions to Zinedine Zidane for his passing style and all round ability, with David Ginola claiming that Gourcuff is the best French player of his generation. The former AC Milan player can play in the attacking midfielder role but also as a withdrawn striker, something Arsenal could find very useful with regards to finding the ideal striking partner for Robin Van Persie.
Miguel Veloso
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Although Arsenal have Alex Song as their strong defensive midfielder, more than one occasion this season the Cameroonian has gone missing. Veloso would bring consistency with regards to crucial interceptions and forceful tackles, as well as that leadership quality Arsenal have lacked for several seasons. Another bonus of signing the Portugese international is, rather surprisingly, he is a very accomplished left back, so should Gael Clichy leave this summer, the former Benfica player could be a candidate to replace the Frenchman.
Who do you think Wenger should sign http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-T-Blazer/185495024836102
Much has been written regarding the evolution of the current Arsenal squad. It is generally accepted by pundits and supporters alike that they are not at the same level as ‘The Invincibles’ squad of 2004. But how far can this current crop of players go? Can they emulate the success of their illustrious forebears? How much more can they develop? Is Arsene Wenger ’s team building exercise the future of football, or an experiment that needs locking away in the cupboard and forgetting about?
The current team are, in my opinion anyway, not as direct as previous Wenger teams. Whilst they might have a few more tricks up their individual sleeves, collectively they are not at the same level as the teams of old. They play with more cohesion and the collective pressure that they put on opposing teams are more concentrated than it ever has been before, but there isn’t the same kind of incisive team movement as there was in yesteryear. But why? What has changed? Well, there are several factors to consider, but I shall focus on, what are for me, the big two.
Finance
Wenger is becoming more and more lambasted by supporters as each season comes and goes without a trophy. I don’t think it’s fair. As far as I’m concerned, he has taken this club to the next level. True, we haven’t won anything of note for a while now, but let’s look at the bigger picture. We now have the Emirates Stadium and the increased revenue that comes from the extra 20,000 seats, as well as the increased club level facilities. We play in the richest, most competitive league on the planet. So, we haven’t won the title in a while, but we’ve remained competitive whilst teams above and below us have spent vast, vast sums of money.
Supporters question some of Wenger’s transfer dealings, but it can’t be denied that he has kept us firmly in the mix and on a fairly strict budget. I would argue that moving into the new stadium and giving ourselves a solid foundation on which to build for the future is more important than a couple of potential league titles and cup final days out. In thirty years time will supporters look back and say that this period of austerity was a waste of time, and that Wenger should’ve compromised on his long-term vision for short-term returns? I think not.
With a levelling of the economic playing field in the form of FIFA’s financial fair play regulations, I see Arsenal as ideally placed to push on and establish themselves as one of the elite clubs in world football (I’d say we’re not far from that status right now). This enforced financial parity will see, in my opinion, a gradual decrease in the price of player transfers and, with our increased financial stability, put us in a position where we can compete with any team in the world for any player.
Tactics
Every season other clubs are wising up to the way that we play. Arsenal are at their best when a team puts the ball down on the ground and tries to play them. More often than not this is when we put our opponents to the sword. Managers have seen this and now even the more ‘footballing’ teams are starting to play much more aggressively against us. Anelka, Henry, Pires, Overmars, Bergkamp – these players all played at their best on the break, finding gaps in retreating defences and exposing them with power and precision. But teams don’t let us play this game any more. They don’t come to the Emirates to play football, they come to keep clean sheets and hopefully nick a goal (and more often, they play that way when we play them away too). Our football has had to develop into a pressing game, based on constant possession and patience, with our playmakers always on the look out for a chink in the opposing teams armour.
Arsenal play some of the most attractive, and at times, devastating football in the world. That isn’t going to change and nor are the tactics employed by the teams that we play against. As football fans across the globe have witnessed over the last fifteen years, to try and play us at our own game often results in us handing out a spanking. We can’t blame teams for ‘parking the bus’ and thus avoiding an embarrassing score line. We’ve got to get over this and find a way of breaking down these teams, because it’s up to us to change and improve.
Are Arsenal as good as they were a decade ago? Player for player, pound for pound, you’d have to say no. But the game has changed irrevocably and it’s never going back to the way it was.
This current team is arguably better equipped to deal with the contemporary challenges of the Premier League than the teams of old, and it was put together on a very strict budget.
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With our escalating financial clout and the curbing of the spending power of the rich clubs (City and Chelski), I see a very bright future ahead for us. I just hope we have the nerve to see these difficult times through to the end, because then, and quite possibly only then, will things start to get better.
Read more of Mike Holmes’ articles at Gunnersphere
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Japan’s winning Women’s World Cup team hope their victory in Frankfurt will help raise the spirits of the suffering nation.Japan became the first Asian nation to win women’s football’s showcase event, defeating the United States in a penalty shootout after twice coming from behind to force a 2-2 draw.
Japan is still reeling from the devastating effects of the earthquake and tsunami in March and watching their team storm to victory has provided some much needed relief.
And as the team returned home, coach Norio Sasaki thanked the fans for their support.
“I hope that our players have lived up to the expectations of everyone and that we managed to give hope and strength to the people in Japan,” Sasaki said.
“The disaster’s made it very challenging for the Nadeshiko (Japan Women’s) League so please continue to support not only us and the female players but also the new young generations of female players. Thank you very much.”
The American team were devastated after losing a game they controlled for much of the 120 minutes.
But the favourites squandered a host of goal-scoring opportunities and their wastefulness came back to haunt them in the shootout, where they missed their first three spot kicks to see their hopes of winning a third World Cup go up in flames.
“I mean pretty devastated obviously, losing the World Cup final, but you know I think we have a lot to be proud of and we’re going back to a country that’s extremely proud of us and that means a lot,” midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. “So we’ve got to keep our chins up.”
As much as football is taken seriously sometimes it can provide a comedy factor, especially with players scoring at the wrong end of the pitch (as long as it isn’t your team’s player) then you can see the funny side. Some own goals can be unfortunate, taking a wicked deflection that a player can’t do anything about is forgivable, but there are a number of own goals that have been scored which leave fans scratching their heads in bemusement or laughing out loud. I’ve lost count of how many Football DVDs I’ve owned or seen displaying own goals and other types of bizarre incidents in the game.
The following list of top ten own goals is for your amusement with most coming from a moment of madness by the player in question or another team mate letting him down with a simple back pass (Paul Robinson/Gary Neville) and (Peter Enckleman/Olof Mellberg) come to mind. Sunderland are guilty of losing a Premier League game 3-1 against Charlton back in 2003, with all their players scoring a goal. Michael Proctor scored two own goals in this game, whereas Mark Fish was credited with Charlton’s first, it did take a final touch off Sunderland’s Stephen Wright.
On Tuesday night, Oxford United scored two own goals away at Lincoln City in the space of 5 minutes, they lost the game 3-1. However unfortunate an own goal may be, the guilty players have to question their concentration and composure which is surely lacking in such incidents, especially in the following top 10 list of Own Goals…..
10: Iain Dowie – Unfortunately Iain Dowie is remembered for three things, his beautiful good looks, creating a new word in the English language (Bouncebackability) and scoring an own goal playing for West Ham against Stockport County. Despite defending a corner in his own box, Dowie places a header in the corner of the net like any decent striker would but at the other end.
9: Lee Dixon – The former Arsenal full back was part of the famous back 5 of the 1990s that kept a tight defence, but Dixon can’t be forgiven for this own goal with his looping header into the far post being even more impressive than Iain Dowie’s.
8: Frank Sinclair – The accompanying video is more of a compilation of Sinclair’s own goals rather than any in particular. For any player to have a compilation of own goals made about them is surely worthy to enter a top 10 list. The first few headers were a bit unlucky, but his hefty pass back to Ian Walker must’ve left his team mates shaking their heads.
7:Djimi Traore – The former Liverpool left back has a Champions League winning medal but he was also responsible of scoring a back heel into his own net. This goal saw lower league Burnley knock Liverpool out of the Cup and his reputation on Merseyside wasn’t the same again, what was he thinking?
6: John Arne Riise – Heading in a cross in a crucial game against Chelsea, Riise was more famous for his long range, bullet shots and in this instance, I bet the Liverpool fans wished he’d booted it in row Z rather than use his head.
5: Robert Green – It might be bearable to watch again for us England supporters but Robert Green’s howler in the World Cup last summer led to all sorts of problems during the tournament. He didn’t even have the excuse of it ‘bobbling’ on the ground like it did for Robinson versus Croatia. A low Dempsey shot appeared to be collected by Green only for the ball to hit him on the arm and crawl in.
4: Andres Escobar – Not all own goals are funny. Andres Escobar’s own goal at the World Cup 1994 saw his national side, Colombia knocked out of the tournament and tragically the player was shot dead back in his own country because of it.
3: Lee Dixon – Making a 2nd appearance in the Top Ten, whilst his header provided a shake of the head this clip of him lobbing his own keeper from about 30 yards out never fails to make me chuckle. I don’t know what Dixon was thinking at the time, but back then David Seaman hadn’t been found out about his jumping ability. Maybe the likes of Nayim and Ronaldinho saw this clip?
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2: Chris Brass – If you’re going to score an own goal then do it in total calamity style. Whilst playing for York City at Darlington, Brass tries to clear and ball into the box only to smack himself in the face leaving the ball rolling past his own ‘keeper into the goal. Taxi for Brass indeed.
1: Jamie Pollock – This has always been my favourite own goal of all time, not because it was scored for my club (ok maybe a little) but it’s just the style of the own goal is something I have never seen before. It was almost as good as Gazza’s goal at Euro ’96 except Pollock was facing his own goal and it’s hard to determine what he was trying to do. I’d love to know what Manchester City fans thought at the time.
If I had been given the reins at a Premier League club this summer, the first thing I would have done is BAN Twitter. I am all for freedom of speech. But footballers are not the brightest – and they say some daft things. Joey Barton might just be one of the few who could win a round or two on a TV game show, but why he feels the need to go on Twitter to air his every thought is a mystery to me.
In fact, why anyone wants to tell the public, “just been to the khazi again, too much coffee this morning”, is beyond me. Can you imagine Dave Mackay doing that? Not likely. If he had a problem, he would sort it out himself. Mind you, Danny Blanchflower would almost certainly have had an account. He did like to talk to everybody, did Danny. But he was a serious intellect, so the average punter would not have had a clue what he was twittering on about anyway. He wouldn’t have just quoted a line from George Orwell, as Barton did, he’d have quoted the whole book.
Perhaps airing all this in public has a lot to do with Joey being an alcoholic – where the need to reconcile yourself with everybody and life in general seems overwhelming. Maybe that is what’s happening to Barton right now. Nothing wrong in that. If he is genuine, then great, but if not he will soon be found out.
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When I was sold to AC Milan I didn’t want to go, then I was persuaded it would be great to go and that I should take it further. When I went to see Milan I was with a solicitor who said, “Right, we’re going to get you out of the deal.” It turned out he was there to make sure it went through. I was betrayed by Chelsea and sold down the line, but I don’t think it would have helped anybody if I’d put that on Twitter.
So if I was in charge I’d say: “Look, lads, we’re going to stop this for everybody’s protection. We want a bit of privacy within the club. We’re not going to ban freedom of speech, just don’t do it yourself on Twitter.” Sure as anything, these twits will come a cropper – they are guaranteed to say something that no one at their club wants to hear. And people outside the game are more likely to take things the wrong way.
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There is a way with football which is difficult to understand. I have seen players almost come to blows in a practice match and then wander across to the pub together afterwards for a pint. That does not happen in normal life. And I don’t care what people say, Twitter is not a great way for fans to interact with their heroes, either. A lot of people say players have lost touch with fans these days but I don’t see this as a way of redressing that, it’s just feeding the peasants a few crumbs.
To be fair to Barton, I have always admired him as a footballer. He has been a really good player and could have been a lot better if he’d had the right attitude. He has done some stupid things – we all have – and it’s a shame because he is underestimated as a player and has real ability.
The one manager I am surprised lets his players go on Twitter is Alex Ferguson. Funnily enough, there has been talk of Manchester United interest in Barton and it would not surprise me if he ended up there. I believe it would be the making of him – it’s the one place where Barton would know from the start who’s boss.