After months and months of build up, the World Cup is just one week away from the eagerly awaited final, So far we’ve been deafened by the Vuvuzela’s, shocked at how rubbish the ball is and uncontrollably disappointed that England failed to progess past the last 16.

Even while we’ve been watching football in the office, we’re constantly on the look out for tattoos, and as our regular readers and tattoo enthusiasts across the land already know, football and dodgy tattoos go hand in hand!

As there’s been so many tattoo’s on display already, we thought that some of our favourites deserved a special mention. So, here are our top five tattoos from South Africa 2010 so far:

1. Kevin Prince Boateng
Boateng plays his international football for Ghana, despite making 41 appearances for the German national side at youth level. His brother Jerome is also in South Africa, playing for Germany, which, if you ask us, is a little weird!

Boateng has caught the eye of many tattoo fans with his collection of colourful ink work. To mark his name, the player has a crown tattooed on the side of his neck, as well as having both arms covered in some pretty impressive tribal designs.

2. Diego Maradona
The Argentina manager has kept most of his tattoos covered up, with the help knock-off designer suits, so far this world cup. However, had the Argies gone on to win the competition, Maradona had promised to run through the streets of Buenos Aires butt naked to celebrate!

Sadly Messi and co won’t be lifting the trophy in July, but some of the residents of Buenos Aires might not be so disappointed, as now, they won’t be exposed to Maradona’s ink work (and everything else), including his famous Che Guevara and Fidel Castro tattoos.

3. Wayne Rooney
Proud Englishman Rooney has a couple of tattoos, including the famous Stereophonic’s album title ‘Just enough education to perform’ scribbled down his lower right arm. Wayne wears his heart on his sleeve when he plays football, and to prove he’s such a proud Englishman, the Man United ace has had the flag of St. George inked on his left bicep. Shame he wasn’t as patriotic on the field this time round…

4. Jermain Defoe
Defoe is famous for falling out of night clubs with page three girls, scoring goals for Spurs and having some pretty impressive sleeve tattoos. Despite Defoe’s late night antics in the West End, he is actually a keen family man. To mark his paternal commitments, he’s had the names of his mum, gran and late brother, Jade, incorporated into his tattoos.

5. Tim Cahill
Australian football has never really had too much shout about. However, due to his great performances for Everton, stunning goals and great tattoos, Tim Cahill has become a quite the hero for the Socceroos.

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Cahill has an impressive Maori inspired design running half way down his right arm, and to show his commitment to the Merseyside blues, Cahill actually has ‘E.F.C’ embedded in the design.

If you’re getting ready to play football or simply watching the World Cup on the telly, why not check out our cool football temporary tattoos to help you get psyched up for the next big game!

Last week we had a look at some of the less tasteful football tattoos that we’ve come across on our tattoo inspired travels. Just to even things up a little bit we thought that this week we would show you some of the more thoughtful and inspiring football related tattoos that we’ve seen.

1) Fernando Torres
El Nino, as he is affectionately known by Liverpool and Spain fans, has quite a few tattoos, but the major one that stands out to us is the number ‘9’ on his lower right arm. Torres has successfully worn the number nine shirt for his country, as well as for both Liverpool and Athletico Madrid. So it’s safe to assume that this design isn’t going to grow out of favour with the superstar Spaniard when he gets old!

2) Marco Materazzi
After famously being head butted in the 2006 World Cup final by Zinedine Zidane, Marco Materazzi and Italy eventually went on to win the game on penalties to become World Cup champions. To mark his achievement (of winning the World Cup and not winding up Zizou) Materazzi acquired a World Cup trophy design along with the date of the final on his left thigh.

3) Daniel Agger
Although Daniel Agger’s tattoos are not as distinctive or football related as the others in this list, he gets an honourable mention for being the only footballer we can think of that is also a qualified tattoo artist. Rumour has it that at the end of last season, when Liverpool were chasing Manchester United for the tile, the young Dane promised his fellow team mates special tattoos to mark their achievement if they managed to win the title. Unfortunately for Agger and his fellow red scousers they finished second, just behind United. It looks like it’s going to be a while till Stevie G and his chums get the chance to get inked by the hard man defender.

4) Diego Maradona
The Argentinean football legend has regularly praised his fellow country man Che Guevara as being one of the biggest inspirations in his life, even going as far as saying that along with god he was the main reason he is alive today. To mark his admiration, the pint sized football hero has Che’s iconic face imprinted on his right bicep.

5) Craig Bellamy
Proud Welshman Craig Bellamy is known throughout football for his short temper and aggressive playing style. Just in case anyone who wasn’t sure of his love for all things related to his homeland, the Man City forward decided to get a tattoo showing one of his many Welsh hero’s, medieval nationalist Owain Glyndwr, midway though a battle, on his right arm.

If you’re starting to get the World Cup fever already, why not have a look at our football temporary tattoos to get yourself psyched up for the big tournament in June!