The most expensive football boots ever come with a fittingly interesting story. You may think they’d be Stanley Matthews’ (the Lionel Messi of the mid 20th century) old pair, or perhaps a golden pair made for an Arab billionaire. But no, in reality, they have a much less extravagant history.
Rio Ferdinand owned the world’s most expensive football boots
Rio Ferdinand’s Nike Total 90s football boots are the most expensive pair in the world
You’d be forgiven in thinking that Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo’s football boots would be the most expensive around. These two athletes are widely accepted as being two of the greatest footballers ever, and only Pele’s name has been thrown out as a challenge to that.
But no! The most expensive pair of football boots in the world has nothing to do with the Juventus striker, or the Argentinian forward. Rather, they have a link to a much, shall we say, less glamorous football player.
As solid as he was for England and Manchester United, I doubt Rio Ferdinand has ever been called a GOAT. Nor, incidentally, did he score 91 goals in a season, but nevertheless, he’s the proud benefactor of the world’s most expensive football boots.
What are the most expensive football boots ever?
Wayne Rooney’s Nike Total 90 Laser II football boots are almost the most expensive pair in the world
Simple answer: they’re a pair of Rio Ferdinand’s boots created by designer Luisa Di Marco. Now we’re all for paying a little extra for a pair of boots that look amazing, but this is perhaps a little too far. The Nike Total 90s (shout out to those legendary boots by the way), have been spray painted, have a graffiti-type design and have just shy of 2,500 stones embedded onto them – a mixture of white and black diamonds and rubies. An emblem heel and golden-tipped laces add an extra finesse to the models.
JT’s Umbro Specialis and Wayne Rooney’s Nike Total 90 Laser IIs got the similar, Pimp-My-Ride treatment. JTs’ were even valued at £135,000, £10,000 more than the other two pairs of boots.
How much do the most expensive pair of football boots cost?
Ferdinand’s Total 90s football boots sold for the most in the end, going for £22,000.
Charity
John Terry’s Umbro Specialis football boots are almost the most expensive pair in the world
How? What? Why? When? Where? Who the fudge paid for Rio Ferdinand’s boots and made them the most expensive pair in the world? All very good questions.
Firstly, it came down to a very generous initiative. As a fundraiser to help launch Rio’s new charity back in 2016, he collected three pairs of football boots; his and those of ex-teammates Wayne Rooney and John Terry.
Embee Jewels, London, kindly offered a number of gems for free, to help boost the value of the boots – diamond-encrusted boots have more glamour appeal than simply marketing them as a pair of John Terry’s old boots. Sure, I’d probably pay a tenner or swap my old PS2 for them, but there’s no way they’d make it to be the most expensive boots in history without an extra bit of swaz.
Di Marco then got involved, jazzed them up a bit to make them even more special and voila, Rio had himself three pairs of very expensive football boots.
The big mistake
Now I know what you’re all thinking – it all sounds lovely apart from one little thing that doesn’t add up. The boots were diamond-encrusted, valued at over £200,000 and yet the most expensive pair only set one (lucky) person back a mere 22k. Aha! Very astute observation.
But here’s where the huge mistake was made. The boots were donated and modified with the intent of fetching a lot of money for Ferdinand’s charity. Valued at six figures, the trio didn’t even manage to break past the £100,000 mark, as a reserve was not set. A reserve in an auction is a minimum price that a lot must reach before it’s sold. So if I was selling my favourite teapot and wanted more than £20, I’d stick a £20 reserve on it. If bidding surpasses that mark, happy days, I’m quids in and can live my best life, going on holidays and splashing the cash on as many football boots as I desired. If bidding reaches just £19 or less, I don’t sell my teapot and live out the rest of my days penniless, but well-hydrated.
So these didn’t go for as much as valued, hoped or even expected. Following the auction, the boots weren’t sent straight away to their owners. Instead, a few months went by but in the end, all of those who won the boots received their items.
What have we learned…?
Always put estimates on £100,000 pairs of football boots so you don’t end up selling for a fifth of the price would probably be a good one. But fair play to Rio. He tried to do a great thing, and despite the minor pricing hiccup he still raised an awful lot for charity. Good on you son.
