Nike Mercurial Vapor - Mercurial Vapor VII and Mercurial Vapor Superfly III

Mercurial Vapor VII and Mercurial Vapor Superfly III

Nike unveiled the third incarnation of the Superfly series – the Mercurial Vapor Superfly III – and the Mercurial Vapor VII on 16 March 2011. Both boots received two initial launch colourways: Plum Red/White/Volt and Marine Blue/Platinum/Orange.

This update of Nike's lightweight football boots transpired to be largely cosmetic; rather than any new innovations being added to the Mercurial Vapor and Superfly (as the Nike SENSE adaptive traction system was with the Superfly II), the sole, studs, last and weight all remained the same on both football boots.

The only change came in the form of a new graphical design on the upper, which was designed to make the boots even more visible on the pitch.

Whilst many players were seen training and playing in the new Mercurial Vapor boots in the preceding weeks, the Mercurial Vapor Superfly III received its official on-pitch debut on 19 March 2011, when Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Özil played in the Madrid derby.

Both of these football boots were released for retail on 1 April 2011.

On 14 April 2011, Nike revealed the Nike CR Mercurial Vapor Superfly III, a version of the Mercurial Vapor Superfly III to be worn exclusively by Cristiano Ronaldo. Whilst not featuring any technical updates to the standard Superfly III, the Nike CR Mercurial Vapor Superfly III features an all-over 'Safari' print in Black/Volt, and geometric pattern on the instep that differs to the standard Superfly III.

On November 17, 2011 it was announced on the Nike website that the new colorway version of the Vapor Superfly III was released. It comes in a Metallic Mech Blue/Solar Red-Dark Obsidian color.

Two more new colorway versions of the Vapor Superfly III were released. The Court Purple/Metallic Luster-Magenta was released late 2011, and the Trace Blue/Anthracite-Cyber, which is Cristiano Ronaldo's latest Nike Mercurial colorway, was released January 2012.