Nike exploded onto the 2018 scene under a storm of Mercurial mayhem on Wednesday night as they took over London to flex their innovation muscles. Neymar, Ronaldo, a new Mercurial, new England kits, Virgil Abloh, and a whole host of attacking footballing talent. When Nike throw a big one, you don't miss it. The Swoosh don't do half measures...
Take over London they did, but the Mercurial madness took over the world last night as their 2018 Innovation Summit turned social media into a sea of orange. Premier guest list, supercar transport, and wave after wave of next-generation product. We recap the action from a mad 24 hours of Superfly style, starting with the launch of the 2018 England Home and Away shirts.
Celebrating the success of their youth teams in 2017 Nike invited the next generation of England players to launch the new strips for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Liverpool duo Joe Gomez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were joined by Nathaniel Chalobah and Jack Butland in the new designs to kick off a manic day of Nike releases. As England wrapped up, Nike brought out the spectacular Nigeria 2018 World Cup collection.
You'll do well to see a stronger, more identifiable shirt at the World Cup this summer than Nigeria. Beautiful stuff. After unveiling two of their nation's jerseys, Nike introduced their brand new Nike Jersey Shop. The online Jersey Shop will be the home of all limited-edition and collaborative Nike football shirts, as well some of the more popular lifestyle-esque performance jerseys.
The Jersey shop will also see the introduction of the Nike by You program, which opens up access to Nike’s design, manufacturing and sales faculties to invite partnership between the brand and creative individuals. Romance FC, 24 London and FC Harlem kicking things off for the collaborative adventure.
With collaboration in mind Nike then invited Virgil Abloh on stage to offer a first look at the Nike x Off White Jersey, and Off White Mercurial VaporMax.
As night fell it was Superfly showtime. Nike unleashed their main event in the form of the next-generation of speed as the Mercurial Superfly 360 and Mercurial Vapor 360 were launched in front of the world's media. Global VP for Nike Football Footwear, Max Blau, took to the stage to talk through the new technology on the revolutionary boot, before the Nike red carpet was rolled out for the performers.
Jetting in from all over the world, Nike welcomed a collective of leading Mercurial talent. Each player arriving individually in Mercurial supercar style, PSG's Neymar kicked off the 20th year of Mercurial celebrations with the man who started it all in 1998, Ronaldo. Alexis Sanchez, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marcus Rashford and Women's Best Player Winner Lieke Martens were amongst the squad of Swoosh stars all laced up in some of the latest Nike footwear.
That's how you put on a show. A worldwide explosion on social media, a monumental powerhouse of an event, the biggest names in world football, and a boot that's as A-list as the players to wear it. Done.
Pick up the Nike Mercurial Superfly 360 from prodirectsoccer.com from Feb 14.
Featuring photography by Alex Penfornis for SoccerBible.
