Mercurial

The beginning of a formidable partnership

In 1994, the Brazilian football team arrived at the United States World Cup ready to end a 24-year run of failing to reach the final, let alone win the tournament. Pragmatic rather than attacking, they weren’t like most squads to come out of the South American country, but their defensive approach won Brazil a fourth World Cup as they defeated Italy on penalties in a goalless final. On the bench that day was a player who epitomised the Brazilian footballing style of Ginga – an attacking approach based on the movements of Samba dancing and Capoeira that emphasises holding onto possession to show off individual flair through subtle touches and intricate dribbling. Then nicknamed Ronaldinho to distinguish him from a teammate, he would later assume his given name: Ronaldo, which ultimately became one of the greatest in the history of the sport. His innate talent, technical skill and epic speed deserved an impressive shoe, and early on in his career, Ronaldo teamed up with Nike, forming a decades-long partnership that was defined by one very special football boot: the Nike Mercurial.

Early achievements

Despite not playing at the 1994 World Cup, Ronaldo had already made a name for himself as a prodigious young player at Brazilian club Cruzeiro. In 1993, he helped them to win the Copa do Brasil for the first time in the team’s history, thus earning himself a move to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in 1994, where he scored 30 goals in his first season. During this time, he became known for having incredible pace, mesmerising skills and accurate ball control, and in 1996, he joined Barcelona for a then world record amount. It was then that Nike took an interest in Ronaldo as the brand looked to establish a strong position in the world of football.

Goals galore

In the mid-1990s, although Nike had already shown an aptitude for making brilliant running shoes and basketball trainers, the company was still relatively small in football, with adidas being the leading producer of football boots. However, things began to change after the 1994 United States World Cup, when ten players wore Nike’s Tiempo Premier in the final. Two years later, Nike became the official kit supplier for the Brazilian team and signed a special deal with Ronaldo, who was placed at the centre of the brand’s football marketing campaigns over the next decade. On the pitch, he gave the brand just what was needed, scoring goal after goal for Barcelona as the ‘96-’97 season progressed. In one particularly memorable game against Compostela in October 1996, he showed immense strength to beat several defenders and score a spectacular solo goal. The moment was so incredible that Nike used it in a famous advert beginning with the words “What if you asked God to make you the best soccer player in the world? And he was actually listening?”. It then showed Ronaldo’s unstoppable run and shot, before “Ronaldo 1996 FIFA Player of the Year” appeared on the screen. He was the youngest player ever to receive the award. On top of this, he represented his country in the 1997 Copa America, where he was crowned Player of the Tournament after scoring five goals, including one in a 3-1 win over hosts Bolivia in the final.

A new kind of football shoe

With the world’s best striker representing the brand, Nike had a great opportunity to become the top producer of football boots in the world. However, adidas and Puma were already well-established, and it was going to be difficult to design a football boot that could out-compete their popular models. As the 1998 World Cup approached, Nike used Ronaldo’s trademark speed and skill as inspiration for a new piece of footwear that would come to embody these attributes. Initially, the design was touted as the next iteration of the popular Tiempo series, but it soon became clear that this football boot represented something different; something which had not been seen on a football pitch before. As such, it deserved its own name. Since it was built to be as dynamic and as fast as the player it was made for, Nike’s experts chose to call it Mercurial.

Built for skill and speed

The Nike Mercurial was constructed to support the fastest players in the world, allowing them to move with unrivalled speed and use close ball control to dribble past defenders, just like Ronaldo did. Nike’s designers drew upon the brand’s history of creating track spikes for runners to forge an aerodynamic shoe made from KNG-100 – a synthetic leather that absorbed less water than traditional leather, so it still retained its lightweight properties in wet conditions. It also took on colour in a different way, allowing the designers to create more vibrant colourways. Its streamlined construction featured speed grooves along the sides and a sticky substance taken from the motorcycle industry on the upper. While this improved ball control, the 1.75mm soleplate was much thinner than those on Nike’s previous football boots for a total weight of just 250g. This lightweight build provided high levels of stability and control so that the player could outpace and outmanoeuvre their opponents with ease.

An iconic image

While the first Nike Mercurial colourway was black, it wasn’t long before Ronaldo received a more vibrantly coloured design. It had a shiny silver upper with glossy blue bands rippling along its flanks beside vivid golden yellow swooshes, while his famous R9 nickname appeared in a yellow and green badge on the tongue. With this striking colourway on his feet, Ronaldo dazzled fans at the 1998 World Cup in France. It was the perfect advert for Nike’s new football boot as a 21-year-old Ronaldo helped his team to another final with four goals and three assists. It all looked like being a dream finish for the young superstar, but just hours before the final against the host nation, he fell sick and was removed from the starting lineup. Desperate to play, Ronaldo insisted that he was fine, and his place was reinstated with less than an hour until kick off. However, he was clearly not at his best, and the Brazilian team faltered, losing to an inspired French squad and the brilliance of their key playmaker, Zinedine Zidane. Despite the defeat, Ronaldo was awarded the Golden Ball for best player, and the image of him with his R9 football boots hanging around his neck alongside his runners-up medal after full-time became iconic, establishing the Mercurial as an essential piece of football apparel.

Optimising the Mercurial

Ronaldo’s amazing performances in the first Nike Mercurial got the series off to a great start, which the brand quickly built on. In 1999, the Mercurial 2 was released, its lighter construction making it even faster than the original. Wearing the latest Nike football boot, Ronaldo won another Copa America alongside the great Rivaldo, with whom he was joint top-scorer on five goals. Just one year later, the Match Mercurial became the next iteration in the series. It had an ultra-thin, copper-coloured outer that made it ten grams lighter again, and its Speedtrack soleplate allowed the wearer to move across the pitch at a serious pace. Then, with the next World Cup just around the corner, Nike decided it was time to up its game once more. The brand’s footwear designers put everything into crafting an updated version of the Mercurial that was lighter than ever before and could help Ronaldo to perform at his very best throughout the tournament. The shoe they came up with was called the Nike Mercurial Vapor – an ultra-fast design that changed the footballing landscape.

Lightweight innovations

During the construction of the Nike Mercurial Vapor, every single element was carefully weighed to make sure that nothing unnecessary remained and the shoe was as lightweight as it could possibly be. Even things like the glue and thread were measured to keep the weight down, resulting in a football boot of just 190g. Another reason for its minimal design was the new NikeSKIN upper, which was a single piece of flexible synthetic mesh that moulded to the individual shape of the wearer’s foot for maximum comfort. As well as being incredibly lightweight, it almost felt like a second skin, giving the player remarkable touch and control.

World Cup redemption

Ronaldo arrived at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan off the back of a prolonged period of absence after badly injuring his knee in April 2000. He had not played in any of Brazil’s qualifying games, but he proved that nothing had changed when he scored the team’s first goal of the tournament in their opening match against Turkey. The Nike Mercurial Vapor’s lightweight build was ideal for fast, skilful players like Ronaldo, and he went on to have another fantastic World Cup alongside Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, who formed a powerful attack known as the ‘three R’s’. Ronaldo scored in every game but the quarter-final against England, netting his team’s only goals in both the semi-final against Turkey and the final against Germany. The brace he scored in this last game secured Brazil a fifth World Cup and made up for the disappointment of ‘98. Ronaldo finished way ahead of everyone else in the competition on eight goals to secure the Golden Shoe, while Brazil’s goal difference of +14 was a record for any World Cup up to that point. They also became the first team since 1970 to achieve victory in every single game, thus cementing their status as the greatest team in the world at the time.

A second Ronaldo

Inspired by Ronaldo’s unforgettable comeback from injury, which earned him a host of accolades including a third FIFA World Player of the Year, footballers around the world began using the rapid Mercurial Vapor. It was particularly popular amongst strikers and wingers, who took advantage of its lightweight build to get in behind the opposition defence and score goals. In the United Kingdom, prolific goalscorer Thierry Henry wore the Vapor 2 as he helped Arsenal to achieve a remarkable unbeaten season in 2003-04, while Portuguese star Luis Figo and Swedish maestro Zlatan Ibrahimovic could also be seen in a pair of Vapors during UEFA Euro 2004. But it was another young Ronaldo who was perhaps the most exciting player to wear the Mercurial Vapor at this time. Having already signed with Nike, he made the team of the tournament in what was his first major international competition, scoring two goals and providing two assists as Portugal reached the final. Known for his extraordinary speed, dribbling flair and versatile playing style, he was the ideal man to join R9 as the face of the Mercurial.

A female-specific Mercurial

Meanwhile, in the ever-growing women’s game, American icon Mia Hamm was coming to the end of a glittering career with her final World Cup performance in 2003. One of the greatest female forwards of all time, she was highly regarded for her scintillating speed, graceful footwork and agile ball control, making her the perfect Mercurial counterpart to players like Ronaldo from the men’s side of the game. During the tournament, she scored two goals and offered five assists as the United States finished in third place. For her efforts, she was named in both FIFA’s All-Star team and the one voted for by the fans, while off the field, her exploits led to the production of the Nike Women’s Mercurial Vapor, which was crafted specifically for the shape of female feet. In this and other Nike shoes, she concluded her career in style by leading the United States to a gold medal at the Olympics in Greece, finishing as the highest scoring player in the sport at the time, either male or female, with 158 goals.

Joga Bonito

Two years later, both Ronaldos turned up to the 2006 World Cup in the latest Mercurials. In the runup to the tournament, Nike had commissioned a special mural featuring Ronaldo and star teammates like Ronaldinho. Painted on a wall in the host nation’s capital of Berlin, it contained the phrase Joga Bonito – “play beautifully” in Portuguese – which Nike hoped would encourage players to show off their most impressive skills throughout the tournament. To drive home the message, it was used repeatedly in a series of Nike adverts on the fictional Joga TV that included former professional footballer Eric Cantona and legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, along with O Fenômeno (another of Ronaldo’s nicknames), Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and other players all displaying their masterful ball handling skills.

An agile new boot

In some of these adverts, players were delivered the latest Mercurial football boot: the Vapor 3. Nike had improved again on its Mercurial Vapor concept, introducing a microfibre Teijin upper which fit even more snugly around the foot and made the weight of the shoe a feathery 196g. The heel was locked firmly in place with a carbon fibre wrap, and soft Poron pods brought additional comfort underfoot, while the outsole was split into two separate plates to make moving in it even smoother and faster. The underplate chassis was placed internally for the first time, and the podular design emphasised the focus on speed. The main body of the football boot was made from a blend of carbon fibre and glass-reinforced nylon for stability, durability and great energy transfer. This agile build helped players like Ronaldo to perform well at the tournament, and many consider it to be among the very best of all Mercurial models. Although neither Brazil nor Portugal lifted the World Cup trophy that year, R9 took his goal tally for the global tournament to a record-breaking 15 (he still sits in second on the all-time list), and Cristiano took his team to a fourth place finish and the award for Most Entertaining Team. Meanwhile a number of players wore the Vapor 3 in the final between Italy and France.

The end of a beautiful career

Brazil’s quarter-final exit to France effectively signalled the end of Ronaldo’s international career. Though he continued to score goals at club level when fit, a string of injuries and health issues affected the rest of his playing career. In 2007, he moved to AC Milan, and Nike released a special 10th anniversary version of the OG Mercurial R9. Ronaldo once again appeared on screen to promote the fan-favourite design, netting goals with various skilful shots while saying “How many goals did we score together, me and Mercurial?” The answer: “a lot… a lot.” It finished with the words “10 years of goals, 10 years of speed.” However, he only played sporadically before rupturing another knee ligament in early 2008, and in 2009, he moved to Brazilian club Corinthians, where he finished off his magnificent career.

Another Mercurial and another final

Meanwhile, back in Europe, Nike’s designers had been challenged by CEO Mark Parker to make a new Mercurial shoe without any restrictions on money or engineering. With unlimited resources at their disposal, they made the ultra-lightweight Mercurial Vapor SL; a football boot with both a carbon-fibre plate and a carbon-fibre upper which was in development for over three years. In his famous number 7 shirt, which was in high demand amongst the fans, and the Vapor SL, Ronaldo scored Manchester United’s only goal in the 2008 Champions League final as they defeated Chelsea on penalties in Moscow, thus providing another great endorsement for the next Mercurial.

The Mercurial Superfly

With the Vapor line going strong, Nike decided to add another option to the series in 2009 by releasing the first Mercurial Superfly. Its design was informed by feedback from professional footballers and, like the Vapor, it was optimised for speed, with lightweight traction, a carbon-fibre body and a layered outsole for stability and responsiveness. The Superfly’s major innovation, though, was the Flywire cables set into its upper. These featherweight threads were extremely strong but also flexible, leading to the perfect combination of comfort and durability without adding unnecessary weight. This second branch of Mercurial designs became just as popular as the Vapor, and Nike released the Superfly 2 in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Once again, Nike took advice from footballers, whose input led to the Superfly 2 having a set of technologically advanced Nike Sense studs. Rather than being fixed in position, these were able to react to the individual player’s movements, adjusting slightly as they hit the pitch to dig into the ground more and provide even better traction and ease of movement. Wearing this innovative football boot, Ronaldo helped his team to qualify from a World Cup group containing a Ronaldo-less Brazil, being named Man of the Match in all three games. However, they came up against eventual champions Spain in the last 16, while Brazil lost to the other finalists, the Netherlands, in the quarters.

The next Mercurial player

A year after the South Africa World Cup, the original Mercurial player, R9, called time on his career. In celebration, he was invited back to the Brazilian national team for one last game – a 1-0 win against Romania in which he played just 15 minutes. In a symbolic changing of the guard, on the field that day was a young player by the name of Neymar, who was to be the next talent to take up the mantle of the world-famous speed football boot. Over the next decade, he displayed the electric pace, technical abilities and prolific scoring expected of a player representing the Mercurial name, eventually becoming Brazil’s top goal scorer.

Ever-improving technology

Throughout this time, Nike alternated between Vapor and Superfly releases, constantly bringing in new technologies that advanced the performance capabilities of the Mercurial. Notable introductions include the All Conditions Control treatment used on the upper of 2012’s Vapor 8, which aimed to provide the player with a consistent touch no matter the conditions, the fully knitted Flyknit upper and Dynamic Fit Collar of the 2014 Superfly 4, which gave it a sock-like snugness and changed how people viewed footballing silhouettes, and the anatomical outsole of 2016’s Vapor 11 and Superfly 5, whose ergonomic shape matched the natural contours of the foot, giving the player unrivalled comfort and touch.

A special year

This last design, the Superfly 5, was one of the most successful football boots of 2016, thanks in no small part to the actions of Cristiano Ronaldo. That year was the UEFA Euro football championship in France, and Ronaldo was determined to win his country its first major trophy. With the Mercurial Superfly on his feet, he led the team through a strange group in which they drew all three games, before taking them past Croatia, Poland and Wales to make a final against the host nation. Despite going off injured after just 25 minutes, he encouraged his team from the sidelines as they won 1-0 in extra time to cap off a wonderful tournament. Ronaldo received the Silver Boot for his three goals and three assists and was also the only forward to be named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament. Following this, he received the 2016 Ballon d’Or for the fourth time after receiving a huge 745 points from the voting – more than twice as much as his nearest competitor, Lionel Messi. At the end of 2016, Nike chose to honour CR7’s amazing year with a special white and gold Mercurial Superfly nicknamed Vitórias. This elegant design is just one of dozens of signature Mercurial CR7 football boots going back as far as his Superfly 2 Safari from 2010.

Two decades of success

In 2017, Nike’s most successful football boot was fast approaching its 20th anniversary. It continued to be worn by the best players in the world, including Ronaldo, who was awarded a fifth Ballon d’Or after winning another Champions League final, this time scoring two of Real Madrid’s four goals to be named Man of the Match. Over in the English Premier League, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard helped launch the Mercurial Vapor Flyknit Ultra by wearing a sleek black and gold colourway to celebrate winning a second league title with the club. And in France, Neymar, who had just completed a move to Paris Saint-Germain following a successful period at Barcelona, received a signature Mercurial Vapor nicknamed “Written In The Stars”. Inspired by his career to that point, it was the first in a series of Mercurials specially designed to highlight compelling stories from his footballing life. The second, the Mercurial Puro Fenomeno, came later that year and was based on Ronaldo’s original R9 colourway, thus honouring the player’s incredible legacy while also signifying a new era for the sport. Meanwhile, in the women’s game, the Mercurial was represented by skilled Dutch winger Lieke Martens, who received the Player of the Tournament award as the Netherlands won the 2017 UEFA Women’s Euro. To honour her success at the competition, Nike released a special pair of ‘Lieke’ Mercurial Superfly 5s in a bold blue colourway with her name printed down the side.

Joining the club

Elsewhere, the next Mercurial player was announcing himself to the world: a young man from the suburbs of Paris called Kylian Mbappé. Recognising his talent early on, Nike signed him at the age of 18, giving him the honour of unveiling the Superfly 6 in 2018. That year, his explosive movement, quick feet and stunning creativity saw him score four goals as he won the World Cup with France on his first attempt. For his amazing performances, he was named alongside Ronaldo, who had himself become the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick at the tournament, in the Fan Dream Team and received the FIFA Young Player Award. He also became the second teenager after the legendary Pelé to score two goals in a World Cup match and to score in a World Cup final, with the great man congratulating him on social media with the words “welcome to the club”.

Aligning the Vapor and the Superfly

At the 2018 tournament, many players wore either the Mercurial Vapor 360 or the Superfly 360 as the two converged for the first time into a very similar football boot. The main difference between them was the high-top, Dynamic Fit collar on the former, while the latter maintained its low-profile look. Other than this, they both had new elements like Flyknit grooves across the upper, which gave slight improvements to ball control, and an insole that interlocked with the internal chassis to ensure absolutely no slippage during play. In addition, the ACC coating was infused into the Flyknit yarn before the outer was knitted together, thus reducing its thickness by a tiny margin for maximum flexibility and touch.

High fashion collaborations

2018 was also the year that the Mercurial expanded into the world of high fashion. Creative director of Dior Homme, Kim Jones, designed a version of the Superfly 360 with a striking orange outer and cheetah print down the sides, while Virgil Abloh crafted his own orange 360 with signature Off-White details printed on the upper. Carefully placed circles marked the most-favourable location for strikers to make contact with the ball as Abloh stated that he wanted to bridge the gap “between foot and eye coordination”. Mbappé was gifted his own customised pair, which he wore in a Man of the Match performance as PSG defeated Monaco to lift the 2018 Coupe de la Ligue.

A French collection

By 2019, Mbappé had already established himself as one of the greatest players on the planet and was still just 20 years of age. To celebrate his precocious talent, Nike made him the youngest player and first Frenchman to have his own personal collection with the brand by designing the Mercurial Superfly 7 Bondy Dreams. Its lively green and grey colour scheme paid tribute to the Bondy region of Paris where Mbappé grew up, and golden highlights referenced his tournament victories, while further detailing gave a nod to both place and player. This was to be the first of many signature Mbappé Mercurials, and since then, his collection has expanded in a similar way to how Ronaldo’s did before him.

The continued search for speed

Later in 2019, another model was added to the Mercurial series as the first Dream Speed came out. Inspired by the stories of iconic players who have achieved great things in Mercurial football boots, from Ronaldo to Mbappé and female superstar Sam Kerr, the Dream Speed was built specifically to reflect their astonishing pace. Since then, the line has developed in its own direction through special colourways with unique inspirations such as the Dream Speed 2, whose swoosh references the speed of light, and the Dream Speed 4, whose striking design was influenced by the hypersonic velocity of NASA’s space shuttle reentry capsules. At the same time as the first Dream Speed was being developed, Nike was designing the Mercurial Vapor 13 and the Superfly 7. In line with the continued focus on speed, they were both given a Flyknit upper with high tenacity yarn woven through it to make it at once flexible, lightweight and strong. To infuse the whole design with this same focus, designers Jessica Tresser and David Gamboa based the aesthetic on Eliud Kipchoge’s rapid Zoom Vaporfly Elite and the blue sky witnessed by pilots as they soar above the clouds in supersonic jets. As with so many Mercurials before it, the Vapor 13 was worn in a World Cup final, this time by tenacious American winger Megan Rapinoe. Throughout the 2019 tournament, her performances had pushed her team to victory, and her exploits in the final earned her Player of the Match. During the game, she scored her sixth goal of the tournament to help the United States defend their World Cup trophy, claiming the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball in the process.

The Zoom Mercurial

In the early 2020s, both Ronaldo and Mbappé continued to carry the flag for the Mercurial despite the global pandemic. Then, in 2021, Nike changed the game once more with a brand new Vaporposite mesh upper on the Vapor 14 and Superfly 8. With another World Cup on the horizon, this composite material, which is lined with special microfibres for a stronger build and even better ball control, was carried over onto the Zoom Mercurial Vapor 15 and Superfly 9 in 2022. These were the brand’s finest speed football boots to date, with a three-quarter length Zoom Air unit inspired by basketball but designed specifically for football to give maximum responsiveness and bounce. They also had strategically placed flex grooves to provide a natural movement of the foot, along with a speed cage support system that held the foot firmly in place at high speed and specialised Tri-star studs which supported omnidirectional movement.

An exceptional tournament

Mbappé and Ronaldo each got their own unique Zoom Mercurial colourways before the World Cup, with the French player showing up to games in an eye-catching golden pair as he put together some of the greatest performances in the history of the competition. His exceptional play yielded eight goals, the Golden Boot and the Silver Ball, with a hat-trick in the final making him only the second player ever to do so after England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966. Despite these heroics, France lost on penalties to Messi’s Argentina in one of the most memorable football matches of all time.

Celebratory designs

In 2023, Nike celebrated 25 years of the Mercurial football boot with anniversary editions of both the Vapor 15 and the Superfly 9. Each had a glistening silver outer and a shiny chrome soleplate that gave them a luxurious look. Then, in early 2024, new versions were created that hybridised both silhouettes with the legendary Nike Air Max Plus, the Vapor 15 being decorated in a bright orange Sunset colourway and the Superfly a rich Voltage Purple one. Both featured the characteristic webbing of the Plus on the upper alongside a special ZM Air version of the famous Tn hexagon logo.

New football boots, new technologies and new players 

In 2024, the next iteration of the Mercurial football boot showed up on both sides of the Atlantic, firstly on the feet of Mbappé as he exhibited his skills at Euro 2024, then over in the United States on the feet of the young Brazilian star Vinicius Junior. With these mercurial players and others showcasing the football boot’s performance features, Nike released the Air Zoom Mercurial Vapor 16 and Superfly 10 to the general public. Once again, the focus was on athleticism and speed, with an ultrathin upper made of just three layers: Flyknit, AtomKnit and Gripknit. This last layer was sticky and moulded to the wearer’s foot to give exceptional feel and control, while the wave-like tread design made the best use of the three-quarter length Zoom Air unit for top-level responsiveness, and the shape of the studs facilitated fast cuts on the ball. In a nod to Nike’s co-founder Bill Bowerman, the white Vaporposite+ mesh upper was decorated with dotted blue branding after the fashion of the visionary shoe designer, who would save weight while making track spikes by dappling the swoosh logo directly onto the outer with a simple ballpoint pen.

The magic of the Mercurial

The Nike Mercurial football boot has had one of the most remarkable journeys of any sporting footwear. It has graced the feet of the quickest and most skilful footballers ever to play the beautiful game, giving them the ability to express themselves in new and exciting ways. It has also influenced some of the greatest matches in the history of the sport and shaped the way people view football boots. Today, the line continues to develop and expand in Nike’s ongoing quest to support the mercurial players of the future as they attempt to produce more unforgettable moments of footballing magic.