Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker Football Boot Review

Mizuno was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1906 by Rihachi Mizuno. Although the Japanese sports brand is well known for its running, baseball and golfing products, Mizuno entered the football boot market in 1997, and its search for technological innovation has led to the design of some fairly impressive football boot offerings.

Although it doesn’t have the football history of Nike or Adidas, Mizuno counts Argentinian international Pablo Aimar and Romanian Adrian Mutu amongst its endorsed players.

Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker

The first thing we noticed about the Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker was how light it was. Weighing in at 215 grams, compared to the Morelia Wave’s 250 grams, this is certainly Mizuno’s lightest football boot.

The Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker football boot, is made from washable kangaroo leather and features a microfibre synthetic upper. The leather is fairly flexible and the football boot fits well on the foot so don’t buy a pair expecting them to expand and stretch too much.

Mizuno have included compact wave plate technology in the heel to enhance cushioning, stability and balance whilst playing. The heel plate grips well and prevents your foot slipping in wet conditions. A removable sockliner is included.

The PU outsole is made of a multi stud unit, which the football boot brand developed in conjunction with top international players paying particular attention to improving traction.

At £79.99, the Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker is a top end offering from Mizuno. You can use it on soft and firm natural surfaces and it is available in studs and moulds, although we preferred the moulds. Mizuno certainly think it looks stylish, as they have nominated it in the Best Looking Football Boot category, in the Football Boot Awards.

Details:

Colourway: Pearl/Red
Weight: 215g
Size: 5-11, 12
RRP: £79.99

Verdict: All in all the Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker is a pretty decent football boot; very light and flexible, with a good fit.

Introducing Mizuno’s Wave Power Shoot Pro astroturf football boot.

The Wave Power Shooter Pro was released in the UK last month, after becoming one of the most popular Astroturf football boots in Mizuno’s native Japan.

Design: Mizuno’s design aims were to create an astroturf football boot combining fit, feel and function. The function was to be more dependant on traction and cushioning than it would be with studded or moulded football boots. By using the wave technology, prevalent in the brand’s running shoes, they would be able to create an astroturf football boot with the correct balance of stability and cushioning to reduce lower leg injuries that may occur on hard, artificial surfaces.

Performance: The Wave Power Shooter Pro is very much performance orientated. Mizuno have sought to create a lightweight and flexible football boot, which delivers unrivalled power across the astroturf. The outsole is split to help football players balance their weight and improve propulsion through a separate heel and forefoot area. The tread features L shaped lugs to improve traction, and the dimpled outsoles ensure that players will not lose their footing. The Wave Power Shooter Pro offers durability that many astroturf football boots have lacked over the years, which has often resulted in occasional 5-a-side players continually having to invest in new pairs.

Comfort: The DynamicFit Contour ensures the fit is secure and the boots mould to the contours of the individuals feet.
The mesh tongue is layered to provide maximum breathability and make sure your feet do not overheat. The wave technology helps to provides optimum shock absorption, whilst the widened heel gauge compliments the heel counter support offering ankle joint protection.

Analysis: With the release of the Wave Power Shooter, Mizuno have released an astroturf football boot which offers a comfortable fit, cushioning and durability - footwear ingredients which are vital for us footballers to perform at the top of our game.

Price: £50

Mizuno Wave Shinken Football Boots

Footy Boots brings you the latest and best football boots around so you have all the info when you go to buy your next pair of football boots. In the first of a series on the Mizuno football boots range we bring you the innovative Mizuno Wave Shinken from Mizuno - a company more renowned for its distance running shoes and baseball involvement.

Mizuno Wave Shinken Technical Details

Mizuno is a Japanese based company, and as you would expect, cutting-edge technology is fused with unique design to produce the Wave Shinken football boots. Mizuno use the latest software to analyse and design their products with the Wave Shinken featuring a Bio-Panel which is made up of individually shaped pads, that offers the player greater ball traction, speed and control.

Mizuno’s Wave technology in the heel allows for optimum cushioning and stability, whilst the removable sock liner also increases the cushioning effects. The kangaroo skin upper features asymmetric lacing, with a handy flip over tongue which allows the laces to be hidden away. The FG option of the Mizuno Wave Shinken comes in a multi-studded outsole for maximum traction and comfort on firm ground. The SI option comes in removable eight point studded outsole.

Colourway options: Pearl/Black/Red or Black/Red/White
Weight: 270g
Size: UK 6-11,12,13
Price: RRP £100

Verdict: In terms of the name, Wave Shinken means ’serious’ and ’sword’ in Japanese, signifying the seriousness with which Mizuno has positioned the football boot in the market - and this sums up our verdict of the Mizuno Wave Shinken - a serious football boot for serious players.

View more images of the Mizuno Wave Shinken Football Boots.

New Mizuno Football Boots Worn in Champions League Final

We’ve had lots of questions come in about the football boots worn by Liverpool’s Boudewijn (Bolo) Zenden in the Champions League Final against Milan. As we reported in our review of the match, Zenden was wearing Mizuno football boots, and we can reveal that he was sporting the Mizuno Morelia MD football boot in Pearl / Blue colourway. As regular football boot followers will be aware, Zenden displays a penchant for wearing different football boots - back in September 2005 he wore Nike, and then in November Puma’s, in which he suffered a knee injury. On his return in 2006, Zenden was seen in Diadora’s then for the first time in November in a Mizuno football boot. He switched back to Nike, wearing blackout Nike Legend football boots, but by the end of November he was back in his preferred Mizuno, wearing the Morelia version! Zenden has proved a favourite with Liverpool manager Benitez, being preferred to Harry Kewell who only has to step onto the pitch to become injured!

Mizuno Morelia MD Football Boots

Zenden chose to wear Mizuno football boots, as he is not currently sponsored by the Japanese company, but Mizuno are currently negotiating with the player, who seems to have finally found a football boot that provides him with the comfort, protection and flexibility that he has been looking for.

Details: The Mizuno Morelia MD football boot is part of Mizuno’s Autumn/Winter 2007
Available: June 2007
Features: Waterproof kangaroo leather upper, precision crafted with a flip over tongue. The moulded studs are in a multi-stud pattern to increase stability and comfort.
Weight: 280g
Size: UK 6-11,12

Read more Mizuno football boots articles.

Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu to Sport Mizuno Football Boots

Striker Adrian Mutu has recently signed a football boot deal with Mizuno that will see him wearing the Japansese made football boots for the next four years. Mutu is best remembered in the UK for his time at Chelsea which ended with a public falling out with manager Jose Mourinho. Since then, Mutu has proficiently rebuilt his career, and is currently enjoying a revival of form and fortune at the Serie A club Fiorentina. Mutu’s run of goals has seen him create a formidable scoring partnership with Italian striker Luca Toni which has been at the heart of Fiorentina’s recent good results.

The multi-tattooed striker is no stranger to the Mizuno brand of football boot, having worn Mizuno from the 2000 season and into the next season out of personal choice. But this time he is wearing the Mizuno football boot as part of a sponsorship deal, which Mizuno hope will help to increase the brand’s visibility and exposure in the Italian league.

About Mizuno Football Boots

Mizuno was founded in 1906 in Osaka originally as an importer of American golf and baseball equipment. Over the next century Mizuno has grown into a global company with interests in a myriad of sporting fields.

Mizuno entered the football boot market in 1997 with its innovative Mizuno Wave featuring patented technology to provide maximum stability and cushioning while keeping the football boot light flexible and balanced. Current products in the Mizuno football boot range include the Wave Shinken, Morelia, MRL Club and MRL Classic.

Our Verdict: As sponsorship deals go, we can’t expect Mizuno to compete with the might of Nike, Adidas, Puma and Reebok for the big name players (and Gary Neville!), but if Mutu continues his scoring run and leads Romania into the Euros, this could well prove to be an astute and shrewd signing by the men from Japan.

Read more about Mizuno Football Boots.

The Mizuno Morelia Wave football boot. A professional football boot from Mizuno. By Nick Tan.

Mizuno is a Japanese boot manufacturer founded in 1906. Having sponsored Shevchenko and with Patrick Kluivert on their books, Mizuno clearly take their football boot business seriously.

Mizuno Morelia Wave

The Mizuno Morelia Wave football boot is made in Japan. It’s what we consider a high end football boot. Made from the finest Kangaroo leather. Interestingly, each piece of kangaroo hide is only used to make two pairs of football boots and no more. This detail extends beyond the leather, with fine attention to detail. The football boots are available in black or a limited edition white colourway.

Weighing in at 250gram, these football boots are light for an all-natural leather football boot. The leather uppers do not have any padding between the leather and the lining and this helps make the football boot light in both wet and dry conditions.

The K-leather does not over-stretch and maintains its shape well due to the stitching pattern. So when purchasing a pair of these football boots, get a good fit, they will mould to your foot but will not expand too far.

The football boot has a narrow fit and does not suit players with a wide foot (Mizuno makes football boots for wide feet in the lower series). The fit is extremely firm and even in wet conditions, the football boots held the feet firmly within.

The heel has a unique material that grips extremely well. The studs may be considered oddly shaped, resembling baseball cleats, as most manufacturers do not make the shape of the studs this way. My guess is the outer sole are made to these specifications due to the general playing surfaces in Japan, where the football boots are manufactured. Most non-professional teams play on very dry sandy pitches and that explains, a very hard and durable, one piece moulded sole that resemble baseball cleats was needed. The upper and lower of the boots are held together by all three methods of putting a shoe together - stitching, gluing and riveting are all used to build this pair of football boots.

Verdict: I think only two things would discourage a buyer of this wonderful pair of football boots - price and its narrow fit.