Sportlifestyle Company to Host Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast Football Teams in Paris for Exhibition Game Before World Cup™

PUMA announced today it will host the ‘Africa Unity Experience’ in Paris from May 28-29 as the brand’s kick-off for World Cup. It will include an Africa Unity Exhibition Game at 6pm on Friday May 28 when players from Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast will participate in an exhibition match in front of a capacity crowd at the Stade Michel Hidalgo.

There will also be a free concert sponsored by PUMA and curated by Africa Express at 7.30pm on Friday May 28. Africa Express is a collective of African and Western musicians with the mission to bring African music to a wider audience – headliners include Tiken Jah Fakoly (Ivory Coast), M3NSA and M.ANIFEST (Ghana), Les Nubians (Cameroon) and Amazigh Kateb (Algeria). PUMA footballers and Hollywood star Djimon Hounsou will also make an appearance.

On Saturday May 29, the activities conclude with an Africa Unity Experience Camp, where fans will have a chance to go toe-to-toe with current PUMA players and African football legends such as Roger Milla and Tony Yeboah, in a series of skills challenges.

This series of high impact ‘Unity’ events will generate fan support, build consumer engagement in advance of South Africa and raise funds and awareness for the United Nations Environment  Programme (UNEP) and PUMA’s 2010 International Year of Biodiversity project ‘Play For Life’.

PUMA’s breakthrough Africa Unity Kit—the first-ever continental kit, designed to be worn as a third uniform for PUMA’s 13 African football teams—will be showcased throughout the Africa Unity Exhibition Game.

“We’re excited to host the Africa Unity Experience—PUMA’s official send-off to the African teams who are World Cup bound,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of PUMA. “It is through events like these that PUMA’s positioning as a sportlifestyle brand really comes to life. It represents the perfect marriage of sport and music and culture, bringing the Unity message into focus. With our partner UNEP, and with the full support of the African Football Federations, we hope to raise awareness and interest in the topic of biodiversity through our activities during Africa Unity Experience event.”

Sportlifestyle company PUMA AG has unveiled the POWERCAT Football collection which will be worn by PUMA sponsored teams Italy, Switzerland and Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup 2010™ tournament.

Following on the heels of the PUMA SPEED Collection, introduced in October 2009, the POWERCAT Collection includes performance boots, jerseys, gloves, shin-guards and a ball. Each product is inspired by the fearless attitude of the great white shark, the determination of a World Champion heavyweight boxer and the sleek, engineered look of a modern superhero.

The POWER collection takes its inspiration from idea of “raw” football, harkening back to a player’s primal instincts of fight versus flight. The collection is designed for each player to maximize his or her “fight” instinct – when lining up for the national anthem, preparing for a challenge or most importantly when making contact with the ball.

The products throughout the POWERCAT Collection are all developed to enhance performance on the pitch. Using state-of-the art 3D Motion Analysis, a scientific technique that captures and quantifies human movement, the data is incorporated into the design of the jersey and boots to ensure each player exerts minimal energy, but delivers maximum power with each body movement and kick.

The PowerCat 1.10 Boot uses PUMA 3D Power Shooting Technology which delivers unique rebound properties. The Springtech foam in the shark-like gills on the side of the boot are engineered to enhance every shot by putting extra power behind the ball as it catapults off the shoe. This means the boot intentionally does not absorb the typical amount of energy upon impact with the ball, allowing more power to be released with every shot.

The kicking area is made of soft, thin leather and a synthetic microfiber around the quarter area, keeping the boot lightweight and easy to perform in. The bladed studs are configured to ensure smooth ground penetration and pressure distribution as well as maximum traction and maneuverability.

“Courage to be Bold’ is the main statement of the POWERCAT collection, which revolves around PUMA’s concept of raw football,” said Filip Trulsson Senior Manager, International Teamsport Business Unit. “In 2010 PUMA Football’s attention has been focused on the psychology of players wearing the product. The main objectives are about delivering products that would trigger ‘raw’ reactions of the players to make them both invincible and intimidating.”

PUMA’s POWERCAT PowerCat Collection, in the seasonal colorways, will be available at select PUMA retail stores, at www.puma.com and wholesale partners beginning February 27.

To herald the start of a World Cup year and to celebrate PUMA’s long-standing partnership with African football (the Company sponsors 12 African teams, four of which have qualified for World Cup), PUMA has partnered with Kehinde Wiley, one of the world’s most sought-after artists, and commissioned him to create four original works of art inspired by three of football’s most decorated players.  Wiley is best known for using contemporary African American men in poses taken from the annals of art history and for his distinctive use of elaborate, graphic and colourful wallpaper-like backgrounds.

PUMA-sponsored football stars; Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast sat for Wiley as he painted three individual portraits of each player wearing their national team kits.  A fourth ‘Unity’ Portrait was painted with all three players together, symbolizing the united countries of Africa.  The players’ pose was inspired by a statue Wiley discovered while touring the Continent.  In the ‘Unity’ Portrait, the players are wearing the PUMA Unity Kit, a limited edition uniform designed to be a third kit shared by all African teams, symbolizing unity. The brown pigment in the kit is a customized pantone PUMA created by mixing actual soil samples from four different African nations—Ghana, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire and Mozambique. The brown to blue color gradient represents the soil to the sky progression.  In each portrait, Wiley captures the essence of each player using the rich heritage, customs and people of Africa as inspiration.

Kehinde Wiley

“PUMA is fortunate to have partnered with such a pivotal artist as Kehinde Wiley,” said Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Office, PUMA AG.  “His keen eye for design, color and composition, brilliantly capture the spirit and passion of Africa – and the players he painted. His style perfectly complements the vibrant culture of modern Africa and the PUMA brand.”

The individual portraits, measuring 5 feet by 6 feet and the ‘Unity’ portrait measuring 9 feet by 12 feet, will be unveiled in January 2010. The portraits will then travel as an exhibition beginning in February to Paris, London, New York, Beijing and Milan, ending in South Africa in June for the World Cup.

PUMA, best known for the sponsorship of 12 African national football teams, is expanding its reach beyond the pitch by create African-inspired lifestyle products and artwork that is relevant and understandable to a younger generation in tandem with Wiley. To that end, Kehinde Wiley has also lent some of his unforgettable patterns to the PUMA Spring Summer 2010 PUMA Africa lifestyle collection of apparel, footwear and accessories.  The PUMA Africa collection uses seven graphic patterns from Wiley’s existing work and integrates them throughout the bright, bold, color-blocking patterns of the collection. The collaboration between PUMA and Kehinde Wiley is part of a larger Africa-themed campaign PUMA is embarking on in advance of World Cup 2010, which will be held in South Africa in June.

Born in Los Angeles to an African American mother and a Nigerian father, Wiley describes his relationship with Africa as “one of searching and longing.” Kehinde, which means “second born of twins” in Yoruba, grew up without knowing his father and curiosity led him to Nigeria at the age of 20 to retrace his roots.  Upon meeting his father, Wiley completed a series of portraits of him, and later, in 2007, returned to Africa to compile a body of work entitled “The World Stage: Africa Lagos-Dakar,” which was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem.  At age 32, he represents the African-American cultural explosion that has gripped the world.  With an MFA from the esteemed Yale University School of Art, Kehinde Wiley’s work is sought after in major galleries around the world.

PUMA, the leading sportslifestyle brand and a powerhouse in African football delivered a trifecta news announcement today, paving the way for the Orange African Cup of Nations Angola 2010™ (CAN 2010).  PUMA has unveiled the 2010 Football Kits for the eleven African teams it sponsors: Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Egypt, Tunisia, Namibia, Morocco, Angola, Senegal and Togo.

PUMA Angola away shirt

PUMA Ghana home shirt

PUMA Cameroon Samuel Eto'o

PUMA is also proud to announce the signing of Algeria FA. Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes), will be part of the PUMA football portfolio from January 1st 2010. Finally, the sportslifestyle company has been named the Official Fan Shop of the Orange African Cup of Nations Angola 2010. Continue Reading