New Balance unveils commemorative Glasgow Celtic kit as part of 'Live the Legend' campaign celebrating the Lisbon Lions
New Balance has created a special commemorative kit for Celtic FC to mark the 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions.
The new 2017/18 home kit has been designed to pay homage to the jerseys worn by the team when they won the 1967 European Cup against Inter Milan in Lisbon.
New Balance live streamed the unveiling of the kit today (4 May) across Facebook Live and YouTube from outside Celtic Park.
As part of the 'Live the Legend' campaign New Balance Football's global creative agency Zak worked with the club and brand to create a film with archive footage from the famous game and voiceovers from some of the Lisbon Lions reflecting on their memories of the occasion.
The piece comes to a climax with the players reprising the famous Jock Stein quote that “This can be a year to remember for the rest of our lives” before revealing the new 50th anniversary Home Kit with the campaign line, “Live the Legend.”
The campaign will roll out across outdoor, print, social and digital channels.
Kenny McCallum, global senior marketing manager for Football at New Balance, said: "Celtic is one of Europe’s biggest and most successful clubs and we’re excited to be able to celebrate its past and present success. We’ve created a campaign that is inspired by an amazing moment in the club’s history but is also about looking forward and building on the current success.”
The kit will be released on 23 May and features a gold version of the Scottish champion’s crest with the phrase ‘Lisbon 50th Anniversary 25 May 1967’ written around it in Portuguese.
The two teams who competed in the 1967 final have been commemorated in the inner back neck of the jersey, where the green and white hoops of Celtic and the black and blue stripes of Inter Milan are featured.
The #CelticFC and @CelticFCWomen players take to the stage! #LiveTheLegend pic.twitter.com/w2VTOVhvbb
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 4, 2017
“This is such a big anniversary for the club, and we wanted to create a kit which marked the historic victory of the team 50 years ago," said Richard Wright, general manager of New Balance Football.
"The kit has a classic look, which is something Celtic is renowned for across the world, but it also incorporates the latest New Balance technology to help the players perform to the very highest level.”
Three members of the Lisbon Lions squad- Bobby Lennox, John Clark and Bertie Aulds- attended the unveiling ceremony where they discussed their memories of the final and reflected on what the club means to them.
New Balance has created the jerseys to be a tighter fit too, not only to reflect the style of 1960s strips but in a nod to the then manager Jock Stein’s tactical instructions for the team to wear slightly tighter strips so that the Inter Milan players could not pull on their tops.
The 1967 European Cup final was held at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal and saw the Glasgow club defeat Italian champions Inter Milan 2-1 to become the first British club to win the biggest tournament in European club football.
Celtic’s special edition kit is the second commemorative jersey New Balance has recently created after it unveiled a 125th anniversary kit for Liverpool FC.