10. Mizuno Wave Cup, 2002
Most iconic colourway: White/blue/yellow
Other colourways: Blue/white/yellow
Stars who wore them: Rivaldo
Perhaps never before has a football boot become so intertwined with one player and absolutely no one else. Rivaldo was Mizuno - and he was also one of the best players in the world during the 2002 World Cup. These boots are both classic and ready for the millennium with their comfortable leather and touches of yellow - they became instant classics that summer in the far east, too.
9. Adidas Predator Accelerator, 1998
Most iconic colourway: Black/white/red
Other colourways: Silver/red, gold/black/red
Stars who wore them: David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, David Trezeguet
Just as Zidane was building on his legacy to top his '98 performances for dazzle and genius, Adidas were building on the Predators. The Precisions were more elegant than ever before but still with that iconic colour palette. There's a beautiful symmetry to these ones and 21 years later, they'd be fitting in the modern game. They're design excellence.
8. Nike Tiempo, 1994
Most iconic colourway: Black/white/yellow
Other colourways: -
Stars who wore them: Eric Cantona, Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini
People love the fact that the Swoosh logo only cost Nike $35. It's proof that sometimes the best designs are undervalued.
But equally, it's in the years since that this logo has become what it is today - and it's thanks to products like the Tiempo. It's thanks to Cantona and others, who wore this iconic football boot and helped make the American manufacturer's name in the sport. It's steeped in so much mystique. It still looks class decades later - it probably always will.
7. Nike Total 90 III, 2004
Most iconic colourway: White/gold
Other colourways: Dark grey/silver, white/red, red/white, silver/black
Stars who wore them: Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho
Most commonly seen just below school trousers around the turn of the Millennium. Forget Figo, Rooney & Co., these were the astros you and your mates wore on the school field at lunchtimes, cheese and ham panini in one hand, Sony Ericsson in the other. They evoke a time and a place more than any other boot on this glorious list. That Total 90 scene was pure fire when you were 14, wasn't it?
6. Puma King, 1966
Most iconic colourway: Black/white
Other colourways: -
Stars who wore them: Pele
The big daddy. The guv'nor. The Pot Noodle of footwear. The boot worn by Pele at World Cups and tradesmen at Sunday League. The Puma King will forever be held up as the choice for any footballer who likes to keep things simple. No messing about. Clear your lines. Get tight to your man. They don't like it up 'em. Let him know you're there... we could go on all day.
5. Nike Mercurial, 1998
Most iconic colourway: Silver/blue/yellow
Other colourways: Black/white
Stars who wore them: Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
This is that boot you were just thinking about when when partner snapped, "Are you even listening to me?!" If only they knew...
This wasn't just a shoe. This was a mythical creature. Ronaldo spent the summer of '98 skipping, galloping, blasting and slaloming his way around France in these puppies. They were the source of his powers to our young eyes – a silvery-blue unicorn with an acid yellow swish sent down from Zeus' trident. They belong in Azkaban.
4. Adidas Copa Mundial, 1979
Most iconic colourway: Black/white
Other colourways: -
Stars who wore them: Diego Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer, Zinedine Zidane
Three is the magic number. Who would have thought that those stripes would look so good? That white on black was that simple but that effective? Every football boot since has stemmed from these beauties. They're the Routemaster bus of football footwear: they're so pure, so iconic and so awfully retro.
3. Nike Total 90 II, 2002
Most iconic colourway: White/red/black
Other colourways: Black/white, grey/black, white/blue, red/white, silver
Stars who wore them: Luis Figo, Francesco Totti, Roberto Carlos, Alan Smith
That's right, Alan Smith! And no, not the boring Arsenal one... the boring Manchester United one.
To give him his dues, Ol' Smudger worse these in his far more interesting Leeds United days, when the bleach-haired scallywag thundered goals in for the ailing Whites before their shock relegation. The red and cream ones were seen most often, but the other colourways were playground-worthy too. This was a line of boots that taught our young minds that it was okay to wear any weird and wacky colour you wanted. Why shouldn't we? A bloke literally called 'Alan Smith' is getting away with it.
2. Nike Mercurial Vapor, 2002
Most iconic colourway: Chrome/volt
Other colourways: Grey/red, "cinder/white/maize", "blue/white/obsidian", red/white, black/red, red, blue
Stars who wore them: Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy
The 1998 Mercurial boots were a design masterclass. But the 2002 versions that Ronaldo wore when he led Brazil to glory in Japan? They're unbeatable for Nike.
The Mercurial Vapors are a lesson in many things. Minimalism, mainly, though they're also a feat of engineering in their lightweight design. Every single lightweight boot since has owed something to this product and every colourway was majestic.
Ronaldo would not have been the same in battered old trainers, now would he?
Some honourable mentions...
1. Adidas Predator Mania, 2002
Most iconic colourway: Black/red/white
Other colourways: Champagne/red/black, red/white/grey, Grey/silver/red
Stars who wore them: David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Raul, Rui Costa, Michael Ballack, Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard, Xavi, Harry Kewell, Javier Saviola, Ashley Cole... and Jonny Wilkinson
So undeniably cool, even a rugby player started donning them. Admittedly, the egg chaser in question was Jonny Wilkinson – who wasn't like those other brutes, with his dreamy eyes and twinkle toes. In another life, Wilko was the answer to England's midfield problem, as the Three Lions lifted the 2002 World Cup in Tokyo.
Predators were cool before the Mania came out in 2002, but not this cool. There was a Feng Shui to the Mania just not seen in a football boot before. The tongue, laces and white gripping pads dovetailed with a harmony Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would have appreciated but completely outlawed en route to destroying someone's lounge on Changing Rooms. The black, red and white combo was already a hallmark of the Predator, but they never looked this smart. Even the underside of the boot could have its own range of smutty factory floor calendars.
Above all, our heroes made the Mania so much more than lace and leather. The 00s was a ludicrous era for football and the Predator Mania was stitched into the tapestry. It will never be bettered.
