Milestones – Nike Mercurial Vapor I 2002

In 2002 Nike released the Vapor I, a true speed boot made of light synthetic material. The boots were inspired by Italian sport cars design, giving fast players a perfect balance been lightweight and foot to ground feel. The boot had a slim fitting with a natural shape of the foot, adding many lace holes to get the boots tighten close to the foot. Majority of the stitching’s was replaced with glue to reduce the weight. Originally released in cinder colourway, but followed by several
colourways. 

Also there was a special edition in Chrome/Lime made for Brazilian striker Ronaldo for the World Cup final in 2002. Ronaldo scored two goals against Germany and became World
Cup Champions. The Chrome/Lime was the first numbered limited edition boot by Nike, they were limited to 4600 pairs globally.

For sure one of my favourite boots in the history.

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Milestones – Adidas Predator Accelerator

It is still regarded as one of the best boots Adidas ever produced. The Predator Accelerator was released in 1998 along with the FIFA world cup in France. The boot was advertised by some of the greatest players like Zidane and David Beckham. France won Brazil 3-0 and Zizou scored twice! 

This boot featured a re-engineered TRX outsole, asymmetrical lacing for larger striking surface, the rubber fins sewn into the leather gives a swerve when hits the ball. The boot’s weight about 300 grams and consists of several layers of high quality leather. Also in my opinion one of the few Predators that have a non-clumsy feeling when played in.

Adidas released this boot in four colours: Black/white/red, white/black/red, red/black/white and in a limited edition colourway called Electricity yellow.

Milestones – Nike Mercurial 1.0 1998

There have been a football boots “battle” between Nike and Adidas since 1994. In 1998 Adidas introduced the Accelerator, so Nike released the first ever Mercurial, which became Nike’s new star! It was the Brazilian star Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, also known as R9, who debuted in the very first Nike Mercurial in World Cup 1998. 

The original colourway was black/white, it was the first time Nike used synthetic materials in a football boot. The syntethic material proved to be the succes, as they could make a boot light and durable at the same time.

A special version in sliver/blue/yellow was released for the World Cup final for Ronaldo to play in. This was the first step for Nike getting into the market of light speed boots.

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Milestones – Nike Tiempo Premier Sg 1994

Nike showed that they are also able to make football boots! The year was 1994, world cup in USA. It was the year Nike announced themselves to the world of football boots. In the world cup Nike managed to supply 10 of the players to wear Nike Tiempo in the World Cup Final between Italy-Brazil. Also 2 of the biggest stars to wear the boots, Romario and Maldini!

(Picture from my friend on InstaGram @botasclasicas, edited by The Boot Vault)

Nike wanted to keep the comfort and keep the boot strong. Nike Tiempo 1994 was a classy black leather boot with a white Nike swoosh. Already then Nike wanted to keep the boot quite simple and light compared to the other brands.

Check out for more Milestones coming!

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Milestones – Adidas Predator 1994

The original Adidas Predator released in 1994 was revolutionary in the way it managed to add power and swerve to the kick thanks to the rubber fins!

It was Craig Johnston back in 1988, footballer from Australia, who was the key man developing the first Predator. It was his idea to add the rubber fins, he compared it to table-tennis.

These boots became Adidas biggest revolution in the history of football boots!

Thank you for reading and next Milestone will be published soon.

Milestones – Puma King 1970

Puma King had a mayor influence during years 1968-1990. It all started in 1966 World Cup when the player of the tournament Eusebio wore the Puma King, the trademark of Puma formstripes are still today the same as back in 1966. Some big names wore Puma King during the years, Pele in 1970, Cruyff in 1974 and Diego Maradona from 1978-1990.

In 1994 World Cup Puma started to struggle when Nike and Adidas launched their new boots.

Puma King 1970.

(Soccerbible- Puma King Pele, Football Boots Vault, 06 April 2011).

Nike Tiempo VII “Platinum Black”

Nike officially introduced on 26th of June the all new Nike Tiempo VII (7)! They will be sale today 10th of July. Lucky enough I was given this Limited Edition Nike Tiempo VII “Platinum Black” before the official launch, there is only 100 pairs made worldwide and only given to football boot influencers around the world! A big bonus is the fact that they are individually numbere, my pair is numbered 30/100. 

This time Nike really has added some cool new features to the Tiempo VII: 

• Heel area and the tongue is made of Flyknit, reduces the weight by 22%.
• Middlefoot is constructed of flywire cables for better strech and stability.
• On top of the flywire cage Nike added a soft K-leather upper to give a better touch to the ball.
• NikeGrip is also added to the new Tiempo to prevent the foot from sliding inside of the boot.

Nike has also made a whole new soleplate, Hyperstability, and it’s lighter than the previous soleplate. Such a comfortable boot and when you add the good look on this boot then for me this is the best Tiempo ever!

Thank you for reading!

SALE!

Following boots are for sale:

• Adidas Predator Precision Sg custom painted 9uk 9.5us 43 1/3eu, 9/10.  Price: 120£+shipping
• Adidas F50+ Sg 10uk 10.5us 44 2/3eu, 9/10                                                     Price: 130£+shipping
• Nike Tiempo Air Legend Fg 7uk 8us 41eu, 9/10                                           Price: 60£+shipping

PayPal accepted!

Message me: toffem@outlook.com

Nike or Adidas?

This is an endless battle between two very succesfull sport brands! We all loved the old school Nike Mercurials and Adidas Predators. I have to admit that I gave up my hope sligthly with Adidas when they announced in 2014 that they would stop making Predator and F50… 

Nike continued strongly with developing the Mercurial range and also creating two new models Magista and Hypervenom. For me the new Mercurial Superfly V, Hypervenom Phantom III & Magista Obra II are one of the best boots Nike have produced in the last years! As I have been wearing Mercurial for most time of my career, I’m happy to see that they are developing the boots all the time.

If the years 2014-2015 were a slight dissapointment from Adidas then they really pushed up things in 2016! Some great boots as the Ace16+ PureControl with laceless technology and X16+ PureAgility to battle as a speed boot against Mercurial!

So both brands are once again seriously compeating of providing players with the best boot options! This is important as competition is the only way to improve your own products.

Adidas F50 development

The Adidas F50 range was a succes for many years. The first boot came out in 2003 with the cool launch colourway black and yellow, remember D.Cisse as a main character in the Adidas advertisment. They were also one of the first boots were you could hide the laces and this way get a better strike to the ball. 

In 2004 Adidas released the second generation of the F50 range for the European Championship, Adidas F50+ with a cool spiderweb design. Still one of the coolest boot designs out there!

2006 became a big year for Adidas F50 as the Adidas F50+ Tunit was revealed along side the World Cup in Germany. First time ever you could customize your boot by changing the upper or the soleplate or the studs! Whole summer was all about the new Tunit. Models between 2007-2009 were quite similiar…

Next boot that has to be mentioned is the first ever Adidas F50 Adizero, released during the World Cup in South Africa! A beautiful boot and very light. The best of all was that you could get them in leather version. I think this model still is one of people’s favourite. Everyone remebers D.Forlan winning the top goalscorer and player of the tournament in WC2010!

And next boot is still the lightest boot ever made, the Adidas F50 Crazylight 99 gram! Revealed in 2014 and later released in limited numbers 299 pairs. Not a durable boot but for sure pushing the boundaries!

Last one is actually not from the F50 range, but some how we could look at them as follower to the old F59 range. The boot is called Adidas Glitch and was released in 2016, only in UK. This boot got no laces and you can change between the inner- and outerskins, also no laces needed! Let’s see when this boot is released worldwide.

Thank you for reading!