The hottest football boots of 2025 Expectations for 2026 couldn’t be higher

To say goodbye to 2025, we put together a roundup of the best football boots we saw released starting from January 2025. A roundup similar to the one we prepared last year ahead of 2025, when we predicted it would be a pivotal year. Today we can confirm that prediction with even greater conviction: 2026 will be an even more significant breaking point. The World Cup in the United States will take place, and for many brands it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impress and reinvent themselves.

However, 2025 represented a true crossroads: a succession of moments that has already pointed us toward the direction in which the strategies of major brands like Nike and adidas will continue to move, the scale a brand like PUMA aims to reach, and the approach that emerging brands such as Sokito will adopt, as well as that of a still relatively inexperienced football brand like Under Armour.

Another aspect worth analyzing concerns football silhouettes that have crossed over into the lifestyle world. Nike, with the Total 90 line, is undoubtedly the most obvious example, but Kappa with Acne Studios, Bikkembergs, and Pompeii have also played their part.

Nike

Nike’s 2025 opened with a Tiempo and closed with a Tiempo. In January with the Legend X Luxe, at the end of November with the Tiempo X Legend and the new Tiempo Maestro, which we discovered firsthand in Portland at the brand’s headquarters. Then came a major revamp with the Nike Vapor I, the boot Cristiano Ronaldo debuted in with Sporting Lisbon, the Nike Hypervenom Phantom, and the unexpected fusion with the AM95 in the Nike Superfly unveiled by Mbappé. Nostalgia dominated at first, but the year closed with a new technology introduced precisely on the Tiempo, a model that seems set to be the brand’s main focus in 2026.

adidas

Predator and F50 were the focus for the German company, which—just like Nike—played with linking legendary former adidas wearers (such as Zidane) with new ones (like Bellingham). First came a gold Predator Elite released in collaboration with the Frenchman, followed by a special edition for the English star to close out the year, complete with Brummie Blue details—the color of Birmingham, Jude’s hometown.

PUMA

The conversation is different for PUMA, which elevated the flagship models in its lineup (Ultra and Future) thanks to the creativity of Colm Dillane of KidSuper. One of the most interesting collaborations, especially when placed within the context of the Club World Cup, which served as an appetizer for the 2026 World Cup.

Under Armour

The increasingly innovative and up-to-date aesthetic of Under Armour inevitably passes—above all—through football boots. The brand’s focus has in fact shifted from club sponsorships—the only club still sponsored today is Sydney FC, with whom the brand has collaborated since 2019—to direct sponsorships with players.

Returning to boots, it is precisely through them that Under Armour seeks to build part of its global relevance and reputation. The work of Gabriel Bellota, Product Line Manager Footwear at the brand, has so far been excellent: a wide variety of colorways, models, and soleplates, especially considering that Under Armour is a relatively new brand in football and therefore lacks a true historical archive. And this is exactly where collaborations come into play.

Worth mentioning is the collaboration with Mansory, the German company specializing in high-performance car customization, on the Shadow Elite 3 FG model.

Mizuno

In the year of the 40th anniversary of the Morelia, the most iconic model ever produced in the brand’s history, it would have been impossible not to include the Morelia II Proto Ultra Light Japan: a 360-degree piece of craftsmanship, produced in the brand’s factory in Osaka, offered in an elegant white-and-gold version—almost a shame to wear.

Sokito

As a stage for its debut, Sokito chose the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations; it was worn by Nigerian player William Troost-Ekong in a special colorway: a white-and-green upper characterized by a wavy pattern inspired by the design of Nigeria’s national team jersey and a classic silhouette. This was the debut of the Scudetta model, made using corn waste, sugar cane, bamboo, and other sustainable materials, such as castor oil used to finish the soleplate.

From that moment on, we began to recognize Sokito as the fresh new name in the football boot landscape, which in 2025 released a special version in collaboration with Ola Aina—certainly one of the best boots seen that year.

Nike Total 90 III

We are aware that a separate article would be needed to crown the best Total 90, so we’re playing it safe by choosing the most iconic colorway of the boot that dominated the market, focusing exclusively on the lifestyle segment. We also note that, at the moment, there is no on-pitch version planned for the Nike Total 90 III. We’re talking about the Gym Red, Metallic Silver, and White/Gold colorways—the ones that brought us back to the happy memories of our childhood. We also discussed them in Les Vêtements de Football – The Golden Age of Football Jerseys, the latest nss sports project, currently available for purchase at this link.

Bikkembergs, Pompeii, Acne Studios

And staying within the lifestyle sector, here are three more brands that presented noteworthy projects: Pompeii, Bikkembergs, and Acne Studios. Particularly notable are the latter two: Bikkembergs, which brought back the Soccer model in collaboration with Gosha Rubchinskiy, and Acne Studios, which instead chose Kappa as its partner for a collaboration.