You know World Cup season is here when luxury goods brands start rounding up soccer players as their brand ambassadors. Here’s football legends Pelé, Maradona and Zinedine Zidane, enjoying a nice game of foosball in a campaign shoot for Louis Vuitton, photographed by Annie Leibovitz.

Zizou got ‘em marked — Louis Vuitton monogram canvas luggage bags personalized with the painted letters “Z.Z”.

Leibovitz also recently shot some of the brightest names in football for the cover and spread of Vanity Fair June edition with a special feature on the World Cup. Yup, the one with the boys dressed in nothing but their underwear. Why? I have no idea. Oh wait, the underpants are emblazoned with the colors and crests of the flags of their countries so I’m guessing it’s showing national pride in its rawest, naked form. Or something like that. ;)

From left to right: Sulley Muntari (Ghana), Landon Donovan (U.S.A.), Kaká (Brazil), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), and Pato (Brazil).

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) on the Vanity Fair June 2010 cover. *blush*

My predictions? The England jersey will be a winner.

Who would have taught of transforming a first aid box into a soccer ball? Looking like something inspired by a Transformer merchandise, the Dream Ball is actually the brainchild of a Korean company, Uplug Design Studio, whose mission is to make life better for the human race.

The Dream ball project was developed for the children of Third world countries like Tanzania, Congo, Rwanda and  Somalia. Children in these poor nations would typically make a ball out of anything — as long the material creates some sort of projectile when kicked — so why now turn an empty vessel used to contain medical supplies into one?

The Dream Ball is made of a Relife box, which uses  paper that can be recycled and may vary in intensity and elasticity depending on its thickness. Available in both square or cylindrical formats, the containers can be easily disassembled and, by following a few simple instructions, fashioned into a soccer ball.

Besides football, various sized balls such as baseballs or handballs can also be formed from different first aid boxes. A little bit of fun with a life-saving kit. Life’s a ball, indeed.

The last time I got really excited with sporting apparel was when Stella McCartney first collaborated with Adidas a few years back. Remember that? Who knew sportswear could look pretty apart from being functional?

A few days ago I caught the England vs Spain under-21s football match and I was completely fixated on the English national kit. The team came out in their white-on-white anthem jacket and shorts and looked really, really smart.

White embroidered logos on white, interesting collar for the drill top.

For the game, instead of the usual football jerseys we’re used to, they had on smart white polo shirts with unfussy detailing — darts at the back, clean color palette, a beautiful retro-ish three lions crest (love it!) and a super great fit, thanks to the gasp! bespoke tailoring (in this case, made to measure for each footballer).

I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on one as the new jersey looks great on non-footballers too:

To put in so much thought in the design process yet having so much restraint in the execution so that the focus in on the athlete is very a daring move. Which makes a lot of sense. Very impressive, Umbro.

Juninho Paulista, Paolo Di Canio, Peter Schmeichel in the England tees.  Looking good, traitors!  LOL

Also read: Umbro Blog