David Beckham's Prototype Match Worn / Issued Predator Pulse Boots

By:  Patrick Burd - Owner, Founder of Classic Soccer Cleats

It isn't even an argument who the king of the Adidas Predator is.  David Beckham was, and still is, the all time Predator Icon.  Over the years he had the sickest, the most custom, and the best Pred collection ever.  

The modifications he used were insane.  Hybrid Touch and Accelerator combos.  Precision with Accel elements.  He was even able to make the Pred X cool.  You're probably thinking, the Pred X... the rugby boots?  Yea those cinder block looking things.  Look up Beck's Pred X, they are like a second gen Powerswerve but cooler.  Check out my pal @boots_maniac_thailand for more, but do it after you read this.

But this isn't about the Pred X, we've got something even more unique.  A custom 1/1 spec that Beck's only used for one half of one match.  Seriously, these custom Adidas Predator Pulse Mania prototypes were only worn for the second half of December 14, 2003 against Deportivo.

A true family man, Beckham always had his kids names stitched on his boots.  It first started out with only "Brooklyn" on his earlier models. 

As you can see, Brooklyn was stitched onto the tongue of these.  If you look close, this Predator Pulse uses a Predator Mania tongue to help disguise them, prior to the Pulse launch.  

It was common for Adidas to do this with some of the top players back in the day.  Adidas would disguise the new generation before releasing it to the public.  Beckham especially, was the king of customization on his match worn boots.  Adidas could have made multiples 3, 4, 5, 6+ of the same boot for him and he would choose which customizations he preferred. 

You're probably thinking, okay, they used the Adidas Predator Mania tongue on the Pulse, big deal?  Let's take a look at that plate.  

Wondering why the bottom is fully red?  That's how the mania sole plate looked, so Adidas was keeping it disguised.  Another strange thing, see how the stripes are white and cut off to black half way through?  The Mania only had white stripes showing on the outside of the boots, and the Mania stripes ended in the middle of the sole plate.  That's exactly what Adidas did, blacking them out to disguise them near the insteps.  

Adidas also blackout out the rubber vamps.  Obviously, that's not how the Mania looked, but perhaps they didn't want to reveal the newly configured vamps system.  

Now, the underlying statement was, these were only worn by Becks in one half of one match.  How do we know that?


Credit Getty Images

Here it is, here is a picture from the first half of the match on December 14, 2003.  And yes, he's wearing the gunmetal Mania here.  Fast forward to the second half of the same match.  

Credit Getty Images


New boots, and it looks like Becks took a tumble at some point as well.  These exact specs were only worn in this match by Beckham.  You can see the Brooklyn on the Mania tongue.  The all red sole plate, the tongue, the red heel cup, and the blacked out vamps, same exact specs.  

This Pulse even came with a gunmetal Mania insole in them!  That's how I received them, with the Gunmetal insole in them, how crazy is that?  

Pictured above is the version Beckham wore for a period of time in the norma black Pulse colorway.  If you look closely, Brooklyn is stitched on the sides, not on the tongue, completely different then the one I have.  

Every other picture has Beckham wearing these specs, adn he only had Brooklyn on the sides of his boots, never on the tongue.  

There you have it, pretty much irrefutable proof that Beckham wore these specs and only in one match.  I've looked through dozens of others and have not been able to find him wearing this pair in any other matches.  A truly unique prototype design, made for a king.  

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