adidas F50Every Generation

adidas released it for Euro 2004, next to the Predator Pulse. The idea was FusionFrame: one upper, three insole boards to pick from (Lightweight, Professional or Comfort). Underneath, a split sole with X-Traxion studs you could change.

SoccerBible says the name, Football 50, pointed back to 1954, when Germany won the World Cup in adidas boots with exchangeable studs. The F50 marked 50 years since.

• Black/Yellow
• White/Blue

SoccerBible puts the F50+ range in 2005. The cage took its pattern from cable-and-grid shapes in architecture, and the Velcro flap meant you could open the cover, lace up and stick it back. The mesh was tougher than on the first F50, the sole stayed split, and the FusionFrame insoles still swapped.

The dates get mixed up: the 2025 remakes are sold as the "2004" Spider, and SoccerBible and Footy Headlines call it the F50+ Spider. In October 2025 Unisport got its own 995-pair Spider remake for its 30th birthday.

2025 Remake

• Spider Black/Blue

It came out in late 2005 and was everywhere by early 2006. adidas calls it its first fully interchangeable boot. You could buy the parts on their own and put your pair together at the ground. The main upper was a light adiHex synthetic, and a ClimaCool upper with air holes was made for hot, dry days.

For the World Cup in Germany adidas made 32 International uppers, one for each country at the finals, in their national colours. Six launch colours, four more later. Robben, Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Cissé, Duff and Defoe were all F50 players. Messi later went for customised F30i boots with a fixed soleplate instead of the swap-it-yourself setup.

• International Uppers (2006)
• ClimaCool

The build-it-yourself idea carried on into 2007, with the same swappable parts. Footy Headlines says the ClimaCool upper felt closer to leather than the synthetic one, with a soft tongue taken from adidas running shoes.

• ClimaCool
• Leather

In September 2018 George Weah, then Liberia's president, played 79 minutes of his last game for his country, aged 51, in an old pair of F50 Tunits. Footy Headlines thought they were F50.8s.

Robben premiered it for Real Madrid in November 2008, and Podolski wore the white and red one at Bayern. About £120, about 305g.

True Blue/White/Cyan followed in March 2009, with swappable insoles and three sets of studs. Villa, Adebayor, Messi and Robben were the faces.

• Messi Silver/Blue
• True Blue/White/Cyan

Messi wore his custom pair in the May final, before the F50i was in the shops: SoccerBible says he chose the F30i build because he preferred a fixed soleplate to the Tunit's swappable one. The F50i went on sale in early July 2009: about £100 a pair, or £125 for the full pack with swappable insoles and studs. That season brought the treble and his first Ballon d'Or.

Then his signature F50i pairs: Navy/Gold/Argentina Blue in K-leather, with a lace-cover graphic from Argentina's flag and Rosario, and later White/Navy/Gold.

• Cyan/White/Black
• Messi Navy/Gold
• Messi White/Navy/Gold

adidas launched it in Barcelona with Messi and David Villa. The synthetic version weighed 165g, adidas's lightest boot so far. The leather one, the version Messi used, was 175g. Inside, Sprintweb held the foot. Underneath, a Sprintframe sole only 1 mm thick in places.

Forlán's pair in that final was Black/Sun leather, and Salomon Kalou wore Sun/Black/Gold in the FA Cup final. Messi, Villa and Robben all wore the 2010 colours in South Africa. His first adiZero signature, Ballon d'Or Gold/Black, followed in 2010/11.

• Black/Sun (launch)
• Sun/Black/Gold
• Chameleon
• Messi Ballon d'Or

Still 165g. Chrome/Black/Warning came out in March 2011 at about £140. adidas kept the name F50 adizero. II is the name our shop uses, to tell the years apart.

• Chrome/Black/Warning
• Anodised Blue/White/Slime

SoccerBible reported 145g: 20g lighter than the adiZero and 5g lighter than Puma's v1.10 SL, which gave adidas the lightest production boot on the market. It didn't say which size. Warning/Black/White went on sale on 1 February 2011 at about £210, with more colours through the year. In 2020 a Prime upper came back on an X Ghosted sole, in the Memory Lane pack.

• Warning/Black/White (launch)
• Anodized Purple

Pre-orders opened on 29 September 2011 and it landed on 1 December. 165g, or 173g with the chip in. The boot alone was £150; with the chip and extras, £200. The chip stored up to seven hours of play and uploaded it to the miCoach website. Messi, Villa and Robben were named at launch.

• High Energy (launch)
• Phantom/Electricity

adidas announced it on 7 November 2012: 165g, in shops from December in Vivid Yellow/Black/Green Zest. adidas kept the name without a number. III is the name our shop uses.

• Vivid Yellow/Black/Green Zest (launch)

It launched in November 2013 as the headline of the Samba Pack, in Solar Zest and Solar Blue. 150g, which SoccerBible called the lightest F50 yet. New Speedtraxion studs, and the miCoach slot stayed.

In May 2014, a month before Brazil, came the Battle Pack: exactly half white, half black, with gold stripes for the trophy. SoccerBible says Messi's Birthday Boots for his 27th were limited to 27 pairs.

• Samba (launch)
• Battle Pack
• Messi Birthday

It came out in Solar Red in January 2015, and the miCoach slot was gone. On 18 May 2015 adidas said it was ending the F50 adizero after 11 years, along with the 11Pro, Nitrocharge and Predator. The X 15 launched that same month as its new speed boot.

• Solar Red (launch)
• Solar Green

That was 19 May 2024, in the Fast Reborn pack. The full launch came on 3 June 2024: F50 Elite laced at €270, Elite Laceless and a women's Mid at €260. Messi, Leão, Son, Caicedo, Rodman, Yamal and Wirtz were the faces. adidas's Sam Handy: "The F50 is a defining boot for so many across the last two decades."

In December 2024 Lamine Yamal got his first signature boot, the pink F50 LY304: 304 pairs, named after his hometown postcode. Messi's La Vida Rápida followed in February 2025. The 2025 F50 was only a small material update.

• Fast Reborn
• Advancement (launch)
• Yamal LY304
• Messi La Vida Rápida
• Radiant Blaze

Pre-orders opened on announcement day, and the Too Light pack went on sale online on 7 May 2026, in Team Solar Yellow. Three versions: the EVO (130g), the Elite Laceless (170g) and the laced Elite (179g). SoccerBible says the EVO is being called adidas's lightest boot yet at a World Cup.

• Team Solar Yellow (launch)

2019, X 506+ Tunit: the 2006 F50.6 Tunit upper, Velcro and all, in the World Cup launch colours, on an X19+ sole.

2020, Memory Lane: six F50 adiZero uppers (2010, the 2011 Prime, 2014 and more) on the carbon X Ghosted sole, for the adiZero's tenth birthday. Hudson-Odoi and Miedema were linked to it.

2022, Speed Legacy: the adiZero IV back in its Battle Pack look, plus a leather version, on an X Speedflow sole.

2025, adizero Archive Pack: the 2010 World Cup looks, one leather and one Fibertouch, on today's Sprintframe 360 sole. In October, Unisport's 30th birthday Spider: 995 pairs, off-white with red and indigo. In December, the original black and electric-blue Spider, sold as the 2004 colourway and made in Germany.

2026, Tunit: a Messi TUNiT remake in January, the Y-3 F50 Tunit "Beast" with Yohji Yamamoto in April (Dragon, Tiger, Eagle, Wolf), and an F50.6 Tunit in electric yellow and blue the same month.