It's Francesco Totti's birthday and to be completely honest we forgot to get him anything. So, in tribute of the great man we're taking a look back at some the key boots the Italian legend has worn throughout his long and prestigious career. Taking things back to the start while admiring the beautifully retro Roma kits, we pick out the boots he's worn on his path to greatness. Warning: contains large amounts of tongue.
October 1998 - In the months leading up to his first Italy cap Totti was turning heads wearing the Nike Air GX II boot. The young Roma striker had signed with the Swoosh and would continue to wear the brand right up until 2005 when he left Nike to link up with fellow Italians Diadora.
October 1999 - After a season in which he scored his first ever Rome Derby goal and was named Serie A Young Footballer of the Year, Totti switched into the Nike Tiempo. The Tiempo, and specifically its fold over tongue, became a feature that would play a leading role in Totti's boot archive. Collar up, tongue down. Pulled down to the max.
November 1999 - Despite the rise of the Mercurial series Totti only flirted briefly with the new speed collection by wearing the Nike Mercurial 2. Speed was never his main trait, Totti is a player who dictated games at his own pace. A Rolls Royce of a player who out-skills players with his brain and flair rather than sheer explosive pace.
March 2000 - At the turn of the millennium Totti was one of the leading players for the new Nike Air Zoom Total 90 series. Collar up, tongue still flapping, it was a boot that Totti would stay close to throughout the remainder of his first stint with the Swoosh.
February 2001 - Still in the beautiful era of Kappa Italy shirts and Diadora Roma kits and Nike began to deliver more regular colour updates on their football boot collections. For Totti, this meant the Italian was hooked up with numerous Nike Air Zoom Total 90 designs, including this one with a touch of red.
October 2001 - By late 2001 Totti had picked up consecutive Serie A Footballer of the Year Awards and his first Ballon d'Or nomination. Committed and inspired performances had already turned him into a Roma legend and it was the Nike Air Zoom series which he remained in throughout a period of sustained success with his club.
December 2001 - Totti had installed himself as a leading Nike player and headlined the second-generation Nike Air Zoom T90 II along with Paul Scholes, Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos. The Air Zoom T90 II was a landmark boot for the Swoosh, one of the first boots to experiment far more frequently with colourways and a boot that Totti would wear during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
March 2004 - EURO 2004 was a tournament to forget for Totti. After spitting at a Denmark player in the opening game he was banned up until the semi final and failed to score in the campaign. In the run up to the competition he had been wearing the Nike Air Zoom T90 III, a boot renown for its circular 90 logo that featured on the kits of Nike nations in action that summer.
March 2005 - The year 2005 marked a season of change for Totti. After spending the whole of his career wearing Nike boots Totti parted ways with the Swoosh in favour of fellow countrymen and Roma kit manufacturer Diadora. The first boot he wore from the brand was the Diadora Brasil Italy, complete with vibrant over-sized logo.
June 2006 - Winning the World Cup in 2006 was a career highlight for Totti. Helping Italy lift their first World Cup since 1982, Totti played the whole tournament in the Diadora Maximus RTX 14 N. Laced up in a colourway that complemented the famous blue of the Italy shirt, Totti's boots naturally featured a classic fold-over elasticated tongue.
October 2006 - Ah yeah, when you win the World Cup this kind of stuff happens. Especially being Diadora's main man at the time. The Italian brand served up a limited edition golden Diadora Maximus 14 Totti for the Roma forward to wear during the first few games of the 06/07 season.
April 2007 - Totti reverted back to the standard edition of the Diadora Maximus 14 towards the end of the 06/07 season but retained the iconic number ten personalisation on the tongue of his white and red boots. Once again, the silo featured an elasticated tongue – a feature that Totti would keep on his footwear right up into his 40's.
March 2008 - Totti rounded off his successful three year stint with Diadora by switching into the Diadora LX K-PRO. More gold came Totti's way as the brand placed a shimmering logo on one of their traditional black leather uppers. Going out in style.
September 2009 - Despite never officially signing for adidas Totti spent a considerable amount of time wearing a blacked out edition of the adidas Predator Powerswerve. Quite possibly because adidas were one of the only brands at the time to offer Totti's preferred elasticated tongue.
March 2011 - Totti's second spell with Nike began in 2011 as he switched into the Nike Air Legend II. Totti spent a number of months in a blacked-out edition of the boot before officially signing back with the Swoosh later in the year. Those socks slowly slipping lower and lower.
August 2013 - The fourth generation Tiempo resulted in a Nike Tiempo Legend IV with no fold-over tongue. Totti wasn't a fan of this. When you're an international footballer of legendary status you can pretty much demand what you want, so Nike began to create bespoke Tiempo editions with fold-over tongues to keep Totti on board.
September 2014 - From now on it became standard practice to supply Totti with a tongued version of every Nike Tiempo Legend V colourway. The fifth generation arrived, as did more bespoke treatment for Roma's number ten. The thought of someone, somewhere carefully attaching a tongue to a Tiempo every time a new colourway came out makes us smile. The man knows what he likes.
March 2015 - Nike served up a fitting tribute to one of their classiest players in 2015 by rewarding Totti with a limited edition Nike Tiempo Legend V Premium. Just 3000 pairs were released and sold out in seconds, with Totti wearing the special edition design for a handful of games. No elastic loop on the tongue but it was the thought that counted and Totti duly gave them game time.
September 2016 - Twenty five years at Roma and a 40 year-old Totti currently remained in a modified version of the Nike Tiempo Legend VI. It's become a trademark for the Roma man who has quite fittingly put the legend into the Tiempo title. More golden recognition awaited.
May 2017 - For Totti's final few games Nike supplied the legendary Italian with a boot of supreme recognition. A limited edition "Gold/Black" Tiempo complete with fold over tongue that was released in restricted numbers to mark the end of a prestigious era within world football. An icon.
Got a favourite? Call it out below.
