![]() ![]() To help you find the right soccer shoes for you, we spoke with five professional coaches and players from around the country. “They are going to last three, four, or five years, depending on how well you take care of them, whereas synthetic shoes will only last one or two seasons.” His one warning: “If you play outside on a wet field, leather gets heavier than synthetics.” “I will always advise everyone to try leather shoes,” he says. Ivanov says when he used to play, he would “blow through cleats by wearing out the top of toes by dragging them.” Compared to synthetics, he says, “good leather will hold up for a longer period of time, so when I finally get a boot that feels like part of my foot, I don’t blow through and have to break in another pair.” Stefan Markovic, a coach at West Loop Soccer Club in Chicago, agrees. Synthetic shoes are typically lighter than leather, but they don’t last quite as long or mold quite as well to an individual’s foot. I always look for a soft durable leather that feels like a second skin, so if I curl my toes or angle my foot,” the shoe moves with him. If a pair of cleats adhere well to my feet, they’ll be comfortable and give me confidence in my control of the ball.” Alex Ivanov, a former semi-pro soccer player in the Empire State league and decathlete, and the current head coach of Nitehawks Sport Club in Massachusetts, says he “wants a cleat to feel like a part of my foot. “For me, I find that the material and the fit are most important. “Some people are looking for lightweight shoes, some people like the quality of material, and some people prioritize the fit,” he says. Once you know what surface you’ll be playing on, the rest is up to personal preference, says Scott Caldwell, a professional midfielder for the New England Revolution. And then there are indoor shoes that have flat bottoms with a little bit of tread and stick, almost like basketball shoes.” Multi-ground shoes, which are good for turf or firm ground, are somewhere in the middle, with cleats that aren’t super-short or as tall as they would be with firm-ground shoes. As Halle Bissen, assistant coach of the University of California San Francisco’s women’s soccer team, explains, “there are firm-ground shoes with hard plastic cleats for your run-of-the-mill grass field and soft-ground shoes with metal stud cleats to prevent slips on soggy grass fields and mud. ![]() Determining which shoe is right for you will depend on many factors, but the primary factor is the surface you play on. Whether you play soccer in a formal league or use backpacks to mark the goals for a pick-up game in the park, appropriate footwear can improve your play and help limit injuries. Note: the following list is in no particular orderġ.Photo: Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images Whether for yourself or as a gift for a soccer lover, you’ll be sure find something to your liking. They can be worn casually as they tend to be stylishly designed. And, of course, indoor soccer shoes aren’t limited to only when playing. They can also be used when playing on harder outdoor surfaces. They’re more like a sneaker, and constructed to keep your feet comfortable and stable, while promoting breathability and performance. Unlike the spiked cleats worn when playing outdoors on grass, indoor soccer shoes have rubber outsoles to maximize grip and traction on indoor surfaces like wooden gymnasium floors. And when playing inside, you’ll need a quality pair of indoor soccer shoes. While it is played outside mostly, indoor leagues are popping up all the time, especially in the winter. Arguably the most popular sport in the world, soccer is played 365 days a year.
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