Looking Back At The adidas Battle Pack

Always a bit of room for nostalgia in life, pining through rose-tinted glasses for better times when prices were more reasonable, politicians were noble, and football boots were at an absolute pinnacle. And with adidas bringing back an old favourite in the F50 Adizero IV this week, contained within the ‘Speed Legacy Pack’, we thought it was the perfect excuse to go back into the archives and revisit the original ‘Battle Pack’ from 2014.

For the 2010 World Cup, adidas released all of its primary silos in a unified black and yellow colourway. Nike took this a step further, uniting their boots in one colour scheme under the title of ‘Nike Elite Series.’ The trend caught on, and in the intervening years between 2010 and 2014 pack releases became even more prevalent, leading to the launch of the warrior-inspired adidas ‘Battle Pack’ in May 2014, in which the F50 Adizero featured alongside the Predator Instinct, 11Pro, and Nitrocharge, all of which arrived in an eye-catching monochromatic black and white colourway as the visual representation of the brand's “All in or Nothing” campaign.

The design was actually inspired by age old warpaint, which early native Brazilian warriors used, as well as iconic pavement patterns, from the ancient Mesopotamia that can now be seen on the streets of Copacabana Beach. While everyone expected a tournament in Brazil to be full of green, yellow and other bright colours, adidas saw this as predictable and so chose to be different with each boot exactly 50 percent white and 50 percent black, while the fiery gold colour of the Three Stripes represents the ultimate pursuit: the World Cup trophy itself. Every single model had a pattern that expressed exactly the attitude and ability that each boot boasted: speed, courage, control, energy and agility.

Markus Baumann, Senior VP for Global Football at adidas said: “For Battle Pack, we wanted the boots to be highly visible on pitch and stand out from the extreme range of colour everyone expects to see in Brazil. Our FIFA World Cup campaign is “all in or nothing” and this mindset is represented perfectly through the black and white colourway chosen for the boots. In addition, we wanted to pay homage to a unique Brazilian design and the powers associated with the boots and style of the players wearing them. They will help prepare our players for battle in Brazil, as they aim for glory.”

So, for those that don't remember the attributes of the boots themselves, here's a quick rundown. Starting with the 11pro, which was worn by Philipp Lahm and Frank Lampard, offered some classic attributes that allowed players to control the game. With its highly innovative micro-fibre PU synthetic providing excellent fit, performance, comfort and ball-feel allied to an all new outsole with comfort frame for better pressure distribution, as well as optimised stud placement for maximum grip and acceleration, the 11pro was marketed as the boot of choice for the complete footballer.

As worn by Dani Alves and Javi Martinez, the Nitrocharge was designed for ‘The Engine’. This was mostly down to its unique and highly elastic ENERGYSLING around the forefoot, and ENERGYPULSE spring technology providing high energy push-offs and long lasting energy return when sprinting.

The F50 Adizero IV was all about precision engineering with every aspect of the boot design based around making the wearer as fast as possible on the football field. It boasted features such as SPEEDTRAXION, an all-new, high speed stud alignment for maximum acceleration and pinpoint changes of direction, and SPEEDFOIL, a revolutionary material that combined lightweight, softness and durability for a comfortable, yet locked down heel fit.

Lining up alongside the F50 Adizero, Nitrocharge and AdiPure 11Pro in the Battle Pack was the all-new adidas Predator Instinct. The iconic Predator has seen a new boot released every FIFA World Cup since 1994 and given this was the Predator’s twentieth year, the 2014 World Cup was never going to be any different. To stand out from the other three boots, the Instinct was the only one of the Battle Pack to be designed with a white on black colourway (the others are all black on white).

Almost every adidas player wore the Battle Pack during the tournament, including Mesut Özil, Dani Alves, Luis Suárez, Oscar, Philipp Lahm, Robin Van Persie and of course Lionel Messi, who was the proud recipient of his own signature edition F50, complete with a blue and white pattern to celebrate his nationality. In fact, adidas boasted 265 athletes at the tournament, which equated to 36 percent, second only to Nike (383 athletes, 52 percent), and the Battle Pack was the ultimate visual trigger, alerting viewers instantly to what player were affiliated to the brand.

Despite the deficit to their American rivals, it was the F50 that ultimately took the Golden Boot award for the second World Cup in a row, featuring on the feet of Colombia’s James Rodriguez. The lightweight support of the boot complemented Rodriguez’s playmaking ability and eye for goal, and with a penchant for the spectacular, Rodriguez went on to score six goals in his F50s, including the goal of the tournament against Uruguay.

The F50 was also the boot of choice for the second and third placed finishers, Thomas Muller and Messi. Their tallies helped the F50 finish as the highest scoring silo in the tournament, with an impressive 48 goals – 12 ahead of the second placed Mercurial Vapor – while the Predator Instinct came in third with 22 goals. On the feet of Rodriguez, this Golden Boot victory was one of the last hurrahs for the F50 line, with adidas retiring it as part of its “Be The Difference” revolution in 2015 that saw the introduction of the Ace.

Ultimately, while it may be going a step too far to say that the Battle Pack stole the show at the 2014 World Cup, what it did do was leave an indelible mark in the history of boot design, and it's one that's great to see back in the Limited Edition 'Speed Legacy' F50 Adizero IV.

Shop the adidas Speed Legacy Pack at prodirectsoccer.com