Prior to the 1994 World Cup, Nike’s soccer footwear collection was not something to brag about. In fact the line of shoes they produced before that was irrelevant in the eyes of football fans. However, in 1994 that changed when Nike got together as a collective group and redesigned what they thought was their best boot to date; which was the Tiempo Premier.
Rather than make the same mistake twice, Nike moved its footwear factory from Italy to Thailand, and kept a close watch on each pair of boots made. In the end, Nike was able to revamp the boot that would easily be their best soccer shoe to date.
Thoughts on the boot from Dave Daly the general manager of Nike Soccer at the time; “I felt at least from a quality perspective, the Tiempo Premier was the first one where we actually made a shoe the athletes around the world actually wanted to wear,” said Daly. “They didn’t wear it because they thought Nike was cool or because we paid them. They actually wore it because they liked it.”
The result, the Tiempo Premier was the boot worn in the 1994 World Cup Final by 10 Brazilians (9 on the pitch and a young Ronaldo who did not see action) and Italy’s Pablo Maldini on July 17th 1994. On that day, Nike had the world’s best forward Romario going head to head with the great Maldini.
Fast forward, since 1994 the Tiempo series has evolved with the game of soccer. In this day in age players need every advantage they can get on the pitch, and like the game of soccer Nike has evolved to help its athletes along the way.
In the end,here is a sample of the next Tiempo and where Nike is taking the boot. Boot includes an upper with fly wire and a carbon fiber outsole to decrease the overall weight of the boot.
What do you think about the boot? Should Nike keep this shoe classic or update it to the modern game of football where speed kills.