The thinking man's boot

We live in the era of the space-age football boot. Rubber spikes, carbon-fibre chassis and pressure-activated studs are just some of the innovations we’ve been wowed by in recent years.

But the boffins at Adidas have really surpassed themselves with the miCoach speed cell. Billed as a brain for your boot, it records performance data, including top speeds, number of sprints and distance covered.

Nestled in the outer sole of the 165g adiZero F50 boot, the on-board memory card stores all your measurements for up to seven hours and then wirelessly transmits the data to your tablet, PC or Mac.

If you’re slower than a pig trotting through wet cement, the miCoach website will evaluate your figures and suggest a training plan to help make you faster.

If, on the other hand, your results are worth bragging about, you can share your data on social networking sites, or even compare numbers with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

Furthermore, your stats will power your very own avatar – which you will be able to put to the test against fellows gamers with the miCoach football video game.

Impressed? We certainly are. The adiZero F50 will be available in November for £200, with the boot and software bundle setting you back £245.

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