Mexican soccer team replaces names with Twitter handles on jerseys

Many sports teams and companies are involved with social media, but a Mexican football team is going to the next level to help fans contact their favourite players.

The Jaguares de Chiapas soccer team of the Mexican Primera Division is replacing players names on the back of shirts with their Twitter handles to raise the players' profiles. On the back, jerseys will now have a company logo, a number, a Twitter logo, the player's Twitter name and Twitter name of a sponsor.

"Conscious of the age we live in, where we can all stay in touch through the internet no matter how distant, Jaguar launched a campaign and carried out various activities linked to Twitter," the club explained in a statement. "In football as in life, 140 characters are enough to decide which side you're on."

The club Valencia recently put the club's Twitter handle on the front of their shirts and according to the Daily Mail, Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has joked about putting his handle @rioferdy5 on the back of his shirt.

While the Jaguares stunt is attracting a lot of media attention, not all players are taking full advantage of people so easily knowing their handles. One of the Jaguares popular players, Jackson Martinez, may have more than 1,100 followers, but he has only tweeted twice.

(Photo from Jaguares de Chiapas website)