There’s a lot that goes into a football boot design. There’s the materials, studs and laces, obviously, but nowadays there’s also the specific zones for control, shooting and accuracy, as well as different plates for speed or precision.
Then there’s the colours, whether you’re going for the all-time classic of black and white, or you want bright footwear to say something about the style of play.
Looking for the best football boots in 2023? GOAL has you covered
But when football boot design is great, it becomes much more than the sum of its parts. Suddenly, a boot becomes fused to a player in the public imagination.
The boot is no longer its own thing, now it’s David Beckham standing over a free-kick, it's Lionel Messi leaving defenders in his wake or it's Thierry Henry ruling over Highbury.
With that in mind, here are 20 of the best boots of all time...