Following yesterday’s review of the Football Boot of the Year, today we focus on the Best Looking Football Boot category in this year’s Football Boot Awards.
The Adidas F50 Tunit 2 was chosen as Adidas’ nomination ahead of the Predator Absolute. The Tunit 2 football boot allows each player to tune their football boots depending on the weather, pitch conditions or their own personal style. The ‘Pro Lite’ set up is favoured by many players, offering them increased speed and agility by reducing the overall weight of the boot. The lightweight synthetic climacool upper combined with the comfort chassis gives you a football boot with added breathability, comfort and superior touch. The Poppy Red colour way can often be seen on the feet of Arsenal’s Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor and Middlesbrough and England’s left sided midfielder Stewart Downing, who are obviously fashion conscious enough to make sure the colour of their football boots matches the colour of their kit!
Hummel’s 8.4 Pio FGX was apparently inspired by luxury fashion goods, Danish modern furniture, and graphic print wallpaper! As a limited edition lightweight football boot, only 2000 pairs have been produced worldwide. Ajax’s flying winger Dennis Rommedahl, who runs an amazing 10.2 seconds over 100 metres, certainly likes the look of them, being quick enough to grab himself a few pairs! A unique feature of the Hummel nominated football boot is its hmlFIT Customised Fit Technology heat mouldable sockliner. This allows the wearer a customised fit, producing maximum surface contact with the foot, ensuring fewer pressure points, and improved performance and control. As far as being a good looking boot, it certainly stands out!
The Lotto Zhero Evolution is the second release in the Italian football boot brands’ ‘Project Zhero’ following the lace free Lotto Zhero Gravity. Released for the 2006/7 season, the Lotto Zhero Evolution includes a choice of soleplates to cater for year round pitch conditions, foot to ground comfort, and improved speed and flexibility. The upper promotes comfort and sensitivity and also repels water through a lightweight synthetic microfibre design. An external heel counter and removable insoles aid foot cushioning and support, whilst the lightweight glass and nylon frame adds further protection. The gold stripes adorning the sides of a predominantly white football boot almost give the Lotto Zhero Evolution a regal appearance. Free scoring Italian striker Luca Toni is Lotto’s leading endorsee.
The Mitre Vortex Pro was worn by Fulham’s Franck Queudrue during the 2006-2007 season.
The upper boasts waterproof vents and has the smallest low cut chassis making it one of the lightest and most breathable boots on the market. Asymmetric micro lacing and a breather tongue further enhances the football boot’s credentials. The external heel unit is made from Thermal Plastic Urethane (TPU) for extra stability and a shock impact insole gives good foot to ground comfort. The Mitre Vortex Pro has a clean look; a predominantly white football boot, with the traditional Mitre logo in black across the middle.
The Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker may be the Japanese brands’ best looking football boot, but is is also the lightest, weighing in at 215 grams, compared to the Morelia Wave’s 250 grams. The 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. 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. As far as the look of the Mizuno Wave Ghost Striker, the boot is again predominantly white, with the (red) Mizuno logo stretching from the middle to the back of the boot. Mizuno’s leading endorsees include Javier Zanetti, Adrien Mutu, and Pablo Aimar.
Nike’s Total 90 Laser has a large ‘sweet spot’, maximising shooting and passing accuracy through precision rings which control ball spin and trajectory. The rings have been sectioned to help add more aggressive contact to the ball, enabling the player to add height and swerve to the ball as desired. The waterproof eVent fabric allows improved breathability, whilst maintaining a constant temperature in the football boot. The Nike Total 90 Laser is renowned for being Wayne Rooney’s preferred football boot. Rooney can often be seen wearing the hard to miss yellow/black colour way, or the more subtle yet stylish white/gold colour way.
The Prior 2 Lever Assassin is the world’s first fully customised football boot and for a price in excess of £6000 you would expect nothing less! The design process for each pair of Assassins is fairly rigorous and the finished product does look fairly impressive. Each football boot is made from scratch for each individual for both left and right foot. The boot set up is purely bespoke to fit, biomechanics, stud configuration, heel raise, material selection, design, the environment, training versus match, previous injury etc.
The Puma v-Konstrukt II football boot is made of an ultrathin full grain leather to provide a unique glove-like and comfortable fit. Allied to comfort is protection, Puma makes use of its Dynamic Flex Guard system to give players the extra protection that other lighter football boots lack. The Puma stud positioning has also come about through testing and is anatomically proven to provide high levels of grip and cushioning support through the configuration on the v-Konstrukt II’s. Football is all about opinions and so are football boots. We think the V-Konstrukt II’s are possibly not the nicest boots to look but you may disagree. They certainly appeal to a lot of the top players with Michael Carrick, Nemanja Vidic, Gabriel Heinze, Wayne Bridge, David Bentley all wearing the v-Konstrukt II.
The Umbro Ultra SX has a breathable venting system using ground breaking Outdry technology to prevent surface liquid from entering the football boot. The crucial result is dry feet and improved comfort and concentration for players. The Ultra SX’s attributes include a Michelin inspired injected rubber outlay, which provides the wearer with increased ball control and vastly improved strike power. The football boots’ motion control system allows superior stability and movement through a dual density wishbone providing optimum comfort for the full ninety minutes. The Ultra SX is available in a stylish all black colour way and in a white/black limited edition colour way, endorsed by Barcelona midfielder Deco.
Remember if you haven’t voted already, vote now for your favourite football boots and give yourself a chance of winning the top prize of a signed pair of John Terry Umbro X Boot Destroyer’s and a runner up prize of a pair of football boots each season for the next five seasons!
It’s amazing all the different coloured boots these days. Black ones must be in the minority now, never used to be the case!
yes i know i am only 8 and i have 6 different pairs of boots and they are all different colours. My grannie is buying me the new blue messi boots for my birthday.