Mercurial Vapor

The one that started it. Nike built it for Ronaldo to wear at the 1998 World Cup and threw out the heavy leather everyone else used, wrapping the foot in a thin synthetic skin instead. The whole boot came out at roughly 200 grams when most rivals were well over 300 — the idea was that you would barely feel it and so run faster in it. It was finished in bright silver so nobody, defenders or television cameras, could miss it.

Before it, a boot's upper was mostly there to protect and last. This was the first mass-market boot designed around a single idea — be as light and as fast as possible — and every Mercurial since has chased that same idea.

Играли: Ronaldo (Brazil)

Источники: [1][2]

The first boot to carry the "Vapor" name and the low-cut shape the line still has. Nike called it a "track spike for the pitch": a paper-thin synthetic shell over a light glass-fibre soleplate, stripped of everything that did not help you accelerate. Ronaldo wore the gold pair through the 2002 World Cup as Brazil won it, which is why the boot is remembered as much as the tournament.

It turned the one-off 1998 idea into a permanent line. From here "Vapor" always meant the lightest, fastest boot Nike made, with touch and speed put ahead of protection.

Играли: Ronaldo (Brazil)

Источники: [1][2]

A refinement of the first Vapor rather than a new idea: Nike added cushioning and a little more stability without letting the weight creep back up. The aim was to make the fastest boot around wearable enough that players trusted it past the warm-up — the same thin, low, close shape, made more liveable.

Играли: Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo

Источники: [1][2]

The upper became a microfibre skin shaped to mould to the foot, and Nike added a carbon-fibre insert in the sole for stability. It kept the thin, low Vapor feel but put a stiffer, stronger spine underneath — the lightweight obsession meeting real support for the first time.

Играли: Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo

Источники: [1][2]

A more streamlined, futuristic shape — most obviously a moulded cover over the laces that smoothed the top of the boot into one clean striking surface. It pushed the Vapor further towards looking like a piece of speed equipment rather than a traditional football boot.

Играли: Cristiano Ronaldo

Источники: [1][2][3]

A limited "SL" (Superlight) edition that took the idea to its extreme: the upper AND the soleplate were both moulded from carbon fibre, the same stiff, light material used in racing bikes and Formula 1. It stripped the boot down to around 185 grams — about the weight of a chocolate bar — and was sold as a numbered, top-price collector's boot rather than a normal release.

It was the line showing off how far "as light as possible" could actually go, and the carbon-fibre ideas it tested fed back into the everyday Vapor soleplates that followed.

Играли: Cristiano Ronaldo

Источники: [1][2]

2009 is the year the Mercurial split in two. Nike spun off a taller, more supported sister boot — the Superfly, laced through with its new Flywire cabling — and left the Vapor as the pure low-cut speed shoe. The Vapor V itself kept things simple: a contoured chassis and a cushioned sock liner for a steadier ride, and a glass-fibre heel counter to hold the heel in place without adding bulk.

Источники: [1][2]

An evolution rather than a reinvention. The Vapor VI upgraded the Teijin microfibre upper carried over from the V, and reworked the traction plate to be lighter and more responsive underfoot. It is best remembered in the bright pink-and-silver launch colourway worn by a young Neymar.

Играли: Neymar

Источники: [1][2]

Unusually for the line, the Vapor VII changed how it looked rather than what it did. Nike gave it brighter colourways and a bolder Swoosh but, by the maker's own account, carried over the previous generation's materials and plate with no new speed technology. It was the last Vapor before the ground-up 2012 redesign.

Источники: [1][2]

After a run of collar-and-cable Superfly boots, the Vapor VIII brought the line back to a clean, low, direct speed shape. Its synthetic upper was given a suede-like finish to improve the feel of the ball, and the heel was simplified to a two-stud layout. The bright "Mango" launch colour made it one of the most recognisable Mercurials of its era.

Up to here the Vapor had sold itself almost purely on being light and thin. This was the point Nike gave attention back to touch — enough feel and grip on the ball to trust it at speed — without letting the weight climb back.

Играли: Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar

Источники: [1][2][3]

Mostly a surface change: a fine dimpled texture across the upper meant to grip and steady the ball a little better at speed, without altering the boot's shape. It became one of Nike's most heavily marketed Mercurials, released in dozens of colourways including rare CR7 pairs.

Играли: Cristiano Ronaldo

Источники: [1][2][3]

The year the Superfly took on a knitted upper and an ankle collar, the Vapor X deliberately did neither: it kept the low-cut, collar-free Mercurial shape for players who wanted the speed with nothing around the ankle. Its role was to keep the pure low Vapor alive beside the bolder Superfly.

Источники: [1][2]

A modern low-cut Vapor carrying the same job forward: light, streamlined and free of any collar, the purist's Mercurial next to the knitted Superfly V. The clean low shape, not a new material, was the whole point.

Источники: [1][2]

A knitted low-cut Vapor — in effect a Flyknit version of the Vapor XI without the Superfly collar. Its NikeSkin coating over the knit was made softer near the top of the foot and firmer down towards the soleplate, with raised "Speedribs" for support. It showed the Vapor could take the Flyknit idea the collared Superfly had owned and keep it low-cut.

Играли: Eden Hazard

Источники: [1]

The biggest change in the boot's shape since 2002. Nike rebuilt the Vapor as a single knitted piece — Flyknit "360" — that wrapped the whole foot with no separate tongue, so the upper felt like a sock pulled tight over the plate. The "360" name meant the knit ran all the way around the foot, chasing a cleaner, seam-free surface on the ball.

A woven upper let Nike put stretch exactly where the foot needed to bend and hold everywhere else, something a flat synthetic sheet could not do — a genuinely different way of making the boot, not just a new pattern on the old one.

Источники: [1]

A refinement of the 2018 knit rather than a new shape: higher-strength yarns and a cleaner upper feel, with the collar on the Superfly version now sitting lower. The knitted Mercurial had stopped being a shock and was being made to feel steadier and more finished.

Источники: [1][2]

The "Dragonfly" generation. Nike moved the upper away from pure knit to Vaporposite, a composite material, and gave it a transparent, sectioned look that showed how the boot was built. The point was that the knit no longer had to do everything.

Источники: [1][2]

The biggest modern change: Nike set a Zoom Air unit — a small sealed bag of pressurised air — into the soleplate, so the boot pushed back and felt springy underfoot instead of only thin and light. A "SpeedCage" and a Vaporposite+ upper held the foot down onto that new platform.

Источники: [1][2]

A refinement of the 2022 Air Zoom boot rather than a reset: the same Zoom Air plate, tuned to feel more efficient, paired with a new "Gripknit" upper that added a little texture and grip on the ball without making the boot feel sticky or slow, over a lighter Flyknit build.

Источники: [1][2]