Year In Review | PUMA Football - Football News

As the new year approaches we continue our review of 2013 by looking back at PUMA Football's highlight reel from the past 12 months. New signings, limited edition collaborations, PUMA have been responsible for some of the most memorable boot releases in 2013.

PUMA have added a couple of big names to their squad and have continued to impress when it comes to innovation and unique personality. Crazy designs in the FA Cup final, silky collaborations with Hublot and BMW and one of the biggest media storms of the year in the form of Mario Balotelli's headline boot, it's fair to say you always have to expect the unexpected with PUMA.



January | evoSPEED Graphic - PUMA kicked off the year by dropping a Graphic Yellow design on the evoSPEED 1 football boots. The vibrant paint job landed as a Spring release which borrowed colours from the Cesc Fabregas signature PowerCat and was launched on January 1st making it the very first boot to feature on SoccerBible in 2013.



February | King Blackout - Pure King style arrived in February as PUMA landed an all black colour up on their prestigious KING silo. Fusing lightweight innovation with an old school design to create a super-stealth like boot that was popular with the boot traditionalist.

March | Italy Confederations Cup Kit - Italy's Confederations Cup kit was revealed in March, a shirt with a tasty 90's vibe which was worn by the Azzurri as they finished in third place. PUMA had already earned a reputation of delivering stylish garments for the Italian national side since their partnership began in 2003 and the Confed Cup kit was another sleek number.

April | evoSPEED Camo - One of the craziest boot releases landed in dramatic style as Sergio Aguero laced up in a Camo version of the previously unreleased next generation evoSPEED 1.2 boots in the FA Cup Final. PUMA know no boundaries when it comes to boot design and the Camo landed in a pink dotted design which covered the identity of the launch design.



May | evoSPEED 1.2 - PUMA officially launched their new evoSPEED 1.2 with a fresh design inspired by the smooth curves and dynamic airflow lines found on race cars. The crazy Camo disguise had gone and the evoSPEED 1.2 was revealed in a slick Black/Yellow/Blue colourway as PUMA took performance to the next level both technically and visually.

May | evoSPEED 1.2 with Pascal van Essan - In May we sat down with the man behind the new evoSPEED 1.2, Pascal Van Essen, who talked us through the design process of their next generation speed boot. Pascal told us "at a time when colours are getting more crazy, we felt it was quite revolutionary to just do a black shoe." Pascal also explained the bold branding on the instep of the boot as well as taking us through the tech aspects on the reshaped silo.

June | Hublot evoSPEED - In June PUMA joined forces with luxury watch maker Hublot to develop a bespoke pair of evoSPEED boots for charity. You could only get hold of the boots by purchasing one of just 100 watches priced at either $17,000 or $40,000 and each pair was signed by Falcao, who is endorsed by both brands.



July | Dia Del Futbol PowerCat - PUMA launched their latest release to the 'Graphic' series in July with the new 'Dia del Futbol' PowerCat 1.2. An out of this world design featuring wild works of art that took visual inspiration from the Mexican 'Day of the Dead' holiday. With 'Dia del Futbol' graphics across the upper, a skull design on the tongue and a skeletal design on the sole plate the boot was one of the most unique releases of the year.

August | King LUX - August marked PUMA add to the King's already legendary status by releasing a new 'Luxury edition'. Such football boot royalty needed a palace and PUMA sorted us out with an equally regal presentation case. When you opened up the case from the middle you were greeted by a gold lid with the words "There can be only one king" embossed on the front. No truer words said, there is certainly only one PUMA king, a boot that has long been associated with some of the greatest players to have ever lived.

August | evoSPEED Pink - PUMA made another big splash in August with the release of the Azalea Pink/Black evoSPEED 1.2. PUMA are never scared to take on something a bit different and they experimented with a bit of pink to design a boot that packed a stand out look on pitch and remains the most distinctive colour update to dress the evoSPEED



August | Santi Cazorla Signs - Just in time for the new season PUMA snapped up Arsenal's Santi Cazorla on a long term deal. Another top signing from the brand to join the likes of Falcao, Fabregas, Aguero and Giroud. On signing the contract Cazorla said “Signing this new partnership with PUMA is an exciting step for me. I like the people, their ideas for football and I am impressed with their product development."



September | evoSPEED Blackberry  - September saw another colour refresh for the evoSPEED. A lively blackberry paint job was handed to the speed silo and was worn for the first time by Sergio Aguero in Manchester City's Champions League group game with Viktoria Plzen. An Autumnal colourway that featured on PUMA's contracted evoSPEED players up until Christmas.

November | evoSPEED BMW - In November PUMA landed another of their famous collaborations. After partnerships with Hublot, Ducati and Ferrari to name just a few PUMA teamed up with fellow German brand BMW to drop 535 pairs of BMW evoSPEED boots. A visually stunning collectors item wrapped up in racing red with subtle BMW branding ont he heel and side of each boot.



December | evoSPEED SL - December saw the arrival of the evoSPEED SL; a lighter, stripped back version of the evoSPEED to join the King SL and PowerCat SL. Finished in a blue/peach paint job the evoSPEED SL weighed in at a featherlight 160g. A newly worked perforated upper made from Japanese microfibre synthetic reduced the weight, while the lightweight sole-plate used a combination of nylon and pebax with a bespoke traction stud system.

December | Balotelli evoPOWER Stampa - PUMA saved their biggest story until last. In late December they carried out a genius media stunt by lacing up Mario Balotelli in a mystery boot that didn't feature any branding, just newspaper headlines created by Mario himself. With the whole world talking about Balotelli's mystery boots PUMA then announced they had signed him up and sorted him out with another pair of headlined boots for the Milan derby, but this time the words "Why always PUMA?" were printed on the side.

What were your highlights from PUMA Football in 2013? Best boot release? Let us know. Join the conversation online, on Twitter and on Facebook.