Umbro, cautious against counterfeiting previous to the FIFA World Cup

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

The much awaited official team kit that Peru will use in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia is ready to be launched, promoted and commercialized. "The shirt is beautiful, but I can only give few details because of the problem we face with counterfeiting", said Johan Vela, brand manager in Peru of English sportswear and football equipment Umbro.

On 15 November Peru beat New Zealand 2-0 to win a two-leg intercontinental playoff and earn the 32nd and last spot at the World Cup in Russia next year. It will be Peru's first trip to the World Cup since Spain 1982 and therefore local fans have been desperate to acquire the national soccer team kit. Nevertheless, many of those uniforms are counterfeited versions of the official Umbro kit. An Associated Press report stated that through November thousands of workshops in the Gamarra neighborhood of capital city Lima have worked day and night to produce three million jerseys that they planed to sell in the remainder of the month.

In an effort to reduce thousand dollar losses against counterfeiting Umbro has avoided any advance on the design of the new jersey, juts announcing an approximate date launching before Christmas and a price of USD 61. It will be the last jersey produced by Umbro for Peru, as the Peruvian Football Federation confirmed that Ecuadorian based athletic company Marathon Sports reached an agreement to dress the national team from August 2018 to December 2022.

Peru will play against France, Australia and Denmark in the group stages of the 2018 World Cup, after they were drawn into Group C. Its first match of the tournament will take place in Saransk on June 16, against Denmark.