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.

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