In this blog we would like to focus and talk about all the different football boots that Nike and Adidas have created for their headlining players - Lionel Messi (Adidas) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Nike) after winning the illustrious Ballon D'Or!!!
Messi's Gold Ballon d'Or F50 adizero's
Back in 2010, Adidas released these amazing F50 adiZero's and although this boot was not officially a Ballon d’Or boot, it is what Messi received from them when he won it in that year. The boots are a gold black and white edition of the F50 adiZero stylo and were extremely light weight (one of the lightest boots at the time). They had a white sprint frame sole plate with a triangle stud design.
Moving on a year, in 2011 Messi was voted the winner again. He received a very similar boot to the gold and black one but this time was more white and gold with a touch of black on the three stripes. This was an official Ballon D’Or football boot - the adiZero II. It featured my coach, sprint frame and a very nice external cage on the upper. It also had a lever upper but Messi had the synthetic version of this boot. With Messi winning the Ballon d’Or in 2009, 2010 and 2011 these dates were printed in gold inside each of the three strips on the side of the boot.
In 2012, Messi won the Ballon d’Or yet again and to celebrate this Adidas created the adiZero III. This version was different to the standard synthetic version featuring a sprint skin upper and sprint frame design all over. The Ballon d’Or version was a synthetic leather design and had one big star located at toe box of the left boot which had the year 2012 printed inside in gold. The right boot featured three little stars just like the big one with the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 printed in them. The boot's colours were purely black and gold.
Ronaldo's Nike Mercurial Ballon d'Or boots
2013 saw a change from Adidas to Nike as Cristiano Ronaldo was voted the Ballon d’Or winner. To celebrate the achievement, Nike released a (very) limited Mercurial Vapor IX. This boot was white and gold with a chrome gold sole plate and black on the swoosh logo and black on the CR7 on the instep. Only 100 pairs of these boots were released which made them hard for the public to get their hands on (and collectors!!).
In 2014 CR7 took the Ballon d’Or again. Because of winning the award he received the Nike "Rare Gold SuperFly IV" which consisted of a gold to black gradient on the upper. The boot's sole plate were only made in a Soft Ground variant which had a golden tint to it. CR7 himself wore the boot in a personalized low-cut model, which were made only for him.
The battle to be the G.O.A.T.
In 2013 Messi managed to take the Ballon d’Or back from Ronaldo and Adidas celebrated this by creating the Adidas Messi 15.1. Adidas used bits of platinum for parts if the boot which made the boot very expensive. Due to the manufacturing cost of the boots, Adidas decided not to release them to the public. The colour way was fully white with features of black on the tongue.
In 2016, the Ballon d’Or yet again switched hands back to Cristiano Ronaldo. Following the win Nike handed him the Mercurial Superfly V limited edition known as the "Vitorias" which I am sure you can guess what it stands for! These boots were very similar to the previous Nike Mercurial Vapor IX which we spoke about previously and featured a chrome gold sole plate and a pearlescent white upper. I my opinion these boots are sensational and were limited to 777 pairs (7 is his favourite number)!!!
More recently in 2017, Ronaldo was presented with his 5th Ballon d’Or and yet another signature boot was given to him by Nike - the Mercurial Superfly V "Quinto Triunfo". The look of these boots are amazing featuring a gradient of gold to grey on the upper and a chrome gold FG sole plate. Only 1000 pairs of these boots were released and the team at www.bootsfinder.co.uk were lucky enough to get our hands on a pair so if you like them as much as we do then why not head over on and take a look? https://www.bootsfinder.co.uk/product-page/nike-mercurial-superfly-cr7-quinto-triunfo-fg-uk-11
I hope you have enjoyed reading through this blog and maybe you have learn't something yourself? Who will win the next Ballon d'Or and probably be officially claimed as the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT)? Which boots would you pick to play in and show off on the field (or maybe as an investment for the future as the prices are climbing!)?
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By Josh Byfield