Slovakia. Great name. Sounds ace saying Slovakia. Slo-vak-ia. See? Ace. Another nation qualifying for their first ever European Championships, Slovakia go into the tournament bolstered by the phenomenal international success of national plimsoll maker Novesta.
For the tournamnet in France, all Slovakia’s players will break the usual conventions by playing matches in Novesta Starmaster’s rather than football boots. Novesta plimsolls are Slovakia’s prime export commodity and account for 27% of their GDP. Winger Balazs Dzsudzsak and midfielder Laszlo Kleinheisler regularly feature as models on Manchester menswear store Oi Polloi’s online ‘Deck Out’ feature and will both be taking to the field in Novexta X Oi Polloi exclusives.
Slovakia are another national team lumbered with a Puma kit. Nothing against Puma per-se (apart from the obvious obviously) but their kits for these Euros are singularly uninspiring. Everyone who has a Puma kit has the same one. Remove the badges and it would be impossible to tell your Slovaks from your Czech’s, Austrians or Swiss (Italy obviously have a slightly different design because they’re Italy). They’re not bad kits or good kits and that’s the problem. Like the majority of Puma’s offerings it’s the definition of ‘meh’. Puma in a nutshell.
Outside of football and plimsolls, one of Slovakia’s greatest contributions to the world is an artist. Although he was born in Pittsburgh USA, pop-art Papillion Andy Warhol was the son of Slovak immigrants and his influence on Slovakia lives-on in the shape of Martin Skrtel.
Attacking midfielder Marek Hamsik is Slovakia’s danger man with 81 goals in Serie A for Napoli, 89 international caps and four kills and two malicious wounding’s across seasons one and two of Gommorah.
