Football Boots Reviewed

Pro Players Boot Choices

The biggest name players in the game wear a wide range of boots, with different pros headlining a selection of football shoes. For Nike, with their Mercurial Boots, they have Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe in the 2022 Mercurial Superfly Elite with Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes in the Mercurial Vapor. Puma have Antoine Griezmann to represent their Ultra and Neymar Jr. to headline the Puma Future, with Sadio Mane at New Balance in the Furon and adidas using Lionel Messi for the adidas Nemeziz, Paul Pogba for the Predator Freak, Mo Salah and Son Heung-min for the X Ghosted and Paulo Dybala for the Copa Sense.

Does a knitted upper suit your taste? Do you like some control elements added to get that extra grip and ping when dribbling, passing, and striking the ball? Love boots that are pliable and laceless? If so then feel free to fill up your heart's desires as the list is vast and wide on site.

Nike showcase their dominance with counteless pros choosing their Mercurial Superfly and Vapor series, alongside the Phantom that are commonly worn by playmakers and strikers respectively. adidas takes an equally huge share of market popularity with its iconic and aggressive Predators, supported by the ever lightweight X boots, plus the successor to the Messi signature line, the Nemeziz.

But don't think that leather boots have stepped aside; in fact, they are truly well and alive as they have been reinvented to adapt tradition to modernity. You can see that in the case of the technologically packed Nike Tiempo Legend and the highly regarded Copa, if you are looking for the most premium leather boots out there, you'll find them produced literally at the ends of the world with Japan's Mizuno and its Rebula, Morelia, and Morelia Neo lines, there is still massive enthusiasm for and a wide range of world-class leather football boots.

Your list of football boot choices doesn't even stop there! Looking for boots outside the big two? Perfect! New Balance continue to make the headlines with their Furon and Tekela, Puma still retains significant drawing power among the pros with the Future and Ultra soccer cleats and Umbro are still in the boot game too.

What Are The Best Boots For My Pitch?

Every detail is important to us, and that is why we also take note of the various soleplates and stud configurations to determine which are best for certain types of pitches and a variety of surfaces. Be it Nike's Aerotrac and Hyperreactive outsole, adidas Controlframe and Speedframe, or Puma's Rapidagility or Rapidsprint soleplates, they are usually referred to as Firm Ground Football Boots, for natural grass pitches. They consist of bladed and/or chevron studs that provide that aggressive bite when playing in naturally hardened soil pitch. But when the soil becomes soft, wet, and muddy, your favourite would always have a Soft Ground version, comprised of metallic studs that gets that need traction in the slippy soft ground pitch. You can remove these screw in studs and replace the length of them, depending on the severity of the conditions you face. Nike created their Anti Clog tenchnology and have applied it to many of the softground boot options as the sole, stops mud sticking and clumping to the soleplate, for improved traction on wet pitches.

There's also the Artificial Ground outsoles that work best with the 4G, 3G, astro turf pitches and artificial grass, brands have developed soleplates that can adjust to the extra demands of the pitches and offer conical studs, to avoid the injuries that can be associated with playing on artificial pitches. Some brands have created duel option soles, like Puma for example, they've made many of their soleplates FG/AG, as seen in the specs of the Rapidsprint and Rapidagility. For other types of dry pitches though, multi grounded/astroturf plates have been produced, primarily featuring numerous short conical studs that significantly reduces stud pressure. If you are a player of indoor football, then we have something in store for you as we also discuss boots that have an indoor outsole which is usually flat and rubbery.

What Types of Boots Do Brands Make?

Don't be confused if, let's say, your adidas Predators are called Predator 20.1 and your mate's Predator is 20+. Brands have used tiers for their silos to be able to market said lines to as many people as possible. Nike labels its top-end model Elite, followed by the takedowns Pro, Academy and Club. adidas and Puma share an identical tier system, as adidas uses a +,.1,.2,.3, and .4 system and simply a .1, .2, .3, and .4 labels for Puma. Mizuno's tier names may arguably be the proudest, with the top-end being called Made in Japan (indeed it is), and takedowns being named Elite and MD KL. Smaller brands like New Balance also employ a tier system, using the terms Pro, Destroy, and Dispatch from highest to lowest.

Boots By Position: