Adidas unveiled a soccer boot equipped with a ‘brain’ at a press conference in Germany on Thursday.
Cast aside any images of a boot with some gray matter perched on top and think more along tech lines. The brain in these new adiZero F50 boots comes in the form of a microchip fitted into a cavity in the outsole unit. According to the Adidas website, the chip allows players to collect a wide variety of data “including speed, average speed (recorded every second), maximum speed (recorded every five seconds), number of sprints, distance, distance at high intensity levels, steps and stride rates.” Adidas also claims that at 165g (0.36 pounds), the new soccer boot is the lightest in the world.
The detailed data that the chip collects can be uploaded to Adidas’s miCoach.com online training hub and analysed. The fun part is that you’ll be able to compare your performances with some of the world’s best players, including the likes of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, who’ll be trying out the boots as part of a worldwide advertising campaign. When it dawns on you that you’re never going to be quite as good as Messi (it won’t take long), you can then go about seeing how you match up against friends.
Manchester United and England player Ashley Young told the Telegraph: “The new boot will help players be faster than ever and now, with the miCoach technology, they’ll be able to prove just how fast they really are. I can’t wait to wear the boots in November and share my stats with the Adidas community.”
If you’re keen on discovering exactly how much (or how little) you run about during a soccer match, the adiZero F50 will set you back £245 ($380).
There’s one thing to keep in mind with the new footwear though. If you’re the shy and retiring type, these may not be the boots for you. The dazzling color scheme means you’re guaranteed to be seen from miles away, and while this may improve your safety if you’re out cycling in thick fog, on a soccer pitch it may just attract more attention than you need or indeed want.
