It’s that time of the year when your loved ones are asking you what you want for the holidays. If you’re soccer fan, there are so many things to choose from. We’ve hand-selected several items that we think would make a perfect gift for most soccer fans.

Holiday gift guide for soccer fans:

 

Terrace Club

Whether it’s you or one of your loved ones that’s a soccer fan, you’re probably looking for a unique soccer gift that will stand out from the crowd of usual items. We have one to recommend. Terrace Club is a monthly subscription service that features incredible soccer-inspired products.

Terrace Club is the world’s first soccer inspired subscription box service that will send out a box every quarter. Each quarterly box will be inspired by something taking place within the sport. They will curate goods designed and produced by themselves as well as some of their favorite people and brands. Some items will have a heavy dose of soccer inspiration, others will be products that are produced by people and brands that support the sport. All the items that are included are things that they love and that they want to introduce to you.

The founders of the Terrace Club have spent the last number of years dedicating themselves to the culture and lifestyle of soccer with Bumpy Pitch and The Original Winger, and The Terrace Club is a natural extension of both of these.

The Terrace Club is an opportunity to bring you products that they love from people that they respect.

Or, you can purchase a limited edition box. The Holiday 2016 collection consists of incredible soccer inspired products that are perfect for this time of year.

With this box, they’ve curated items that will be perfect to keep all for yourself or gift to that soccer lover in your life.

To keep things consistent, there will be a limited edition item in the box that isn’t available anywhere outside The Terrace Club.

Holiday 2016 is classic soccer styling meets original stories that you can’t find anywhere else.

Check out the Holiday 2016 box.

 

Shinguards

One of the pain points about shinguards is that despite the number of advances in cleats and balls technology, shinguards seem to be stuck in the stone age. It’s not as if the type of shinguards have changed that much in the past one to two decades.

However, one differentiator is a company named G-Form, which has developed the unique Pro-S Shin Guard. World Soccer Talk had a chance to trial a couple of pairs to see how they stood up against the typical pair of shinguards and here’s what we liked and disliked:

PROS

• The Pro-S Shin Guards are very lightweight but also very protective at the same time. The protection comes from RPT soft padding technology that hardens on impact and allows you to withstand hard tackles.

• The fit of the Pro-S shinguard is a lot more comfortable than a typical pair. The shinguard slips on after you push your foot through it. There are no straps or velcro, so the fit is smooth.

• Not only is it more comfortable, but the snug fit also makes it feel like you’re not wearing shinguards. Plus, the shinguards don’t shift during gameplay. From personal testing, that has helped me run faster because the shinguards were not slowing me down. Plus during games, there’s no need to adjust your shinguards during breaks in play.

• Last but not least, the way that the shinguards fit, it provides better protection to the lower part of the shin. With typical shinguards, they often fit higher up the shin, so if you get kicked in the lower shin, there’s no protection for you at all. With Pro-S Shin Guard, you’re protected.

CONS

• Pay attention to the sizing chart in order to make sure you have the proper fit for you (or your family member). The size chart is a little more involved than buying a typical pair, but as long as you get the correct sizing, the time it takes to select the shinguard will be time well spent.

 

Conflict between MLS, NASL and USL

The latest eBook from World Soccer Talk Senior Writer Kartik Krishnaiyer is out, and it’s aptly entitled Soccerwarz.

The history of the evolution of soccer in the United States is a fascinating journey that’s awash with acronyms. MLS, NASL, USL, USSF, APSL, NPSL and MISL are just a small number in a long list of soccer organizations that have tried to grow the game on these shores. Nowadays, three acronyms that interest many soccer fans are MLS, NASL and USL. The relationship between the organizations hs been eyeopening, to say the very least.

One person who has a very unique insight into how each of these organizations operated and interacted with each other is Kartik Krishnaiyer, senior writer at World Soccer Talk and an expert on all levels of the American game.

From 2010 to 2013, Krishnaiyer worked at NASL as their communications director, working alongside a myriad of interesting characters including Aaron Davidson. In Krishnaiyer’s new book, SoccerWarz: Inside America’s Soccer Feud Between MLS, NASL and USL, what follows are the lessons the author learned behind the scenes, from when he joined the new NASL before it’d played its first game through the time he left its front office when a new group of ambitious leaders replaced those that had just come to grips with North American soccer’s realities. From its marriage with Traffic to reclaiming its storied name, from the halcyon days of unfettered ambition to US Soccer’s initial rebuke and the reset of year two, he saw NASL 2.0 go from dream to reality, and he knows what part of today’s rhetoric remains anchored in 2011’s dream.

In SoccerWarz, the book also examines the role that the now disgraced Traffic Sports had within NASL, as well as the league’s plans to challenge Major League Soccer’s position as the top division in the United States.

Published by World Soccer Talk, SoccerWarz is available via all fine online booksellers. Download the SoccerWarz eBook today via any of these sites:

Amazon
Apple iTunes
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
Scribd
Kobo.

 

Soccer jerseys

For years, World Soccer Shop has been the number source for all of your soccer gear — whether it’s official soccer jerseys, scarves, jackets, cleats and anything else you can imagine soccer-related.

Browse through their complete catalog of soccer merchandise to see what you want.

 

Watch all your soccer with DirecTV

One of the biggest frustrations among soccer fans is finding out that you don’t have that channel to which a specific game. You think you have all the channels until you find out that you don’t.

One TV provider that has every possible soccer-related TV channel available to you is DirecTV.

DirecTV has a new special where you get all of their included packages — 145+ channels with SELECT Package and you’ll also get a $100 AT&T Visa Reward gift card when you order online (for a 24-month TV agreement).

Sign up today for DirecTV’s special offer.