We spoke to adidas Football’s Senior Vice President of Design & Product about the reissue of the Predator and F50 lines, federation kits, and what more to expect from the Three Stripes.
Adi Dassler, the visionary behind adidas, revolutionized football with his design for the West German team’s boots during the 1954 FIFA World Cup final. Dubbed the “Miracle of Berne,” the game marked a historic win for Germany, defeating the heavily favored Hungarian team 3-2.
Dassler’s innovation with the adidas Argentina boot by implementing removable studs made all the difference. The boots, lighter and more advanced than its predecessors, featured a blend of leather & synthetic materials, and the studs provided a crucial grip on the rain-soaked pitch during that final match.
Decades later, adidas Football continues to push the envelope of design and performance. From boots, kits, and match balls, the Three Stripes carries the ingenuity that Dassler embedded within the brand all those years ago.
And there’s no better time for adidas to flex its Stripes.
Our love for the sport motivates our lust to win.
Sam Handy, adidas Football SVP of Design & Product
70 years after the legendary World Cup Final, two of the biggest international tournaments are taking place this summer with the UEFA European Championship and CONMEBOL Cope América taking over the hemispheres.
But most importantly, soccer/football/fútbol is at the nexus of sports, pop culture, and streetwear with the Three Stripes leading the charge by banking on its heritage to propel the beautiful game into the future.
This year alone, adidas brought two of its most iconic franchises back into the marketplace with modern updates that still uphold the original essence of each respective line.
The adidas Predator, an icon introduced in 1994 and worn by the world’s best, and the adidas F50, unveiled at the 2004 Euros, celebrate notable anniversaries this year.
With that in mind, the Three Stripes seized the opportunity to go into the archive for inspiration in this new era of football.
We spoke with Sam Handy, adidas Football’s SVP of Design & Product, about the iconic boot revivals, kits, and the future of adidas Football.
Read our interview with Handy below.
Handy on What Inspired adidas to Bring Back The F50 & Predator Lines:
Our overall mission is to — we’re motivated to be undisputed in the soccer boots business. That comes just a lot out of our passion and love for the sport, too. It’s very hard to separate football from adidas or adidas from football.
Our love for the sport motivates our lust to win.
In terms of bringing back F50 at the same time as having the foldover tongue on the Predator, what we discussed within the team was about having the confidence to be ourselves.
We’re not trying to be anyone else; we’re trying to be authentically and iconically adidas.
What gets more authentic now than the foldover tongues on players like Jude [Bellingham] and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] or the return of F50, the best cleat franchise in the industry, coming to life on players like [Lionel] Messi or Rafael Leao, or Trinity Rodman.
Handy on The Impact of Messi in the MLS:
We’ve all been blown away by what it’s meant in the US to see Messi play and what it means for the growth of soccer in the US with Messi mania, soccer mania, and the love for the sport that he’s brought by coming and playing in the league in this country.
You’re going see a lot more where that came from.
Last year, on October 10 (10/10) we did Messi Day, and we dropped the Messi Miami colorway on his X. There’ll be more concepts similar to where that came from. [There’s] some very interesting stuff on the way that I won’t go into too much now.
We’ll also have an exclusive Messi iteration of F50 that he’ll be playing in at some point soon. For the first time, the consumer gets to come as close as they’ve ever come to playing in exactly what Messi plays in on the pitch; that’s really exciting, too.
You’ll see all of this dropping in the next few weeks and months.
Handy on His Favorite Federation Kits:
There’s a lot.
My personal favorite is the Mexico home. It’s one of the wildest home kits that we’ve ever done.
The partnership with the Mexican Federation meant that we could do something that’s progressive for a home kit, which is usually very traditional. That’s an exciting one.
I also love the Jamaica kits — the Jamaica away is super nice.
Behind the Design of the Women’s-Specific adidas F50:
One thing we heard from talking to women players, (a lot, especially in the US) is that speed boots are a big bias.
Women are drawn to the speed boots, which makes the F50 the right franchise of ours to start to pioneer in women’s specific fit.
Talking to a lot of pro players, the mid-cut silhouette gives them a lot more confidence when they’re playing in a game that’s naturally more agile. There’s more space in the women’s game.
There’s more requirement for agility and that mid-cut collar gives them the confidence in their game to play better.
The combination of a women’s-specific last, women’s-specific mid-cut fit, and new tooling — tooling where we conducted the most women’s testing we’ve ever had in the F50 — made it the natural place to see a huge amount of women’s participation in the game.
Handy on What More to Expect from adidas Football:
A lot of cool stuff. We always work about two to three years out from the major events, so we’re already working right now on all the boots for the World Cup.
I have to say, they look amazing — I can’t wait to start showing them to people. And the kits are phenomenal. I can’t go too deep into it.
We’ve had a good run so far this year. The Predators and F50 had a great reaction. But if you think that’s good, wait to see what comes in 2026.
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