Mizuno Alpha

Mizuno Alpha is the Japanese brand’s attempt to enter the mainstream synthetic boot market,  a deviation from the usual K-leather offerings of the boot maker. Mizuno Alpha directly competes with the more popular speed boots like the Nike Mercurial, adidas X and Puma Ultra.

What You’ll Find On This Page:

Common Questions Asked About The Alpha:

• How much does Mizuno Alpha weigh?

In a size 9 US, the Mizuno Alpha weighs 190 grams.

• What boots does Sergio Ramos wear?

At least for the Alpha, Mizuno was able to secure the signature of Sergio Ramos to headline the said boot. Arguably nearing the end of his career, Ramos still participates in high-level football competitions to this point and still offers some marketable sense to the silo.

Mizuno Alpha Tiers

Just like any other brand, Mizuno provides top-tier and budget executions for their silos. Here is how it looks like for the Alpha speed boots:

Emphasising the uniqueness of Japanese quality, Mizuno labels it’s most premium tier Made in Japan and their second takedown model Elite (implying that the top-level boots of other brands are simply second best to what Mizuno provides). But, at least for the Alpha silo, the only difference between the MIJ and Elite is that the microfibre lining has more volume in the latter. Select is where you can see a significant change in Mizuno’s attempt to cut corners.

Mizuno Alpha Made in Japan Review

Five Things You’ll Want to Know:

1. Only boot in the current lineup without K-leather
2. Focused on speed
3. Costs around £300
4. Synthetic-based
5. The replacement silo for the Rebula

Our Mizuno Alpha Expert Review

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Going out of your comfort zone is always a risk. And judging by its build and performance, the Mizuno Alpha is a risk well taken!

Boot Rankings, Best For…

According to Unisport’s Jay Mike:

• Near-perfect fitting boot; mainly comes from the boot shape-has a close, snug feel; also because of the central laces and the Zeroglide mesh
• Toe box not a lot of volume, falls on the tighter side (though not restrictive)
• Upper just need a few sessions to fully break-in
• Heel fit is perfect as the shape is narrowed down a bit
• Might need to consider going down half-a-size in length
• Soleplate focus more on speed rather than fit and comfort; Karvo RS really stiff and responsive like the adidas Speedframe
• Triangular studs on par with the rest in terms of traction
• Touch is direct, barefoot-like; very honest on the ball; Internal frame however gives a hint of softness
• Has not much protection
• Only big problem is the PRICE; rivals the Mercurials and the Xs, but just really expensive

From K-Leather to Synthetic: How the Mizuno Alpha Came to Be

Being that Mizuno is a brand specialising in K-leather football boots, the surprise is not so much that the Alpha succeeded a K-leather silo, but what specific K-leather silo it replaces. It might be easy to think that the Alpha could have supplanted the Morelia Neo, but the synthetic Mizuno boot actually succeeded a model that was built on control.

Rebula V1 (2017)

The story began in 2017 when the Mizuno thought of creating an advanced form of K-leather boot. With that, they decided to move on from the Wave Ignitus (see the 2022 remake here). As you can see, the frame is fused in the Alpha has its roots with the very first Rebula, which incorporated a CT Frame that enhanced ball touch and spin on the forefoot, stability around the midfoot and heel lockdown on the rear. CT Frame enabled the Rebula to avoid the need for the stitching and perforations, which were the traditional source of K-leather upper structure and stability but susceptible to water intake.

Rebula 2 V1 (2018)

A year later, Mizuno updated the Rebula to double down on the touch and stability component of the CT Frame by reengineering its design and shape. The most obvious difference between the 2 and the V1 was the difference on the heel makeup, where the former used a different material instead of extending the main upper and CT Frame to that part of the boot like the V1 did.

Rebula 3 (2019)

While the core DNA was still there, the Rebula 3 did introduce some major changes that made it standout versus the previous Rebulas. The K-leather had been limited from the midfoot to the forefoot, and a synthetic mesh comprised the quarter that was also covered with non-stretch strips/webbing. The lacing was more central, and the leather became relatively thinner. Whereas the V1 and 2 were more narrow-fitting, the Rebula 3 became more forgiving and allowed flat-footed/wide-footed players to somehow fit in.

Rebula Cup (2020)

At this point the only thing that remained constant with the Rebula was the D-Flex groove soleplate, where much of the flex was coming from the medial side with the torsion stiffener bar flowing through the lateral side. This resulted to a flex point that felt more anatomical than those from other mainstream boots. The upper told a different story though as the CT Frame was totally dropped in favour of memory foam pods as the new touch and control elements. Those fused elements made the Wave Cup influence on the Rebula Cup quite clear. The boot wrapped it up with the FT Grip Coating to give the upper some sticky ball grip attribute.