Held every four years, the World Cup is a showcase for innovation in design of boots which should give the players the edge in the biggest matches.
In cooperation with Football Boots DB, the first website fully dedicated to football boot statistics, we will analyse which brand is set to dominate the 2014 World Cup, beginning on Thursday.
2014 World Cup Football Boots
The new Nike 2014 World Cup Boots, officially called Summer 2014 Boots.
Nike launched the most innovative football boots, the Nike Mercurial Superfly and the Nike Magista. Unveiled in Summer 2014, the Hypervenom and Mercurial come in Hyperpunch Red and Gold, with the Tiempo and Magista arriving in Volt Yellow and Gold.
The colors are bold, but not as bold as the ideas and innovation in these boots.
Nike claim that they changed football forever using the slogan Football will never be the same for the launch of the Nike Magista. Nike Football’s Design Director, Denis Dekovic, said: "This has been an unprecedented year of innovation for Nike Football. We believe that, as with the Mercurial R9 worn by Ronaldo in 1998, 2014 will be remembered as the year Nike changed football boots forever.”
"The colors are bold, but not as bold as the ideas and innovation in these boots. We cannot wait to see all the players on pitch in these new boots," added Dekovic.
Adidas, the official sponsor of the 2014 World Cup, is the only brand to advertise their products on the LED advertising panels during the 2014 World Cup. Furthermore, Adidas provides the official match ball for the biggest football tournament, the Brazuca 2014 World Cup Ball and is also allowed to promote the Battle Pack as 2014 World Cup Boots.
However, the advantage of being the official supplier is no guarantee to be the leading brand of the 2014 World Cup. While the 2014 World Cup Ball Brazuca secures Adidas to be by far the leading football supplier, just 36% of the 2014 World Cup players will wear Adidas boots in Brazil.
To maximise the visibility of the 2014 World Cup Battle Pack Boots, Adidas decided to give each disruptive black and white pattern.
"The World Cup is the biggest stage in all of sports and Battle Pack will make a bold and disruptive statement on field," said Ernesto Bruce, director of adidas Soccer for adidas America. "Our designers took direct inspiration from Brazil and injected a never before seen look onto our most innovative cleats. The best players in the world will wear Battle Pack as they chase the ultimate goal of the FIFA World Cup trophy."
Lionel Messi is the only Adidas player to wear his own signature boot during the World Cup, which features the colors of his home country Argentina.
Puma, the third largest supplier of football boot products, follows with a large gap to the leading soccer brands Nike and Adidas. Therefore, the German brand decided to go for the most extreme look to gain attention.
The Puma Tricks 2014 World Cup Boots features two different colors for each boot to stand out on the pitch. A pink boot for the right foot, a light blue boot for the left foot. Puma released the special Puma evoPOWER Tricks 2014 World Cup Boot and the Puma evoSPEED Tricks Boot in May 2014.
The Japanese boot supplier Mizuno, beloved for their iconic football boots, have the Brazilian striker Hulk as well as Keisuke Honda and Thiago Motta in their roster. Mizuno offers several different 2014 World Cup Boots, including the totally new Basara Speed Boot, two Wave Ignitus 2014 World Cup Boot Colorways as well as a blue Morelia Neo paint job, worn by Hulk.
Warrior, who currently trying to establish as a football brand, have signed several of the best players and European teams, offers three different 2014 World Cup Boot silos. The red Gambler II Control Boot, a light blue Brazil inspired Skreamer Power Boot Colorway and a white / gold Superheat Speed Football Boot.
Joe Hart will showcase the latest Umbro Football Boot, the Umbro UX-1.
2014 World Cup Boot Statistics
Football boot brands Football boot modelsNike dominates the 2014 World Cup Boot Brand Battle, followed by Adidas. With more than the half (52.7 % | 387 players) of all 2014 World Cup players wearing Nike Boots, the US-giant beats Adidas, who will supply the boots for 263 players (35.7%).
53.7 % of the 2014 World Cup players will wear Nike boots
132 players will wear the Nike Mercurial Boot, making the speed silo the most popular boot of the 2014 World Cup. Although Nike introduced the revolutionising Mercurial Superfly Boot, several players opt out and are using the normal Nike Mercurial Vapor X Boot, which do not feature the Flyknit technology and the high top boot design (e.g. Eden Hazard, Pedro, Didier Drogba).
Move the slider to compare the new Magista Obra and Opus boots.
The same applies to the Nike Magista Obra and the Nike Magista Opus Boot. Players like Sergio Busquets, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson and Jack Wilshere are using the second tier boot version, the Nike Magista Opus. In total, 90 players will wear the Magista in Brazil. 108 players are using the Nike Tiempo Legend V World Cup Boot Colorway, while only 40 players will wear the Nike Hypervenom.
The Adidas Adizero Football Boot is the most popular Adidas Boot silo, worn by 105 players. The cleat is followed by the Adidas Predator (89 players), the Nitrocharge (56 players) and the Adidas Adipure (16 players).
Puma managed to sign 51 players (5.7 %), including Cesc Fàbregas, Mario Balotelli, Samuel Eto'o, Gianluigi Buffon and Sergio Agüero. Unfortunately, superstars und Puma players Marco Reus and Radamel Falcao will miss the 2014 World Cup.
Mizuno signed 16 players (2.2 %), while the Lotto and Warrior respectively signed five players. Antonio Cassano will be the only player to wear Diadora Boots and we will also see two Mexican players José Vázquez and Carlos Alberto Peña wearing boots from the Mexican brand Concorde.
Nike also managed that 20 players from the Ghanaian squad are wearing Nike boots, while the expected boot lineup features ten Nike players.
Visit the 2014 World Cup Football Boots DB Overview to see all 2014 World Cup Boot squads and lineups.