Milestones – Nike Mercurial Superfly I 2009

The release of Nike Mercurial Superfly I in 2009 was truly a beginning of something big.

Nike had a big launch for the boot at Old Trafford with Cristiano Ronaldo as main character to advertise the new Superfly. The Superfly I was a product of 2 years of engineering and designing, Nike did also work around many professional players feedback to create this boot.

The new technology in the Superfly I was called “Flywire”. This Flywire technology allowed Nike to reduce weight without losing strength. You can compare the Flywire technology with cables in a bridge, it supports players foot were needed. The boot weighted only 185 grams and back in 2009 that was very light. Nike added the Tepex carbon fibre soleplate to the boot which really made the Superfly I unlike any other boot on the market.

Nike released a very limited edition of the Nike Mercurial Superfly I Fg called “Wear It Proud”. They were originally made for Ugo Moyne and the English rugby team to celebrate their new purple away kit. Each boot was handmade in Italy and individually numbered from 1 to 70. Rumors tell that 30 pairs were given to the rugby team members and only 40 pairs sold to public.

My pair is numbered 55 out of 70.

Thank you for reading!

Kind regards Toffem

Milestones – Nike Mercurial 1.0 1998

There have been a football boots “battle” between Nike and Adidas since 1994. In 1998 Adidas introduced the Accelerator, so Nike released the first ever Mercurial, which became Nike’s new star! It was the Brazilian star Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, also known as R9, who debuted in the very first Nike Mercurial in World Cup 1998. 

The original colourway was black/white, it was the first time Nike used synthetic materials in a football boot. The syntethic material proved to be the succes, as they could make a boot light and durable at the same time.

A special version in sliver/blue/yellow was released for the World Cup final for Ronaldo to play in. This was the first step for Nike getting into the market of light speed boots.

Thank you for reading.

Nike or Adidas?

This is an endless battle between two very succesfull sport brands! We all loved the old school Nike Mercurials and Adidas Predators. I have to admit that I gave up my hope sligthly with Adidas when they announced in 2014 that they would stop making Predator and F50… 

Nike continued strongly with developing the Mercurial range and also creating two new models Magista and Hypervenom. For me the new Mercurial Superfly V, Hypervenom Phantom III & Magista Obra II are one of the best boots Nike have produced in the last years! As I have been wearing Mercurial for most time of my career, I’m happy to see that they are developing the boots all the time.

If the years 2014-2015 were a slight dissapointment from Adidas then they really pushed up things in 2016! Some great boots as the Ace16+ PureControl with laceless technology and X16+ PureAgility to battle as a speed boot against Mercurial!

So both brands are once again seriously compeating of providing players with the best boot options! This is important as competition is the only way to improve your own products.

Nike Mercurial Superfly

One of Nike’s most succesfull boot range, the Mercurial Superfly! The first ever Superfly was introduced to the world in 2009, but we had a boot before that which had a carbon soleplate. In 2008 Nike released an elite level boot of the normal Nike Mercurial Vapor IV, the Nike Mercurial Vapor IV SL. SL stand for “Super Light”. In the first actual Superfly Nike used a carbon fiber soleplate and a new technology called flywire in the upper. 

The following two Superfly models were quite similiar to the Superfly I, but many did prefer the Superfly I over the new models. In the years 2012-2013 Nike did not manufacture any Superflys. Then in 2014 we got to see Nike’s first knitted boot with a carbon soleplate, the Nike Mercurial Superfly IV.

The latest boot in the Superfly range was the Superfly V in late 2016! 

Retail vs. Sample

I got something interesting to show you, here I got two pairs of Nike Mercurial Vapor IX. Despite that they are different colourway, there is something else.

The green coloured boot on the left is a retail version that was sold for the the piblic in 2013. On the right side we got a bit more interesting pair of boots, they are called “Sample” or “Salesman Sample”. They were usually a tryout boot, property of Nike, or then just given to shops for exhibition purposes and were not ment to be sold. But as we know some pairs got away to the public 😉

The difference on my pair of “Sample’s” is the fact that they got a carbon-fiber Sg-Pro soleplate. The ones that were made for public releases had a fiberglass soleplate. Perform wise there is not a big different, but carbon-fiber is slightly stronger than fiberglass. And ofcourse the carbon fiber looks better.

Nike Mercurial Superfly V Collection

Took some time for myself to take pictures of my Nike Mercurial Superfly V collection. These are the Superfly V’s I currently own. 

They are all pretty rare except for the CR7 “Discovery” yellow/dark grey ones, as they are not a limited edition but instead a nice looking boot from CR7 Chapter-3!

These are probably the most unique of them all as they are custome painted to represent the original Mercurial 1.0 from 1998 World Cup! 

Then next, boot above, you all recognize! One of my big favourites Nike Mercurial Superfly V “EA-Sport”, limited edition and mine is numbere 733 out of 1500. Representing the video gaming from late 90′ with 16-bit all the way to present time with high resolution!

Last one is probably the rarest of these four boots, the Nike Mercurial Suoerfly V CR SE “Vitórias”. Limited edition (230 of 777) celebrating Cristiano Ronaldo winning his fourth FIFA Player of the Year trophy aka Ballon d’Or!

Hope to see many more Superfly V in the future!

Nike Mercurial CR7 “Ballon d’Or” Collection!

Four “Ballon d’Or” tropihes and four boots made to celebrate each of the great year Cristiano Ronaldo have had! 

The first pair, Nike Mercurial Vapor IX CR SE Fg 100, was actually released in 2013 and not for Cristiano winning the Ballon d’Dor but for his record breaking year at Real Madrid!

The numbers on the heel represents different records or achievements he had that season:

• 1 first Spanish championship
• 9 goals for Portugal
• 14 games played for the national team
• 19 the first player to score against all 19 La-Liga teams
• 27 years old in 2012
• 55 games played in all tournaments for his club
• 60 goals scored in all tournaments for his club

There was only 100 pairs released of this boot!

Next boot is the Nike Mercurial Vapor IX CR SE Sg-Pro 100. This boot was revealed soon after Cristiano Ronaldo was named FIFA Player Of The Year in 2014! This pair was also produced just 100 pairs globally and is one of the most sought boots on the market. This time Nike kept the design simple but still classy. Together with the white and black coloured upper Nike added a beautiful gold soleplate. Everything about this boot is spot on!

Cristiano Ronaldo won the 3rd Ballon d’Or for the season 2014 and again Nike didn’t let us down by releasing the next boot – Nike Mercurial Superfly IV CR SE Sg-Pro “Rare Gold”.

Again there was made only 333 pairs in the world and lucky enough I got the pair mine numbered 333 of 333. I actually tried to buy these when they were released exclusively via Nike Football App in march 2015, but they sold out in seconds… They were retailed at 300£ GBP! As so often I had to wait few months before I found a pair on eBay, got them for a cheeky 250£ 😛

So we seen what Nike have delivered in the past few years, now we could expect something special for Cristiano Ronaldo winning his 4th Ballon d’Or for the season 2016. And we did! The new boot is called Nike Mercurial Superfly V CR SE Fg “Vitórias”! The is craeted to embody C.Ronaldo’s iconic personality as one of the most decorated player in the world. 

What an increadible year he had. He won the Champions League with Real Madrid and even a bigger achievement was leading his nation to glory for the first time in their history. Again the design is pretty simple but still stunning as the earlier models.

This boot is also a limited edition with only 777 pairs made in the world, I got the pair numbered 230 out of 777. A big bonus is that the boots are all individually numbered!

Thank you for reading!

Nike Mercurial Superfly V SE CR Fg “Vitórias”

Nike is tributing C.Ronaldo for winning his 4th Ballon d’Or and for another fantastic year as a player. The new boots are called Nike Mercurial Superfly V SE CR Fg “Vitorias”!

The is craeted to embody C.Ronaldo’s iconic personality as one of the most decorated player in the world. 

What an increadible year he had. He won the Champions League with Real Madrid and even a bigger achievement was leading his nation to glory for the first time in their history. 

This boot is a limited edition with only 777 pairs made in the world, I got the pair numbered 230 out of 777. A big bonus is that the boots are all individually numbered!

Top 10 Pickups of 2016!

So the list continues with my 4 of best pickups this year!

Number 4:
Nike Mercurial Superfly V Fg 1998. This boot was one of my projects this year and they are custome made to look like the Mercurial that Brazilian Ronaldo (R9) wore in the World Cup 1998! 

Number 3:

Adidas Predator Mania Sg “Blackout” edition! I dare to say these are the rarest Predator Manias made, even the Japan Blues will be at 2nd place!

Number 2:

Nike Mercurial Superfly V Fg “EA-Sport” edition, limited edition only 1500 made!

One of the best looking boots!

Number 1:

Nike Mercurial Vapor IX CR SE Sg-Pro!

Took a while for me to find these for a reasonable price. Limited to 100 pairs in the world, my pair is numbered 63 of 100!

Can’t wait to see what new comes in 2017!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Top 10 Pickups of 2016!

So as some of you know I’m every year making a list of my Top 10 Pickups of the year, not top releases of the year but boots that I have bought!

So here is the boots so far:

10. Adidas Ace17+ PureControl Fg Custome painted

9. Nike Hypervenom Phantom SE “Transform” limited edition 560 pairs made with heat-active upper!

8. Nike Mercurial Superfly IV “What The Mercurial”, released in early 2016 and hit the world with a crazy colourway consisting of 16 past Mercurial colours!

7. Adidas Predator Accelerator 1998 Sg “Made in Germany”, only one word: Rarest Predators!

6. Adidas F50 99 Gram, limited edition 181 of 299 pairs made. World’s lightest boots ever made, only 99g!

5. Nike Mercurial SL Fg, entirely made of carbon-fibre! Limited edition 1059 of 2008 pairs made.

Keep an eye on my blog and InstaGram @toffem for the best of the best in my Top 10 Pickups of 2016!