When you've won 5 Ballon d'Ors and are one of the richest athletes on the planet you're probably pretty difficult to buy a birthday present for. For Cristiano Ronaldo's 35th birthday Nike turned on their customised charm for their main man by sorting him out with a bespoke pair of signature Air Max 1 sneakers.
Ronaldo's birthday was back on February 5th but last night he showed off his belted gift from the Swoosh on his Instagram Stories. Nike have taken their famed Air Max 1 series, one of Ronaldo's favourite designs, and transformed it into a bespoke signature edition for the Juventus forward. A greyish upper sits on top of a crisp white mid-sole, but it's all about those stunning re-worked gold Swooshes. And yeah,he's definitely watching the Chelsea v United game in the background.
Nike have managed to work Cristiano's name into the shape of the Swoosh to open up all sorts of possibilities for future collections. It must be a design that they could have toyed with on previous CR7 signature Mercurial boot prototypes but it works elegantly here, stitched onto the side of the Air Max 1. As you may well have guessed already, it's a one-of-one design made for the big man himself, and won't be hitting shelves. However, this isn't the first time Nike have worked their signature magic on CR7 sneakers, four of the best are below. In order: The gold Air Max CR7 from 2017, the red Air Max 97 CR7 from 2018, the Air Force 1 CR7 Golden Patchwork from 2017, and the Swarovski Air Max 97 CR7 "Metallic Gold" from 2019.
Beats a petrol station card and a bottle of Prosecco doesn't it?