Latest news with #Finland
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Women's Euro 2025: Ranking the best and worst of the away kits
One 'evokes morning light over snowy landscapes', another is inspired by its nation's 'vibrant street art scene', while one brings to mind a disco ball. But which are the best and worst of this summer's Women's Euros away kits? Advertisement We've pored over the pictures, swallowed the marketing spiel and had a go at separating the brilliant from the banal. Let us know whether you agree in the comments. Belgium Yellow and purple is a pretty bold choice of contrasting colours. Is it a football shirt or an ice-lolly wrapper? Why not both? Adidas has clearly decided to go all-out with its away kits for this European Championship, to experiment a little, and while many of the bold designs you will read about on this list are gambles that have paid off, this isn't one of them. The design is fine, but the colours just don't work with each other. Finland The Finland home shirt is a lesson in how to artfully introduce smart and intricate design into a football shirt. This is… not. It's partly the same pattern, but rather than subtly incorporating it into a a slim panel down the middle, it's enlarged and expanded across the whole body of the shirt. Which essentially makes it look like an owl who is determined to offer some sort of ritual sacrifice to whatever deranged god wants it. Genuinely unsettling. The owl's eyes follow you around the room. The horror. Wales This resembles a version of the Portugal away shirt, without a real sense of conviction. It's like they're twins and one is dynamic, interesting and charismatic, while the other is safe, bland, and talks about mortgage rates a lot. It doesn't look bad in itself, but next to Portugal's, it's all a bit 'look what you could've won'. The Adidas blurb claims this shirt features 'bold graphics', but can something be bold if you can't really see it? Netherlands Here we have essentially the same design as the 2024 home shirt, just in this pleasant light blue. It's… well, it's fine, isn't it? Not a huge amount more to get excited about. The colour is fine. The collar is fine. The little Netherlands-flag coloured detail on the collar is fine. The cut is fine. It's… well, it's fine. If you're under the age of 25, replace every instance of the word 'fine' in the past few lines with 'mid', if that helps at all. Sweden It looks OK but feels slightly lazy, or at least a bit 'off the peg' given the originality of some of the other away shirts Adidas has produced for this tournament. It does look most definitely like a Sweden shirt, and there is a bit of variation with the blended colours and wave effects near the shoulders, but this is essentially just an Adidas template with traditional Swedish away shirt colours. Will anyone really care? Maybe not, but this just feels quite safe. Switzerland Is this kit supposed to look so cold? Is it a tribute to the Swiss Alps? Are the swirls supposed to be a topographical reference, a nod to how those Alps might be displayed on a map? Actually, yes, that's all probably right, isn't it? I can't find any Puma marketing information, so it's difficult to ascertain for sure, but that's almost certainly it. Anyway, enough of all that: is this shirt any good? Well, yeah, sort of, it's fine. It does just look a bit… cold. Iceland Football shirts aren't necessarily supposed to make you relaxed, the sportswear equivalent of some scented candles and an album of panpipe music, but there's something extremely soothing about this one. Does it look like a T-shirt that someone who works in a shop selling bath salts would wear? Yes. Does it also make you want to buy some of those bath salts, fill up the tub, pour yourself a glass of wine and forget all of your worries? Also yes. Denmark There's often something quite nice about home and away kits that mirror each other, the same design but with the colours reversed. It's like they're 'of a piece', that someone has actually thought about how they might relate to each other, and in Denmark's case help create a consistent visual identity. This, like the home shirt, is a pretty basic design, and is perhaps made even more basic-looking due to it being white and red rather than red and white, but it still works. Poland Shiny! Part kit, part disco ball, this is the shirt you'd wear if you were trying to get into Studio 54 but had to come straight from your Thursday night five-a-side game. This is good, but there is a slight element of novelty to it, like someone at Nike had a design meeting and asked those present to come up with the wackiest idea they could think of. Does it have anything much to do with Poland? Probably not. Does that matter? Probably not. Norway The great debate that has already raged for centuries and surely will for centuries more: do pastel colours belong on a football shirt? The answer to which is, of course: maybe! Nike reports that this shirt's 'geometric lines celebrate the country's architecture, while the cool purples and icy turquoise evoke morning light over snowy landscapes'. Which does make it sound a bit like this shirt should come with a dream catcher, but that does it something of a disservice. At the very least it's different, and lord knows there are enough unimaginative designs around that you shouldn't dismiss something just because it's different. Italy Here's more sports company spiel that I am swallowing whole: the design on this Italy shirt is, we are reliably informed by Adidas, 'inspired by 15th century Italian Renaissance art', and I believe them. Because if we can't believe words cynically placed next to each other in an attempt to persuade us to part with our money, then what can we believe? It's also, setting apart the promotional bumf, just a nice shirt to look at, the pale green offset rather nicely by the bold red trim and details. Germany And some more marketing bull**** that I'm actually prepared to believe: according to the Adidas blurb, the design on this Germany away shirt is 'inspired by the nation's vibrant street art scene' — which actually makes sense! There IS a vibrant street art scene in Germany. These designs DO sort of look like they could belong in that. The pattern does sort of look like interlocking fingers, but if you can put that out of your mind, then this all looks really good. England The black football shirt is always a difficult one to pull off. You can easily end up with a glorified goalkeeper's jersey, and nobody wants that. The way to do it is with judicious use of strong contrast colours, and that's exactly what Nike has done here, with those pinks, blues and reds underneath the armpits and down the side of the shorts. Much, much better than the England home shirt. Which, admittedly, is the most damning of faint praise. Portugal Now, this is really smart. To design a shirt with this shade of green with those sort of graphics and not make it overwhelming and 'too much' requires a delicate touch. And whoever is in charge of these things at Puma seemingly has that delicate touch, because if the green was a slightly brighter shade, or the overlaying graphics slightly bolder, then it wouldn't have worked: too gaudy, too bright, too much. But as it is, they've got things just right. France This is really, really great. Nike is on the verge of being too clever for its own good with the slanted, asymmetric collar, but it falls down just on the right side of stylish. It helps that the colour scheme works perfectly, the red and blue trim paired splendidly with a sort of cream/off white. The main body colour is key when it comes to the use of a sort of salmon for the crest and Nike swoosh, which could be quite irritating, but it fits with the cream/off white in a way that it probably wouldn't with a traditional white. Tremendous. Spain Fantastic. A genuinely magnificent piece of kit design. Design generally, really. It's different, distinctive, original... and other words that essentially mean the same thing. The patterns fit together really well, the colours complement each other perfectly, the black Adidas stripes and logo offset it all nicely. If there's one gripe, it's that it doesn't necessarily look like a Spain shirt — maybe more of a deconstructed Argentina shirt — but that's nit-picking really. Advertisement This article originally appeared in The Athletic. England, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Women's Euro 2025: Ranking the best and worst of the away kits
One 'evokes morning light over snowy landscapes', another is inspired by its nation's 'vibrant street art scene', while one brings to mind a disco ball. But which are the best and worst of this summer's Women's Euros away kits? We've pored over the pictures, swallowed the marketing spiel and had a go at separating the brilliant from the banal. Let us know whether you agree in the comments. Yellow and purple is a pretty bold choice of contrasting colours. Is it a football shirt or an ice-lolly wrapper? Why not both? Adidas has clearly decided to go all-out with its away kits for this European Championship, to experiment a little, and while many of the bold designs you will read about on this list are gambles that have paid off, this isn't one of them. The design is fine, but the colours just don't work with each other. The Finland home shirt is a lesson in how to artfully introduce smart and intricate design into a football shirt. This is… not. It's partly the same pattern, but rather than subtly incorporating it into a a slim panel down the middle, it's enlarged and expanded across the whole body of the shirt. Which essentially makes it look like an owl who is determined to offer some sort of ritual sacrifice to whatever deranged god wants it. Genuinely unsettling. The owl's eyes follow you around the room. The horror. This resembles a version of the Portugal away shirt, without a real sense of conviction. It's like they're twins and one is dynamic, interesting and charismatic, while the other is safe, bland, and talks about mortgage rates a lot. It doesn't look bad in itself, but next to Portugal's, it's all a bit 'look what you could've won'. The Adidas blurb claims this shirt features 'bold graphics', but can something be bold if you can't really see it? Here we have essentially the same design as the 2024 home shirt, just in this pleasant light blue. It's… well, it's fine, isn't it? Not a huge amount more to get excited about. The colour is fine. The collar is fine. The little Netherlands-flag coloured detail on the collar is fine. The cut is fine. It's… well, it's fine. If you're under the age of 25, replace every instance of the word 'fine' in the past few lines with 'mid', if that helps at all. It looks OK but feels slightly lazy, or at least a bit 'off the peg' given the originality of some of the other away shirts Adidas has produced for this tournament. It does look most definitely like a Sweden shirt, and there is a bit of variation with the blended colours and wave effects near the shoulders, but this is essentially just an Adidas template with traditional Swedish away shirt colours. Will anyone really care? Maybe not, but this just feels quite safe. Is this kit supposed to look so cold? Is it a tribute to the Swiss Alps? Are the swirls supposed to be a topographical reference, a nod to how those Alps might be displayed on a map? Actually, yes, that's all probably right, isn't it? I can't find any Puma marketing information, so it's difficult to ascertain for sure, but that's almost certainly it. Anyway, enough of all that: is this shirt any good? Well, yeah, sort of, it's fine. It does just look a bit… cold. Football shirts aren't necessarily supposed to make you relaxed, the sportswear equivalent of some scented candles and an album of panpipe music, but there's something extremely soothing about this one. Does it look like a T-shirt that someone who works in a shop selling bath salts would wear? Yes. Does it also make you want to buy some of those bath salts, fill up the tub, pour yourself a glass of wine and forget all of your worries? Also yes. There's often something quite nice about home and away kits that mirror each other, the same design but with the colours reversed. It's like they're 'of a piece', that someone has actually thought about how they might relate to each other, and in Denmark's case help create a consistent visual identity. This, like the home shirt, is a pretty basic design, and is perhaps made even more basic-looking due to it being white and red rather than red and white, but it still works. Shiny! Part kit, part disco ball, this is the shirt you'd wear if you were trying to get into Studio 54 but had to come straight from your Thursday night five-a-side game. This is good, but there is a slight element of novelty to it, like someone at Nike had a design meeting and asked those present to come up with the wackiest idea they could think of. Does it have anything much to do with Poland? Probably not. Does that matter? Probably not. The great debate that has already raged for centuries and surely will for centuries more: do pastel colours belong on a football shirt? The answer to which is, of course: maybe! Nike reports that this shirt's 'geometric lines celebrate the country's architecture, while the cool purples and icy turquoise evoke morning light over snowy landscapes'. Which does make it sound a bit like this shirt should come with a dream catcher, but that does it something of a disservice. At the very least it's different, and lord knows there are enough unimaginative designs around that you shouldn't dismiss something just because it's different. Here's more sports company spiel that I am swallowing whole: the design on this Italy shirt is, we are reliably informed by Adidas, 'inspired by 15th century Italian Renaissance art', and I believe them. Because if we can't believe words cynically placed next to each other in an attempt to persuade us to part with our money, then what can we believe? It's also, setting apart the promotional bumf, just a nice shirt to look at, the pale green offset rather nicely by the bold red trim and details. And some more marketing bull**** that I'm actually prepared to believe: according to the Adidas blurb, the design on this Germany away shirt is 'inspired by the nation's vibrant street art scene' — which actually makes sense! There IS a vibrant street art scene in Germany. These designs DO sort of look like they could belong in that. The pattern does sort of look like interlocking fingers, but if you can put that out of your mind, then this all looks really good. The black football shirt is always a difficult one to pull off. You can easily end up with a glorified goalkeeper's jersey, and nobody wants that. The way to do it is with judicious use of strong contrast colours, and that's exactly what Nike has done here, with those pinks, blues and reds underneath the armpits and down the side of the shorts. Much, much better than the England home shirt. Which, admittedly, is the most damning of faint praise. Now, this is really smart. To design a shirt with this shade of green with those sort of graphics and not make it overwhelming and 'too much' requires a delicate touch. And whoever is in charge of these things at Puma seemingly has that delicate touch, because if the green was a slightly brighter shade, or the overlaying graphics slightly bolder, then it wouldn't have worked: too gaudy, too bright, too much. But as it is, they've got things just right. This is really, really great. Nike is on the verge of being too clever for its own good with the slanted, asymmetric collar, but it falls down just on the right side of stylish. It helps that the colour scheme works perfectly, the red and blue trim paired splendidly with a sort of cream/off white. The main body colour is key when it comes to the use of a sort of salmon for the crest and Nike swoosh, which could be quite irritating, but it fits with the cream/off white in a way that it probably wouldn't with a traditional white. Tremendous. Fantastic. A genuinely magnificent piece of kit design. Design generally, really. It's different, distinctive, original... and other words that essentially mean the same thing. The patterns fit together really well, the colours complement each other perfectly, the black Adidas stripes and logo offset it all nicely. If there's one gripe, it's that it doesn't necessarily look like a Spain shirt — maybe more of a deconstructed Argentina shirt — but that's nit-picking really. (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Finland Ministry of Defense selects ICEYE for Space-Based Intelligence and Surveillance Capabilities
ICEYE will provide SAR satellites to the Finnish Defense Forces. HELSINKI, June 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ICEYE, the European leader in new defense technology and the global leader in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite operations, and the Finnish Ministry of Defense have signed a Letter of Intent that enables the Finnish Defense Forces to acquire ICEYE SAR satellites. The cooperation aims to enhance the Defense Forces' intelligence and surveillance capabilities from space. The agreement outlines a preliminary delivery plan and timeline. It also encompasses the technical solutions and systems needed to establish an autonomous national capability for space-based surveillance. Data from these satellites will support real-time situational awareness for Finland's national leadership and relevant authorities. "We are proud to contribute to strengthening Finland's national security. Timely and reliable Earth observation data from space is a strategic asset that supports a wide range of decisions. With this capability, Finland will be well positioned to become a global leader in the field, and our collaboration with the Finnish Defense Forces is something our team deeply values. It also creates a vital environment for advancing capabilities that support the defense readiness of other NATO allies," says Pekka Laurila, Co-founder and CSO at ICEYE. "As space becomes increasingly critical, Finland is now taking a unique step forward in national defense. By acquiring our own satellites, we are strengthening our independent space-based intelligence and surveillance capabilities, and at the same time, we are supporting the domestic high-tech defense industry and creating new opportunities to deepen cooperation with allies and partners," says Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen. This cooperation offers the Finnish defense administration a rapid path to developing intelligence and surveillance capabilities and it plays a significant role in the overall development of the Defense Forces' space-based capabilities. ICEYE owns and operates the world's largest SAR satellite constellation, providing unlimited global access and the highest revisit frequency on the market. ICEYE SAR satellites provide 25 cm ground resolution, enabling accurate object detection and situational awareness in all weather and light conditions. To date, ICEYE has launched 54 SAR satellites into orbit for ICEYE's and its customers' use. About ICEYE ICEYE delivers unparalleled persistent monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth, faster and more accurately than ever before. Owning the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, ICEYE provides objective, near real-time insights, ensuring that customers have unmatched access to actionable data, day or night, even in challenging environmental conditions. As a trusted partner to governments and commercial industries, ICEYE delivers intelligence in sectors such as defense and intelligence, insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, security, maritime monitoring, and finance, enabling decision-making that contributes to community resilience and sustainable development. ICEYE operates internationally with offices in Finland, Poland, Spain, the UK, Australia, Japan, the UAE, Greece, and the US. We have close to 900 employees, inspired by the shared vision of improving life on Earth by becoming the global source of truth in Earth Observation. Media contact: press@ Visit and follow ICEYE on LinkedIn and X for the latest updates and insights. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE ICEYE Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
BBC News
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Rare 1920 Rolls-Royce stolen from hotel car park
The owner of a 105-year-old Rolls-Royce said he was feeling "very low" after his treasured car was stolen shortly before he was due to set off on its latest European tour. The 1920 Silver Ghost was secured on a trailer at a hotel near Grays, Essex, on Wednesday night ahead of it being taken to Tilbury Docks and on to Helsinki, Finland. The car had vanished when Bryan Fitton went to check on it at 06:20 BST on Thursday."I'm obviously down; I'd had the car for more than 20 years and travelled all over Europe with it - it's part of the family," he said. Fewer than 8,000 models of the Silver Ghost - named after its quietness - were manufactured by Rolls-Royce between 1907 and Fitton, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, had bought the car at auction and had worked on it for years before touring it around its latest jaunt it was to be among 26 pre-war Rolls Royces heading across Finland, Sweden, Latvia and Estonia as part of an annual Fitton said the car had been parked within sight of two security cameras at Orsett Hall Hotel, where he had stayed Police said it was investigating and urged anyone with information, CCTV, dash cam or other footage to get in contact. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
RNZ News
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
The Detail: How to ride a horse, if you don't have a horse
What started as child's play has become a serious sport around the world. Photo: Alastair Goodwin Alastair Goodwin remembers standing in front of an obstacle course, hobby horse in hand, and questioning the choices that had led him and his co-founder to that spot. "We were the biggest sceptics," he said. "The couple of hours before we started, we were just like, 'What the hell are we doing?'" After the event kicked off and crowds started lining the perimeters of the course , Goodwin - who co-founded Hobby Horsing New Zealand with Tony Sundman - tells The Detail all his worries evaporated. "It's like, sceptics be damned, people have a really good time and a lot of people have a good laugh." The children's hobby of 'riding' a stick with a horse head on it has been around for centuries, but it wasn't until the early 2000s that it was taken more seriously. Riding a stick with a horse head on it has been around for centuries. Photo: Alastair Goodwin Finland was the first country to embrace it and the sport there is largely dominated by pre-teen girls. Oscar-nominated Finnish film maker Selma Vilhunen is widely credited with bringing the sport into the mainstream with her 2017 film, Hobbyhorse Revolution . While it sounds like a bizarre game of childhood make-believe, hobby horsing is taken incredibly seriously in some parts of the world. The horses are often handmade and the goal is to make them look as realistic as possible. Many riders will train for different events, competing in the likes of dressage, show jumping and western riding. In recent decades, the sport has taken off. It's estimated about 10,000 Finnish people take part and it's on the rise here as well. "We get a lot of emails from people setting up [events] around the place and I know there's another organisation over in Hawkes Bay that does it," says Goodwin. "It is building, which is bizarre." He says it's a lot more laidback here. "We're just trying to promote it as a concept and, if people want to run with it and do the kind of high-end level of it, then that's good for them," he says. Another sport rising in the ranks of popularity here is pickleball. The sport is a mix of tennis, badminton and table tennis, and has nothing to do with pickles. "Three dads were at home with their kids during winter, and the kids were bored and the dads were getting a bit frustrated, so they thought, 'Right, let's see what we can find', and they made the game of pickleball up," says Ange Brady, the Hawke's Bay representative on the Pickleball Association of New Zealand board. The game is designed to include the whole family, from grandchild to grandparent. "Generally, it's played in doubles," Brady says. "You've got two people each side of the net and you can only score a point off your serve." While it began as a fun family sport, pickleball has evolved. Brady says both America and Australia have professional league teams, and there's an annual world cup competition. New Zealand sent two teams over to last year's World Cup. The open team made it to the quarter finals and the 50+ team came second out of the 22 participating countries. There's even talk of it becoming an Olympic sport, but for that to happen, Brady says there need to be some changes at the governing level. "There are currently two governing bodies for pickleball across the world," she says. "We need to have one governing body for the sport and a bit of consistency of what that looks like around the world, because you obviously need to have criteria that you would meet across all of the countries in order to select the team." Whether or not it makes an appearance at a future Olympic games, Brady says pickleball is a sport for everyone. "I hear stories of kids lining up at lunchtime and morning teatime to play at schools. Then we've got pickleball available all through the day for everybody, right through until the evening for those who still have to work a fulltime job, and then across the weekends. "Once you start playing, you just find your people." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
