Whether they’re called soccer cleats or shoes in the U.S. or soccer boots in Europe, your soccer footwear is the most important element of your equipment. Look for flawless fit in terms of size and width, as well as arch support and shoe liners for comfort.
Types
Soccer boots typically refers to hard-ground shoes, the most versatile shoe for natural turf fields in good condition, neither dusty, rocky nor muddy. Molded outsoles feature plastic studs in a blade or cone shape, with configurations typically designed for speed and change of direction. These are distinct from soft-ground shoes designed for mud, with wider studs spaced farther apart; turf shoes with rubber nubs designed for artificial surfaces; and indoor shoes for arena games.
Features
The uppers can be basic black or in a rainbow of colors, especially at higher price points. Top manufacturers also permit full shoe customization. You can specify the color of each material panel and the shoelaces as well as add your name, number or a flag or logo. Manufacturers provide descriptions of the uppers composition. Look for stitched panels that can add control and spin to your shots and passes. If you make hard-driven shots with the tops of your laces, try out versions with regular centered laces, off-center variations and lace covers to flatten the top of the foot.
History
Soccer boots were originally made of heavy cow leather with soles featuring leather studs, writes Richard Witzig in “The Global Art of Soccer.” Over time, kangaroo leather replaced cow leather. Metal and plastic studs came into fashion, and molded plastic eventually took over the entire sole of the boot. Shoes were all black until 1949, when three stripes appeared on the Adidas brand. West Germany wore Adidas boots as it won the World Cup in 1954 in an early example of team branding.
Terminology
Margo DeMello in “Feet and Footwear: A Cultural Encyclopedia” differentiates between early soccer shoes, which were indeed “boots” and provided ankle support, with low-cut shoes worn for soccer, which did not appear in Northern Europe until the 1950s. A tour of London’s Arsenal club to Brazil in 1951 exposed the team to lightweight calfskin boots used by the South American players, which they bought back and popularized in England.
Expert Insight
Witzig states that despite the tremendous marketing of athletic shoes from the 1980s onward, “there has in essence been no major improvements in soccer boot function.” Players using a basic black kangaroo-leather boot with circular studs “still perform at the same level as those using newer champagne-synthetic-off-center-laces-slash-footprint boots.”
