France may have lifted the trophy, but no one dominated this year’s World Cup more thoroughly than Nike.
Out of the 156 goals scored in Russia, Nike’s soccer cleats played a part in 101 of them, including Kylian Mbappé’s dagger in the 65th minute of yesterday’s match to seal France’s victory.
Worn by Belgium’s Eden Hazard, Croatia’s Ivan Perišic and Brazil’s Philippe Coutinho, the twelfth variation of the lightweight Mercurial Vapor cleat was the leading goal-getter at the tournament, contributing to 42 goals. The second most goals (19) were netted by the Mercurial Superfly, worn by Cristiano Ronaldo and Mbappé.
Harry Kane took home the tournament’s Golden Boot award with six goals, all finished wearing the shot-focused Hypervenom IIIs, which finished third in total goals at the event (with the help of Mario Mandžukic’s three goals).
The only non-Nike cleat to crack the top five was Adidas’s X 18+ model, with all of eight goals, scored primarily by Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Uruguay’s Luis Suárez and South Korea’s Son Heung-Min.
All statistics from Football Boots Database.
The best way to catch up on the day’s most important product releases and stories. Read the Story