Icons met Gareth Bale for the third time in three years this week in Cardiff whilst he was on international duty with Wales.
Icons were given a hospitable welcome by the Welsh FA before meeting with an equally friendly Gareth. Bale signed a collection of Real Madrid, Spurs and Wales shirts for Icons, as well as his latest Adidas boot. Being the first signing Gareth has done since helping Madrid to their La Decima, Icons have a collection of special itemscelebrating his UEFA Champions league final winning goal against Atletico Madrid.
Icons have been signing with Gareth since 2011, as part of our “Stars of the Future” programme. Now Gareth is the world’s most expensive player having signed to Madrid for a cool Euros 100 million, but he’s still the same, down to earth man he was we when we first met him.
Icons are delighted to announce World Cup golden boot winner James Rodriguez as the latest Icon. We saw the Real Madrid star for the first time in Madrid on Friday, October 17th.
James enters the room with his trademark grin; it’s the sign of a man who’s happy in life. And so he should be, having taken Colombia to the World Cup Quarter Finals (their best ever finish) and scoring the goal of the tournament along the way, he soon earned himself a move from Monaco to Real Madrid for a record breaking 80 million euros.
James is friendly, agreeable and easy to get on with. The Colombian star even asks to keep a few of the World Cup Golden Boot montages for his own collection!
Icons’ new James collection features signed Real Madrid products, official UEFA Champions League signed items and special FIFA World Cup Colombian products. James signed the 2014-15 Real Madrid home shirt, the Real Madrid limited edition black away shirt and a single Colombia World Cup 2014 shirt as there are so few left in the world. Also available are James’ current Adidas boots and the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League football. Finally, James signed a selection of photos of his most recent career highlights and an officially licensed FIFA World Cup poster, framed only, detailing his golden boot.
Get your very own signed James 2014-15 season memorabilia today – only with Icons.com, exclusive FIFA and UEFA licensee.
And just so you know his name is always pronounced “Hamez”, he’s no plain James!
Icons first met Leo Messi on May 5th, 2006. Although Messi had made less than 30 appearances for club and country, Icons were convinced of his potential and made the signing happen.
Today, eight years later, Messi is the biggest name in world football and has a glittering trophy cabinet to prove it. To date Messi has won six La Liga titles, three UEFA Champions League titles, two FIFA Club World Cup titles and four consecutive Ballon D’Or awards to name just a few.
Despite all this, Messi claims “off the pitch I am just normal”. And he’s right. Humble, unassuming and polite, he is a pleasure to work with. On the pitch, however, he is unlike any footballer the world has ever seen.
On Friday 26th September, 2014 Icons saw Leo Messi yet again to sign a range of shirts, boots and photos for us and his fans. Icons have also been working around the clock to launch the new Official Messi Signed Merchandise range.
All Official Messi Signed Merchandise is created under license by Icons Shop Ltd and now comes with an Official Messi Signed Merchandise Certificate of Authenticity, which has an image of Leo signing the product line.
The full range is only available on Icons.com.
Icons are delighted to announce a new long term, exclusive distribution partnership with 5usport Media Co., Ltd (U体育) in China.
Check out the new Icons section on the 5usport Shop on Tmall
Their website Usport News will be listing Icons signed products from the summer of 2014 onwards and they will be responsible for exclusively working with all our customers in greater China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Usportnews.com will be the best place for all our Chinese customers to get their official signed Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona and Premier League superstar’s signed products, as well as officially licensed memorabilia ranges from the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
If you have any questions about this partnership please contact us on customersupport@icons.com
Imagine a life without Ryan Giggs. It is impossible. He was just always there, like Coronation Street and the BBC.
Yesterday he announced his retirement from professional football. After 23 years playing for Manchester United and 34 trophies he decided he had enough. But it is not only the number of trophies and the longevity that makes this man special. It is his skill of reinvention.
The old & new Giggs
Just after his debut, the 17-year-old was dubbed as ‘the new George Best’. Giggs was a beguiling mix of ruthlessness and grace. The way he ran, the way he passed, the way he moved was balletic but it was also wholly damaging to opponents. But those inelastic hamstrings panged once too often. No more could he play with the same wild abandon. Top speed wasn’t an option as pragmatism crept in where once was unadulterated joy.
He needed to change his way of play and evolved in the elder statesman we know today. The new Giggs got wise; he went from not being able to cross properly to playing slide-rule passes at will. Travelling with the ball became less belting down the flank and more subtle feigns and shifts of balance. It helped him win everything more times than anyone ever.
Great guy to work with
As a person Giggs never changed. We have a long standing work relationship with him, and he is still the nice guy we met for the first time more than 15 years ago. He embarks upon a new and exciting chapter in his life, as assistant manager of Manchester United. And we, we will always remember his contribution to the game with a fantastic range of authentic autographed Giggs memorabilia.
