One of the best things about having a website like ours is that you really get to see which football boots capture the imagination of the boot buying public.
As we’re independent and not attached to a store, we get to see which items of news really bring in you guys to read our site and really capture the Zeitgeist of the football boots industry in 2010.
So, join us as we count down the top 10 hottest news stories of' 2010.
Generating a huge amount of interest back in February, the Puma PowerCat edges it’s way into our Top 10.
Replacing the V-Konstrukt range as Puma’s power football boots, the PowerCat won serious points for it’s more low-profile design and soft leather upper.
Nike are the masters of ‘buzz’ in the world of football boots, and the launch of the Nike Mercurial Vapor CR Safari was a prime example of why.
A bold product design, whose launch was preceded by a series of videos and teaser images, eventually culminated in a swanky presentation event in Madrid with the World’s most expensive footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo himself!
8. Pel'© Sports Reveal Their First Boots
Footy-Boots.com were the first to reveal the existence of Pel'© Sports way back in January 2010, alongside a bold statement from the newly-formed company’s management confidently proclaiming they’d have their fist football boots on store shelves by the time the World Cup kicks off.
And then we waited. And waited some more. Quite frankly, we were a bit worried the self-imposed deadline would be missed, but just in the nick of time – June 2010 – Pel'© Sports unveiled the 1970, 1962 and 1958 at a lavish ceremony in South Africa! Whilst these cleats weren’t what many expected, it’s safe to say that the launch and countdown had many excited as tens of thousands of you guys flooded to see the big reveal.
7. Lotto Zhero Gravity Goes Ultra
In arguably the shock of the list, Lotto trump the Nike Safari with their flagship football boots; the Zhero Gravity Ultra!
We know that many of you guys dream (or are at least interested in the concept of) a laceless boot, and with Lotto now on their 4th generation of Zhero Gravity, many of you were probably interested in whether Lotto had finally perfected their revolutionary technology.
The answer was, of course, not yet!
Who says Becks isn’t relevant anymore!?
Beating out the launch of Cristiano Ronaldo’s signature football boots by thousands of views – it was Beckham’s tasteful new Uniform Blue Predator_X‘s that really set tongues wagging among boots-fans!
5. Nike Superfly II – Elite-est of the Elite!
When it comes to picking favourites – it seems you guys aren’t shy! The Star of the Nike Elite Series was clearly the Superfly II (despite it having the smallest weight reduction!) beating out the rest of the Nike Silo by an incredible margin.
Though looking back on some of the comments, it seems just as likely that some of you were venting some steam on the slightly unexpected 5% weight reduction – there’s certainly no more passionate group of football boots fans than the readers of Footy-Boots.com!
4. Tailored by Umbro – England’s new Away Kit
What’s this? A football shirt on a football boots website!? Indeed it is! When we exclusively revealed the new England Away shirt back in March, it seems that everyone and their brother wanted to gander at out exclusive images of England’s World Cup threads.
Interestingly, traffic has sort of ‘tailed off’ on this one after July. We can’t think of a single reason why…
3. Nike & Ronaldo invade Battersea for the Superfly II launch!
In terms of excitement, coverage and sheer wow-factor – there was nothing to top the Nike Superfly II taking over Battersea Power Station in London in a vast event that had interest from all the world’s media.
The Superfly II might still be a bone of contention for many football boots fans out there in the world, but hundreds of thousands of you were keen to be the first to see the NikeSENSE adaptive traction system at work, the revamped FlyWire upper and the bold-as-brass Violet Pop launch colourway!
2. adidas Smash the Weight Barrier with the F50 adiZero
We reckon that every new style football boots that launches aims to write it’s own little bit of history, and adidas’ adiZero seems to have done just that.
Completely reviving adidas’ F50 line and (briefly) becoming the lightest football boots in the world, interest in the adiZero skyrocketed to unbelievable levels. The boot went on to dominate 2010, gathering players like Nani and Anelka, not to mention becoming the top-scoring football boots at the World Cup by a heck of a margin. And to think it all started with this humble post in April!
1. Footy-Boots reveals the Football Rich List!
As much as we love football boots it seems that we love to check out the wages of our favourite stars just as much!
Sneaking ahead of the adiZero and Superfly II launches, is our footballing Rich List. By the narrowest of margins this was our most viewed post of the last 12 months!
What do you guys think of the list, any surprises on there for you?
Let us know in the comments!
i like . Nike Superfly II – Elite-est of the Elite!
its my favourite after world cup
I think for me the most shocking news were the release of the Puma Powercats and the F50s, though I also think that the AdiPure IV release should be on there. When I first read an article about Lahm testing them, I was completely taken by surprise.
Great Post as usual from the team. Surprised the many various “of the Year” posts aren’t on here. Polls always attract attention and such things as Boot of the Year didn’t get enough views?
becks’s white predator beats ronaldo’s superfly?? now THAT’S a story 😀