Soccer Cleats 101 Soccer Cleats News and Reviews
Signature Messi boot releases; you either love them or you hate them! Being one of the greatest players to ever play the game comes with some seriously well deserved perks, like having a team dedicated to creating personalized boots just for you. Messi’s input on how his boots are designed has been obvious, with a slew of colorful releases highlighting his expressive nature.
This year, we saw no less than 6 signature Messi boots released, most in limited edition quantities. Here we take a look at them and what adidas produced for the Argentinian maestro. Be warned, so many wildly colored boots on one page can cause disorientation and leave you wondering how so many quirky designs could be worn with a serious face by Messi!
Edition: Mirosar10
Released: November (release details)
mirosar10 translates from Spanish to ‘my Rosario’ with the number 10 given prominence in the naming convention of this release, in the same way Leo has himself given prominence to this number for both club and country. The orange of the boot signifies his first ever club, with the green representing their fiercest rivals, who Leo scored 4 goals against in his first significant 11-a-side game as a young child. The boot insoles are printed with a map of Rosario, Messi’s home town in his beloved Argentina.
Verdict: Interesting design, definitely takes on a full meaning and provides a story behind the boots.
Available from soccer.com.
Edition: Champions League
Released: September (release details)
The actual design of this release is vastly unusual, with four different colors employed across the upper. They were built exclusively for UEFA Champions League action, inspired by the architecture of Barcelona, and representing every goal Messi has scored and the 21 cities he has scored in. They are also designed to celebrates the four times Messi has claimed the Golden Boot award, his four UEFA Champions League hat tricks and the three times he has lifted the famous trophy.
Verdict: We have to be honest on this one – pretty awful design, they have the appearance of clown shoes.
Available from soccer.com.
Edition: La Liga
Released: August (release details)
What made these so unique is the fact that adidas took the Messi Philosophy and imprinted it along the upper of the boot, using inspirational wording to create the design. As you can see from the images, it looks a lot different up close than it does from a distance. Along with the upper print, “mas que un botin” (more than a boot) is featured on the insoles.
Verdict: Always love a gold style boot release, and I like how Adidas included an inspiring message from Messi on the upper.
Available from soccer.com.
Edition: Birthday
Released: June (release details)
These were released to celebrate Messi’s 27th birthday, with only 27 pairs of the boots created. The color scheme of green, blue, pink, orange and white, along with the iconic adidas three stripes, were intended to befit the style of a four-time Ballon d’Or winner. In line with the World Cup, adidas took the Battle Pack design and simply added a birthday inspired colorway.
Verdict: Looks like adidas let some kids go wild with crayons on a white canvas. Who likes some funfetti with their boots?
Edition: Battle Pack
Released: May (release details)
Messi got the one true unique release from the Battle Pack series, the boots worn by Adidas players during the World Cup this season. Adidas provided an Argentinian touch via a single stripe right through the center of the boots. When you are the lead player in the campaign, you get some extra special treatment!
Verdict: The Battle Pack was never a true fan favorite, but as the design goes, these were pretty slick.
Edition: Messi 370
Released: March (release details)
In celebration of the fact Messi brought his Barcelona goal scoring tally past 370, becoming the clubs greatest ever goalscorer, adidas unleashed the limited edition “Messi 370″. In an adidas first, each pair of cleats featured a different design on the left and right foot, inspired by Messi´s goal scoring stats, separating the percentage of goals he’s scored with his left foot, right foot and head. The F50s also carried the unmistakable Messi customization with the name of his son Thiago and date of birth printed on the side of the product. Each pair was uniquely numbered from #001 – #370.
Verdict: Nice design, and I’m liking the significance of two different designs depicting how he scored his goals!
Edition: Rainbow
Released: February (release details)
A design that featured a sleek rainbow color scheme of green, blue, pink, orange and white, these were the first signature Messi release of 2014. Keeping things simple, adidas built them on the same successful platform as the regular released version of the adiZero F50. Messi, of course, gets his own customized pair but the bright rainbow style effect ran through on all silos.
Verdict: Bright, vibrant and full of color. But that is not always a good thing.
Available from soccer.com.
Overall, it is probably pretty obvious that we were not too impressed with the designs Messi was given the responsibility to wear this year. Thankfully, his performances are consistently awesome and each pair he wears looks pretty slick in action as a result. Hopefully there is better to come in 2015.
What has your take been with the 2014 designs and if you had a choice to wear one pair, which one would it be?
i would get the gold Messi boot if asked to wear one. Personally though, i have the WC adiZero, the one that Luis Suarez wears. What about you, Bryan? SC101?