The Euro 2020 group stages are over, and what a ride it has been! 36 matches and 94 goals leaving us with the best to battle it out in the knockout stages. While we all know who scored the goals, how is that reflected in the battle of the brands? Here you’ll find a breakdown of which boots are performing the best at the Euros so far.
Roll the clock back 12 months and the top boots from Nike, adidas, PUMA and the rest were all dressed up with nowhere to go, having been released in their Euro 2020 colourways only to find the competition delayed for a year. Well now the Euros are well and truly underway, with the group stages having just finished, and the boots – now in new, updated looks – have spectacularly failed to disappoint, playing key roles in some stunning football and catching the eye in their unique colourways. So, as an added dynamic to the action on the pitch, we’ve taken a detailed look at how the boots have performed so far.
GOALS SCORED
Of the 86 goals scored (we’re not cruel enough to count own goals), there have been 17 different boots that have been in use by the players applying the finishing touch. With over half the athletes at Euro 2020 wearing Nike, it should come as no surprise that the Swoosh is the top performing brand at the tournament so far, with the Mercurial Vapor 14 leading the way on the scoring charts, with 19 goals. The Vapor, in its eye-catching ‘Impulse’ colourway, has been a very familiar sight on pitches throughout the tournament.
In fact, Nike occupy the top three spots on the scoring chart, with the Phantom GT taking second spot on 15 goals (unless you split the low-cut and the DF, which would see them on nine and six respectively), and the Mercurial Superfly 8 on nine, tied for third with an adidas boot… but probably not the one you’d expect.
Given the chance to pick out the Three Stripes’ top scoring boot so far, most would probably lean towards the X Ghosted or the COPA Sense, but it is in fact the Nemeziz .1 that has outscored its adi brethren. The X Ghosted .1 is next on the list with seven goals, rounding out the Top 5. The adidas X 19.1 stands alone on four, while the as-yet unreleased adidas X Speedflow, PUMA Ultra 1.2 and Nike Phantom VNM are all on three.
The adidas COPA Sense+, PUMA Future Z 1.1, Under Armour Magnetico SL, New Balance Furon v6+, and Nike Mercurial Vapor XIII are all on two goals a-piece. The adidas quad of COPA .1, X Ghosted+, Predator Freak .1 and X 18.1 complete the list with a goal each.
In total, that leaves Nike with 48 goals, adidas with 29, PUMA with five, and New Balance and Under Armour with two.
From a player perspective, Cristiano Ronaldo in his signature edition Mercurial Superfly 8 obviously leads the way with his five-goal haul, and he’s followed by Patrick Schick in the Nike Mercurial Vapor 14, Romelu Lukaku in his Nike Phantom GT DF, Gini Wijnaldum in the prototype adidas X Speedflow, Emil Forsberg, again in the Nike Mercurial Vapor 14, and Robert Lewandowski stubbornly sticking with his Nike Phantom VNM, all tied on three goals. In fact, the only non-Nike and adidas player to have scored more than one goal is Raheem Sterling in the New Balance Furon v6+.
ASSISTS
Moving on to assists, and it’s a similar story again, with the Mercurial Vapor 14 once more leading the way with 20. The Mercurial Superfly 8 comes with nine, with the adidas Predator Freak .1 and Nemeziz .1 both on seven. The PUMA Ultra 1.2 and Nike Phantom GT have six assists to their names, completing the top five.
From a brand point of view, the current standings see Nike with 40 assists, adidas with 25, PUMA with six, Under Armour with two, and Asics with one.
When looking at the players, it’s Switzeland’s Steven Zuber in the PUMA Ultra 1.2 and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the Adidas COPA Sense .1 that lead the rest on three assists each. They are then pursued by a raft of players on two assists.
CONCLUSION
So what does all this tell us? Well, it shows that Nike are the overwhelmingly popular choice at the tournament, and that’s reflected in the numbers. The Mercurial Vapor remains the most popular of all models, and they're pretty hard to miss in their "Dynamic Turquoise/Lime Glow/Aquamarine” paint jobs. The likes of adidas and PUMA will undoubtedly be a little disappointed not to be a bit closer to Nike in the stats, but there is something more interesting – and possibly concerning – for the Three Stripes.
Of the top five performing boots in terms of goals scored and assists, none are laceless. In fact, laceless boots only account for three of the 86 goals scored (Insigne and Gregoritsch in the COPA Sense+ and Morata in the X Ghosted+). It’s an area that adidas have obviously invested in heavily over the last few seasons, with all four of their key silos available sans string. But with few players going for that option and in several instances even opting for older models instead, it’s a potential point of focus for adidas going forward.
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