New Adidas F50 Tunit boots have dropped, 20 years on from the original, in a tribute to Lionel Messi.
Messi wore the original Tunit boots, which were pretty damn innovative for Adidas at the time, and a sign of football boots moving to a more plastic-looking material and away from the traditional black leather that we all knew and loved.
They've re-released gunmetal Predators lately, featuring Sir David Beckham, and those iconic ‘Spider’ F50 boots that Djibril Cisse wore… so now for another classic.
Buy the new Lionel Messi inspired Adidas F50 Tunit boots
The Adidas F50 boots originally launched in 2004 – the German manufacturer's answer to Nike's Mercurial Vapor – designed for speed and weightlessness.
The spider-style effort dropped a year later, before 2006 brought a whole new ball game in screw-in studs: these boots looked like they were made of plastic, and were the first model that Messi wore as an Adidas athlete when he went to his first World Cup in 2006, wearing that iconic Teamgeist kit and a pair of white Tunits.
2006 wasn't the greatest World Cup for the then-wonderkid, as an Argentina side that were head-and-shoulders better than everyone else capitulated against hosts Germany, and Messi was denied a chance to take a penalty in the shootout… still, a very stylish World Cup.
FourFourTwo understands that Tunit-inspired boots could be coming this year in colours of competing nations at the 2026 World Cup – but for now, we've been given a 20-year anniversary of the GOAT donning this legendary boot.
“This limited-edition release is a is a modern reinterpretation of the original 2006 F50 Tunit worn by Messi, celebrating the boot that accompanied the beginning of his journey at the highest level of the game,” Adidas tells us now.
“Featuring a white base with iconic white-and-blue color-blocked detailing on the heel, the boot stays true to its original aesthetic. The lateral side showcases the number 10, representing Messi’s legendary status today, while the medial side features the number 19, paying homage to the number he wore in 2006 when he first stepped onto the world stage in this very boot.”
In a lovely touch, there's a gold Adidas logo on the heel, complete with three golden stars representing Argentina’s World Cup victories (of course, they'd only won the competition twice in 2006).
Each pair is delivered in a specially designed shoebox and includes a dustbag and exclusive Messi-specific stickers, which might be worth the money as much as the actual boots themselves.
What do you reckon? Will you be rushing to cop a pair or not fussed by these ones?
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