We’re using our Christmas break time to take a look back over some of our favourite brand’s greatest players, starting with one of the most enduring symbols in the world of football boots – the 3 Stripes of adidas.
We’ve really racked our brains to come up with the best 11 players that have been sponsored by adidas – though if someone you think should be on here isn’t; don’t fret! We’ve got 3 more All-Star XI’s landing over the next week and there’s a good chance they’ll turn up in there (don’t forget some of the greatest players of all time have been sponsored by more than one brand!)
adidas’ XI forms a solid 4-4-2 with some seriously powerful players in their ranks – definitely fitting for the brand that invented the original Power football boots! And whilst the Predator does get a few names on the team sheet, the star of the show is the Copa Mundial and it’s predecessors – with 7 of the 11 players on show prefering the old-school feel of the classic Copa!
Goalkeeper: Lev Yashin
The Soviet Union’s ‘Black Spider’ is regarded by some to be the greatest keeper ever to stand in the onion bag. His imposing stature and unprecedented athleticism re-invented what it means to be a goalkeeper for the modern age.
Opting for adidas football boots during his 326 game tenure for Dynamo Moscow, Yashin is the only goalkeeper to ever win the European Footballer of the Year award, and also picked up a Baloon D’or.
Defenders:
Marcel Desailly
Dessailly was a key figure for, not just adidas, but for club and country. Resilient, strong and an imposing figure at 6’2, the Ghanaian-born defender was a rock in whatever team he played in.
His record speaks for itself, not only winning the World Cup and European Championships with France – the adidas Predator wearer won the Champions League and UEFA Superf Cup. Twice.
Bobby Moore
Despite his middle name being ‘Chelsea’, Moore will always be remembered most fondly at Upton Park, where he collected over 500 appearances for West Ham.
Moore has been quoted by Pele as being the greatest defender he ever played against, and with a World Cup, an FA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners Cup to back him up, we’re inclined to agree with the great Brazilian.
Franz Beckenbauer
It speaks volumes about a player when 27 years after his last game, adidas are still making football boots named after him. And with good reason, Franz Beckenbaur is one of the most decorated players in the history of the game.
He’s won the World cup as a player and manager, and his list of club honours reads like a roll-call of what it is actually possible to win in the game, including; 4 Bundesliga titles, 4 DFB Cups, 3 European Cups and 1 Cup Winners Cup.
Carlos Alberto Torres
Carlos Alberto brought a revolution to the way a defender could play a game. Every bit as much a play-maker as he was a tough-tackler, Alberto allowed Brazil to build a game from the back and dictate the pace of the match.
It was for these abilities that he was rewarded with the captaincy of his country, and he didn’t fail to disappoint – sauntering down the right wing to score one of the greatest goals ever to be seen at a World Cup in a 4-1 win over Italy in the final.
Midfielders:
David Beckham
David Beckham might not be remembered for his goal-scoring prowess or his record of clean sheets, but he will be remembered for getting a whole generation of young footballers out onto the pitch and practicing free-kicks and corners.
Whilst certainly not the inventor of his famous technique, beckham popularized and perfected it Ĺ› and is even still scoring with it today.
Zinedine ZidaneThere’s probably very little one can say about Zidane without descending into fanboy-esque hyperbole. Captain of the French national team and huge influence on the Galacticos-era Real Madrid.
Honoured by adidas with a pair of all-Gold adidas Predator Absolute+ football boots'Â in what would be his last ever game, many will remember Zizou for his notorious head-butt, but real football fans will remember him as the 3-time FIFA World player of the year, Baloon D’or and Golden Ball winner.
Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton finished his Manchester United career with 606 appearences and 199 goals, which from attacking midfield is no mean feat.
Known for his thunderbolt long-range shots and attacking instics, Charlton bagged goals'Â at just about every level of the game and has won the World Cup, European cup and FA Cup.
Lionel Messi
People who love football love Lionel Messi. Fast, skillful and humble, there˘ very little not to like about watching a fully-fit Messi on the Barcelona flank
The current highest earning player in the World has his own signature range of adiZero football boots, but we˘€žË˜re sure he˘€žË˜d really love is a World Cup before he retires.
Forwards:
Michel Platini
We’ve bumped Platini up from his attacking midfield role to support our striker, but we’re sure it’s a role that he’d relish, after all he was the national team record top scorer (until Thierry Henry surpassed the 41 goals mark in 2007.)!
Platini never won a World Cup, but at club level he won scudettos, European'Â Super Cups and'Â European Championships'Â with Juventus. Spending most of his career in adidas football boots, Platini definitely felt the benefit of adidas’ supersoft leather and screw-in studs.
Gerd Muller
“Der Bomber”; Gerd Muller was as important to the success of Bayern Munich and Germany as “Der Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer. His prolific scoring elevated both sides to be the very best in the world.
'Â He scored 582 goals in 669 games throughout his club career, and was even more prolific at international level, scoring 68 goals in just 62 caps. Those caps included success at the 1972 European Championships and the 1974 World Cup.
We’ve had the toughest time picking out just'Â 11 adidas football boots'Â wearing greats; who would you have included in your great XI?
This is just our dream team – who would be in yours? Mix it up and change formation, push players a little out of position and'Â post them in the comments below!
ZiZou! I like players like Henry, Zidane and Messi, why??
Because they like and want to play, not like Ronaldo piece of arrogance, who wants only cash and fame.
I would have Robben instead of Beckam, granted he hasn’t won a european cup but he has won quite a few trophies including league titles and league cups in 4 different countries individualy he was u21 european player of the year and won player of the year in two of the countries he played in he has graced a world cup final (granted they didn’t win – but the impact he had on holland to help the reach the final was massive) and also he has 50+ caps and he’s only 26.
great article! any chance making another article for best XI nike-wearer?
was lothar matteus an adidas wearer? if so why aint he amongst the X1. and by the way beckham has won the european cup@ wales3987, with man utd and real madrid if im not mistaken. personally i dont think beckham deserves to be up on the list. hes a marketing tool, not a legendary footballer. i rather have stevie g up there instead of him. robben would be on the bench as he is injury prone
Here is my shout for a Nike XI
1. Campos
2. Cafu
3. Carlos
4. Maldini
5. Thuram
6. Davids
7. Cantona
8. Romario
9. Ronaldo (The Brazilian one, not the ‘Winker’)
10. Figo
11. Ronaldinho
Here is my shout for a Puma XI
1. Buffon
2. Nicol
3. Winterburn
4. Pearce
5. Vidic
6. Deschamps
7. Cruyff
8. Gascoigne
9. Pele
10. Maradona
11. Eusebio
yeah you better do a Puma XI or the ghost of rudolf dassler will haunt you forever… but if you put pele on there Pony may haunt you… so i suppose its a catch 22
You forgot Raul!
No Steven Gerrard??!!
The puma team would own
I think that the footballing authorities should introduce a ‘Silos Cup’ where each team is made up from wearers of a particular style of boot (SuperFly XI, Predator XI, AdiZero XI, CTR XI, V1.10 XI etc). failing that there should at least be a ‘Brands Cup’ where teams are made up of players from wearers of each manufacturer (Nike XI, Puma XI, Adidas XI etc.). Money raised could go to charity.
@kurve
cafu was mainly a lotto wearer, try ashley cole?
TAXI 4 CHELSEA
where’s Fritz Walter? he was an adidas legend in the 1950’s
IN a Nike version, Paul Scholes would need to be in there somewhere.
BOBBY MOORE!!!
Here is my shout for a Others XI
1.GK- iker casillas-reebok
2.RB- marcos cafu-lotto
3.CB-john terry- umbro
4.CB-franco baresi- asics
5.LB-g. bergomi- lotto
6.DM- roy keane- diadora
7.LM- ryan giggs- reebok
8.AM- ruud Gullit- lotto
9.F- thiery henry- reebok
10.F-roberto Baggio- diadora
11.F -rivaldo-mizuno
Subs
12.GK-pepe reina-joma
13.franc totti-diadora
14. alan shearer-umbro
15’glen johnson-lotto
i’m always amazed how people only remember beckham’s pretty face and zidane’s headbutt.
try watching football, people. u’ll see a barrage of beautiful crosses, absolutely state of the art freekicks, magical dribbling, and crazy amount of vision about the beautiful game -the ability to see something on the pitch that no 21 other players could see.
anyway, nice lineup 😉 i could see that this sorta based on a “lifetime performance” (beckham already approaching his retirement, and messi…. he’s exceptional). if robben makes it there, so has to be lampard and gerrard, or even better: kaka!
WHERES GERRARD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
kaka??
Very,very nice article!
No Steven gerrard !! :O
There is so much more to Zizou… World Cup winner (scoring both goals to shut out Brazil), Champion’s League and Super Cup, multiple domestic cups and countless individual awards. To see Beckham next to Zidane is a little insulting, especially when great players like Kaka and Gerrard aren’t even mentioned. There are more aspects to the game than just free kicks and corners.
@CJ: beckham WERE next to zidane in real madrid. and figo too.
and they won the Goddamn la liga that year by the way.
if u’re comparing achievements, lampard never won the ucl yet. and beckham have won leagues way more than gerrard (i’m a die hard fan of them all England midfielders by the way, so not trying to make them look bad whatsoever. just trying to be objective)
again my friends: by no means to be rude, but try watching football for once in a while 😉
for those who just got born and doesn’t had the chance: try browsing youtube. u’ll see plenty of beckham’s video dribble past 3 to 4 defenders in his days -just like messi do nowadays.
kaka, gerrard, beckham, zidane, whoever… take any names from the “great-list”, beckham will dribble past any of us without blinking his eye, beckenbauer will score freekicks past our best defense, even lev yashin will head the ball to our top corner that we already covered and still score.
just because one player are good at one thing, that doesn’t mean they sucks at the other. there are reasons why they made it to the “great-list” in the first place: they already surpass average players at all aspects.
okay i’m gonna stop this now, i’m starting to sound like a beckham fanboy @_@;
can’t help it, he’s just so underrated…
I didn’t see anyone mention this and Lev Yashin is a very good choice for keeper but what about Oliver Kahn?
Xavi
Rui Costa
They definitely need a bench lol
No Gerrard Lampard Xavi Villa Alonso Alves… This just proves how awesome adidas boots are
@harry’s comment
Harry I was refering to Robben when I made my comment “granted he hasn’t won a european cup” comparing the fact that beckam had in 1999 with united but Robben hadn’t.