Lotto Stadio 100 II FG Review — A Boot to Battle the Copa?

The Lotto brand gets somewhat overlooked, especially in South Africa. Not only does the Italian brand make some fantastic boots, but they’re sworn by as a cult favourite for anyone who’s been adventurous enough to try out their releases. It’s a shame, though, because Lotto not only makes widely-appealing boots, but they’re also listed at a price-point that’s far more reasonable than some other options out there.

The Lotto Stadio 100 II is one such boot that falls into this category, and, despite the mouthful of a name, is a superb boot both in function and design — appealing to both purists and those looking for some new-age tech with their on-pitch footwear; however, can it compete with the more established brands in town?

While some of Lotto’s other boots are aimed at being a bit more radical or different in terms of design and appearance, the Stadio 100 II is more of your mass-appeal boot, not because it’s simple, but because it’s excellently balanced.

The boot itself is a half-leather, half-knitted design, which enters the boot into the leather/knitted hybrid market alongside some other competitors on the market, such as the reworked Copas that have seen an overhaul in recent years. The leather on the Stadio 100 II is incredibly soft and makes up the majority of the upper, giving you that soft elegant touch on the ball and a pillow-y feeling around your forefoot. The knitted component is predominantly around the lacing area (providing some decent stretch to get your foot snuggly inside), however, it is coated with a TPU material which does stiffen up certain portions of it. This kind of duality of having a leather boot with a knitted collar does bring the best of both worlds to the party — combining the performance of old with the feel of new-age materials.

Shape-wise, the silhouette of the boot is quite wide with a noticeably elevated and spacious toe-box. You’ll have more than enough room to wiggle your digits with the boot on, although the lockdown and snugness around the midfoot still provide enough responsiveness to keep that 1:1 feeling when in motion. One downside to the knitted collar is that it features a Lotto tag on the upper part of the heel, which is fairly hard (and sharp), and caused some substantial rubbing and chaffing on the Achilles area. If you’re going to be taking these out for a long session, you’ll definitely need some thicker socks to withstand the abrasiveness of the tag.

On the flipside of the boot, you have a relatively interesting outsole thanks to a very flexible soleplate, which still has enough rigidity in the midsole and heel to give you stability. The stud configuration is essentially all-conical, with an additional stud on the lateral side (outside of your foot) to give you more stable angle changes. The round studs do have a small cutout in them, almost resembling a Pac Man design) too. These boots definitely have a little more bite than something like an artificial ground (AG) boot with all conical studs, but for the most part, they feel the same as something like a Nike Tiempo, and provide enough manoeuvrability to pivot and rotate in the ground, which is a good thing. They may not have the out-and-out aggression of something like a Mercurial Vapor, but for players who like a little bit of agility with their running, they’re a great (and safer) option.

The colourway is also something that may grab people’s eyes, thanks to the popping green soleplate and accents on the boot which contrast really nicely with the black leather. The green/black combo is not something we see often, and kudos to Lotto for making the Stadio 100 II stand out from the crowd.

With that said, while the Lotto Stadio 100 II is a fantastic boot that delivers that old-school feel but has the tricks brought in by the new era of boots too, it doesn’t do anything particularly remarkable. For someone not too sure what they’re looking for, the Stadio 100 II is a great choice as it ticks all the boxes without being too ambitious or gaudy.

The Lotto Stadio 100 II is available online from Lotto SA for R2,500.

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