Player name: Gareth Frank Bale
Country: Wales
Clubs: Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, Los Angeles FC
DOB: 16/07/1989
Position: Winger
Height: 6 ft 1 in
Gareth Bale is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation and one of the greatest British players of all time. Bale began his professional career at Southampton, playing at left-back and earning acclaim as a free-kick specialist. He moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 2007, for an eventual £7 million fee. During his time at Tottenham, managerial and tactical shifts saw him transform into a more attacking player. From the 2009–10 season, under the guidance of Harry Redknapp, Bale became an integral part of the team, rising to international attention during the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. In 2011 and 2013 he was named PFA Players' Player of the Year, and was named in the UEFA Team of the Year. In 2013, he was also named PFA Young Player of the Year, the FWA Footballer of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season. He was nominated to the PFA Team of the Year three times in a row between 2011 and 2013.
Bale was transferred to Real Madrid in 2013 for an undisclosed fee, which was confirmed to be a world-record transfer fee of £85.1 million (€100.8 million). Being part of the subsequent trio dubbed BBC, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, Bale helped the club to win the 2013–14 Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League, scoring in both finals. The following season, he won the UEFA Super Cup and scored in a third major final to help the club win the FIFA Club World Cup. Bale experienced a decrease in game time in the following seasons due to continual injuries, although he collected winner's medals in La Liga in 2016–17 and 2019–20, as well as three additional Champions League titles in 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18, among other trophies; he featured in all three consecutive finals, scoring twice – once with an overhead kick – in Real Madrid's 2018 UEFA Champions League Final victory. In 2020–21, he returned to Tottenham on loan, and the following season, his last for Real Madrid, he collected another league title as well as his fifth Champions League title, despite gaining little playing time. He subsequently joined MLS club Los Angeles FC in July 2022 and won the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup, before retiring in January 2023 aged 33.
Here at BC Boots UK we often make the impossible pieces of match worn memorabilia become possible, and here we have another example of that streak. We have managed to get our hands on Gareth Bale's match worn Adidas X17.1 boots which he wore during the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Juventus at the on the 3rd June 2017 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The match finished 4-1 to Madrid, leading them to lifting the trophy - which made it 3 in 4 seasons for the Spanish club, after being triumphent in the competition in 2014 & 2016. Acquiring any match worn item from a football legend at the level of someone like Gareth Bale is no easy task, but this pair are that extra bit special, gold dust! Within the football boot world/community, the modifications which some top level elite players get on their boots is somewhat of a mystery, in this blog we will be debunking a lot of myths surrounding Bale's custom match worn custom boots...
Real had their qualities questioned in their most recent Champions League Finals leading up to the 2017 Final in Cardiff, starting with their victory over Atletico Madrid in Lisbon in 2014 - when they needed Ramos' injury-time equaliser to force extra time before going on to win - and again in 2016 when they beat the same opponents narrowly on penalties. No such questions were able to be levelled at Real following their 2017 triumph.This was the performance of a world-class team, ripping apart a defence that had a reputation as one of football's meanest. in Juventus' backline. Madrid came away as 1-4 winners on the night, Bale himself came on as a second hlaf substitute, replacing Karim Benzema in the 78th minute.
Befroe we delve into the depths of the long list of modifications in which this special pair contain over the regular, mass produced version of the Adidas X17.1, we'll begin by taking a look at where the boots were actually made, and what size Bale wore at this particular time of the year. Many players can actually tend to change the size of the boots they're wearing depending on the time of year/season, some tend to allow their boots to be 0.25-0.5 sizes larger than their usual size during the winter months to allow for thicker, or additional, socks. From our many years of experience in this field, we have also noticed that players can also tend to change their size dependant on the model of boot they are wearing. Here, in the question of Bale's match worn 'X17.1's' (you'll see later on in this blog why that is in abreviation marks!) we can see that he wore a very specific size UK9.75 in both the left & right boot. You'll notice the 'L/R' on the label next to the numbered size, that is due to the fact that some players have differing foot sizes from their left to their right, and Adidas cater for the specific needs of their top sonsored athletes in that area. As we can see also, the boots were made in Germany by Adidas' Athlete Services, this factory is actually located at their HQ in Herzogenaurach, the address of which is also stated on the tag. Adidas make only their very top athlete's equipment here in this special factory, totally different production to the factories that mass produce the retail pairs which are sold on the commercial market, typically those boots are made in China/Vietnam due to them being made to a budget cost. With the top player's versions, there is no expense spared!
On 30 October 2016, Bale signed a new contract with Madrid until 2022. On 22 November 2016, Bale damaged his ankle tendons during the 2–1 victory at Sporting CP that would rule him out for up to four months. On 23 April, Bale made his 100th appearance in La Liga in a 3–2 home defeat to Barcelona, but was forced off after sustaining an injury. Despite suffering several injuries during the season, he managed to feature 19 times for Madrid as they won their 33rd La Liga title. After missing more than a month, he returned to action for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, which Madrid won, of course!
Taking a look at the heel construction, we can see straight away that this area of the boots is totally different to that of the retail variant. The heel cup itself is around double the height of the retailshape, the width of the area actually gets wider as the material comes out the top of the extrernal heel counters of the SprintFrame outsole, whereas ordinarily with thos model the heel shape got narrower as it got to the Techfit collar heel tab. You may also notice in the image above, that the left shoe has been made slightly taller than the right in the heel area, showing just how specific Adidas make their top level player's boots, meeting Bale's measurements with milimetric precision. The heel tab itself is also totally different in both shape & construction when compared with the retail version, however we'll elaborate on that point further on the images of different angles down below.
One of the fastest footballers in the world at his peak, Bale started out as an offensive left-back or wing-back at the beginning of his career. It was at Tottenham Hotspur that his manager Harry Redknapp decided to utilise Bale's pace and played him as a left winger, where he developed into a world class player. He was predominantly known for his speed, strength, stamina, and heading ability, but also possessed tremendous technique and ball control. His skills, combined with his acceleration and physicality, allowed him to get past defenders regularly and make runs into space, where he was able to score or create. Bale was also a free kick specialist, and was known for employing the "knuckleball" technique (popularised by Juninho Pernambucano) when taking free kicks. As he moved further forward onto the wing, he began to score goals on a regular basis with powerful strikes from outside the penalty box. In addition to his athletic and offensive capabilities, Bale also drew praise in the media for his work-rate and defensive contribution off the ball.
With the cutom boots that are produced inside Adidas' Athlete Services factory in Germany, they apply a sticker inside the heel area of each boot (as seen in the image above) which contains all relevant information about the product in question. You may have seen this sort of info tag on a retail Adidas product before, and that's because they also apply this to the majority of their mass produced products that are sold on the retail market. This label contains details such as the Art no., the factory number, production date and so on. In this case, the factory number is stated '502001' which refers to the Athlete Services factory in Herzogenaurach, the production date is '04/17' meaning of course April 2017. This is where another small detail but big difference is between a retail product and a sponsored athlete's product - typically an item made for the retail market would not be made available for sale within the first 6 months of it's production date (with Adidas, at least) as the item needs to pass further checks such as quality control measures, in order for it to be fit for sale, they also tend to mass produce an item way before it has been publicly announced. Whereas with the player's boots, they can be produced and worn all within the same month, as Adidas hand craft them and ship them directly from there to the specific player's club, for the kit team to then prepare them for use at the correct time. Bale wore this pair from the end of May in training sessions leading up to the UCL Final, and the match itself on June the 3rd, all pretty close to the production date of April.
The interior of the heel construction is again totally differet to the retail variant, whereby Bale's version contains a thinner density of padding throughout combined with a black mesh style material lining. This liner also does not feature the dotted grip pimples that you'll find inside the public released X17 heel design, this custom mesh material that Adidas have used for Bale certainly seems like it would be considerbaly more helpful in terms of heel lockdown during use, it has much more texture to its surface. Due to this area of course being covered up during use, Adidas didn't bother with camoflauging it like they did with the entire exterior of the boots purely because the public were never going to see inside, they didn't even make it the grey colour of the retail heel interior.
As Bale developed into one of the most dangerous left wingers in the world, his style of play won admiration from managers, current and past players such as Luís Figo, José Mourinho, and Dani Alves. Bale had been described as a footballer with "tremendous speed, great crossing ability, a great left foot and exceptional physical qualities". Former Liverpool player and BBC Sport football pundit Mark Lawrenson said in 2011: "What makes Gareth Bale so special? Simple. He is one of the quickest players I've ever seen, but he has another gear and the ability to find that extra pace within the next stride. He has the ability to perform and use his technique at great pace." During the 2011–12 season, Harry Redknapp experimented with using Bale in a free role, as an attacking midfielder, or as a second striker. The following season, André Villas-Boas deployed Bale in this role on a more permanent basis. After joining Real Madrid, Bale was usually deployed as a winger, but mostly on the right flank, due to the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo on the left, a position which enabled him to cut into the centre and strike on goal with his stronger left foot; he was also used in a more attacking role on occasion, as a striker or centre forward, courtesy of his goalscoring, movement off the ball, and ability to make attacking runs, while his elevation, strength, and heading accuracy saw him excel in the air in this role
In these further angles of the heel construction, it becomes clearer just how different the shape actually is - totally bespoke! Typically on the X16 & X17 models the heel tab, which was a part of the Techfit collar, pointed out backwards due to the unique design in which Adidas had created for it, in terms of performance it didn't actually do anything, but it looked cool! Here on Bale's custom version, we can see that not only is that heel tab smaller in its shape, but it also goes in the opposite direction to the retail version, it follows the curvature of the heel construction. It is pretty apparent here that Bale wanted everything possible to aid in heel lockdown, and this custom design can only help in that department! One can presume that he requires to much lockdown there due to the sheer size and unique shape of his heels.
The unique personalisation features in which Adidas have added for Bale can be seen in the above images also, since they are all positioned in the heel sections. The national flag of Bale's home nation Wales can be seen on the Techfit collar area, along with his custom logo which incorperates his squad number 11 and his heart goal celebration within it has been applied to the lateral side of each Sprintframe external heel counter. To the medial sides of those heel counters, his name & squad number 'BALE 11' has been applied, along with the name of his two daughters, 'NAVA' & 'ALBA'.
There are SO many modifications on this pair, it's hard to know what topic to cover next! Lets move on to the upper construction, but specifically, the tongue & lacing system. Again, this is totally different to what you'd find on a retail version of the X17.1, the construction of which does not feature a tongue, but instead a one-piece knitted upper design, incorperating external loops for the lacing system - the shape of that upper design looked great, but due to its uniqueness it did ot fit every foot shape properly as it was not overlly adjustable, sometimes when pulling the laces tight enough for a good lockdown, the material would actually fold over itself as it was not particularly structured - especially at the top part, which made it a little awkward overall. Bale's version has been lifted straight from the X15.1! We can see above, the traditional style lace holes, combined with the X15's tongue design within. If we look closely at that tongue, we can notice that Adidas have actually applied a graphic print over the top of the material in order to disguise the modification, giving the impression that Bale was wearing a standard X17.1 pair - but as we can see here, they are anything but standard! The graphic print is a good enough camoflauge to make you not look twice at them when seeing them from a distance, however up close, its pretty obvious it's just a smokescreen. It does make the material look like a knitted piece, but it is actually the same synthetic used for the X15.1 tongue. It is also worth noting that the Adidas & X logos you see here on the tongue, were not actually there at all on the retail version X17.1.
Bale is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation, one of the greatest Welsh players of all time, and the best British player of his generation. After a Champions League group stage match against Inter Milan on 2 November 2010, teammate Rafael van der Vaart said, "Everyone is scared of him. Maicon is one of the best defenders in the world, and he's killed him." El Mundo praising Bale for his performance wrote, "Bale combines the height and build of an 800-metre runner like Steve Ovett with the acceleration and directness of a rugby winger like Bryan Habana. And, when he gets to the byline, he delivers curling crosses like a Brazilian". Bale lives in Madrid with his partner Emma Rhys-Jones, his high-school sweetheart. Their first child was born in Cardiff on 21 October 2012, and their second daughter was born in the same city on 22 March 2016. On 17 July 2016, Bale announced he and Rhys-Jones were engaged. On 9 March 2018, Bale announced that he and his fiancée were expecting their third child. Later that year, on 8 May, the couple announced the birth of their son. They married in June 2019. Bale was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to association football and charity.
Let's move onto the rest of the upper material construction, because again, this gets seriously interesting! So to the naked eye, that looks like an X17.1 upper, however when upon close examination, it actually shares zero features with that of the retail version upper. It is in actual fact a combination mix of the X16.1 and the 2013 F50 Adizero, how unique is that!? Adidas made this for Gareth Bale only, nobody else got that bespoke treatment. The upper is made up of two layers, the first being made purely of the 2013 F50 Adizero, we'll go into more detail on that further down below. The external layer is made from the X16.1 model, it's just had the graphic print of the X17.1 model applied to it so that it at least visually looks the same as the retail model. Due to the upper colour, it is hard to see the indents/grooves in the material, however they can be seen when looking closely on the image above. On the X17.1 model the dotted design was actually a raised texturing, not just a print, however on Bale's pair those dots are a graphic print. Oh, have you noticed something custom around the edge of the forefoot area too? We'll explain that in more detail...
Now, again due to the colour of the upper is is slightly difficult to see in pictures, however in the images above if you look closely you can see that as well as the external layer of the upper being made from the X16.1 model, Adidas have also added an element from the 2013 F50 Adizero to it just for Bale, namely the 'Sprintweb' technology. This was first introduced on the 2010 F50 Adizero, however it was revised with every Adizero model that was released (ths was not on the leather models, however). The version added to Bale's X17's is from the 2013 model. It's essentially a thick layer of synthetic which runs around the edge of the forefoot area to add some further structure - something the X17 drastically lacked, like with a lot of modern day boots, due to the knitted upper construction. Bale was known for liking the upper of his boots to be solid, and the combination of the Adizero & X16 upper layers certainly achieve this - the upper here is pretty solid, even after use, it doesnt fold or have much play in the movement, which would strongly confirm that they fitted Bale's foot measurements with milimetric precision.
Bale is a keen golfer, and has a replica of the 17th hole – the island green – at TPC at Sawgrass in his back garden. His golf playing became somewhat controversial in his latter years at Real Madrid, with the perception that Bale was more interested in his hobby than football. El Confidencial cited golf as the reason why Bale spent so much time out injured, claiming it worsened his back problems. Bale often humorously played-up to this reputation; after qualifying for the Euro 2020 tournament with Wales, he celebrated behind a Welsh flag with the slogan "Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order" written on it. Bale was interviewed in Episode 179 of The Erik Anders Lang Show podcast, in which he said his golf handicap was "between a three and a four". Bale competed alongside American professional golfer Joseph Bramlett in the February 2023 edition of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. The duo went on to place joint-16th in the amateur side of the event
Moving onto the internals of the upper material construction, we can see here in the images above there is absolutely zero resemblence to the regular retail version of the X17.1! As we mentioned a little further up in the blog, the first layer of the upper has been taken directly from the 2013 F50 Adizero model, and here we can see the internal Sprintweb cage visinble on both the mdeial and lateral sides of the interior! The regular pairs sold to the public featured a soft padded interior lining, however o Bale's pair, there's no padding whatsoever! It is pretty clear now that Bale really loved that F50 Adizero so much that Adidas continued to make them for him years after they were discontinued, just like Kroos loved that Adipure! But hey, at least the general public got the same forefoot board on their pairs that Bale used in his X17.1... at least in terms of material anyway, you may notice in the second picture of the interior above, that the forefoot board in Bale's pair feature a unique shape - showing just how narrow the midfoot has been made, yet how wide the forefoot is!
In this photomatch above, we can see the unique characteristics pair that this pair contain, such as the personalisation of the Wales flag, his custom logo, name, squad number, and children's names, as well as the FG soleplate used along with the Sprintweb tech in the forefoot area of the upper. The bottom half of the picture also shows a little clearer the indents on the upper from the X16.1 design.
Above: this exact pair inside the Real Madrid dressing room prior to the match itsemf, the UEFA Champions League Final, on the 3rd June 2017 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Whilst many players select to have multiple pairs available to them to choose from on the match day, some players like Bale (as well as Marcelo & Benema as seen above) were already decisive on the pair they wanted to use during the Final. If you look closely, you'll see a white unit poking out the top of Bale's boots - that is his foot last (mould) which he had the Real Madrid kit man put inside his boots whenever he was not physically wearing them, in order to maintain their perfect fitment.
Above we can see a side by side image comparison of Bale's X17.1 and the regular retail version. Even though they share the same stud configuration and visual paint job design, as covered in this blog they are virtually incomparable beyond the Sprintframe! To the naked eye and TV cameras they may look the same which is clever marketing, but when you see them up close the differences are incredible - especially as Bale was one of the main faces of the X silo, it speaks volumes when one of the main players promoting the model was barely even wearing them at all.
During Bale's starstudded career, he won a staggering 22 major trophies which include 5x UEFA Champions League's, 3x La Liga title's, 4x FIFA Club World Cup's, 3x UEFA Super Cup's, 3x Supercopa de Espana's, 1x Copa del Rey, 1, Carling Cup, 1x MLS Cup, and 1x Supporters' Shield. For Real Madrid, Bale made a total of 258 appearances scoring 106 goals and making 87 assists in that time. Did you know, he scored more goals for the Galacticos than R9, and made more assists for them than Zinedine Zidane!
You may have noticed the absence of any insoles with this pair, which we have found to be extremely common with match worn boots from the world's best stars. This is due to the fact that many players use their own bespoke custom insoles, rather than generic ones like what comes with the retail versions, and here we have an example of Gareth's bespoke insoles which are what he would wear to cater to his specific requirements. These are orthopaedic, meaning they are made to his exact measurements and requirements. During his Madid career, Bale was known for regular injuries, bespoke items like this are added to player's footwear to help reduce the possibility of problems such as muscular and joint injuries.
Made by Podoactiva in using their state of the art facilities and technology at their base in Barcelona, Spain. They are incredibly light weight yet immensely strong. The top features a soft suede like material, incorperating Bale's custom logo and the Podoactiva logo into the finishing design.
"Our chiropodists are specialized in sport chiropody (the majority are in charge of the chiropody and biomechanics services to high-ranking teams such as Real Madrid, the Spanish National Football team, Atlético de Madrid, CSKA Moscow, the Spanish Athletics Federation, the Spanish Golf Federation etc.) We have the latest technology to diagnose with precision whether the way an athlete steps may have a relation to a present or future injury. The way that someone steps has a direct relation with an injury in an athlete. This being a movement that we will repeat millions of times during sport, any small defect can lead to an injury."
Interestingly, the main material used underneath the top layer is carbon. From the heel up to the forefoot area is a solid piece of carbon containing no flex whatsoever, with the forefoot itself being completely flimsy. The heel area has a thick piece of cushioning on top of the thick part of carbon. The entire forefoot also has a thin piece of carbon fibre running across the underside, the main reason that carbon is the main material here is that it is a high energy return and high performance material, which is the reason around Nike incorperating it into the soleplates of their boots for many years, Adidas do the same today with their X Speedportal silo, however as we all know, carbon fibre can be crazy expensive!
Most top athletes, not just in football, use bespoke insoles made specifically just for them. Due to the fact that have to perform at their peak performance level play day in day out, they need their footwear to be as close to perfect as possible to aid in the application of their optimum performance and to help prevent injury as much as possible. Ultimately, the tools of the job for any footballer is their footwear, so when at the very highest level, they've got to be perfect!
Acquiring match worn custom boots from a legendary football superstar of the stature of Gareth bale is a mammoth task at the best of times, however to get one 5 pairs he wore in UEFA Champions League Finals (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2022) is simply mind blowing! With the volume of special match worn pieces we take in here at BCBootsUK, it can sometimes make us forget for a second just how amazing it feels to have such an item in hands. But this pair have that WOW factor beyond belief! Let us know what you think of Gareth Bale's match worn boots from the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final in the comments section below...