Depending where you live in this crazy world, it might be almost impossible to find soccer-related gifts in your local stores whether it’s for you or your loved ones. But the Internet is a great aggregator, bringing you a treasure trove of choices. Here are ten recommended soccer items to add to your wish list whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other holiday:

1. Inverting The Pyramid: The History Of Football Tactics. The first-ever comprehensive history of football tactics has already been critically acclaimed after being named to the short list for Sports Book Of The Year Award in England. Written by Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson, the book is a must-read for fans interested in tactics. Order it today.
2. Boot slippers. Yes, slippers that look like football boots in the colors of Liverpool, Manchester United and other clubs and even countries like Argentina. They’re the perfect accompaniment for those early Saturday mornings when you watch the Premier League with coffee in hand.
3. England home shirt. With Fabio Capello having kicked England up the backside, now’s the time to fit yourself into a stylish England home shirt with being snickered at by those football fans who support Brazil, Italy or Argentina.
4. Bloody Confused. The book by Chuck Culpepper is fast becoming a must-have in the collections of soccer fans who follow the Premier League. Bloody Confused tells the true story of how an American sports journalist moves to England and falls in love with the fascinating game as well as an unlikely club. Order the book today. Or listen to my interview with Culpepper.
5. Fulhamerica T-shirt. With Clint Dempsey leading the charge, the number of Americans at Craven Cottage are dwindling but the American love affair with Fulham is still alive and well. Support Dempsey and the memories of Americans McBride, Bocanegra and Johnson with the Fulhamerica T-shirt.
6. Real soccer scarf. There’s something about football scarves that has more of an appeal than replica football shirts. Maybe it’s the tradition. Or perhaps it’s the pleasure of wearing something so comfortable wrapped around your neck or face in your club colors? Whatever the psychological reason, a scarf is a wonderful gift — especially those from Ruffneckwear that are high quality, made from the best materials and delivered with great customer service.
7. Worldwide Soccer Manager. Everton announced last week that they signed a deal to use Football Manager (aka Worldwide Soccer Manager in the States) to scout players, such is the value and authenticity placed on this game. Go one up on real football managers by ordering the game yourself.
8. Show your true colors. Every follower of the Premier League needs to have a replica jersey of a favorite team or a club you admire. Instead of searching around the Internet from store to store, the EPL Talk Shop offers the widest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 EPL clubs. Visit the shop to browse the selection of shirts.
9. Slingbox. It’s incredible that I don’t hear Slingbox mentioned that many times in soccer circles. It should be on the tis of the tongues of most soccer fans. Simply, it allows you to watch your TV set from anywhere around the world. So if you’re on the road, at work, on vacation or in a different room in your house and you have access to your computer or Blackberry, you can log into your TV and watch live games as if you’re there — or watch games you’ve taped on DVR. The possibilities are mindblowing. Read my review of it from Euro 2008, or go ahead and learn more details about buying it.
10. EPL Talk T-Shirt. If you’ve enjoyed reading EPL Talk during the past year and you want to show your support, please order an official EPL Talk T-shirt. The shirt reads “For Hardcore Soccer Nuts Only: EPL Talk” and features an image of several players in a defensive wall covering their crown jewels. The shirt is 100% cotton, made by Hanes (excellent quality) and will soon be a collector’s item (only a few shirts remain before they’re all gone forever). Size L. Order today for $15.99 delivered to your door (in the United States).

Visit more holiday and Christmas gift ideas for soccer fans including stocking stuffers, gift certificates and soccer gear for you and your loved ones.

Depending where you live in the world, this summer’s Euro 2008 tournament will be a true test of your football watching stamina. That’s because sixty four percent of Euro 2008 matches will be televised live on weekdays (with kick-off times of Noon and/or 2:45pm ET). That 64% includes the majority of first round games, two quarter-final matches and both semi-finals.

If you’re like me, your job gets in the way. Unless you have a super cool boss, you’ll have to resort to calling in sick for the 12 weekdays when Euro 2008 matches are on, or you can record the matches on DVR, hope that no one will tell you the score at work and then try to squeeze in four continuous hours after you get home each night. Unless you plan on hibernating this June, the daily ritual of watching two matches back-to-back could get tiring real fast.

Thankfully there is a solution. It’s called Slingbox.

I first heard about Slingbox a couple of years ago after reading about it on the forums at Big Soccer. At the time, it sounded like a techy device that only geeks could understand. But now that I’ve taken the plunge and got my own Slingbox Pro, I can’t believe how easy it is to use and how long I’ve lived without it. Yes, it’s that good.

Slingbox is a device that allows you to watch your TV set from anywhere in the world. So whether you’re at work, on vacation, at a friend’s house or on the road, you can load the Slingbox player from any computer and watch your TV live including HD programming, too.

For Euro 2008, you can watch live matches from your PC at work. The picture and sound quality is superb. There’s little to no pixellation or video artifacts. You can either watch the games full-screen or size the Slingplayer screen to take up less real estate (so you can continue to work on your desktop, answering emails, etc).

The best part is that when you get home, you’ll have time to enjoy the summertime evenings with your loved ones, or go online to read the analysis of the games you just watched earlier that day.

Setting up Slingbox for the first time is easy. All you have to do is connect your Slingbox, which sits on top of your TV set, to your cable box or DVR. Then just plug the ethernet cable from your Slingbox to your router, switch the power on, run the free Slingplayer software on your computer and you’re done.

To see how easy it is, watch this how to video from CNET:

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Because my big screen TV is downstairs and my router is upstairs in my office, I picked up SlingLink Turbo, which acts as an extension cord for the Internet by using my home’s existing electrical wiring to transfer the ethernet signal from my router to my Slingbox downstairs.

When installing new hardware or software in my house, I almost always encounter problems no matter how easy the marketing on the box says it is. With Slingbox and the SlingLink Turbo, I had everything up and running within 15 minutes and didn’t encounter any issues or problems at all. It was that easy. Slingbox works on PCs as well as Macs.

The other great advantage about Slingbox is that you can also watch your live TV on your mobile phone with Slingbox Mobile. It works on cellphones with Windows Mobile, Palm OS or Symbian cell phones and PDAs. Imagine watching Euro 2008 on your mobile phone!

Later this year, Slingbox plans on launching SlingPlayer Mobile for Blackberry.

Also noteworthy is that Slingbox requires no monthly or annual fee, so once you buy a Slingbox Pro you no longer have to worry about additional costs or hidden fees.

Imagine the possibilities of how Slingbox can free yourself from your TV. Other than television and the Internet, Slingbox is the greatest technological invention ever for soccer/football fans. If you don’t believe me about how amazing Slingbox is, watch this testimonial and you’ll be convinced. Trust me ; )

If you’re interested in learning more about Slingbox, visit the Slingbox Pro page or take advantage of the special offer where Slingbox Pro combined with Slingbox HD Connect is available for $290.93 (including shipping).

If you already have a Slingbox, post your comments below about your experiences with the device.