Nike's New Mercurial Boots Give Attackers Two Ways to Burn You
Nike unveils the next generation Mercurial with two distinct boots, the Vapor 17, its lightest ever, and the Superfly 11, featuring a visible Air Zoom unit built for sustained top speed. Available June 1.
Nike just split the Mercurial into two boots. The Vapor 17 is for players who live in tight spaces, while The Superfly 11 is for the ones who run at you in the open field. Both are Mercurial, each solves a different problem.
Vapor 17
This is the lightest Mercurial Nike has ever made. The approach was reductive. If it didn't serve quickness, it got removed.
An Atomknit upper sits over an ultrathin FlyLite plate. Rounded chevron studs handle start-stop movement and directional changes. Parts of the boot are translucent, you can tell just by looking at it that weight was the obsession.
Nike designed it for players who create in small pockets. Fast feet. Sharp cuts. The burst that gets you a half yard of space when there shouldn't be any.
Superfly 11
Superfly goes in a different direction. Nike built this boot around one question, can you still hit top speed in the 85th minute?
The visible Air Zoom unit under the metatarsals is the centerpiece. It compresses under load and returns energy as your foot lifts. Nike made the Air unit external and visible because they want it to be a statement, not a hidden feature.
Superfly also goes back to a low-cut collar for the first time since 2014. The FlyWeave Ultra upper locks the foot in without restricting movement. Everything about this boot points toward sustained, repeatable speed over a full 90.
Nike studied how players actually use speed across a match, not just peak sprints but deceleration, repeated efforts under fatigue, and what happens to your stride when your legs are gone. The goal was a platform that keeps working late in games, not one designed around a single burst.
Kylian Mbappé, Cristiano Ronaldo, Vini Jr, Sam Kerr, and Salma Paralluelo will all wear the new Mercurial range.
Both boots sit alongside the Phantom 6 and Tiempo Maestro in Nike's boot lineup heading into the summer.
Availability
Vapor 17 and Superfly 11 drop June 1 on nike.com and select digital retailers. Wide release across digital and physical retail follows June 4.
