What football boots do Italian coaches wear?

There was a moment in football history when adidas dominated the football boot market like never before. It makes perfect sense: you have to get to the 2000s to witness a real overturn and see Nike establish itself in this sector with new silhouettes. And which adidas model was continuously sold and practically omnipresent throughout the Eighties and very early Nineties, before the Predator (1994) and later the Accelerator version (1998) offered a truly innovative alternative? Obviously the Copa Mundial, officially launched in 1979 and followed a few years later by the World Cup version with interchangeable studs. An undeniable truth is that the Copa Mundial is one of the most famous and beloved adidas football boots ever, but above all a truly cross-generational model. The reason is simple: even when the Predator came out—a model with a much more eccentric design, which from the name alone evoked power and aggression, and which aesthetically resembled almost an armor—the Copa Mundial remained what it had always been. Sober, unpretentious, born without particular stylistic references (also because it was launched a full fifteen years before the first Predator) and completely free of those technological features that made the Predator a revolutionary product: rubber elements, 3D components, plastic inserts.

Visualizza questo post su Instagram

Un post condiviso da nss sports (@nsssports)

All details that the Copa Mundial has never needed, because it was created as a boot focused on the quality of materials. This aspect consecrated it into the football boot hall of fame: its durability, its essential nature, and the fact that it has always been perceived as a “serious” boot, designed for serious players, more focused on effectiveness than on aesthetic ambitions or flashy tricks in the middle of the pitch. One of the most interesting evolutions in the world of football boots—thanks both to brand communication and to the technologies introduced in their production—has been precisely the possibility of associating each model with a true player profile. The Mercurial was for dribblers; the Tiempo for deep-lying playmakers like Andrea Pirlo; the adidas Predator at most for technical midfielders; the Copa Mundial, on the other hand, has always been connected to team players with strong leadership and no frills.

The obsession of Italian coaches with the Copa Mundial

In the Eighties and early Nineties, most current Serie A managers were in the prime of their playing careers or at most still in youth academies, with the exception of the youngest ones (such as Thiago Motta, Daniele De Rossi and Raffaele Palladino) who at that time were just taking their first steps on football pitches. It is therefore for a purely generational reason that all Serie A coaches, with a few exceptions, continue to use adidas Copa Mundial even as managers: that boot has remained over time a true icon and, connecting to the previous point, also a symbol of professionalism. Thus, even under the heavy training coats, the Copa Mundial remains the right choice. Moreover, having been a continuous adidas product for decades, it has crossed different generations and found a new niche precisely among coaches—especially considering that players who wear it have practically disappeared, since it is a very traditional and rather heavy model compared to modern boots; but above all considering that coaches, once their sponsorship contracts end, prefer to wear a quality product, or at least a product perceived as such.

Visualizza questo post su Instagram

Un post condiviso da nss sports (@nsssports)

To this we can add the rumor that adidas intends to discontinue production in the coming years: perhaps this is also why Luciano Spalletti, during his first training sessions with Juventus, stated in an interview: “The Copa Mundial from adidas are the ones I’ve always dreamed of and I brought them with me: they also provided them for me (Juventus), but fearing they wouldn’t have the perfect size, I brought my personal ones.” The charm of the Copa Mundial has been able to pass on adidas’ general heritage, even though it is not the only model coaches are attached to: two examples are Vincenzo Italiano and Daniele De Rossi, who prefer the Three Stripes brand during training sessions, with the latter opting for the Predator.

We at nss sports have drawn up a list of Italian Serie A and Serie B coaches who are inseparable from their adidas Copa Mundial. We bet this list will be constantly updated in future seasons as new managers come in. The coaches currently included are: Antonio Conte, Luciano Spalletti, Paolo Vanoli, Gian Piero Gasperini, Raffaele Palladino, Filippo Inzaghi, Maurizio Sarri, Eusebio Di Francesco, Roberto Donadoni, Marco Baroni and Fabio Pisacane.