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The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place. Jump to: When it comes to the Champions League, even the ball is special | Artist paints stunning Neymar portrait... with a football boot The Champions League is back, which can only mean one thing: it's time for UEFA to release its annual player name pronunciation guide. Every season, UEFA produces the list to assist fans with a selection of the trickier names taking part in the competition. - ESPN Champions League fantasy: Sign up now!
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- All the new 2019-20 kits for Europe's top clubs While many are fairly phonetic, some names are entirely different to their generally accepted Anglicised pronunciation -- including several well-known players you might have been getting wrong for years. With the revelations over the right way to say Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's surname still fresh in the memory, here's our pick of the more notable nomenclature included in the 2019-20 list. Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid) Rather than "Jow Fee-lix," the Portugal starlet's name is actually pronounced "Joo-wow Fay-lish" in the proper Portuguese vernacular. Xherdan Shaqiri (Liverpool) The Switzerland winger's name is not "Jerdan Shack-eerie" but rather "Jer-dan Shat-cheery," according to European football's governing body. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) A couple of different iterations of the Belgium playmaker's surname have been used over the years, but "De Brurner" is the official UEFA-verified pronunciation. Layvin Kurzawa (Paris Saint-Germain) A slightly tricky one, but the France defender is properly addressed as "Lay-van Kur-java." Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund) Special mention must go to the veteran Polish full-back, whose name we've all almost certainly been getting wrong since day one: It's pronounced "Woo-cah Peesh-check," according to UEFA's crib sheet. - O'Hanlon: Only 3 teams can win UCL. Sorry, everyone else
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- Ultimate XI: This team would win everything! When it comes to the Champions League, even the ball is specialUEFA have rolled out their new official match ball, which will make its debut in the 2019-20 Champions League group stage on Tuesday. Taking inspiration from "the passion displayed by players and fans around the world," the Adidas ball also features a "reverse colour block" -- which essentially means that the ball has a multi-coloured base with white patterning, rather than the other way round. This ball will be used for the group stage only, with a brand new design scheduled to be brought in for the knockout stages and then a further one-off design to be used in the final in Istanbul come May 30. - Guendouzi's premature '2-1' gesture backfires
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- Table for two! Messi accepts Ronaldo's dinner invite Artist paints stunning Neymar portrait... with a football bootNeymar is no stranger to fan art, but we can guarantee that nobody has ever taken his portrait quite like the Senegalese artist known as Bou Bou. Rather than using conventional brushes to produce his painting, Bou Bou used a football boot -- yes, you read that correctly -- to create a stunning monochrome image of the PSG superstar. All that while working upside-down. Incredible stuff. Bou Bou specialises in employing unorthodox methods to create his art, having previously painted Sadio Mane using a football, NBA star Steph Curry with a basketball hoop and rapper Cardi B with his own ear. Bellerin helps Footmall Manager go greenThe producers of the eternally popular Football Manager franchise have announced that the latest edition of the game will be the first to be shipped in fully recyclable packaging. Sports Interactive (SI) have stated a commitment to help reduce the entertainment industry's dependence on plastic in favour of more sustainable materials -- and all with a timely assist from Hector Bellerin. The Arsenal full-back, who is a vocal advocate of environmentalism, is lending his services to SI as they role out their new initiative and spoke passionately on the subject of climate change as part of the launch. The packaging for Football Manager 2020 will be constructed from 100 percent recycled board and be shrink-wrapped in fully recycleable polyethylene film. It will also come bundled with a game manual made from 100 percent recycled paper. Indeed, the only element of the package that won't be readily recycleable will be the disc itself, although SI are keen to stress that there are companies out there who specialise in repurposing unwanted DVDs too. Lovely stuff all round.
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