THE RETURN OF TRICKS: PUMA JUST DROPPED ITS WORLD CUP BOOTS
By: Alex Courbat | Published: 28/05/2026
The football boot arms race ahead of a World Cup is always brilliant fun. Every brand wants the loudest colourway, the boldest campaign, the pair that ends up burned into our memories after one ridiculous piece of skill on the biggest stage. And this summer, PUMA haven’t just entered the conversation. They’ve absolutely hijacked it with the new “Showtime” pack.
Inspired by the legendary 2014 “Tricks” collection, the new pack brings back one of the most iconic concepts football boots have ever seen: mismatched colours on each foot. Back then, it felt rebellious. Weird, even. Now, it feels like the perfect fit for modern football, where personality matters just as much as performance and every player wants their own highlight reel moment.
And make no mistake, this pack is built entirely around the spotlight.
The first thing that hits you is the colour palette. Poison pink everywhere. Violent oranges. Electric aqua blue. It’s basically a Miami sunset with studs attached. The whole collection feels unapologetically loud, and honestly, fair play to PUMA for leaning fully into the chaos instead of playing it safe with another boring “speed” pack covered in silver gradients and corporate minimalism.
The Future 9 absolutely steals the spotlight. That fade from bright pink into molten orange across the midfoot is outrageous in the best possible way, while the little hits of aqua around the toe box stop it from becoming visually overloaded. It feels tailor-made for players who love a bit of theatre, the sort of footballers who attempt elasticos in traffic because they genuinely believe nobody can take the ball off them.
Then you’ve got the Ultra 6, which somehow looks even quicker than usual. The aggressive gradients down the side panels make it feel like it’s moving even when it’s sat still in the box. This is pure winger energy. Pure “knock it past the full-back and leave him chasing shadows” energy. You can already picture someone like Cody Gakpo tearing down the flank under floodlights with these flashing across the screen.
What’s clever, though, is that PUMA didn’t force the same visual treatment onto the King 20. Instead of drowning it in colour, they’ve kept things cleaner and more classic, with the split-colour concept mostly living on the soleplate. It still feels part of the Showtime family, but without sacrificing what makes the King special in the first place: that timeless, understated elegance. It’s the calm bloke in the room wearing a tailored suit while everyone else turns up in neon.
The nostalgia factor here is massive too. If you watched the 2014 World Cup, the original Tricks boots are probably etched into your brain forever. Marco Reus. Cesc Fàbregas. Mario Balotelli. That era when football boots suddenly became proper statements instead of just equipment. This new pack taps into that memory perfectly without feeling like a lazy retro re-release. It modernises the idea for a generation raised on social clips, tunnel fits and footballers becoming entertainers as much as athletes.
And that’s really what the Showtime pack understands better than most. Football now is performance. It’s confidence. It’s expression. Players don’t just want to dominate matches, they want to own moments. The oversized celebrations, the swagger, the no-look passes, the audacity of trying something ridiculous because millions are watching. This collection captures that energy brilliantly.
There’s also something refreshing about how fearless the whole thing feels. Nike and adidas have both gone heavy on pink and bright tones ahead of the 2026 World Cup too, but PUMA’s execution feels the most fun. The most chaotic. The most willing to embrace football’s sillier side, and that matters. Football should have personality. Boots should make kids want to sprint onto a pitch immediately after seeing them.
Most importantly, though, the Showtime pack actually looks like a World Cup collection. Big-stage boots. Boots designed for humid nights, dramatic knockouts and moments that get replayed for the next decade. And if we’re being honest, that’s exactly what football’s biggest tournament deserves.
