As world football’s biggest and most prestigious competition kicked off in the Americas this summer, the biggest superstars of the game came out to play for their respective nations.
In addition to the high-profile players in action, huge sporting corporations were also hard at work behind the scenes, constantly planning how they could best represent their brand while football fans from all over the world turned their attentions to the World Cup.
Naturally, the most straightforward ways brands can show off their products at such an event is by providing players with on-field equipment. At this summer’s tournament, Nike was the most popular boot brand, with about about 42.6% of the players sporting one of their popular shoe variants such as the Mercurial, Phantom, and Tiempo.
Coming in at second place was Adidas. The german sportswear giants were represented by about 40.3% of the players, and models such as the F50, Predator, and Copa were commonly spotted.
Following these two were the likes of Puma, Mizuno, Skechers and New Balance. Perhaps surprisingly, Under Armour was one of the most rarely-spotted brands at the World Cup, with only nine players sporting their football boots.
However, this did not stop them from grabbing all the headlines at the end of the showpiece event, as Under Armour-sponsored athlete Ferran Torres ended up scoring the biggest goal of the tournament, Spain’s winning goal against Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final.
Soon after Torres led his nation to victory, Under Armour took to Instagram to take subtle shots at competitors such as Nike, Adidas and Puma.
“The boots of a champion don’t come in pink,” Under Armour’s Instagram post read.
Through their caption, Under Armour appeared to be referencing the fact that all the biggest names at this year’s World Cup were often spotted wearing similar shades of pink on their feet. Attempting to stand out from competitors, Nike, Adidas and Puma all launched bright pink boots at roughly the same time. As coincidence would have it, each of these brands’ World Cup boot launches ended up looking like copies of one another.
The Under Armour boots Ferran Torres was wearing, however, were a distinct contrast to such themes. Known as the “Shadow Elite 4”, the brand’s flagship football boot model comes in bright yellow and orange colourway.
Some key features of these boots include it’s carbon-fiber soleplate which provides directional stability while remaining extremely lightweight, the micro-wrap upper which provides grip in all sorts of conditions, and the 3D heel counter, which streamlines the process of changing direction quickly by minimizing any heel slip within the boot.
Another player who was an important part of Spain’s World Cup-winning journey, right-back Pedro Porro, is also sponsored by Under Armour and was spotted sporting the same boot model for the tournament.
Having already enjoyed perhaps the biggest moment of his football career, Ferran Torres will be looking to continue performing in the same vein for his club, FC Barcelona, once the 2026/27 season kicks off.
