Many people have had a go at football boots recently for their lucrative price tags and ‘gimmicky’ sales tactics – but is it only our beloved form of footwear that’s guilty of a little excess? Read on as we count down the top 5 most expensive shinnies that you can buy today!
5. Umbro Pro Shinguard – £38.99
The solid-looking Umbro Pro Shinpads can be found for a little under £40, and come equipped with full Poron moisture management capabilities, to keep you dry and comfortable while you play.
Not only that, in addition to the usual Pads and Ankle guards, these shinguards also come with an asymmetrical velcro strapping system to keep them in place whilst playing – which’ll save you money in the long run on sock-taping them to your pegs!
4. Nike Total 90 EXP Shinguards – £39.99
Already into pricey territory at a hair’s breadth under £40, Nike can at least claim that you get a lot in the initial package with the T90 EXP ‘guards!
Equipped with shields, ankle guards, calf protectors and even some sleeves to keep everything in the right place, you can even boil these shinnies in water and mould them to your legs!
3.’ Nike Mercurial Vapor Blade Shinguards – £59.99
These solid shinnies are made of aircraft-grade Carbon Fibre, which is renowned for being incredibly strong and tensile.
Nike also claim the dual-layer Poron foam instantly distributes any impact energy across the guard, taking the sting out of any nasty kicks and collisions.
2. Lotto SH500 – £71.99
We’ve looked long and hard at these Lotto shinpads specifications to find out what makes them worth so much – and we can’t find anything!
Lotto boast that the SH500 feature a Polypropolene front shell, lightweight EVA backing foam and ventilation holes for comfort – which all sounds awesome, but we’d think twice before splashing over £70 on ’em!
1. adidas F50 adiZero Carbon Fibre Shinguards – £79.99
The newly released adidas F50 adiZero shinpads break the bank stopping just shy of the £80 mark.
Made from Carbon Fibre, these supersonic-shinnies even give players the choice of removing the central core (that sits behind the main ‘lump’ of the pad) to reduce the pads weight to a staggering 62g per pad!
Adidas say that this is the lightest and most innovative shinpad ever made – but – if that’s the case, adidas, why’d you have to make the sleeve look like the world’s ugliest golf sock!?
Honourable mentions
These are shinpads that would have made the list, but sadly are no longer in production!
Diadora Totti Mondiali Shinpads – these monster pads blended F1 level Carbon Fibre, Kevlar and Titanium to give you more protection that a presidential limo! The cost? £149.99, to you sir!
Nike 10R Promo Shinpads – Limited to just 1600 pairs worldwide, these £60 shinnies were the exact same as the ones worn by Ronaldinho, and came individually numbered and packaged.
And so ends our countdown! Tell us – what’s protecting your legs at the moment? Let us know in the comments!
Dont all the pros just wear cheapo slip in ones?
what the cheapest thin full leg guard?
like this review, will there be any tests done somehow to see which is the toughest and most comfortable?
the Lotto Shinpads Are Pretty Silly, The Nike T90 EXP’s look the only shinpads there that are worth the money
is there any chance of doing goalkeeper gloves test or expense column, i am aware its a football boot site but the goalie position is important in the team
Lotto must pay silly-money for marketing if they expect to sell those ridiculously priced shinnies!
😀
During the World Cup, when all those pictures of the changing rooms were made public, there is one that shows clearly that within Cristiano Ronaldo’s apparell there is a pair of Mercurial Blades.
wow, lotto is crazy! of course, theirs are the shiniest shinpad on this list… but ÂŁ72?? are lotto expecting people would buy them because they’re “bling”? o_0
while the T90s are… whew… it’s like buying a full body armor! maybe i would give them a try someday…
the umbro looks good…
while the superflys matches the boots straight on 😉
but the award definitely goes to the adizero’s sleeves!
i couldn’t tell how the real thing actually looked like. but from here, they looked like something my grandma used to knit on Sunday morning LOL
I’ve got some of those Nike ones and they’re absolutely useless ! The sleeves constantly slide down and then the shinpad falls out, i’ve lost count of the amount of times i’ve been running along in a game and one of them has coming flying out the top of my sock. The sleeve needs to be elasticated to give a snugger fit to the leg so it doesn’t fall down, could also do with some velcro or something at the top of the sleeve to prevent the shinpad falling out.
i just use mercurial slip ins and have a separate ankle shield :p cost me probably maximum ÂŁ15 all together!
I heard for the adidas ones that you can take part of the foam off the guard for an “illegal” weight edge.
The Mercurials weigh in at 1.8 oz, but they cost like $100.
Funny thing is, Nike has another shinpad, the J-Guard, which weighs 1.8 oz and costs $8.
It’s really tough deciding between those two..
the price of the adidas one is just insane. honestly unless made of gold, no shinpad is worth that price.
just to side track abit, is it part of FIFA regulation to wear shin pads during the game?
though i wont spend anything more than 15 quid for a pair of shin pad :p
i only saw one kid ever wearing those totti diadora ones, but they are sick.
the pros only wear the cheap cheap ones that are light, and they dont want to feel its there… most probably dont even have the velcro strap on and rely on tape and socks to keep it in place.
Sells shinguards plus some standard ankle supports = ÂŁ7. In their 4th or 5th season now.
ÂŁ149.99 for a pair of shinpads, you have got to be kidding me.
Puma V-Kon shinguards for 7 pounds… Love em. Tough enough as well!
The Nike lightspeed shinpad weighs only 35 grams which is lighter than the adidas carbon fibre ones.
I wouldn’t want to spend anything more than 40 pounds on a pair of shinguards. The Nike Lightspeed is about half as light as the Adidas ones, and also half the price. Seems like a MUCH better deal to me.
Hey Fido, yeah FIFA has regulations on shinpads! When I got my last pair I figured out you have to look on the guard for a CE logo. Supposedly a ref can stop you from getting on the pitch if you dont have the stamp on your shin pad.
any one tried these out? C6Agility dotcom
a couple of mills & boon paperbacks
If some one of you just want the BEST, go for IXO shinpads, the only ones really made of 100% carbon fiber prepreg, the same used for ALL teams of F1
http://www.ixocarbon.com