Waiting for the World Cup is also about the boots From adidas F50 Tunit to CR7’s Latest Boot

The Spanish Super Cup, which saw Barcelona face Real Madrid, served as a stage for an important spoiler, taking advantage of the few minutes played by substitute Franco Mastantuono at the end. The Argentine, in fact, was wearing the same boot that Julián Álvarez had on during the morning training on January 12: a boot very reminiscent of the one worn by a young Lionel Messi at his debut World Cup. These are the adidas F50 Tunit, a reissue of the boot worn by La Pulga in 2006 in Germany, complete with the number 10 on the heel. 

Here, a cinematic twist emerges. Messi’s original version had the number 19 on the upper, his number at the time; this one, however, carries the number 10 and has so far been assigned to Franco Mastantuono — number 10 for the Argentine national team replacing Messi in the September match against Ecuador and number 30 for Real Madrid, the same number Messi wore at both PSG and Barcelona — and then to Julián Álvarez, who wears number 19 at Atlético Madrid, also a number Messi wore at Barcelona.

In short, with this Lynchian twist, we can finally say that 2026 marks the beginning of the boot dance that will season the anticipation for the 2026 World Cup.

The Story of the F50 Tunit

The most recent appearance of this model dates back to Hugo Hekitiké, who recently showed up at Anfield carrying a pair of adidas F50.8 Tunit (differing from the original version by the fully transparent heel area of the upper), but did not wear them during the match. But what boot exactly are we talking about? The F50 Tunit family was born in 2006, when the German company introduced its first fully modular football boot: studs and upper could be swapped at will, allowing players to adapt the boot to pitch conditions or personal preferences. A revolutionary customization at the time, representing a significant innovation in the design of professional football boots. The launch was strategically timed ahead of the 2006 Germany World Cup, the perfect occasion to showcase this technology to a massive audience.

adidas, from Lionel Messi to Mohamed Salah

Starting from the adidas F50 Tunit already revealed by Mastantuono and Álvarez, it is natural to wonder which boot will be dedicated to Lionel Messi and, possibly — with the likely qualification of the Egyptian national team — which one for Mohamed Salah. On the Egyptian side, the Three Stripes brand has already moved ahead, releasing a special signature boot (F50 Elite FG Salah), worn at least until the semifinals of the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

For Salah, this will likely be his last World Cup, just as it will be for Messi. However, it is obviously unlikely that adidas will reserve the same treatment for both, especially since the Egyptian has already received his special model for the AFCON 2025 — a competition regarded more or less on the same level as the World Cup by African players (whereas European players place different emphasis on the European Championship versus the World Cup).

Messi will undoubtedly receive a custom-made boot, crowning his career. The choice becomes even more significant considering that, being CR7’s last World Cup as well, the historic rivalry between the two will also unfold through the lens of football boots and, in parallel, the rivalry between Nike and adidas.

CR7’s Last Dance with Nike

Some time ago, we discussed in this article how Nike had almost sidelined Cristiano Ronaldo — who, for a long period, had been training and playing matches with older Nike colorways and models (it seems incredible that a player of his stature went so long without having boots aligned with his lifelong sponsor’s latest releases, yet it was so) — but with the approach of Nike’s last major showcase, aimed at leveraging the image and media power of one of its most influential athletes ever, the company began supplying CR7 with the latest releases again: he is playing with the Mercurial Vapor 16 and, at the end of 2025, was spotted with a new model of Nike Mercurial Vapor.