Soccer Cleats - Basic Variations and What to Look For

Soccer cleats have come a long way over the years. For a while, while other athletic shoes were coming out with all kinds of new innovations, designs and looks, soccer cleats pretty much stayed true to their roots with just a basic black boot made of one of a handful of different materials; usually cow or kangaroo leather, or some kind of synthetic material. This is no longer the case as you can find anything from orange soccer cleats to high-tech compound materials including rubberized fins on the surface of the shoe designed to influence the way the ball is kicked. Soccer Shoes for Sale 

 

Still, despite all the variations that have arisen, there is still one main issue you need to consider when purchasing your soccer cleats that will make them fall into one of 3 categories; what kind of field surface will you be playing on? Will it be soft ground, firm ground or hard ground?

Soft ground refers to natural turf fields that are either very wet and muddy or which have very long grass (or both). Firm ground refers to most 'average' natural playing surfaces where the ground has some natural 'give' to it, but not an excessive amount. Finally hard ground refers to very hard natural surfaces, or more likely, hard artificial turf that is almost like carpet (or actually *is* carpet).

If you are going to be playing on very soft ground, you should be using cleats that are designed with this in mind. These soccer cleats typically have fewer teeth on the bottom so mud is less likely to clog up the spaces between them. They also are often removable, allowing you to adjust the actual length of the stud you play with. The softer the ground, the longer the stud you will want to use to give you better traction.

At the other extreme, if you were to be playing on very hard ground or even artificial turf (such as indoor soccer), having long studs like this would be a terrible idea. Instead, you want a much flatter sole on your shoe. In fact, indoor soccer shoes look much like tennis shoes on the bottom; flat with just a good tread design. Still, if you're going to be playing indoor soccer, you will be better off with real indoor soccer shoes as opposed to just tennis shoes or sneakers.

Turf shoes have a bit more tread than indoor shoes and can be used on both hard artificial surfaces such as indoor carpet, or very hard outdoor surfaces. These kinds of shoes typically have many small nubs or teeth to help you get traction, but they're still not really 'cleats'.

Finally, when it comes to playing on most natural surfaces, it will be considered 'firm' ground. The best kind of soccer cleat for this is the molded soccer cleat. The teeth or cleats themselves can vary in number and shape, but the basic idea is the same; the cleats are molded to the bottom of the shoe and work well on a wide range of natural surfaces. If you play outdoor soccer and the ground is not extremely soft and slippery, or unusually hard, this is the soccer cleat that will work the best for you.