The line between the tunnel walk and the touchline just got thinner. In early September 2025, Adidas and BAPE rolled out a limited football collection that brings the label’s shark-toothed camo to two elite cleat silos, the Predator and the F50. On training pitches, Barcelona’s Raphinha has already been spotted in the camo Predator, while Real Madrid’s Franco Mastantuono turned heads earlier in the year by lacing up the pastel F50s, seeding the drop’s hype with a quiet leak.
Adidas’ press release frames the project as both a culture play and a product launch, saying the partners came together to “celebrate the future of football,” and to blend BAPE’s “loud streetwear sensibility with American spirit” around the sport’s global community. The Predator Elite FT keeps its fold-over tongue, now wrapped in green ABC CAMO with gold striping and an integrated shark graphic. The F50 Elite goes the other way visually, using a blue-to-pink gradient ABC CAMO across the upper. The collection lands September 6 through Adidas, BAPE, and select retailers.
Those on-pitch teases mattered. Raphinha’s training-ground look gave fans a close read on how the camo and shark motif sit on the Predator’s lines. Mastantuono’s session in the F50s, amplified by football-culture accounts, effectively previewed the color and pattern story months ahead of launch and confirmed Adidas seeded pairs with athletes.
Beyond the two boots, the capsule expands to lifestyle pieces. Adidas confirms limited quantities, plus Sambas, apparel, and accessories. Prices for the cleats are set at $280 for the Predator and $260 for the F50, with Marcelo Vieira fronting the campaign to anchor the crossover with a name fans trust.
Streetwear, drip, and the purist backlash
Scrolling through football Twitter and Reddit shows a familiar story when fashion lands on the grass. Younger fans and sneakerheads love the audacity. The shark teeth on a fold-tongue Predator read like a collector’s item you can actually wear, and the pastel F50s feel built for highlight reels and tunnel photos. Traditionalists are more skeptical. The memes split the room: jokes about “stealth mode” in camo, Sunday-league flexes, and “display case vs. muddy pitch” punchlines are everywhere. That tension is the point here. BAPE has always been a signal about identity, and on a boot it pushes the conversation about who football is for, and how players want to be seen.
Strategically, this collaboration is BAPE formalizing a path it started outside soccer. The brand dressed performance footwear before, most notably with Adidas’ Adizero 8.0 cleats for American football in 2019. This time, it is true boots, and it is billed as the first Adidas x BAPE collection for soccer cleats, focused on the two headline silos rather than Copa heritage. Framed this way, the 2025 project is less novelty and more a continuation of BAPE turning sports hardware into cultural artifacts.
Taken together, the athlete teases, the limited release, and the unapologetic visuals explain why these pairs have dominated feeds. Whether you see them as kit, costume, or both, they underline where the game is right now. Football is a global stage for self-expression, and BAPE’s arrival on elite models says the tunnel is part of the arena too. Adidas provides the tech and pedigree. BAPE supplies the voice. The pitch, and everything around it, does the rest.
