This week saw adidas officially launch the Predator 25 as part of the ‘Pure Victory’ pack, and we couldn’t help but spot a couple of sneaky teasers in the launch ad, including what looks to be a relaunch of Zinedine Zidane’s iconic gold Predator Precision.
The Predator 25 was revealed before Christmas in its special edition champagne-esque colourway. This week then saw its official launch, with the boot revealed as part of the ‘Pure Victory’ pack, lining up alongside the COPA Pure III and F50 in some striking red hues. Its launch was celebrated with a brilliant new ad, which was jam packed with cameos, easter eggs and teases. And it’s in the latter that we’re most interested, as around the 1:50 mark in the ad, Zinedine Zidane walks into a vault and opens up a case, revealing a ‘Made in Germany’ recreation of his iconic signature Predator Precisions.
Zidane originally wore the boots back in 2001, following his scoop of the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2000 (now known as the ‘FIFA Best’ award). Zidane won the award despite missing out on the Ballon d’Or to Luis Figo, but it still meant that adidas were only too happy to create a boot to celebrate his achievement. And so we got the golden Predator Precision, which Zizou wore in France’s friendly against Germany in February 2001.
The boot was an exquisite execution, with the gold base combining with black and red accents, while the ‘World Player of the Year 2000’ wording was embroidered on the heel. Not to brag, but it’s a boot that we actually got up close and personal with at adidas’s archive recently, as part of the shooting for our 'Under The Tongue’ Predator documentary. And we can therefore attest to the fact that this is indeed a beautiful boot. Now it looks as though adidas are going to be recreating it as part of the brand’s limited ‘Made in Germany’ series, much to all of our collective joy.
Celebrating 75 years of German craftmanship, the ‘Made in Germany’ series has seen adidas rerelease several versions of the Predator, including the Japan blue, Pearl white and classic Black, White, Red versions of the Predator Mania over the last year, and this looks set to be the first version of the Predator Precision in the series. How do we know it’s part of the ‘Made in Germany’ series? Well, it just so happens to say so right there on the tongue, bold as brass. Always helpful, stuff like that. A call out to Zidane’s ‘World Player of the Year’ can also be seen on the insole. The boot is presented in a case, so there’s no view of the soleplate, but it’s probably safe to assume that it will ride in on the current Predator soleplate.
This will be the second of Zidane's gold Predators to be rereleased in recent years, after 2006's Predator Absolute dropped in 2022. Of course, Zidane also got a gold version of the Predator Accelerator as part of the 25 Years of Predator collection back in 2019. Something about gold Predators and Zidane that just works, right?
Watch this space for an official launch date for these beauties...
In the meantime, shop the adidas Pure Victory pack at prodirectsport.com/soccer
