adidas Nemeziz Messi 19.2 "Copa"

The Adidas Nemeziz Messi 2020 colorway (released across the Nemeziz range's various build tiers: the laced FG "19.1," the artificial-ground "19.2," turf "19.3," and flexible-ground "19.4" versions, in Team Royal Blue/Silver Metallic/Solar Yellow) is best known in boot media as the "Copa" boots, so named because it was originally conceived to coincide with the Copa América 2020 tournament. It is one of the most personal Messi colorways of the Nemeziz era, built around a split, asymmetrical design that separately honors Rosario, Argentina (his birthplace) on the right boot and Barcelona, Spain (the club where he built his legend) on the left boot. It matters in Messi's boot history both as a rare purely biographical design (rather than a performance or trophy tie-in) and because of the unusual, disrupted circumstances of its release, which were reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The colorway was originally designed and slated for a June 2020 release to coincide with the Copa América 2020 tournament, which Argentina was set to co-host.
• Copa América 2020 was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed back Adidas's marketing plans for the boot.
• Images of the boots first leaked in April 2020, with a Tribuna.com report on July 13, 2020 showing further leaked pictures of Messi's new boots.
• Messi was seen wearing the boots in UEFA Champions League matches in the closing stages of the 2019–20 season (played out in the pandemic-delayed "Final Eight" format in August 2020).
• Official retail launch/press coverage of the boot came via SoccerBible and Soccer Cleats 101 on August 4, 2020.
• Given the extended rollout, the boots remained a visible part of Messi's rotation through roughly August to October 2020, spanning the very end of the 2019–20 season and the start of the 2020–21 campaign at Barcelona.

The boots are built on the standard Nemeziz 19-generation platform: a textile upper reinforced with Tension Tape construction that wraps around the foot for a "barefoot-like" touch and personalized lockdown fit, a flexible Torsion System, and an agility-oriented stud configuration designed for sharp acceleration and rapid changes of direction. This particular colorway was released across multiple build tiers under the Nemeziz range (the laced firm-ground 19.1, the artificial-ground-oriented 19.2, the turf-soled 19.3, and the flexible-ground 19.4), all sharing the identical Royal Blue/Silver Metallic/Solar Yellow graphic treatment, meaning fans and lower-tier players could access variants of the same design Messi wore. No major new construction technology debuted with this specific release; it is defined by its graphics rather than performance innovation.

The base colorway is Team Royal Blue with Silver Metallic and Solar Yellow accents. Its signature feature is an asymmetrical, non-repeating graphic: the right boot carries imagery and detailing tied to Rosario, Messi's hometown, while the left boot is dedicated to Barcelona, incorporating hues associated with the club and callouts to his career there. The design includes Messi's number 10, his personal logo, and an image referencing him celebrating, along with other specific details tied to his personal story. Adidas had used a similar Rosario-themed concept once before, in a 2015 Messi boot release, making this 2020 pair a continuation of that biographical design lineage.

The boot's intended narrative was to mark the 2020 Copa América, the first major international tournament Argentina was set to co-host during Messi's career, and to underline his dual identity as a Rosario-born player who became a Barcelona icon. The pandemic's postponement of the tournament to 2021 stripped away the boot's original marketing tentpole, and Adidas ultimately released it with comparatively little fanfare mid-pandemic, debuting it instead in Champions League matches rather than at a tournament launch event. The release also landed during one of the most turbulent periods of Messi's Barcelona career: in August 2020, shortly after this colorway's public rollout, Barcelona suffered a historic 8–2 Champions League quarter-final defeat to Bayern Munich, and within days Messi submitted a "burofax" formally requesting to leave the club, a request the club rejected, keeping him at Barcelona for one more season. While no source reviewed explicitly confirms Messi wore this exact colorway in the 8–2 Bayern match, the boot's release window directly overlaps with this pivotal, emotionally fraught chapter in his Barcelona career.

Messi was photographed and reported wearing the boots in Champions League fixtures during the pandemic-condensed conclusion to the 2019–20 season, including Barcelona's participation in the delayed "Final Eight" mini-tournament in Lisbon in August 2020 (which included the infamous 8–2 quarter-final loss to Bayern Munich). The boots then carried into the very start of the 2020–21 La Liga season for Barcelona. Because Copa América 2020 was postponed, the boots never fulfilled their original purpose of being worn at that tournament with the Argentina national team; Messi would not wear a Copa América-specific Adidas colorway with Argentina until the following year's rescheduled tournament (see the separate "El Retorno" boots).

The most personal retail colorway of the Nemeziz era (an asymmetric design honoring Rosario on the right boot and Barcelona on the left) and the unluckiest. Built for a Copa América that COVID postponed, it launched quietly in August 2020 and instead soundtracked the bleakest stretch of Messi's Barcelona career: the Lisbon Final Eight, the 8-2 Bayern defeat, and the burofax. Because the design shipped across all four build tiers (19.1 FG down to 19.4 FXG), pairs are easy to find and cheap; the premium 19.1 build with the split graphic is the version collectors should target for its end-of-an-era significance.