Whether you have already brought football boots or are thinking of doing so, one question that might have come to your mind is how tight should they be.
After all when it comes to shoes in general football boots are a lot different to anything else out there and this is mainly because they are made solely for use on the football pitch.
Now unlike your typical trainers, you would wear casually or a pair of smart shoes you would wear to some event, what you tend to look for in football boots is a lot different.
The goal is some comfortable but also tight, however for you to find yourself to this post, you are likely wondering how tight should they be?
Well, here I am going to use my experience from buying football boots for the last 13+ years, to help you figure out what to look for when on the hunt for the perfect fit.
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Typically How Tight Should Football Boots Be?
What is the common rule of thumb that the majority of footballers follow, is that when going for a pair of football boots that you should be aiming for ones that fit you with around 1 or 2 cm space at the front.
This is to give you a tight fit but not to the point where your toes are curling up because if that is the case you will likely find playing football a painful experience.
Now I won’t lie to you, if you are looking for football boots as a newbie it can be tricky to know what you are after.
Because when you first starting trying them on, you will find them so much tighter to regular shoes, and it will take time to adjust.
Allowing For Different Materials
With football boots nowadays you have two types synthetic and leather. Now each gives you a different feel on your fit and work differently, it’s because of that, it’s key to know what to expect when trying boots of these materials.
Synthetic Football Boots
For synthetic which is what the majority of newer generation boots are being made off, are made of plastic materials that wrap around your feet.
Compared to leather football boots these do take a bit longer to break into, however, once they adapt to the shape of your feet they work great. This is also because they are made to work in wet and dry conditions.
Synthetic boots from my experience are also a bit tighter than leather football boots, so at first they might feel uncomfortable.
But as long as you pick the right size that allows room for your toes plus the side of your foot, you should be fine.
Leather Football Boots
Now what the older generations will be used to more is the leather football boots, which still nowadays are present on the market through popular silos such as Adidas’s Copa’s and Nike’s Tiempos’s.
Leather boots contrary to synthetic ones, take less time to wrap around your feet, but the only negative is that they don’t last as long as they.
With leather, you have a comfortable material that is also flexible and proven to be very durable over the years.
The advice with these boots is still the same, that is to make sure your toes can stretch fully, apart from that if they fit and feel okay, you should be good to go.
Comes Down To Personal Preference
A lot of things in football comes down to personal preference whether that be preferring Messi to Ronaldo or vice versa or having a football club you support over others.
Now when it comes to football boots you have as I spoke about earlier general advice about how tight they should be.
But to be honest as long as your not spending either 10 minutes trying to wiggle your boots on or off, there is a degree of personal preference that comes into play.
What I mean by this is some footballers prefer boots that are really tight, like myself.
Those who prefer boots like this, tend to want optimum control of the ball.
They want their feet to be closer to the ball and as a result, want every touch to be as close to their body as possible. The benefits of this are clear, as it can really help your football game.
Others may want more space, now really you don’t want lots of it.
Because you may find yourself making the heaviest touches. But the point is not everyone wants the tightest fit possible.
So it’s all about preference but also having a bit of balance too, because even if you could tolerate the tightest fit, do you want to struggle when trying to get the boot on or off?
At the end of the day, it is up to you.
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