While kicking a ball for sport has been around for ages, the official sport of football was founded in 19th century Britain. Two schoolteachers, August Hermann and Konrad Koch, introduced the game throughout Europe. Germany in particular embraced the sport around 1874. The German connection to adidas was crucial, as the sportswear brand helped elevate the game to become the world’s most popular sport. This would be the foundation for the adidas Originals design team, as they committed to the concepts of Period Correct and Period Project to narrate their 2026 footwear and apparel stories. The goal was simple: Embrace the correct history to innovate projects for the future, in their truest form.These concepts allow the team to take the 3-stripes DNA of the past and project it into the future. There were two specific dates that caught the attention of the team, as they began to research the history of the brand’s connection to the sport, from 1994 to 2006.
Period Correct
The relationship between adidas and football started with the 1953 Argentina boot, designed by founder Adi Dassler. Motivated to help the Germany team in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, Dassler created a football boot with removable, screw-in studs. The creation also weighed 350 grams, about half the weight of traditional English-made boots, giving the Germans the advantage to beat Hungary 3-2. The victory elevated adidas to become a global name in football.
Adi Dassler with the first Argentina boots (Source: ©adidas)
Adi Dassler with the first Argentina boots (Source: ©adidas)
adidas Argentina Boots, 1954 (Source: ©adidas)
The next innovation was the 1982 Copa Mundial boot, featuring a narrow sole with moulded lugs, a cushioned midsole, and a fold-over foam tongue. Worn by football legends like Franz Beckenbauer and Diego Maradona, the Copa Mundial cemented its legacy as the best-selling football boot of all time.
As one of the main reference years, 1994 proved to be one of the most impactful time periods for adidas and football. The sportswear brand introduced two groundbreaking products - the adidas Questra ball and the adidas Predator boot. The Questra ball – quest for the stars – was designed to be the official match ball of the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. It was decorated with an intergalactic design to reference the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission. The Predator boot was just as innovative as the lightweight and waterproof Questra ball, boasting rubber elements inspired by a table tennis paddle and reptile-like design features. It marked the beginning of intentional deviation from the classic black and white colorways of football boots, as adidas utilized the silhouette for color exploration, material innovation, and style experimentation. Iterations of the Predator boasted newer innovations, as the 2000 adidas Predator Precision was the first Predator boot to transition from rubber fins to thinner ribs. The iconic design and utilitarian elements would set the foundation for decades of innovations ahead, with Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham embracing their ambassador roles for the silhouette.
adidas Questra Ball, 1994 (Source: Worldcupballs)
To follow up the Predator, adidas introduced the F50 series in 2004. The F50 paid homage to the 50 year anniversary of the 1954 FIFA World Cup victory by the West German National Team. This was adidas’ most innovative product on the pitch, featuring a kangaroo leather upper with a leather overlay to cover up the lacing system for a larger strike zone. It was truly a technical football boot for all types of weather conditions.
adidas F50 OG from 2004 (Source: ©adidas)
Two years later, adidas Football would venture into a chapter of product innovation that helped cement its legacy in the sport. In 2006, adidas unveiled the Teamgeist ball, the +F50.6 and the F50+ TUNIT football boots. For the 20th year anniversary of the FIFA World Cup in Germany, adidas created the Teamgeist ball as a representation of contemporary innovation. By creating a ball that only featured 14 panels thermally bonded together, adidas publicly rejected the traditional 32-panel truncated-icosahedron structure. The +F50.6 and F50+ both allowed players to fully customize their boot by swapping soles, studs, and uppers.
"F50 TUNIT was really this idea to fully customize your shoe [and] change everything on the upper, on the bottom, on the chassas, [and] the studs. So that was really the first [fully] customizable football shoe.” - Sandra Trapp, Senior Manager of adidas archive
The F50 TUNIT was also the perfect canvas for the 3-stripes’ legacy collaborator, Yohji Yamamoto. Debuted in the AW2006 show, the 2006 YY F50 TUNIT bridged the gap between the fashion runway and the football pitch. Commissioned by the 2006 FIFA World Cup and inspired by the works of Taishi Hayashi, Yohji and his team created 4 colorways of the YY F50 TUNIT - Dragon, Eagle, Tiger, and Wolf. With only 1,000 pairs produced for each colorway, pairs were packaged in a metal cage branded with the 3-stripes and Yohji Yamamoto’s classic signature. Surprisingly enough, the project was not tied to the Y-3 partnership, which began 2003, because it was focused on technical performance while Y-3 focused more on fashion focused concepts.
adidas Yohji Yamamoto +F50 Tunit Pack from 2006 (Source: Soccer Bible)
adidas Yohji Yamamoto +F50 Tunit Pack from 2006 (Source: Soccer Bible)
The end of the 2000s focused on more technological innovations and alignment with adidas’ superstar Lionel Messi, who became the face of adidas Football and the F50 silhouettes during his prime Barcelona and Ballon d'Or years. With full dedication to the sport, the brand was gearing up for the next decade of football.
As the 2010s rolled through, adidas furthered its partnership with Yohji Yamamoto’s Y-3 through various football campaigns. In 2013, adidas tapped Yohji Yamamoto to create a new F50 As a descendent of the YY F50 TUNIT that was created 7 years ago, the Y-3 F50 Adizero featured an upper of imperial lion-dogs who once guarded the emperors of Japan. The football boot also did not incorporate the traditional 3-stripes motif, allowing the Y-3 team to fully embrace the upper as a blank canvas.
"My inspiration is a mixture of ancient traditions and modern sci-fi from Japanese culture. I hope the inspiration of the boot harmonizes the players and gives them extra confidence to express themselves without any fear. People should feel free to express themselves. Just follow your own instinct." - Yohji Yamamoto, Designer
adidas F50 adizero by Yohji Yamamoto Upper from 2013 (Source: GQ ©Yohjiyamamoto)
The partnership followed up the F50 Adizero with another project for the 2014 - 2015 La Liga season, as Y-3 was given the opportunity to design Real Madrid’s away kit. The black and white kit was perfect for the Y-3 team, giving them a blank canvas to create with. They placed a faint graphic across the torso of two mythical beats from the East - the dragon king and the dragon bird.
In Thinking About Real Madrid’s Legacy, Yamamoto Envisioned Football Players As Modern-Day Heroes, Achieving Mythical Status Through Continued Victory
In alignment for the 111th Real Madrid season, players on the roster such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez, Marcelo, and Toni Kroos sported the Y-3 kit as they finished 2nd in La Liga , reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, and brought home the FIFA Club World Cup trophy.
In the 2020s, Y-3 has continued their commitment to adidas Football and Real Madrid through more kit campaigns. In 2022, for the 120th anniversary of Real Madrid and 20th anniversary of Y-3, the team collaborated on a football kit in all black hues with white accents, along with an all-pink goalkeeper jersey. Two years later, Y-3 would help create a 4th kit for both the 2024 Real Madrid Men’s and Women’s teams in purple. As a celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the first Y-3 Real Madrid kit, the team focused on a rose motif and signature monochromatic colour palettes inspired by the early days of the adidas and Yohji Yamamoto partnership. The campaign featured stars like Naomie Feller, Jude Bellingham, David Alaba, Misa Rodríguez, and the great Zinedine Zidane.
Yohji Yamamoto collection for Real Madrid in 2022 (Source: Soccerbible)
Yohji Yamamoto collection for Real Madrid in 2022 (Source: Soccerbible)
Yohji Yamamoto collection for Real Madrid in 2022 (Source: Soccerbible)
Yohji Yamamoto collection for Real Madrid in 2022 (Source: Soccerbible)
Yohji Yamamoto collection for Real Madrid in 2022 (Source: Soccerbible)
In preparation for the Paris Olympic Games, Y-3 also designed Home and Away kits for the Japanese National Team. This was the perfect full circle moment for Yohji Yamamoto and his team, as they created navy and red football kits with all-over flame graphics to show on the Y-3 SS25 runway. The darker navy pantone used for the Home kit was an homage to the jerseys worn during Japan’s first World Cup qualification in 1998. To compliment the football collection, the Y-3 team also created reversible souvenir jackets as a tribute to the World War II sukajans, where soldiers would don these jackets as a memorabilia to commemorate their time in Japan. The Y-3 SS25 runway also incorporated models walking in football boots, as the team introduced an adidas Y-3 Predator in a Cloud White minimalistic colorway.
Inspired by the pioneers, other designers and brands have also incorporated fashion and football into their projects with the 3-stripes. Wales Bonner has merged Afrofuturism and formalwear, showcasing soccer kits on the fashion runway to elevate the storytelling. Labrum London, founded by Sierra Leone designer Foday Dumbuya, collaborated with the brand to stage a show inside Arsenal’s Emirates stadium. By incorporating pan-African colours and zigzag patterns inspired by 1920’s West African art on the new Arsenal Away kits, Labrum is able to seamlessly blend football performance with fashion. Football was now the muse for the fashion world and vice versa.
Period Project
As products phase out of their pure performance utility, there are opportunities for them to become a wardrobe staple. By referencing football history as the muse, the team is able create silhouettes that the world has never before but still feel nostalgic. The adidas F50 Megaride and adidas Predator Megaride are two perfect examples of that endeavor, invoking nostalgic tones of adidas design DNA while still innovating for the future. Inspired by the F50 football cleat family and the Megaride family, the adidas F50 Megaride is the definition of the balance of Period Correct and Period Project. Both the F50 and the Megaride were actually designed in the same time period, in 2004, but had two separate utilities in two different sport worlds. The F50 innovated football while the Megaride innovated running and basketball. The Megaride specifically was derived from the adidas a3 and adidas Bounce series, as they explored a new energy management system with large open tunnels within the hollowed-out midsole structure. The 2004 adidas a3 Megaride featured a cutout sole infused with adidas’ Bounce material and utilized a series of hollow structures and stress points to provide a bouncy new cushioning system. Both the F50 and Megaride silhouettes helped lead innovation with their own unique sports utility.
“Blending the world of football and F50 with the technology of Climacool or Megaride, it does harmoniously match because they were designed at the exact same point in time with the same creative directions and with the same philosophy of that era.” - Martin Love, Global Senior Director of adidas Originals Footwear
adidas F50 Megaride at JAH JAH Showroom during PFW 2025 (Source: ARCHIVE.pdf)
adidas F50 Megaride at JAH JAH Showroom during PFW 2025 (Source: ARCHIVE.pdf)
adidas Megaride e3 OG at JAH JAH Showroom during PFW 2025 (Source: ARCHIVE.pdf)
The adidas Predator Megaride shares similar design DNA to the F50 Megaride. Instead of the F50 upper, the team utilized the Predator upper to tell a different football-influenced story for an everyday lifestyle silhouette. To continue the relationship between football and fashion, the team has planned collaborations with JAH JAH, Wales Bonner, Willy Chavarria, Brain Dead, Avavav, and most importantly, Yohji Yamamoto for 2026 and beyond.
adidas Predator Megaride, 2025 (Source: Sneaker News)
adidas Predator Precision Blue, 2017 (Source: adidas, Photo by Nick Knight)
adidas Predator Elite, 2025 (Source: adidas)
adidas Originals x JAH JAH ‘Megaride S2’ at JAH JAH S/S ’26 runway (Source: Le site de la sneakers ©adidas)
adidas Originals x Willy Chavarria ‘Megaride AG’ for S/S ’26 collection (Source: Le site de la sneakers)
adidas Originals x Wales Bonner for S/S ’26 collection (Source: Hypebeast)
To bring everything full-circle, the brand is planning to reintroduce the F50 TUNIT. Two decades later, the Y-3 team came together to create a fashion-forward version of the 2006 YY football boot. Titled the Y-3 F50 Beast collection, the four animals are back in full force as a non-cleated silhouette perfect for lifestyle utility, turning a collectible football boot into an everyday trainer.
With football as the muse, there is now a new playing field that combines the fashion runway and pitch.
Credits
The original football collaboration between adidas and Yamamoto - Soccerbible (2014)Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2006 Menswear - Vogue (2006)adidas Reveal Real Madrid 14/15 UCL Kit - Soccerbible (2014)Y-3 Spring 2025 Menswear - Vogue (2025)Yohji Yamamoto Designs 2024 Kits for Japan's National Team - Yokogao Magazine (2024)Y-3 x Real Madrid Black Wedding - The Midnight Club (2022)Adidas Y-3 Revisits +F50 Tunit Beast Pack for 20th Anniversary - House Of Heat (2025)