1 month until World Cup 2010!

World Cup launches June 11th 2010. So I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite items to get in the International Soccer spirit.

5. Nike USA Gear

So, Nike is in charge of USA's gear officially. If you are looking for some USA pieces to rep your hood check out Nike.com. They are also in charge of a few other countries like Portugal, England, and Australia.

4. Adidas World Cup Gear

For everything else World Cup check out Adidas.com, my personal favorite piece is the South Africa Track Jacket. SO hot. Adidas officially makes all the gear for most countries like Germany, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and South Africa.
Check out Puma.com for Italy gear as well as a few other countries.

3. Panini Adrenalyn XL World Cup 2010 trading cards

Panini is this awesome card company from Italy that only recently showed up on the US card scene with their Adrenalyn XL NBA cards. The soccer ones are a bit harder to track down, as are the World Cup ones, but when you do you'll find a fun collectible featuring all your favorite footballers. Don't expect to find these listed on the Panini America website either, I found them through the International site. Neither site sells them directly so check out ebay or online card stores.

2. Adidas World Cup 2010 South Africa Soccer Ball The "Jabulani"

The Jabulani is the official ball of the FIFA World Cup this year and will be used in all the matches of the tournament. The word Jabulani means "to celebrate" in Zulu, the most widely spoken home language in South Africa. The ball has 11 colors on it to represent the 11 official languages of South Africa and the 11 players on a team. You can score your own right now on Adidas.com. For the final match on July 11th look for a special Gold ball that will be used called the "Jo'bulani" in honor of the final match being held in Johannesburg.

1. Panini World Cup 2010 Sticker Album

Although they've only recently made their debut here in the States, the Panini World Cup Sticker Album is the quintessential World Cup souvenir all over the world. Since 1970 Panini has produced sticker books that features team players, mascots, emblems, and more. This year the album contains an unprecedented 637 stickers, not to mention the super secret special ones you won't even realize you were supposed to get. These are a bit easier to find right now than the Adrenalyn XL cards, but I still think your best bet in finding these will be ebay or local card collectors/ online stores. I found some at the Card Pavillion in Santa Ana, CA (super nice people over there) or Check out PaniniGroup.com for more info.