The happy little guy picture above is Super Victor — the official mascot of Euro 2016. He got his name through a public vote, beating out Driblou and Goalix. Although those names are both horrible nonsense words, they both hold a distinct advantage over Super Victor from a branding perspective: they are not the names of sex toys.
Pele and Maradona make peace for money, turn negativity towards Messi and Neymar
After decades of trading insults in the media, Pele and Maradona have come together in friendship thanks to the money of a mutual sponsor. The pair made an appearance in Paris ahead of Euro 2016 (a tournament neither of them ever played in) to make their declaration of peace.
Cristiano Ronaldo switches bodies with ball boy in latest Nike film
Nike Football has released their longest film yet, starring Cristiano Ronaldo in a Freaky Friday type scenario in which he changes bodies with a ball boy.
DT Competition: Pick your England five for a beautiful custom T-shirt
Our friends at Art of Football have a beautiful new collection called 50 Years of Hurt, chronicling the half century of pain that has been the England national team. One of the many cool things about this collection is that you can customize a shirt with images of five England players going back to the 1960s.
Here are all the options…
Japanese clubs to wear kits with dog and eagle faces on them
Japanese second division club JEF United Ichihara Chiba are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a legends match against Tokyo Verdy and both clubs will wear special kits that should make goal celebrations a little extra enjoyable.
Liverpool players attempt to rap, destroy an entire genre of music
Following up on their hilarious recitation of famous movie lines, the Liverpool players are back, this time to ruin hip-hop forever.
Colombia-Paraguay coin flip proves Copa America Centenario is cursed
This is it. Definitive proof that Copa America Centenario has been cursed by the football gods for being an orgy of greed and incompetence.
Prior to Colombia’s 2-1 win over a 10-man Paraguay, there was the coin toss. And on the first attempt, something unusual happened: the coin landed on its edge. IT LANDED ON ITS EDGE.
The match officials and captains had a giggle about it, but this was surely the nervous laughter of men frightened to their core by the supernatural occurrence they just witnessed with their own eyes.
This is what happens when you charge $40 for parking, price fans out of being able to fill the stadiums, disrespect national anthems, and have kitmakers who can’t even spell their partner countries names’ right. This is a warning! The tournament will be smited for these egregious offenses! Repent! REPENT!
Jurgen Klinsmann, U.S. team are basically the greatest ever now
An uninspiring performance in an expected loss to Colombia to begin Copa America Centenario fueled a familiar rise in angst over the state of the U.S. team and calls for Jurgen Klinsmann to be sacked. Hours before the U.S.’s second group-stage match against Costa Rica, federation president Sunil Gulati legitimized these calls by telling reporters, “We have to win games … no one has ironclad job security. Jurgen’s already said, for coaches and players, it’s about results.”
Adidas misspells Colombia on promotional material
Seriously, @adidasfootball – IT’S COLOMBIA, not Columbia! Colossal mistake for such a brand. Unacceptable @adidasCO pic.twitter.com/Xvapv2i2RD
— Eña Ossa-Eslait (@EnaOssaEs) June 7, 2016
The comedy of errors related to Copa America Centenario apparently extends far beyond national anthem goof-ups.
Emotional Angel Di Maria dedicates Copa America goal to his late grandmother
Angel Di Maria scored Argentina’s first goal in a 2-1 win over reigning Copa America champions Chile, getting a bit of payback for last year’s final. To celebrate his goal, Di Maria held up a T-shirt that read “Grandma, I will miss you a lot.”