Having the best football boots for comfort is essential for any player who routinely suffers from any sort of aches and pains from their footwear.
Not only that, but having comfortable football boots can have a hugely positively iimpact on a player's game, especially considering the safety aspect. Some boots are designed with incredibly thin uppers, offering little in the way of protection, support or even general consideration for the tools placed inside them for 90 minutes.
There may be a range of the best football boots around, with plenty of options for defenders, midfielders, wingers and strikers, but that doesn't mean many of them are suited for comfortability. Fortunately, here you'll find the best football boots for comfort, meaning you'll have to look no further.
New Balance Tekela V4+ Pro Low (Image credit: Future)
I truly believe the Tekela V4+ Pro Low is the most comfortable boot available on the market that isn't made from natural leather. New Balance's hypoknit material is super soft and flexible immediately out of the box, meaning there's no break-in time, while they also have the ability to wrap perfectly around your foot, too.
What makes these great, though, is that the upper is still relatively thin, providing a true one-to-one sensation between foot and ball. That might sound like a juxtaposition, but there's great comfort to be had from a thin and flexible upper.
When taking into account the soleplate providing plenty of support and padding, the Tekela V4+ Pro Low are superb at providing something sturdy underfoot as well as a barefoot feeling above it.
As worn by: Declan Rice, Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori
Reasons to buy
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Old-school design
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Good for touch and passing
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Comfortable
Reasons to avoid
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Bulky
With a traditional construction already implemented onto the Copa Pure 2.1, the boot also has a padded heel area and a bulkier structure to provide more support underfoot. This ensures that pressure across your foot is spread out brilliantly, with the soleplate cushioning impacts from running and jumping.
Plus, the leather upper adds to the comfort levels. I found there's plenty of padding in the forefoot when I touched the ball, while their ability to conform to the shape of my foot meant they fit like a glove after just a couple of wears.
The traditional tongue also allows you to adjust how tight you want to wear your boots, helping with comfort levels and accommodating a player's preference, too.
If you have wide feet but still want a synthetic boot complete with all of the latest technologies, then look no further than the Puma Future 7 Ultimate. Made from Puma's Fuzionfit360 material, the upper is able to stretch slightly over time due to how soft and pliable they are, while the construction is naturally a little bit wider than the majority of the best boots.
What makes these comfortable straight out of the box is the placement of Puma's Pwrtape technology, which now hugs the top of the foot rather than the sides. This increases lockdown without making your feet feel restricted in the process.
I also really enjoyed the extended collar providing more space and freedom of movement for my feet. It's not excessively tight like other collars, so helped provide greater comfort levels as a result.
The godfather of football boots, it's no wonder the Adidas Copa Mundial hasn't changed one bit since launching nearly 50 years ago. Providing a literal comfort blanket to players of all ages, the leather on the boot is so unbelievably soft that it makes it feel like a pillow is wedged between your foot and the ball whenever you touch it.
But that's not to diminish the performance levels of the boot, either. While some may not like a padded sensation, plenty of players over the course of history have loved the feeling of comfort it provides. What's great, and something I've never quite been able to understand, is that the Copa Mundials have no break-in time, too.
The traditional tongue ensures there's no danger of lace bite, too, with the upper's construction such that it can easily conform to the shape of any foot type; whether it's narrow, wide, short or long.
Nike Tiempo Legend 10 Elite (Image credit: Future)
Nike Tiempo Legend 10 Elite
A reimagined old-school classic, these iconic boots have recently switched to synthetic
As worn by: Virgil van Dijk, James Ward-Prowse, Jamal Musiala
Reasons to buy
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Classic design
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Wonderful comfort
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Great touch on the ball
Reasons to avoid
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Upper material not quite able to replicate leather feel
For the first time on its Tiempo Legend range, Nike has constructed the upper from leather-imitating synthetic material rather than natural leather. For the purists, this is a major design flaw, though for Nike it's an improvement on creating something lighter while still retaining a great level of comfort.
Slightly sleeker than the previous iteration, the Tiempo Legend 10 is less bulky on feet, thus improving comfort levels because there wasn't any additional space for my feet to slide around in. Though this makes them less suitable for players with wide feet, blisters were no longer a problem wearing Tiempos thanks to this change.
Conical studs are always more comfortable than aggressive soleplates, too, with changes of direction easier on the joints and more natural underfoot.
Mizuno Morelia II Made in Japan (Image credit: Mizuno)
Mizuno Morelia II Made in Japan
Built with comfort and quality in mind, there's no additional weight attached to these boots
Our expert review:
Specifications
Colourways available: 12
Studs: Firm Ground, Soft Ground
Sizes available: UK 6 - 13
As worn by: N/A
Reasons to buy
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Classic design
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The best quality leather available
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Unrivalled comfort
Reasons to avoid
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Most expensive boot of its type on the market
The Mizuno Morelia II Made in Japan provide a playing experience quite unlike anything I've ever had before. The quality of the kangaroo leather, coupled with the accommodating fit and high levels of cushioning, ensures that these are among the best football boots for comfort.
What's most-surprising about these boots, however, is that they're still extremely lightweight when considering the quality of the construction and the fact they're made from natural leather. This makes them a great bonus for any player on the pitch, with each position catered to.
Indeed, defenders will receive greater protection from the leather, midfielders cushioned touches and passing, wingers a lightweight sensation and strikers a combination of cushioned shots and lightweight ability. What everyone will receive, though, is supreme levels of comfort. That's for sure.
How we test football boots
Our priority when testing is to play in as many training sessions, matches and kickabouts as possible with each boot, helping us ascertain its true levels through extensive use. There are a range of different factors we consider during testing, with our main considerations focusing on stability, fit, feel and, of course, comfort.
An expert member of our team who lives and breathes the game, as well as knows all the intricacies about design choices from each individual brand, is at the forefront of the testing process, helping to straight to the detail and bypass all of that marketing jargon regularly used by brands.
How to choose the best football boots
So many needs in the modern game are now catered for with football boots, that it's often extremely difficult trying to choose the perfect pair.
Ultimately, your choice should come down to what best suits you and your game, but that can be difficult if you don't know where to start looking. Below are some factors to consider when looking for your next pair...
Soleplate
Soleplates can often be a dealbreaker in comfort levels, because often super-light boots forego any extra padding that could help to alleviate pressure on your foot. Therefore, finding boots that are structurally sound underfoot is of paramount importance, and can sometimes be the difference between you developing blisters during games or not.
The surface you use your boots on can have an impact on comfortability, too. Soft ground boots won't sink far enough into firm ground surface, creating large stud pressure and discomfort underfoot. So always purchase a pair that suits the surface you play on most often.
Getting the right fit
In order to get the right fit, we'd always recommend people go into their local shops and try on as many different football boots as possible, simply to ascertain their true size with different brands. That's because sizing can vary from Nike to Adidas to Puma and so on, so trying a pair on your feet first is imperative, especially if you want ones that are comfortable when playing.
Styling
Once you've decided everything else mentioned above, now is the time for you to express yourself as a player. Models are released in a plethora of new colorways these days, meaning there's no issue of finding a style you like best. Sure, another model might have the perfect colorway, but if they don't fit or aren't comfortable, then they're no use to you.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
