I always wondered if I’d actually end up playing like Lionel Messi if I put on a pair of Adidas F50 Adizero boots. Apparently, Messi is one of the quickest players around and wears one of the lightest pairs of football boots – a pair of boots I was more than happy to try out and explore closer.
The boots are worn by some of the world’s best players, including Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and David Villa, and more recently, Nani from Manchester United. Lucky enough, we were sent a pair of the Adidas Adizero to test out and wear out, to see if they were really worth all of the hype.
The whole experience counts with the Adizero, from the moment you take them out of the box (or bubble wrap in my case). They’re almost too light… having tested out a pair of Nike Mercurial Vapours before I can safely say that the difference is noticeable on first lift. I think this is a nice video showing the first impressions and the feeling of taking out the fresh pair of Adizeros.
I took this beautiful pair of golden Adidas boots on a test-run and have the complete performance review for them. How they felt, how they still feel, and how they compare to other boots I’ve tested or owned before. While being the lightest boot I’ve ever tried on (by far), they were not the sexiest (Mercurial Vapour 1 is still the design king… at least in my opinion.)
However, as I mentioned before, the design of the Adizero is fantastic even though it’s not my favorite. The leather version actually does look a lot nicer and feels much more rugged than the synthetic, even though it has a few grams extra. I also don’t think a pair of Nike boots can compare to a blackout version of Adizero which are pretty deadly serious in attractiveness. The leather is just a bit more appealing, with nice stitching and perhaps offering more comfort than a synthetic upper.
I judged these boots based on the same criteria as my Concave PT+ Classics review.
1. Design
As mentioned a bit earlier, the Adidas F50 Adizero is one of my favorite designed boots.. and deserves to be. It’s not as classic as the Pelé Sports 1970’s and not as gimmicky as the Concave PT+ Classics. The guys over at Adidas used a simple design aimed at branding and reducing weight. Taking that into account, I rated the Adizero with a solid 9/10 for design (would be higher if they had sent me a blackout pair!).
2. Comfort
When you take away so much to reduce weight, some parts of the boot become a bit uncomfortable. While the fit is amazing, slipping on and fitting like a sock, the heel does get a bit uncomfortable, especially when wet. This happened to me before with the Nike Mercurial Vapors, but there the problem was the ankle. What I noticed was slight pain in the heels, especially when the boot was wet!
In terms of flexibility, this is the most flexible and adaptable boot I’ve ever put on, beating the Vapours I and II by a pretty big margin in that department. They’re flexible and thin on top, but it really, really hurts to get stepped on. So try to avoid that if you buy these specific boots. I imagine the synthetics to be even more painful when getting stepped on or hit.
Overall, a very comfortable football boot with high flexibility. Despite the heel problems, I rated the Adizero comfort-wise with a generous 7.5/10.
3. Performance
Before evaluating some of the important benefits of playing with these boots, it’s important to note that this is purely personal opinion and that I am not a typical “speed” player. I find myself most comfortable in boots like Adidas Predator, Nike Tiempo, and the Pelé Sports 1970 boots.
However, I’ve had a lot of experience testing speed boots and can say that while playing, the impacts of the speed boot were seen much faster and much better with the Adizero than other speed boots I’ve tested. The F50 Adizero is a true speed boot and doesn’t come with any gimmicks.
- Turning – The studs really work for quick turning and acceleration. They’re one of the best parts of the boot (besides the fact that they break easy). Turning is much quicker also due to the flexibility.
- Touch – Surprisingly good touch on the ball, but I was also lucky to be given a leather pair to try out. With a full-synthetic upper, the touch is very different so I can’t comment on that personally. I liked the touch on the ball more than with my other pair of Adidas Adipures, so I’d advise Kaka to switch over.
- Shooting – Not being used to the very thin upper meant some shocking first shots for me. Using a very heavy ball, kicking can be a bit more painful. I’m also worried about some metatarsal problems that can come along with kicking in these boots. But I’m no expert on that. All I know is that you definitely feel it a lot more than in a pair of control boots.
- Durability – I’ve had and played with the boots for a while now and they’re still doing very well. As I mentioned above, one of the studs fell out and I’ve read that this is a common problem. Maybe this has been fixed on more recent versions. The upper, however, has done well over the time.
My overall performance score: 8.5/10
Conclusion
The best thing about this boot is the price – being much lower than it’s biggest competitors. This is very important as the quality is also there, the only area it lacks behind might be design, but the F50 Adizero seems to appeal to a lot of people anyways, and I can see why. This is the speed boot of the next few years, unless other companies come up with something better than they’ve been doing. I’d say if you’re a speed player, take these rather than the competitor. But if you want to know which speed boot to buy for your needs, read my 10-11 Speed Boots Review.
My personal conclusion – love the weight, love the design, but miss the Predator touch!
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