Football finally returns this weekend with the first match day of the restarted German Bundesliga. Unaffected from football's lockdown in the past few weeks, French football boot experts Footpack have analyzed which football boots and brands are the most popular in Europe.
Footpack analyzed the soccer shoes of 2,520 players and 98 clubs from the 5 major championships - the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. All the figures in Footpack's study were collected between March 2 and April 30, 2020.
Nike Most Popular Boots Brand Of Top 5 Boots
The football boot market worldwide and also in Europe's Top 5 leagues is dominated by the big three brands - Adidas, Nike and Puma. Only 44 of the 2,520 players do not wear a model from one of these three brands.
Unsurprisingly, Nike is the brand most present at the feet of the players of the 5 major European championships. Nike supplies more than half of all players (1312 out of 2520), followed by Adidas with 38% (959 footballers of 2,520 and Puma with 8.13% (205 players of 2520).
Behind the big three brands, nine brands share the rest of the cake.
Overview By Brand - Football Boots In Top 5 Leagues
Nike: 52.02% (1312/2520)
Adidas: 38.06% (959/2520)
Puma: 8.13% (205/2520)
Lotto: 0.40% (10/2520)
Mizuno: 0.36% ( 9/2520)
Joma, Under Armour: 0.24% (6/2520)
Unknown: 0.20% (5/2520)
New Balance: 0.16% (4/2520 )
Wizwedge, Kipsta, Umbro, Asics: 0.04% (1/2520)
The Nike Mercurial Vapor 13 is the most worn soccer shoe on the European scene with almost 19% of players (476/2520). Second is the Adidas X19.1 with a little more than 11% of players (285/2520), ahead of the Nike Phantom Venom which is worn by 276 players or 11%.
Footpack also split the boots stats by age groups, revealing that Nike is particularly popular among young and middle-aged players, while Puma is the brand of the "oldies".
"By refining by age of the players, certain specificities stand out. In the 17-21 age group, for example, the American brand is present in 55% of the players (227/412) and the Mercurial Vapor 13 is the most popular brand in this age category with 22% of the players (91/412). adidas is second in the 17-21 age group with 36% ahead of Puma, 8%. In the 22-28 age group, the American brand is even more dominant with 55% (715/1329) ahead of adidas (39%) and Puma (6%). But from the 29+ age category onwards, the trends are clearly changing. Despite being the leader, Nike drops to only 48% (369/777), adidas stagnates at 38% but Puma climbs this time to more than 11% of the players."
Footpack also analyzed the boot brands by league, revealing that there are no really big differences. For example, Nike is most "active" in Spain and Germany with 56% / 55% of players. In the Ligue 1 Conforama, Puma achieves its best score with 11%.
Are you surprised by the results? Share your thoughts in the comments below and check out more detailed football boot statistics and boot line-ups on Football Boots DB.