Umbro knows how to market sportswear! The apparel company has launched a new line of World Cup Soccer themed shirts (or “kits”) in honor of the seven nations that have won the title and they’ve gathered wives/girfriends/baby mammas of players from those national teams to model them – sans pants.

Commonly referred to as WAGs across the pond (Wives and Girlfriends of sportsmen – almost always in reference to football/soccer) these young women are the creme de la creme of babedom and certainly know how to look good wearing just a shirt, shoes and socks! These seven sexy women from all over the globe show young boys everywhere that winning the World Cup isn’t the only reason to become a professional soccer player!

The marketing strategy was inspired by retro Umbro ads like this one from the 1960s:

Here is a behind-the scenes video Umbro posted on Youtube:

More about the collection From the Umbro web site:

(Note to other American readers like myself – apparently “kit” means “shirt” in the U.K.)

2009 marked the beginning of a new chapter in Umbro’s tailoring story. We launched a new England Home kit that was created with a revolutionary design philosophy: the shirt is constructed to move with your body instead of around your body. The shirt perfectly sums up what Umbro is all about: the combination of innovative performance technology and a classic tailoring aesthetic.

In honour of this year’s tournament, we have used this shirt as a canvas to celebrate the seven teams who’ve each earned the right to wear a star on their national shirt. The designs of the shirts themselves were inspired by classic kits from those Champion nations. We then asked an artist from each of the countries to design the individual crests.

The artists we collaborated with represent a diverse set of creative backgrounds – they range from established to up-and-comers, from illustrators to designers, fine artists to tattoo artists. Their crests each tell unique, deep stories of football culture in their countries, and incorporate the hallowed stars to signify their historic victories.

The clash of heritage and modernity; sport and culture; fierce local pride and a global shared passion. This is football, and we love it.

Here are each the ladies with their individual photos and a brief video. Click on the images for the super-sized versions. (The Umbro website has wallpaper images of each of the ladies with lots of blank space if you want to adorn your virtual desktop in some football WAG hawtness!)

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ALICE BREGOLI – ITALY

Alice Bregoli is married to Italian striker Alberto Gilardino and the couple have a two-year-old daughter, Ginevra, together. Alice and Alberto were engaged on March 31, 2006 and married July 5, 2009 in Santa Margherita Ligure, in the province of Genoa.

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SUSANA WERNER – BRAZIL

Susana Werner is a Brazilian model and actress married to Brazilian goalkeeper Júlio César. They share two children: Cauet (born in 2002) and Giulia (born in 2005). Susana also had a two year relationship with Brazil’s Ronaldo that ended in 1999.

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JULIA GOEDICKE – GERMANY

Julia Goedicke, 25, is by far the most controversial Umbro girl. Searching the internet to find out more information on her I had to wade through angry German commenters by the thousand! From what I could piece together it appears as though she dated Marcell Jansen in 2008. Shortly after the couple broke up, Julia announced she was pregnant, but not with Jansen’s child. The baby daddy was actually another German footballer, Christoph Metzelder! It doesn’t appear that Julia Gödicke and Metzelder are still, or even ever were, together. I’m not German or anything, but she does seem like an oddball choice, don’t you think?

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LULI FERNANDEZ – ARGENTINA

Luli Fernandez, 22, is an experienced Argentinian model currently dating Boca Juniors striker Pablo Mouche. Googling Luli turns up hundreds of libido-inflaming pics that must have made her a no-brainer for Umbro’s campaign!

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ABBEY CLANCY – ENGLAND

Abbey Clancy (Abigail Rose Clancy), 24, is a former lingerie model that made headlines in 2006 while dating striker Peter Crouch. Photos of Abbey taking cocaine and allegations of infidelities with a former boyfriend caused the couple to split very publicly after Crouch sent her a break-up fax and then issued a statement through his attorney stating the two were no longer involved. Oh, but love will find a way! It wasn’t long before rumors began circulating that the two were back together – rumors that were later confirmed. Abbey and Peter got engaged on July 15, 2009 but have yet to set a date for their wedding.

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ZAIRA NARA – URUGUAY

Zaira Nara is an Argentinian model who is involved with Diego Forlan of Uruguay. I read that the two are just dating, that the two are engaged and that the two are married. I have no idea which is the case, but I do know that Zaira is mighty mighty fine!

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CHARLENE SURIC – FRANCE

Charlene Suric is connected in some fashion to French footballer Gaël Clichy. Ummmmm… That’s all I got on Charlene! (Love those socks!!!) (Or I should say, Love those socks on those legs!!!)

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