【英语国际】足球世界杯朝鲜队穿什么？

Richard Smith wants to start selling the official soccer jersey of the world's most secretive totalitarian regime before the World Cup tournament begins June 11.

He isn't optimistic.

Hawking the soccer jerseys of all 32 World Cup teams competing in South Africa this year is a point of pride for Mr. Smith, the managing director of Subside SportsLtd., an apparel seller in Exeter, England.

To do that, he and his fellow sports merchandisers must find North Korea's soccer shirt. They've initiated the equivalent of a world-wide Easter egg hunt, talking to apparel makers from Mexico to China.

Mr. Smith says he would order 1,000 North Korean jerseys if someone would just let him. 'Our market is collectors,' he says. 'They will want the shirt no one else has.'

Handicappers view the North Korean soccer team as a long shot in this year's Cup. The secretive Democratic People's Republic of Korea mostly boasts players from its walled-off home league, which soccer fans know little about.

With an opening match against Brazil on June 15, the country makes its first Cup appearance since 1966. While the North Koreans have made pre-Cup appearances this year, they have yet to show off the shirt they will wear in South Africa. Such elusiveness is an anomaly in the gear-fanatical global soccer culture that feeds the merchandising frenzy surrounding the Cup every four years.

Adidas AG and Nike Inc. make many national teams' jerseys. But the job of clothing teams from more obscure nations sometimes falls to smaller companies. The Chinese Hongxing Erke Group had dressed North Korean athletes in recent years, but it isn't equipping them for this Cup.

Some vendors guessed Mexico's Pirma would assume the job after it hastily provided the North Koreans with replacement jerseys when the team's luggage failed to arrive in Mexico City for a March 17 exhibition against Mexico.

Julio Villalobos, Pirma's director of clothes and accessories, said the company began negotiations with the North Koreans over providing World Cup jerseys shortly after that. But he says haggling got out of hand: 'They kept wanting a lower price, so we eventually said, 'No deal.''

North Korea's national soccer federation didn't respond to requests for comment made through the country's United Nations mission.

As recently as this week in an exhibition with Greece, the North Koreans wore a jersey made by Spanish apparel company Astore. But Astore sales director Michel Gogniat says his company has no official deal with North Korea. Instead he says his company unwittingly sold the shirts without any national demarcations to an intermediary in China, who redirected them to the team.

After spending months on the puzzle, Mr. Smith finally solved part of it earlier this month. A contact in Asia informed him that the North Koreans had struck a deal with Legea SRL, an Italian company. But Mr. Smith still isn't sure his firm can order the jerseys before the Cup begins.

Lorenzo Grimaldi, Legea's marketing manager, confirmed that it has the North Korean contract. He said it struck the deal in Pompei, Italy, in early February, which predates the negotiations between Pirma and the North Koreans.
Legea wants the exposure of having jerseys with its logo shown on TV all over the world. So it is paying for the costs of producing the jerseys and other official attire worn by the North Korean team.

Getting the jersey to the market in time for the tournament has proved tough. The North Koreans wanted a 'personalized' design for their jersey, including fabrics that were 'off the catalog,' Mr. Grimaldi recalls.

Legea translated memos into Korean explaining such details as how large the North Korean flag and Legea's own logo would appear on the jersey in order to meet World Cup standards. 'This really slowed our work,' Mr. Grimaldi says. The jerseys aren't available anywhere online yet. Legea will charge 45 euros ($56) to 50 euros ($62) for the shirts.

Why it should be so difficult to sell the jerseys is anyone's guess, says Jim Noonan, vice president of marketing for Sports Endeavors Inc. in Hillsborough, N.C. 'I don't think they're being deliberately difficult,' he says of the North Korean soccer federation. 'They're just winging it, probably.'

Finding the jersey is just one of many challenges facing those hoping to sell North Korean merchandise.

Mr. Noonan is among the vendors who don't expect much from sales of souvenirs for one of the tournament's biggest underdogs, considering the unpopularity of the government and the lack of access to customers within that country's closed borders.

So far souvenirs like 'I DPRK Football' infant bodysuits, which Mr. Noonan's company sells online for $12.99, have accounted for .025% of the company's World Cup-related sales.

As for questions about the morality of making a buck off Kim Jong Il's favorite soccer team, the merchandisers say they don't worry about that.

'We're a football company,' Mr. Smith says. 'We're not a political adjudicator. We trade in polyester.'

'I have Iran, Venezuela, everyone on the Axis of Evil,' says Ben Phillip, a Michigan graphic designer with a North Korean soccer T-shirt for sale. 'It doesn't really bother me.'

Even if merchandisers can't get a hold of this year's jersey, there is one set of North Korean shirts vendors can count on: throwbacks. Subside sells shirts from 2008 and 1966. Toffs Ltd., another English company, also sells the 1966 edition.

Toffs co-owner and president Alan Finch says his company usually accommodates customer demand regardless of how controversial the jersey may be, and never thought twice about making the North Korean throwback. He was 18 when the 1966 World Cup came to England, and recalls having a soft spot for the unheralded team that upset Italy and reached the quarterfinals.

'They were likable long shots,' he says.

理查德•史密斯(Richard Smith)计划在6月11日南非世界杯(World Cup)开赛前开始销售世界上最神秘极权国家的足球队队服。

但他对此并不乐观。

能够售卖今年南非世界杯所有32支参赛球队的队服对史密斯来说是件值得自豪的事。史密斯是英格兰埃克塞特(Exeter)服装公司Subside SportsLtd.的总经理。

为了实现这一目标，史密斯和他的伙伴们必须找到朝鲜足球队的队服。他们已经在全球范围内展开了一场类似于“复活节找蛋”的行动，与来自从墨西哥到中国的全球各地的服装生产商进行接触。

史密斯说，如果得到允许，他将订购1,000套朝鲜足球队队服。“我们面向的市场是球衣收藏者，”他说，“他们希望收集到别人没有的球衣。”

朝鲜足球根据以往的情形，人们认为朝鲜队在本届世界杯希望不大。神秘的朝鲜民主主义人民共和国拥有的球员大多为其与世隔绝的本土联赛效力，而球迷们对这一联赛知之甚少。

朝鲜队将在6月15日首战对阵巴西队，这是他们自1966年后在世界杯舞台的第一次亮相。尽管朝鲜队在今年的世界杯预选赛中已经露过面，但他们还没有展示过将在南非穿着的球衣。这样的躲躲藏藏在热衷运动装备的世界足球文化中是个异数，而正是这种文化推动着围绕着四年一度世界杯而展开的销售热潮。

阿迪达斯(Adidas AG)和耐克公司(Nike Inc.)为多支国家队打造了战袍，但是为那些名不见经传的国家队制作队服的任务有时候就落在了一些小公司身上。中国的鸿星尔克集团(Hongxing Erke Group)近年来曾为朝鲜运动员制作过球衣，但朝鲜队本届世界杯的队服却并不是由该公司制作的。

有销售商猜测说，墨西哥的Pirma愿意承担起这项任务。朝鲜队今年3月17日在墨西哥城与墨西哥队的热身赛中，由于队员们的行李迟迟未到，Pirma火速为他们提供了战袍。

Pirma服装配饰部门负责人胡里奥•比利亚洛沃斯(Julio Villalobos)表示，在那以后不久，该公司开始就提供世界杯队服一事与朝鲜方面展开了谈判。不过他说，双方没能达成协议：“他们一再压低价格，于是我们最终表态说,‘不能成交’。”

朝鲜国家足协没有对我们通过其驻联合国代表团提出的置评请求作出回应。

在最近朝鲜和希腊的一次热身赛上，朝鲜队队员穿上了由西班牙服装公司Astore制作的队服。但Astore的销售部负责人迈克尔•戈烈特(Michel Gogniat)表示，公司并没有与朝鲜签订正式合同。相反，他说Astore在不知情的情况下把没有任何国家标识的球衣出售给了中国的一家中间商，而这家中间商又将这批球衣转售给了朝鲜足球队。

在苦思冥想了几个月以后，史密斯在5月初终于找到了部分的答案。一位亚洲朋友告诉他说，朝鲜足球队已与意大利公司Legea SRL签订了合同。不过，史密斯还是无法确定他的公司能否在世界杯开始前订到这批球衣。

Legea销售部经理洛伦佐•格里马尔迪(Lorenzo Grimaldi)证实，该公司与朝鲜足球队签订了合同。格里马尔迪说，合同是今年2月初在意大利庞贝(Pompei)签订的，这个时间在Pirma和朝鲜的谈判之前。

Legea希望带有该公司标识的球衣出现在全球各地电视观众的面前，所以他们将负担制作朝鲜足球队队服及其他官方服装的费用。

事实证明，将朝鲜队队服借着世界杯的东风及时投向市场是有难度的。朝鲜足球队希望队服能有“个性化”的设计，包括要用“产品目录上没有的”面料，格里马尔迪回忆说。

Legea为了解释一些细节问题将设计备忘录译成了朝鲜语，比如队服上的朝鲜国旗和Legea标识应该有多大才能符合世界杯的标准。“这确实拖慢了我们的工作进度，”格里马尔迪说。朝鲜队球衣还没有在任何网站上开始销售。Legea对上衣的定价是每件45欧元（合56美元）至50欧元（合62美元）。

想要做朝鲜队队服的生意为何如此困难的原因谁都说不准，北卡罗来纳州希尔斯堡(Hillsborough) Sports Endeavors Inc.公司的营销副总裁吉姆•努南(Jim Noonan)表示。“我并不认为朝鲜国家足协是在有意制造麻烦，”他说，“他们可能只是没有做好准备。”

找到朝鲜国家队的球衣只是那些希望销售朝鲜商品的商家所面临的诸多挑战之一。

考虑到朝鲜政府不得人心，再加上朝鲜闭关锁国的政策让商家无法接触到当地消费者，包括努南在内的销售商对于本届世界杯最大的冷门球队之一朝鲜队纪念品的销量并不抱有很高的期望。

到目前为止，像“我爱朝鲜足球”婴儿装这样的朝鲜队纪念品的销量仅占努南所在公司世界杯相关销量的0.025%。该婴儿装的网络销售价为12.99美元。

至于靠金正日最喜欢的足球队挣钱是否道德的问题，销售商们表示他们毫不担心。

“我们是一家足球用品公司，”史密斯表示。“我们不是政治裁判者。我们经营的是纺织品。”

“我有伊朗、委内瑞拉和所有邪恶轴心国家的足球队队服，”密歇根州的美术设计师本•菲利普(Ben Phillip)说。他正在出售一件朝鲜足球队的T恤。“我觉得这真的没什么大不了。”

即使销售商拿不到朝鲜足球队今年的队服，有一套球衣他们还是可以指望的：那就是复古版球衣。Subside公司出售从2008年到1966年的各国国家队球衣，而另一家英格兰公司Toffs Ltd.同样也在销售1966年的款式。

Toffs共同所有人兼总裁阿伦•芬奇(Alan Finch)说，无论对球衣的争议有多大，他的公司通常都会满足顾客的要求，而且他们也会毫不犹豫地生产朝鲜国家足球队的复古版球衣。芬奇在1966年英格兰举办世界杯的时候只有18岁。他回忆起当时对朝鲜足球队的偏爱，当时这支不被看好的球队意外击败了意大利队，进入了四分之一决赛。

“那时他们是讨人喜欢的大冷门，”他说。