The History of Speed - The Mercurial SL

The designers and engineers at Nike HQ had done it before, and in 2004 they were asked to do it all over again. Their brief was as simple and as ambitious as ever: stop at nothing to create the fastest football boot the world had ever seen.

Four years later, the 100% carbon fibre Mercurial SL concept boot made its debut in Europe’s biggest club match, gracing the feet of Cristiano Ronaldo as he rose to head home Manchester United’s only goal in the European final of finals. Debuting the carbon fibre upper with a pink swoosh, Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his record-breaking 42nd goal of the season, helping his team to victory in Moscow.

A carbon fibre plate. An injection moulded outsole. A carbon fibre upper, hand-moulded in Italy. No corner was cut in the making of this boot, no expense spared. As CR7 showed on that memorable Moscow night, the only things getting trimmed were the hundredths of a second it takes the very best players to get to the ball, strike it, and run to their teammates to celebrate a hat trick of European titles.