A history of the Adidas Predator - the world’s best selling football boot.

To celebrate the launch of the newest model in Adidas’ Predator football boot series, the Adidas Predator PowerSwerve, Footy-Boots.com takes a look back at the history of the best selling football boot of all time.

History

In the early 1990s following his retirement from the game, ex Liverpool winger Craig Johnston designed and created the prototype for the Adidas Predator football boot.

In 1994, the Adidas Predator was launched, proving to be a revolution in football footwear. Players noticed they had more power, more control and more swerve, and that the shoe allowed them to strike a ball with pinpoint accuracy. Today, the Predator is generally considered the single greatest football boot innovation since the screw-in stud.

In 1995, an update of the Predator model entered the playing field, in the guise of the Predator Rapier. The re-designed rubber fins offered greater ball control and increased power. Moreover, the improved football boot offered a more natural fit. The Predator Rapier was the first Predator football boot to use the fold-over tongue, a detail now synonymous with the Predator boot series.

1996 marked the introduction of the Predator Touch, and the first use of the Adidas TRAXION system, enabling increased grip. The fold-over tongue was given a facelift and returned in Predator red.

To coincide with the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Adidas launched the Predator Accelerator. With a more anatomically sound and professional fit, the football boot included asymmetrical loop lacing providing a larger, cleaner kicking surface to eliminate missed shots and passes.

The Adidas Predator Precision was launched during the UEFA EURO 2000 championships, with exchangeable TRAXION studs: XTRAXION. A merge between some of the leading football boot innovations ever: the idea of exchangeable studs from 1954 and the Predator and TRAXION technologies of the mid ’90s.

The 2002 FIFA World Cup in the Far East was the launch pad for the Predator Mania. As a much lighter Predator football boot, the Mania featured a split outsole construction. The renewed configuration of the Predator compound allowed players to give the ball even more swerve than before.

The Predator Pulse presented in 2004 featured the new PowerPulse technology for the first time. The PowerPulse unit, relocates only 40 grams of weight to the front of the shoe, achieving an increased power transfer of 3% in every kick. This means increased ball speed and ultimately less reaction time for a goalkeeper when the ball is shot on goal. The Predator once again confirmed its status as the world’s premier football boot, selling well over two million pairs in 2004 and 2005.

Adidas unleashed its most accurate, lightest and most powerful football boot at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany: the +Predator Absolute. The eighth generation of Predator features the revolutionary Exchangeable PowerPulse technology, allowing players to add power to taste!

Adidas’ newest version of the Predator, the PowerSwerve, achieves eight percent more swerve and increases the power behind every shot by around three percent, compared to its predecessor. The dynamic Powerpulse and engineered Predator technology elements shifts weight toward the point of impact as you kick, whilst adding forefoot power (Power Zone), allowing more powerful shots and increased flexibilty. Increased shot and pass swerve is achieved by enhanced Predator technology in the Swerve Zone at the side of the football boot.

Click here to buy the brand new Adidas PowerSwerve football boot from the Footy Boots shop!