At a global media event featuring footballer Cristiano Ronaldo in London, Nike on February 24 unveiled the Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II, a lightweight boot featuring a new, unique adaptive traction system designed for explosive acceleration. The Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II features a reengineered upper for enhanced fit and ball control for fast feet. The vibrant ultra-violet color boosts visibility on the pitch.
Designers created an adaptive stud that can extend and retract by up to 3mm, based on ground conditions and pressure exerted by the player. Directionally positioned blades maximize cutting and allow for quick changes of direction, while secondary toe traction provides added toe-off power for those first critical steps.
Nike’s design and engineering teams talked with some of the fastest players in the world. The Nike Sports Research Lab researched the world championship finals in 2006. Building on these results, the Nike team collaborated closely with elite athletes including Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexandre Pato to create a boot that enables toe-off acceleration and minimizes slippage in game-changing situations.
The Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II also gives consumers unprecedented access to the training insights of the world’s top players, teams and coaches through Nike Football+. Each pair of boots comes with a unique user code that can be used to unlock trade secrets from inside the game and the next installment of Nike Football+, Master Speed training content on NikeFootball.com.
In addition to these Nike Football+ Master Speed programs, footballers will have access to country-specific Nike Football+ activities like training sessions, trial events and player appearances.
The Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II boot is available at retail globally and at www.nikestore.com from April 1st 2010.