Wayne Rooney has launched a pair of new Nike Football Boots - Total 90 Supremacy.

The football boots gimmick this time is a set of personalisation stickers, where you can add a squad number and international flag to the football boots.

Rooney will be wearing the football boots at this summers World Cup 2006. Blue and silver football boots when England wear their white home kit, and white and red when England wear the red away strip.
Rooney is said to have been involved in the development of the football boots over the past two years. Someone was reported as saying “Wayne can now look at his boots to help him when someone asks which team he is playing for”.

Worn by: Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Jose Antonio Reyes, Roberto Carlos, Claude Makelele, Alberto Gilardino
Weight: 10.5 ounces
Available: 1st June 2006
Cost: £120 - Order Online Now

View the Total 90 Supremacy image

The World Cup is perhaps the biggest media event in the world. With 28 million people watching the last World Cup and more forecast this time (32 million), its not surprising that the big sportswear companies have already begun warming up for the big tournament.

I recently wrote about Nike and Adidas going head to head, but it turns out there is another battle taking place, one which has been running since the 1920’s.

Adidas V Puma

These two German companies have been fighting a battle long before Nike came along. In fact they were both founded by the same family - the Dassler family.

Rudolf Dassler the Puma founder and Adolf the Adidas founder went their separate ways in 1948, when they set up their two businesses after jointly running Dassler OHG. The battle commenced.

Pele at the 1970 World Cup, just before the whistle was blown to start a game, asked the referee to hold on while he tied his Puma football boots. The TV viewers got a nice close up of his football boots.

Mark Spitz, the American swimmer, was approached at the 1072 Olympics by Adidas. Adidas asked Spitz to wear Adidas at the medal ceremony, but because his shoes would not be seen under his trousers, he held the shoes in his hand and waved them at the crowd.

In 1954, the German national team won the Football World Cup for the first time, wearing Adidas shoes with revolutionary screw in studs. Puma claimed they invented the screw in stud!

In this World Cup year, the local battle has been hotting up. Puma have 12 teams wearing their shirts at the World Cup Adidas with just half that sum with 6.

Puma

Angola
Czech Republic
Ghana
Italy
Ivory Coast
Iran
Paraguay
Poland
Saudi Arabia
Switzerland
Togo
Tunisia

Adidas

Argentina
France
Germany
Japan
Spain
Trinidad and Tobago

Puma are clearly banking on the African teams, most likely because the next World Cup is staged in Africa - good thinking Puma. They also plan to open shops in towns where its teams are playing and have enlisted Brazilian soccer great Pele, who once wore Puma football boots.

Adidas, the leaders in the football apparel market, are said to be spending 200 million dollars on marketing, they are official World Cup sponsors and will be supplying all match balls and officials garments too.

So will Puma turn the Nike V Adidas into a three way battle - I don’t think so, but maybe at the next World Cup in Africa.

Football Boots brand New Balance has won an award for producing the most ‘animal friendly’ shoe.

New Balance were made famous in the 1980’s by former England football skipper Bryan Robson. Robson assisted design a series of high-performance soccer boots and was a regular visitor to West Cumbria.

Animal rights group PETA named the firm Europe’s best cruelty-free athletics shoe company for its range of non eather shoes.

PETA’s Lauren Bowey said: “New Balance excels at making quality athletic shoes which use the latest high-tech fabrics, which are superior in every way to the skin off a cow’s back. “New Balance has proved competitiveness and compassion are a winning combination.”

Ledley King is the latest high profile English footballer who has broken a metatarsal in his foot.

This season England stars, Ledley King, Michael Owen and Ashley Cole have all fallen foul to the same injury. Reminding me of the 2002 World Cup preparation, where David Beckham, Danny Murphy, Gary Neville and Trevor Sinclair all injured their metatarsals. Oh, and don’t forget Wayne Rooney broke his in the Euro 2004 and Stephen Gerrard shortly after it.

That’s nine English players off of the top of my head.

What is the Metatarsal?

They are the five long bones at the front of your feet. They help share the load of the body and adjust to cope with uneven ground.

Bladed Football Boots

The reason that bladed football boots have come under attack, is due to the regularity of this type of injury of late, which coincides with the introduction of the bladed football boot. Bladed football boots have also been banned by some clubs, Manchester United being one of them.

Prior to 2002, I didn’t even know I had a metatarsal, let alone 10 of them. Nowadays, any football follower will now be familiar with the term metatarsal.

So back to the blade. There are two main reasons that a bladed football boot can be held responsible for the injury.

1. The thin blades on the soles can penetrate through a football boot. Due to it’s blade like feature, if on impact it hits the metatarsal this breaks the bone.

2. Due to the rigidity of the boot with the blade deep in the ground, bladed football boots do not have ‘give’ in them when turning. When twisting, the metatarsal can be put under extreme pressure when the football boot is fixed and ultimately can break.

This little old blog is not going to be able to protect our delicate stars for the forthcoming World Cup, but don’t you agree that something needs to be done, for England’s sake?

52 days and counting. The 2006 World Cup kicks off on June 9.

Most football fans are already becoming anxious. The media are already on England team watch, the hype is just starting. But one World Cup match is already underway - America versus Germany, also billed in some regions as Nike versus Adidas.

These two sportswear giants are vying to get their brands in front of the predicted 32 million TV viewers. A large proportion of which are normally very difficult to get to.

Last time around, I believe that Nike’s Secret Tournament advert beat the Adidas Footbalitis advert hands down. However, this year there will be a host of methods used to get the message across. As it stands Nike are currently 3-2 down to Adidas.

Goal Adidas 1 - 0 Adidas will supply the official match balls, provide the referees kits, linesmen’s kits and ball boys. It also has rights to sell merchandise with the World Cup logo.

Goal Nike 1 - 1 Nike will have their logo emblazoned across the chest of eight teams featuring in the World Cup, as opposed to Adidas with 6.

Adidas

Argentina

France

Germany

Japan

Spain

Trinidad and Tobago

Nike

Australia

Brazil

Croatia

Holland

Mexico

Portugal

South Korea

USA

Goal Adidas 2 - 1 Adidas, now owners of Reebok, have recently signed Thierry Henry to wear Reebok.

Goal Nike 2 - 2 Nike have launched Joga.com the football community website.

Goal Adidas 3 - 2 Adidas has tied up American TV advertising. Nike cannot advertise during any of the tournament’s 64 games.

Analysts say that Adidas have a 35% market share of soccer gear, with Nike close up with 30%.

Let the games begin!

£6,000 for a pair of football boots - that’s the starting price for the all new “Assassin” football boot from Prior 2 Level (P2L) as documented earlier this week “The First Bespoke Boot“.P2L’s Creative Director, Greg Lever-O’Keefe, confirmed that the new bespoke football boots are now publicly available to order, via apoointment at their London clinic. The £6,000 starting price includes podiatry, biomechanics and footwear for a one year contract.

The football boot, must be aimed at the professional player with that price tag, and P2L have confirmed that they have professional footballers using the boot, although the names are currently confidential.

It will be interesting to see how popular this bespoke football boot will become. If anyone is aware of any professionals using the football boots, or have bought the football boots, we would love to hear your feedback.

You can book an appointment to order “The Assassin” 01442 822019 or email info@prior2lever.com

For two weeks now, I have been testing the Nike Mercurial Vapor II FG football boot. At around £120 it’s the most expensive pair of football boots I have owned.

When I first received the boot, I couldn’t wait to try it in a competitive match.

The football boots came with a nice boot bag and a flyer telling me it is made of Nike skin and will make me run 10% faster. The boots are extrememly light and the texture, at first feels strange, almost plastic like.

I’ve got quite a thin foot, so some football boots don’t fit me very well. This football boot seems to fit me just great though, nice and tight, yet not so tight that it causes any discomfort.

So onto the competitive tests. In total I’ve worn the football boots in 4 games now. As expected after the first couple of games, my feet were a bit sore. Particulalry as the ground has hardened up a bit of late. Games 3 and 4 and the football boots feel a lot more comfortable.

When I first went on the pitch with these football boots, they felt incredibly light, but after a short while you get used to the feeling. Being light, they do give you the feeling that you are moving faster, but I think thats where the additional speed ends.

Overall I think this is a good football boot, but for the price I expect more.

Pro’s: Stylish, Lightweight, Comfortable, Good Grip

Con’s: Expensive, Not Available in Plain Black

Verdict: Take them as a gift, but don’t pay top prices for the football boots.

Thierry Henry is booting Nike into touch, instead he will be wearing Reebok’s football boots from August the 1st this year.

The Arsenal captain and French international is said to be signing a 5 year agreement with Reebok.

With Henry being one of the most sought after marketing stars in world football, this really is a huge catch for Reebok. Let’s just hope he stays in British football.

Update: Thierry Henry Reebok Football Boots

Prior 2 Lever (P2L) has this week unveiled its new leading edge football boot “The Assassin“, which claims to be the world’s first bespoke football boot.Although other football boots on the market allow you to personailse your boots with colour or by adding a name to your boot “The Assassin“ football boot is built to fit your foot individualy, by scanning the foot to get exact measurements.

What a great move forward this is. Imagine taking to the field with a football boot that has been designed specifically for your foot and not just a football boot with the correct length. I have quite a thin foot with a high bridge, so have always found football boots to take either a long time to wear in, or have had to give them up before they have worn out.

The boot is said to also please the eye, as colour, style design and texture can be added. Another bonus in my book, as I favour the traditional plain black boot, like the picture shows.

“The Assassin” football boots are available now, exclusively through appointment with P2L at their London clinic. For more information you can contact Greg Lever-O’Keefe on +44 (0) 1442 822 019 or email info@prior2lever.com

I have asked for pricing guidelines and will update you when P2L respond.

P2L have a website, but it has nothing more than their contact details on display at this time.