Nike is taking on adidas in the nostalgia wars with its timely Total 90 revival - a football culture phenomenon is back

Total 90 is synonymous with one of football's great eras: the noughties. In the eyes of those who grew up on an appetite of peak Wayne Rooney, Francesco Totti and Fernando Torres, that is when football peaked - iconic names balling out with T90s on foot, wearing the iconic shirt template and weaving their magic with the T90 Aerow ball.

Its influence ran deep; notable GOATs Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho both wore T90s for a time before moving on to the adidas F50s and Nike Tiempo boots to which they are respectively indelibly linked in our minds.

Arguably the most iconic iteration of the boot arrived in 2004 ahead of the European Championship in the form of the tongue-less Total 90 III, instantly recognisable with the circled '90' on the instep and the panelled design that allowed for infinite colour combinations.

Back in the days when kit templates worked wonders, the accompanying shirts featured a framing stitch and pronounced dashes on the sleeves and collar. For the international federations Nike supplied, the designs marked the noughties era as the nonconforming circled front number made them all standouts between 2004-2006. Think Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2004.

As for the ball, the simple three-ring design of the T90 Aerow 1 was a huge hit - supplying countless with iconic moments in the Premier League, La Liga and even the Champions League.

This wasn't just about boots, balls and shirts - Total 90 became a football culture movement that transcended the pitch having captured the zeitgeist of the early 2000s. It seems that is what Nike are trying to hark back to with their re-release, which comes in the form of a streetwear trainer rather than a football boot.

The tracksuits were everywhere; the advertising campaigns were unbeaten; the ball was everyone's go-to in the park or on the playground. This was perhaps the first sign of football's huge potential influence on wider culture that has been fully realised in recent years.

For football-crazed millennials, alongside Preds and Pro Evolution Soccer, Total 90 became such a recognisable accompaniment to growing up in the noughties. Pure nostalgia.

It seems strange that such a strong cultural phenomenon could ever die out, but by the early 2010s, differing tastes, priorities and advancing technology saw Nike discontinue the silo.

We haven't seen a new Total 90 boot since 2013, with the Laser IV Nike's last drop before the sportswear giant shifted its focus to their new Hypervenom - itself since discontinued - and continuing to develop the iconic Mercurial.

On the pitch, the Total 90 had been all about power and precision, but there was a perception that elite players' needs were moving more towards speed, agility and touch, and the decision was made to render the T90 redundant.

Twelve long years later and Nike have seen fit to bring back the noughties icon, and it feels as though it's been a long time coming.

The marketing campaign has been interesting, with no standalone, polished advert packed full of their biggest stars to announce the return of Total 90 after such a long absence. Instead, the comeback has been drip-fed over a number of months.

Nike first teased the drop last summer, although that was hidden away on their SNKRS app. Netherlands legend Edgar Davids was then spotted wearing a pair in a five-a-side tournament hosted by rapper Travis Scott in November, before Nike revealed more incoming colourways a month later.

The American sportswear behemoth has also recently re-released Portugal's 2004 T90 home shirt having handed the duty of being the nation's kit supplier over to PUMA, as well as the iconic Aerow ball to mark the end of their 25-year partnership with the Premier League - all pointing to a wider comeback in the near future.

There is a sense that Nike perhaps didn't realise just how much people would care about the return of Total 90, with no sign as yet that they are planning to go big on the release. What is clear, though, is that this reboot is something they desperately need.

Their main competitors, adidas, have been utterly dominating the football boot marketing sphere in recent times, with their nostalgia-fuelled Predator relaunch proving to be particularly prolific.

The German sportswear specialists have been churning out slick advert after slick advert featuring their big-name athletes and ambassadors, including Jude Bellingham, Aitana Bonmati, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, while a backlog of iconic colourways is ensuring they are keeping everyone begging for more.

With the reboot of Total 90, Nike is finally entering this war of nostalgia with a football culture phenomenon of their own, but whether they can match their rivals' elite marketing strategy remains to be seen.

For the time being at least, it seems the Total 90 will not be returning to the pitch. Intriguingly, Nike have opted to relaunch the silo as a streetwear trainer, which has been marketed by high-end retailers such as END. Clothing and HIP Store - suggesting the target market is fashion heads rather than five-a-side ballers.

The description on Nike SNKRS' site reads: "Born on the pitch in 2000, the Total 90 left a lasting legacy on the beautiful game. Now it's back and ready for the street with authentic football style, reloaded for today. This modern edition swaps the boots for a flat rubber sole but keeps the iconic quilted upper and asymmetrical lacing of the original."

There is currently no indication that a revival of the Total 90 boots is even in the pipeline, but perhaps there is another twist coming in what has been a low-key marketing campaign to date, with T90 effectively soft re-launched over the past eight months.

Surely, SURELY there is more to come in this story and Nike won't pass up the opportunity to claw some ground back in this era of adidas dominance?! The brands' steady stream of teases suggests that is the case, but what we would give to see the Total 90 back on the pitch.

It all depends on whether the new trainers represent the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or this is the latest in a series of nostalgic, understated drops that are building us up to the big one. Only time will tell, but there is a sense that there is unfinished business...

The Nike Total 90 III trainer is available to buy now at Nike.com