Football boots have changed immensely since their creation in the late 1800s.
The pairs of football boots that past players have worn have evolved, and because of that, what professional footballers wear nowadays also has to.
Back in the early days of football, there wouldn’t be much to talk about with boots since all players had the same footwear.
This would consist of thick leather boots with a brown look, which would be heavy, especially when wet, just like the football itself.
However, if we fast forward to this day, the football boots on your favourite players couldn’t be any more different.
So in this post, we will take a look at what boots professional footballers wear and the various designs out there.
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What Types Of Boots Do Footballers Wear?
With the experimentation of various materials, we have now landed at two materials which are the main ones used by football brands for their boots.
You have a reformed synthetic football boot that has become very popular of late.
K-Leather is the other one that has been proven to be a quality material for making durable football boots.
As a result of these materials, especially synthetic, many brands now have the freedom to implement their own designs and tech into their boots, leading to a range of different silos out there now.
Nike Football Boots
What better place to start than with Nike football boots, as these are the most worn boots by professional footballers in the English premier league.
It is easy to see why since they have a range of boots to suit any player position or traits.
This section will go over the three popular models you are likely to see pop up a lot while watching your favourite team.
1. Nike Mercurial
The Mercurials are one of the most popular silos to have been released by Nike that have been focused on utilizing players speed.
These boots are made to be light to help you dash past opponents with ease.
Aspects including a responsive soleplate and comfortable uppers help footballers play with full confidence in games.
Who Wears Them:
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Erling Haaland
- Romelu Lukaku
- Kylian Mbappe
- Bruno Fernandes
Latest Release: Nike Mercurial Superfly 8
2. Nike Tiempo
Nike has kept a leather option for their silos Tiempos, of which plenty of top footballers have gravitated towards. Of the footballers who wear these, they are commonly defensive-minded players such as goalkeepers and defenders.
The Tiempos are made with a Kangaroo type of leather, and with Flyknit Fit Tunnel technology, your feet are kept snug in the boots. So it comes as no surprise that a number of top pros turn to these comfortable silos.
Who Wears Them:
- Virgil Van-Dijk
- Alisson
- Thibaut Courtois
- Jordan Henderson
- Marcos Llorente
Latest Release: Nike Tiempo Legend VIII
3. Nike Phantom
Nike Phantom is the final silos that professional footballers wear. For these silos, there were previously two models, the Visions and the Venoms, one made for strikers and one primarily for midfielders.
However, Nike decided to drop these boots, going back drawing board to create the now popular and more effective GT’s
The popular and new Phantom GT’s are made to give players an impact in the final third, with enhanced ball control, which is thanks to the generative texture on the outer.
So, as a result, you have players all over the field that are wearing boots from the Phantom range.
Who Wears Them:
- Kevin De-Bruyne
- Jack Grealish
- Harry Kane
- Edinson Cavani
- Lautaro Martinez
Latest Release: Nike Phantom GT
Adidas Football Boots
Coming up close to Nike, we have Adidas, which are popular with footballers, with just over a third of premier league players having them as their main boots.
With huge football boot sponsorships with Messi and Salah and, of course, the fact they are made with the highest quality, these boots have become increasingly popular with players all over the world.
1. Adidas Nemeziz
Nemeziz is a popular Adidas silo that is focused on dribbling and giving players a pair of boots that are light to wear.
The Nemeziz has been known since their first release for having not only a stretchy but textured upper that gives the pros comfort while also offering a secure fit.
Right now, there is a commonly worn version called the 19.1’s, but there is also a version that Messi wears, which is cartoon-esque and features him pointing to the sky on the midfoot.
Who Wears Them:
- Lionel Messi
- Jesse Lingard
- Serge Gnabry
- James Rodriquez
- Andrew Robertson
Latest Release: Adidas Nemeziz+
2. Adidas Copa
The notoriously classy range Adidas has to offer is the Copa silos. Previously worn by legends of the game Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Xabi Alonso, they are now worn by today’s game flair players.
Copas is made for players who want a great first touch and want to be more in touch with the football. To put this in effect, these boots feature two different pods.
Sensepods at the heel give you extra support and flexibility, and secondly, you have touchpods that absorb the pressure of the football, helping you control it.
Who Wears Them:
- Paulo Dybala
- Joao Felix
- Lorenzo Insigne
- Sergio Ramos
- Ilkay Gundogan
Latest Release: Copa Sense+ Inside Out
3. Adidas Predator
Another set of Adidas that has been popular over the past few decades and still is the Predator silo.
Since the early 2000s, the Adidas Predators have been a go-to for a number of professional footballers.
In that time, they have also changed quite a bit, not in terms of look but more with the materials and technology.
The latest pair of Predators called ‘Freak+’ features a demon skin material new to the model that has 406 rubber spikes placed over the upper to give players more grip of the football.
Who Wears Them:
- Paul Pogba
- Miralem Pjanic
- Marco Asensio
- Thiago Alcantara
- David Alaba
Latest Release: Adidas Predator Freak+
4. Adidas X
The X range is Adidas’s answer to the Mercurials, as these are made to engineer pace and power on the football pitch.
Thanks to a thin mirageskin upper, lightweight football boots get a lockdown fit that gives you the flexibility to turn in any direction fast.
It’s for this reason that we’re seeing speedy footballers like Mohammed Salah and Timo Werner turn to the fast Adidas X silo range.
Who Wears Them:
- Mohammed Salah
- Timo Werner
- Thomas Muller
- Angel Di Maria
- Karim Benzema
Latest Release: Adidas X Ghosted+
Puma Football Boots
While Nike and Adidas take up the greater share of footballers who wear their boots, Puma isn’t a brand to overlook.
That is because they are bringing in plenty of quality to the table with two football boots in particular that are being worn by some of the best professional footballers.
Puma Future
To start with, you have one of the best footballers of the past decade Neymar’s who inspired the latest Puma Future Z boots.
Also worn by Luis Suarez, Jan Oblak and James Maddison, these, as shown below, feature a fusion band that gives you locked in fit as well as Grip Control Pro that has ridges to give footballers more control.
Puma Ultra
Puma ultras are lightweight and promote speed, just like the Futures. These also feature Grip Control Pro as well as a MATRYXEVO upper designed to give players that close feel from their foot to the boot.
Repping these boots, you have the French Antoinne Griezman, Kingsley Coman, Raphael Varane and ex cityzen teammates David Silva and Sergio Aguero.
Other Popular Football Boots
With three brands we have talked about, they stand for a high percentage of football players boots.
However, the emergence of new brands and bumper contracts’ incentives means you will have a few footballers going for different brands.
1. New Balance
Back in 2015 announced themselves as a big brand by partnering up with Liverpool FC. Now while they have parted ways since, one player who has been world-class over the past few years and stayed with the company is Sadio Mane.
Sadio Mane, along with fellow Premier League players Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka, all wear the New Balance Furon v6 boots.
There are only 15 footballers who are known for wearing these boots currently. There are also Visaro and Tekela silos, which between them are worn between 9 footballers.
2. Under Armor
Now continuing with football boots worn by Liverpool footballers, we have emerging talent Trent Alexander Arnold who wears the Under Armor Clone Magnetico Pro.
These boots are made with comfort with padding around the ankle area as well as a responsive soleplate that helps players make sharp turns.
Also, choosing to go with Under Armor, you have Memphis Depay and Jonathan Tah.
3. Mizuno
The last brand to make up what’s remaining is Japanese Mizuno. Famously known for signing with Spanish internationals Hector Bellerin and until late Fernando Torres, they have two silos that have gone down well.
This includes their Mizuno Morelia Neo range made of high-quality kangaroo leather and the Mizuno Rebula Cup, which the Arsenal captain wears.
Other people to wear these boots include legends Kaka and Thiago Motta, and from the modern-day, you have Ever Banega, Aaron Hunt and Jasper Cilliesen.
Where Can You Buy Footballers Boots?
You will be able to find all the footballers boots on the retailer’s website.
So if you want to play like your role models Messi and Ronaldo, you will be able to find the exact boots they wear on Adidas and Nike, respectively.
What you do need to bear in mind is that footballers wear as you suspect the highest model brands have to offer.
This is worth noting because not all the boots you see on the website will be exactly the same as what footballers wear.
Suppose we take Ronaldo’s Mercurial Superflys, for example. You can purchase the same ones he wears on the pitch for about £230. This is the elite version, as you can tell by the price.
However, other versions of these boots range from £50-£200, so if you want to wear the same as your footballing idol, you are looking at a few hundred pounds.
While it is a lot of money, a lot of the benefits I have spoken about in this post with the boots mostly come with the top-end boots.
But if you are on a budget, you will still be able to pick up boots that look the same as the pros and which will do a job for you.
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