One of football’s biggest names is fronting a new wave of technology, as Nike unveil the new ‘Nike Mind’. The Swoosh are stepping into the future to help their athletes gain complete body and mind control, evolving footwear into sensory tools, and Erling Haaland is right at the heart of the campaign.
Nike’s cracking open a new frontier with Nike Mind, it’s first ever neuroscience-driven footwear line built to help lock in athlete mindset. They have just unveiled the Mind 001 mule and Mind 002 sneaker, which aren’t just shoes, they’re sensory tools, designed to aid focus, sharpen awareness, and bring you right back into the moment before and after the game. Think underfoot tech that talks directly to the brain. It’s not about speed, it’s about presence. We couldn't speak about mindset without thinking of Erling Haaland, a man who defies the laws of football every single week and is a complete force of nature, and so it only made sense that Nike bring him in for this one. Who doesn't want focus like him?
Ten years of engineering have led to 22 independent foam nodes under the sole of each shoe, moving like pistons that have been designed to mimic real ground feel. Raw, responsive, alive. Every step literally hits different, firming your senses whilst simultaneously grounding you. They're built to help clear the noise and balance each athlete.
“Nike Mind is a new sensory-footwear concept that helps reawaken the foot, the body and the mind," says Eric Avar, the brand’s creative visionary behind the project. "It represents a new paradigm of performance and how we can potentially make athletes better in the future.”
Born inside Nike’s secretive Mind Science Department, this is innovation backed by actual neuroscience. They have literally studyied athletes’ brains in motion in order to unlock new levels of performance.
Man City star Erling Haaland has been testing the tech alongside other athletes for years, saying “Focus is everything in football, every step I take, I think of the shoe and what I feel in my feet — which is a good thing. It helps me to bring balance to my game.”
“For 45 years, Nike has studied the body in motion — how muscles fire, how joints move, how oxygen fuels performance,” says Dr. Matthew Nurse, VP, Chief Science Officer, NIKE, Inc. “Now, we’re expanding into the mind. By studying perception, attention and sensory feedback, we’re tapping into the brain-body connection in new ways. It’s not just about running faster — it’s about feeling more present, focused and resilient. That’s the next frontier of performance.”
From the chill slide-on vibe of the mind 001 to the grounded precision of the Mind 002, this drops is something bigger than the usual. Nike isn’t just reimagining footwear, its redefining what performance feels like. Athletes are about to get locked in.
Available Jan 2026 at prodirectsport.com/soccer
