SHARE
COPY LINK
EURO 2012 CHAMPIONSHIPS

FOOTBALL

Sweden’s shirts may be key to Euro success

A Swedish research group has revealed good news for Sweden's Euro 2012 prospects, after a series of tests on each team's uniform proved that the Swedish side's ranked highly.

Sweden's shirts may be key to Euro success

Swedish manufacturing research group Testfakta has offered an unexpected boost to the national team’s hopes of success at the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, after conducting tests on every side in the tournament’s football shirt.

“We wanted to test which shirt is in fact the best when it comes to performance – for example how well the shirts breathe; draining away the sweat and how easy or difficult it is to grip and hold the shirt,” Testfakta researcher Martin Hansson told The Local.

“For the Swedes it looks quite good. In our group only Ukraine, who we should beat anyway, has a better shirt. And we will play against England who have the worst shirts in Euro 2012.”

The findings were bad news for Sweden’s group rivals England, who could find themselves getting hot under the collar over the course of the tournament.

Their Umbro manufactured shirt has the highest water-vapour resistance compared to the other tested materials, which means it has poorer breathability.

“A bit interesting in this context is that both Sweden and England’s shirts are manufactured by the English company Umbro. This means that an English company has produced better shirts for the Swedes than for the English!”

Hansson explains that the perfect footballing shirt needs a good air-flow, so as to allow water vapour to be transported away from the body, however, he admits that a good shirt isn’t the be all and end all.

“How big an impact this will have in reality is of course hard to say, I’m sure it can be very individual from player to player.”

Sweden face the English in Kiev for their second match of the tournament on Friday June 15th.

Joe Lynskey

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

https://twitter.com/GravesenFumado/status/1764242481984491822

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

SHOW COMMENTS