Nike begin their World Cup 2018 preparations by celebrating the heritage of the Nike Mercurial series with a collection of iconic World Cup designs. Using the NikeiD division, they have created the perfect collectors boots inpired by the World Cup years 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 & 2014.
Made into the new iconic new-generation of the Nike Mercurial Superfly 12 and Vapor 12 360 Elite editions which incorporate all sorts of modern technology but also with a massive sense of nostalgia.
The showpiece Nike Mercurials represent each of the past five World Cups and are transformed via NikeiD into modern day designs as Nike pay tribute to 20 years of the Mercurial. Dropping in both the Vapor and Superfly silhouettes, the Mercurial Heritage Collection also represent the legends that have worn the series at previous World Cup tournaments – from France in 1998 to Brazil in 2014 -to be worn by the current stars expected to shine in the Russia World Cup 2018.
Nike have picked the players to wear each specific boot depending on their nationality, and which nation won the World Cup that year. For example, Mbappe is wearing the 1998 Nike Mercurial football boot as France won the tournament in 1998 and Sane is wearing 2014 colorway because Germany won the tournament in Brazil.
Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele (France) are wearing the 1998 edition, Philippe Coutinho (Brazillian) is wearing the 2002 design, Italy's Federico Chiesa is wearing the yellow 2006 edition, Real Madrid's Marco Asensio received the 2010 edition, while Leroy Sane is sporting the 2014 colorway.
Take a look at some of the Nike Mercurial Heritage NikeiD boots we have on our site for sale here:
If you're a real football boot collector and love some of the old #classicfootballboots from the past then you might also like to take a look at the last range of Nike Merurial Superfly Heritage that Nike brought out in 2016:
The ones that should be in every boot collection is surely the original R9 silver, yellow and blue colorway — worn by the “original” Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima for the first time during the 1998 World Cup in France. We also have a black and white combination to compliment the original in SG that are equally (if not harder) to get hold of.
My opinion on these boots are they all are very iconic and hats off to anybody that is brave enough to wear them on the pitch - you will really stand out as a boot connoisseur. Comparing it to the originals to now you can see every little detail that has been put into the new mercurial range and how futuristic the whole range looks. My personal favourites are the 1998 R9’s boots from the world cup in Brazil or the 2010 boots from the world cup hosted in South Africa....what are yours?
By James Allan