What Football boots are made of?

As we know, football boots are an essential part of footballers outfit, and without them, football would never be the same. But have you ever asked yourself how football boots have been created and what materials have been used to make them? When they have been invented and why they have studs on the soleplate?

Frankly, I never asked myself those questions as well, and as an ex-footballer, I feel ashamed that I didn’t know the history of this vital part of the football world until now. So in this article, I will give you the answers to all these questions.

Back To The Roots

Going back to 1891 football boots weren’t in use at all. Instead, the players were wearing their working boots. Speaking of that, the type of boot has been made of thick leather and metal shin on the front of the boot. Hard to manoeuvre and heavy on foot these boots weren’t made for running or playing football with them.

Furthermore, the shoes didn’t have any studs on the soleplate and therefor no grip. That is because there were regulations which didn’t allow footballers to wear any shoes with anything sticking out from them.

The year is 1891 and revision of the football boots has allowed them to utilise small bars or studs on the shoes. So soon after that, the work boots were officially replaced by football boots made by leather to perform better on the field. In dry conditions, the weight of the boot has been 500g, and in wet conditions when this thick leather absorb the water, they were reaching a weight of above 1kg. 

So can you imagine Cristiano Ronaldo or Leonel Messi are being on the pitch with pair of those boots? I am quite sure that they would not score as many goals as they are scoring now. But funny or not that was the beginning of the modern football boots we know today.

Nine Years Later

The yearly decades of 1900, the football shoes didn’t get much of improvement or any updates, and for this lack of ideas, there is an explanation or even an excuse. By that time the World War 1 was about to begin, and frankly bear in mind that all these men have been involved in preparation for the War, there weren’t enough material and demand for updated boots.

With the end of World War 2, the interest of players and developers in the sport and footwear sector arose again. At this time football boots started to change noticeably. With the improvement of technology and using new materials, they begin making boots that were lighter and more flexible on foot.

Around the 1950s Adidas introduced their first football boots with screw-in studs. The material of the studs was either rubber or plastic so that you could use them in specific weather.

Going back into the beginning of the football boots, their colour always has been black. Still, around the 1970s with the improvement of the technology, designers began to experiment with the colours. So during this footwear revolution, the birth of one of the most iconic football shoes been shown to the football world. It was known as the Adidas Predator and straight away became a world sensation.

Nowadays Trends

Being in the 21st century and knowing how technology is improving every single second, football boots are going hand to hand with it. Nowadays football players can customise there boots to the smallest detail, from being able to have their name or number on the side of the boot to their personalised model of shoe.

Not only the outlook were updated but the soleplate as well with putting new studs with the shape of blades to provide better grip on the pitch. Another thing is the implanting small chips into the shoe so they can check their performance on the pitch and the training ground.

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The Materials Of Moder Football Boots

Starting with the insole, which is the part that adds comfort, is made of foam. So the foam is used in many sections and subjects, but it is also used in the mattresses, and mattresses are comfortable. So the idea is football boots to be as much comfortable as possible.

Next is the shoe outsole, this part can be made out of many different materials such as natural rubber, polyurethane and PVC compounds. But that entirely depends on you what type of shoe you want to have. Therefore, the sole of the boots its made of polyurethane and in modern life this material it’s used almost everywhere.

Jumping to the outside of the boots which I think is an essential part in terms of presentations and make someone buying it, as we mentioned above, it can be made of leather or synthetic fibres and colouring whatever colour you would like to have on it. Also, some of the studs can be made of aluminium, but the most useable one is from plastic and rubber, which is easy to produce and not so expensive as well.

Football boots without laces its not a football boots. But I might be wrong here because since Adidas and Nike began producing laceless boots, everything changed and in future laces might be part of the history.

But yet one of the best football shoes in present time Nike Phantom Vision Elite still have laces hidden under the mesh NikeSkin upper proving that they are still in the game. So the materials could be used for the make of the laces can be synthetic fibres, rope, leather and cotton.

So having the materials needed for a football shoe, why you don’t try to make your one and shine on the pitch with your personalised boots. That’s a joke, right! We all know that it’s far too tricky, and some professionals will make them for you!

The Brands

Nowadays there are so many sportswear brands and in particular football shoe brands. Adolf and Rudolph Dassler, the founders of Adidas and Puma, were the leading distributors of football shoes back in 1954.

But since then, the competition on the market its fierce and sports giants like Nike, Umbro, New Balance, and recently Under Armor are improving each year by making new more advanced and tech-wise boots. This is the evidence that the evolution of the football boots its not even close to the end.

Petar Leykov