The Nike boot that will be worn by players in the next European football season is designed to support a more attack-focused form of play.
With the World Cup now over, Nike unveiled its latest high-tech football boot yesterday. The PhantomVSN boot replaces the Magista, which was initially designed for the defence-focused midfielder position.
According to Nike Football's senior innovation designer Phil Woodman, the favoured style of play has changed in recent years to become more attack-orientated, and new equipment is needed to support this.

The material is also designed to retain its shape, so can be massaged back into position after use.
This saves players the pain of having to break in their boots, says Woodman, as it means the PhantomVSNs are "match-ready right out of the box". The boot also boasts an outer made from Nike's popular Flyknit material, which enables the players to slide their boots on "like a sock".

It doesn't appear to have any laces, but these are actually hidden underneath the Flyknit outer. Nike calls them ghost laces. This gives the foot an streamlined exterior, allowing players to interact with the ball using any part of their foot.

The sportswear brand carried out its research on ball control at the Nike Sport Research Lab in Oregon. The team analysed the actions leading up to the scoring of a goal, to see how players naturally interact with the ball.
Using foot-scanning and slow-motion technologies, they were able ...