The international break might well be long and boring, but at least this one has featured some exciting World Cup build-up to keep us entertained.

First adidas revealed some of their retro-style new-look kits that we'll be seeing at the tournament next summer, and then they introduced us to the new ball that will be used in Russia.

And they did that in a pretty stylish way, too.

The sportswear giants got five former World Cup winners together for a photo to celebrate the launch of the ball, making for a pretty special image.

Adidas got these World Cup winners together to celebrate the launch of the World Cup ball (
Image:
Rabiden@ya.ru)

There was 1998 winner Zinedine Zidane, who won it with France and scored twice in the final.

Then Brazil's Kaka, a 2002 champion, former Ballon d'Or winner and formerly the most expensive footballer of all time.

Next comes Juventus and Italy legend Alessandro Del Piero, who won the tournament in 2006 and scored 290 goals for Juve in his career.

For 2010 there's Xabi Alonso, a stylish icon at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who also won two Champions Leagues and two European Championships.

Then there's Lukas Podolski.

Sorry, Lukas (
Image:
Action Images)
"Anybody need a ball boy?" (
Image:
Rabiden@ya.ru)

Now we know we're being harsh on the former Arsenal man here.

Currently at Vissel Kobe in Japan, he is a favourite of many and has had a fine career which included 130 Germany caps and being part of the squad that won the 2014 World Cup - although he played just 53 minutes across the whole tournament.

But it's just... well... people weren't slow to notice that he *might* be a bit of an odd one out here.

And it seems that Kaka might have thought the same too, as the Brazilian legend uploaded a photo with Podolski conveniently cropped out of it to his Twitter account.

Ouch.

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