I came home today to find a gem of a package waiting for me from Eurosport.

I geek out pretty hard over soccer memorabilia…the prospect of old soccer catalogs being inside the package…got me all the more fired up. I could feel a couple things…an article of clothing…a stack of catalogs perhaps? I opened the package and found…

…a Eurosport t-shirt. Very cool. In addition to the t-shirt there were two envelopes, one smaller than the other other. The smaller envelope had something written on it.

The envelope says “Germany v. Albania – when Germany qualified for ‘98 W.C.” I opened the envelope to find glossy, action shots of Thomas Hassler, Ollie Kahn, Olaf Marschall’s mustache and Grinnsy Klinnsy.

The last item in the package was a large envelope.

The envelope contained 2 Acme Soccer & Widget Works catalogs, a Eurosport from Spring of 93 (I still have my original), some stickers, a 2001 Champion’s League statistics guide, some Nike literature…and a Eurosport…in pristine condition from…1988.

This Eurosport is now the oldest catalog in the archive beating my first Eurosport by four years. It was really great to see so many items that I’ve never seen before such as the Rummenigge Star and the Maradona World Cup.

Thanks again Chris…and Eurosport!

Brian over at Eurosport was kind enough to send me the cover of their first catalog.

Eurosport’s first catalog features Bayern Munich’s Karl-Heinz Rummenige on the cover. Anyone want to weigh in on the identity of the bearded wonder marking him?

I love how the Eurosport logo has not changed in their 25 years of existence. It’s classic.

Aside from providing a great selection of soccer gear, Eurosport has always produced interesting and unique articles to tie into the products they’re selling. I’ve always been interested in how things are maid. The behind the scenes look into a Copa Mundial from the Fall 1994 World Cup Edition was right up my alley.

I did not write any of the content…this all comes from page 4 of the Fall 1994 issue of Eurosport.

Enjoy!

When the world’s great players take the stage for the 1994 World Cup, over half of them will be wearing Copa Mundials. The fact that so many footballers choose the same shoe in a market flooded with quality boots is remarkable. Perhaps even more incredible is the fact that the Copa has remained virtually unchanged since its inception in 1978.

Innovations in shoe technology come and go. Cutting-edge materials are constantly being applied to soccer boots, be it the latest plastics in outsoles or synthetic upper materials. Yet, nothing has quite taken hold like the simple, understated Copa. While shoemakers are constantly reinventing themselves with new designs, Adidas’ plant manager Herr Heumann, who has been with the company for nearly forty years, says there is no reason to alter the Copa Mundial. When asked why it has remained such a popular shoe to this day Heumann doesn’t hesistate, “It’s the craftsmanship of the shoe. Everyone who works on the Copa knows the shoe inside out. That kind of experience and attention to detail makes all the difference in the world.”

At Adidas’ shoe factory in Scheinfeld, Germany, 1200 pairs of Copas are produced daily.

The first step in the production of Copa’s is cutting the leather. Once all piece of the shoe have been cut, they are stitched together with the other parts of the upper such as the heel tab, tongue, stripes and logo.

Once the upper is completed, it is placed on a machine that uses heat to mold the heel counter to the exact shape needed. The right side of the machine then freezes the heel counter to keep its shape.

Next a machine stretches the leather around the last and nails it to the lasting board. The last is a piece of plastic designed by the shoemaker to resemble a foot. The shape of the last determines the final fit of a shoe because the upper and outsole are shaped around it.

After the outsole has been bonded to the lasting board, studs are attached to the outsole using direct injection molding. Twelve rubber studs are placed in holes on this machine. The outsole is placed over the studs, and heat is applied to mold the studs to the outsole. After cleaning off the excess polyurethane, the insole is then glued inside the shoe. The shoe is then inspected for quality is is ready to leave the factory.

Anytime someone brings up Zlatan I tend to talk about two thigns: a) how is “Zlatan Ibrahimovic” Swedish (turns out he’s of Bosnian and Croatian descent) and 2) the gum incident.

Let me drop some science for those that are not familiar with Zlatan and his Hubba Bubba.

Zlatan is going through his typical warm up routine: stretching, light jogging, some 5v2 and some keepy uppy. The big Swede is chewing gum while he’s getting the blood flowing. Out of the blue he spits out his gum…juggles it…kicks it back into the air…catches it with his mouth and continues his warm up.

Zlatan was not knowingly putting on a show. The press loved the skill. One photographer was lucky enough to catch Zlatan in the act and snapped a few shots of the performance. The photos immediately made their way back to Stockholm and eventually spread throughout the soccer community.

Nike produced a piece about the incident for one of their Jogo Bonito ads.

…and speaking of Swedes…here’s a nice shot of Martin Dahlin jostling with Aldair from the November/December 1995 issue of Eurosport.

I received my first Europort catalog in the Summer of 92. I was hooked.

The early Eurosports were huge. They were roughly the same size as an LP. I’m still surprised that my first catalog is in as good of shape as it is. I took this thing everywhere with me. Like I said, I obsessed.

The 33 pager has some nice shots of Shaun Wright Phillip’s dad, Ian Wright.

Anyone else have any old Eurosports lying around?