Improve your skills with Puma football boots

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Improve your skills with Puma football boots Football is our national sport, loved up and down the country for the skill and virtuosity involved. Indeed, many of us spend our Saturdays trying to emulate what we’ve seen on Match of the Day the previous week though, if we’re honest, very few of us come close to replicating in any way the ingenuity and aptitude of those in the Premier League.

To get those step-overs, first touches and in-swingers just that little bit better this season, it may be a good idea to focus on the most fundamental part of improving in any sport – your fitness.

First on your list before training should be the warm up. For football, static stretching isn’t advised – it can easily lead to muscle pulls and injuries. Instead, start with around 5-10 minutes of jogging and light stretching, followed by specific warm-ups using the ball – dribbling, kicking and fast stopping. This will prepare you for the fast paced nature of the beautiful game.

Next is improving your speed. Short sprints and bursts of pace are part and parcel of everything you do on the pitch, so should be well represented in your training regime. Try sprinting for a ball, making a quick pass or shot and coming to a slow stop. Dribbling the ball at speed and between cones can also go a long way to making sure your skill levels keep up with your heightened speed.

Power is also an important attribute, and weight training should be included in every training regime you come up with. Squats and lunges followed by leg lifts and curls can all lay the foundations for a powerful boot and a strong all-round player. Make sure you focus on core strength too – stomach crunches, planking and weighted sit-ups will all help your balance and ball control.

The final aspect you should work on is endurance. Normal endurance runs of 10 miles plus are no good for football – you need 100m jogs and sprints combined with short breaks for a good 20-30 minutes at a time. Drills mixing exercises such as press-ups and sprints will also go a long way to improving your endurance and maintaining your overall fitness.

Of course, all the hard work would be no good without the right equipment. Serious footballers should invest in some serious boots, and you’ll struggle to find any better than Puma football boots from Very. A new fitness regime, some new boots – perhaps even a new player this season!

 

Mag+ brings you the life and times of legendary football striker Ibrahimović

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Mag+ brings you the life and times of legendary football striker Ibrahimović

Mag+ brings you the life and times of legendary football striker Ibrahimović

The life and career of the enigmatic footballer from AC Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been captured like never before thanks to the digital publishing platform Mag+ and the first biography app that is truly interactive. The release of the app has been timed to coincide with the players brief return to the UK for the AC Milan clash with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League.

 Bonnierförlagen (http://www.bonnierforlagen.se/english/) have published the app, which has been developed by Bonnier R&D http://www.bonnier.com/rd. Using both rich media and layered Mag+ architecture(http://www.magplus.com), this new app really brings the reader up close and personal with the defining moments of Ibrahimović’s life and career.

 It’s launch also augments the publication of his autobiography I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović: My Story,a bestseller that was released released in print late in 201. In the version for the iPad, videos and images are integrated with the text to offer a whole new kind of reading experience.

 This literally adds a whole new dimension to the original text which can now be read alongside storylines that are both chronological and geographical. Ibrahimović has said t hat he wanted to tell his story so that everyone would understand where he came from and the app was a great way in which to do this. He added that this how he always wanted people to experience his story.

Mag+ is poised to build on its digital publishing innovations. “This app shows just how much more interesting and immersive reading becomes with touchscreen tablets. We’re only beginning to harness the full potential of digital publishing, and Mag+ is thrilled to be driving future trends,” says Mag+ CEO Staffan Ekholm.

Unique features only available in the iPad biography:

  • Timeline: explore the original text re-created as a chronological interactive storyline
  • Geo stories: explore the story geographically on an interactive map or using the GPS of the iPad when travelling
  • Stop-motion storytelling: interactive frame-by-frame studies of goals and tricks
  • Tattoo stories: explore Ibrahimović’s tattoos interactively 
  • Dialogue storytelling: The first meeting with manager Mino Raiola
  • Memorabilia gallery: close-up view of Ibrahimović’s boots through the years
  • Statistics: career told in numbers with adjacent images
  • Picture gallery: life outside of football
  • Personal video introduction by Ibrahimović
  • Unique behind-the-scenes interview with author David Lagercrantz on writing the text with Ibrahimović

 

iPhone and iPad, 60 Seconds Football is a brand new take on football games from Quirky Enterprises

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iPhone and iPad, 60 Seconds Football is a brand new take on football games from Quirky Enterprises

iPhone and iPad, 60 Seconds Football is a brand new take on football games from Quirky Enterprises

Gone are the days of boring free kicks and penalties!  

 Mobile gamers looking for their next footie fix have to wait no longer, as 60 Seconds Football is here! This is a totally new game that makes you use both skill and timing to score goals from volleys and headers, and only the best get to see their names in lights on the global table of high scores.

 The whole aim of the game is to see how many goals you score within 60 seconds and can only score by heading or volleying the ball. This means that you have to control the ball before slamming it into the back of the net. While this may sound easy, every league in the Classic mode has amateur, professional, world class and legendary giving differing levels of difficulty.

 These can make scoring even more difficult, and you have to beat more players, better keepers and score more goals in 60 seconds to be able to rise up the rankings.

60 Seconds Football lets you play the Amateur League for free – with multiple levels of increasing difficulty where you need to beat the keeper and score enough goals in 60 seconds or less to progress. Plus you can polish your skills in the Practice mode. The Professional, World Class and Legendary Leagues as well as the Target and Goal modes are available in the full version of the game via in-app purchase.

In addition, you will be helping young adults across the UK to make a positive change in their lives, as a proportion of every full download of 60 Seconds Football will be donated to Street League – the football charity whose ambassador is Robin van Persie.

Street League is a charity that changes lives through football.  They use structured street football and education programmes to help disadvantaged young people aged 16-25 who are out of work, to find jobs or get back into education or training. In 2010, Street League worked with over 2,000 young people across the UK with approx. 500 going on to attend a Street League Academy.  3 out of 4 Academy Graduates get a job or return to education – all through the power of football.

Game features:

  • Score as many goals as you can in 60 Seconds to progress – increasing difficulty levels test even the fastest fingertip footballers

  • Awesome 3D graphics

  • Super-precise fingertip swipe and flick controls

  • Three great game modes – Classic, Target and Goal

  • Free version of the game comes with the Amateur League already unlocked and playable

  • Unlock the full game – including Professional, World Class and Legendary Leagues as well as the Target and Goal Modes – for just 69p

  • Customise everything about your player from hair down to boots, to replicate your favourite player and team in the unlockable ‘kit room’ for just an additional 69p

  • Challenge your friends via Facebook, Twitter and Game Centre to see if you can top the global leaderboards with your skills!

  • A proportion of every full download of 60 Seconds Football will be donated to Street League – the football charity

60 Seconds Football is a brand new game designed and conceptualized by Quirky Enterprises and built in association with The Chelsea Apps Factory. It is available from today for iPhone and iPad. The game is free to download and play in the Amateur League, with the other modes and leagues in the game costing 69p to unlock.

Key app information

 

500th Stanley shareholder is Sir Alex Ferguson

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500th Stanley shareholder is Sir Alex Ferguson

500th Stanley shareholder is Sir Alex Ferguson

Red Devils’ boss become Th’owd Reds shareholder! 

Footballing minnows Accrington Stanley Football Club has just announced that they have their 500th shareholder as part of their long term plan to issue shares to their fans. This is not just any ordinary supporter however, and the name on the 500th share certificate is that of a certain Sir Alex Ferguson.

The director of Accrington Stanley Peter Shaw, along with the senior none executive Idris Khan, presented Sir Alex with his share certificate on Wednesday at Man Utd’s training ground this week. Shaw said that the club was extremely grateful for the display of support that Sir Alex had shown towards the club. The Chief Executive Rob Heys said that the supportive gesture of becoming a shareholder was very gratifying.

Mr Heys also said hat they were not only honoured by his decision, but were truly touched by the support he has shown for a historic sporting neighbour. He added that everybody at the club was looking forward to welcoming him to their next AGM, where he will receive his official shareholder vote.

Stanley has always had strong connections with Scotland after manager Walter Galbraith signed 11 Scottish players to form the famously successful 1950s Stanley side – this was recalled by Sir Alex when he received a retro Stanley football and commemorative book.

Sir Alex said: “Everyone has heard of Accrington Stanley and I am so pleased to see a small community club flourishing during these times.

“Long may they continue to be an active and healthy member of the Football League.”

Accrington Stanley announced its programme to expand club ownership and secure its financial future through the issue of shares to fans last October.

Shares have been sold to fans locally and around the globe, with shareholders in Canada, Brazil, Finland, Australia and the USA.

Shares cost £100 each and can be purchased from the club shop or online at www.wearestanley.co.uk

To see footage of Sir Alex receiving his share, visit www.youtube.com/stanleyshareoffer 

 

Portsmouth head into administration for second time

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Portsmouth head into administration for second time The football club Portsmouth are set to go into administration for the second time in two years, and the company has recently been issued with a petition for winding up by the revenue office.

The club are due to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice in late February and they face a 10 point deduction in the league. This will leave them outside of the top 20.

The Chief Executive of the club is David Lampitt and he has recently told the BBC, “An administration order has been applied for. We expect that this is going to be heard in court by the end of the week and that the club will be placed into administration.”

The club are finding it difficult to trade currently because their bank accounts have been frozen due to the winding up order. As soon as this has been put through the club will be able to trade again but they will not escape easily as the 10 point deduction is a very severe penalty.

The club was the first Premier league side to be put into administration last year and this meant that they were relegated to the championship. If it happens again this time around then it is likely they are going to be fighting against relegation once more.

Mr Lambert continued, “We have worked hard to keep the club up and running since its first administration hearing in 2010. Finding out that we are going to have two go into administration again is very hard and my sympathy mostly goes out to the fans of the club.”

The parent company of the club entered administration last November and has forced Pompey to find a new owner. It later became clear that the club owed a lot of money to the Inland Revenue, and this made keeping it afloat very difficult.