PHOTOs: Sunil Chhetri at Nike's #BEMERCURIAL event in Mumbai

Indian national football team captain Sunil Chhetri was yesterday at a Nike Store on Linking Road in Mumbai as part of the #BEMERCURIAL campaign of Nike India. A few selected young footballers got the chance meet Chhetri at the event!

(Photos courtesy Nike India)

VIDEO: Andres Iniesta in a New Nike ad

Andres Iniesta of Spain and FC Barcelona is one of the best footballers, but often underrated compared to his Barca team mate Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. In a new Nike ad for the new football shoe CTR 360 III Maestro, Iniesta is a puppet on strings and plays exceptional football. A lovely idea for an ad!

VIDEO: Nike's new France White away kit

Nike has created two new jersey's - home and away - for the French national team, L'Equipe Tricolore. In this video Nike presents the new White away kit through sporting and other stars, a real threat to watch but it is to some extend in French.

Video - Nike Football Ad: My Time is Now

Here comes the latest football commercial from Nike titled 'My Time is Now'.

As Nike describes it: The next wave are here. Neymar, M'Vila, Götze. Hungry to break through. Unafraid to line up with Ribéry, Sneijder, Ronaldo. Followed by thousands more. Ready for the chance. Are you?

MUPC Under-15 Zonal Round kicks-off today

The seventh edition of the Indian-leg of the Manchester United Premier Cup Under-15 tournament of the global youth football tournament has been ongoing with the state qualifiers with the Zonal qualifiers kicking-off in Jamshedpur today. The tournament hosted jointly by the All India Football Federation and Nike India is being held across the country.

The qualifiers for the North, Northeast and East are being held on two grounds within the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur with Tata Steel along with the Jharkhand Football Association organising the tournament.

Under-15 teams from Assam, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will face each other in group and knockout matches until May 5 with the best teams making it to the national finals in Goa.

The qualifiers for the South and West Zone will be played from May 7 at the Sesa Football Academy grounds in Goa.

This season there has been some controversy around the format of the Indian-leg of the Manchester United Premier Cup Under-15 tournament with the AIFF allowing only one entry per state and then in Maharashtra a draw of lots was carried out to decide the participant in the zonal finals, while in other states a tournament was played to decide who would represent that specific state.

Now the tournament is on its way with the Zonal phase with the best under-15 teams set to face each other in Goa from May 10 for a place in the Southeast Asia finals to be played in Indonesia in late-May 2012.

VIDEO: Nike Ad - Cristiano Ronaldo vs Rafael Nadal

Nike has brought out a new Ad campaign for its new Mercurial Vapor VIII football shoe. In this ad Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal faces footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for a very special Tennis match and then a revenge football game on a Tennis court.

VIDEO - Baichung: End of an Era, Start of a Legacy.

Nike India did a series of videos around Baichung Bhutia's farewell match against FC Bayern Munich on January 10, 2012. In the first video Baichung speaks about his career and future, while the second video lists his career highlights.

VIDEO - Baichung: A legend. A leader. A role model.

Nike India made a series of videos around Baichung Bhutia's farewell match against FC Bayern Munich on January 10, 2012. In this video titled 'A legend. A leader. A role model.' his now former India team mates - Sunil Chhetri, Gouramangi Singh, Syed Rahim Nabi, Clifford Miranda and Rakesh Masih speak about Baichung...

Salgaocar are U-15 MUPC India champions!

The under-15 boys team of Salgaocar SC are the champions of the Indian leg of the Manchester United Premier Cup for youth teams. The Goans beat Mumbai FC 5-4 on penalties after the match had ended in a one-all draw yesterday in Pune.

Mumbai FC took a 17th minute lead through a N. Roger goal and Salgaocar were only able to equalise in the last minute of the match through Myron Borges. In the penalty shootout their players scored of all their shoots, while Salgaocar's keeper blocked one of the MFC shoots.

Present at the final where India striker Sunil Chhetri, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, WIFA CEO Henry Menezes, Vishwajeet Kadam from the Bharati Vidyapeeth University and Nike India MD Sanjay Gangopadhyay.

This year Under-15 teams/organisations from across India took part with 18 teams making it to the national finals. The finals was held from May 16 until yesterday at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Education Complex, Satara Road in Dhankawadi, Pune.

Salgaocar as the winners of the MUPC India leg have earned a spot in the regional Southeast Asia Finals to be held in Si Racha, Thailand from June 7 to 9 where the Indian champions would face their counterparts from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Unlike in previous years the Indian champions are not getting an automatic place in the world finals as they have been clubbed with Southeast Asian rivals.

National U-15 MUPC Finals in Pune

The national finals of the Under-15 Manchester United Premier Cup, an initiative from Nike and the AIFF, is set to kick-off today in Pune. The MUPC is an initiative to unearth football talent at the grass root level. In its sixth edition in India last years MUPC global saw over 9000 teams from all over the world taking part from 43 countries.

This year Under-15 teams from across India are taking part with 18 teams making it to the finals. The tournament has seen a distinct evolution in competition since last year. The finals will be held from today until May 24 at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Education Complex, Satara Road, Dhankawadi in Pune and the winner of the MUPC India leg will earn a spot in the regional Southeast Asia Finals to be held in Si Racha, Thailand from June 7 to 9 where the Indian champions would face their counterparts from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Unlike in previous years the Indian champions are not getting an automatic place in the world finals.

Being held at an Under-15 level, the tournament enables youngsters to consider football as an option. The popularity of the sport on the world stage was never in question but the tournament provides an opportunity for football to grow out of its nascent stage in countries like India. The tournament has provided football obsessed teens in India an opportunity to compete on an international stage, bridging language and cultural barriers through sport.

"Nike- MUPC is an effort to provide young footballers an opportunity to compete and show case their talent. Considering the success of the Nike-MUPC over the years, we look to building on the strengths of this tournament each year in order to amplify India's budding football talent. The AIFF has been one of our greatest supporters and we continue to foster this relationship and grow from strength to strength," says Sanjay Gangopadhyay, Marketing Director of Nike India.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said, "Football in India is gaining huge popularity amongst the youngsters today. It is the tournaments like this that pave the way for the sport creating a fan base. This annual event is also an excellent opportunity for India to prove itself as a pool of talent for football."

At the launch India captain Baichung Bhutia shared his experience with the teams and said, "Nike- MUPC tournament is going to be a competitive one and where the youngsters can learn a lot. I hope this continues and that footballers in India keep getting opportunities to make it big."


History of MUPC

The Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) is jointly sponsored by Nike and Manchester United as part of their commitment to grassroots development. This European regional tournament originally involving 624 clubs, has gathered global momentum over the past few years having attracted a cumulative participation of over one million players with over 9,000 teams from more than 43 countries such as England, France, Brazil, Germany and many more. In 2003, NIKE joined forces with Manchester United to further expand horizons and underline their commitment to the biggest and best under-15 football tournament in the world.

MUPC graduates currently playing at the highest level for club and country include: Robinho (AC Milan); Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona); Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona); Xavi (FC Barcelona); Carlos Tevez (Manchester City FC); Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) and Fernando Torres (Chelsea FC).

Each year increasing number of young players across the globe share their hopes and their dreams as they are mobilized and inspired to play at the highest level, testing their skills against the very best of their peers. Together they reach for the stars as they strive to become the Manchester United Premier Cup world Champions. The future of football is in their hands.

2010 World Cup: Footw(e)ar

Have you been watching what colour boots the players have been wearing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Have you seen the brand of their boots? If not do try it the next time you are watching a match from South Africa or footage from the tournament. Then a footwear war is on in South Africa, a massive marketing campaign between the biggest sporting brands in the world - Nike vs Adidas and to some extent Puma.


Footwear war

The days of black football boots are long gone and nowadays you will see most players in boots in all possible colours which often does not match with the rest of their kit. The players ensure their hair is set, often with gel but their boots don't match the rest. Not a good fashion statement. I find that terrible, but who am I to say so...

The trend has been over the last few years that boots would be individual like football players themselves. But at this World Cup the trend has been turned upside down by one company. If you have noticed the boots of the players, you will most likely have seen that many players are wearing the same set of boots in a colour combination of violet and orange. This is the latest football boot from Nike and they seem to have won the footwear war so far as numerous players in every team seem to wearing this pair of boots, in some smaller teams nearly all player are doing so. Adidas has their own boots which are available in black/yellow and white/black, but they are not seen too often plus such a colour combination doesn't remain in the minds of potential consumers.

It seems the number one sports brand Nike has beaten their traditional rivals from Germany. While Adidas is the official FIFA partner, so the tournament is played in a Adidas ball and Adidas branding is seen around the stadium, the American sports giants are using the boots rather then the jersey's to get their promotion going. Somewhat of a new concept, but it seems to be working...


How the boot business started

For this we have to go back a little in history. At the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland a certain Adi Dassler created studs for football boots with which the German football team would go on to win their first ever World Cup title against the invincible Hungary. It was early days for Adidas, but Nike wasn't around in those days.

This Adolf 'Adi' Dassler was the man who had created Adidas in 1924 under the name of Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) along with his brother Rudolf 'Rudi' Dassler. The brothers drifted away over the years and Rudolf Dassler went on to form his own company called Ruda which was later renamed to Puma, another big global player these day's. And both these global sportswear giants have their headquarters in the small German village town of Herzogenaurach, close to Nuremberg.