Finding football boots that are comfortable can be difficult - especially as a woman. But, fortunately, brands are becoming increasingly active in create specific options, and we've managed to detail all of the best football boots for women.
Having the correct fitting football boots is of paramount importance to a player's game, especially when it comes to women's players. With men's boots creating a higher risk of injury among women, and discomfort at a minimum, due to manufacturers biasing designs that are more ergonomically suited for men's feet, getting the right pair is essential.
There may be plenty of the best football boots around, but not many will provide a comfortable playing experience for women. Fortunately, we've taken it upon ourselves at FFT to bring you the best football boots for women on the market...
The quick list
Nike's thin gripknit upper feels fantastic on the ball, the stud pattern is aggressive while the rotational support is top quality. The Nike Women's Mercurial Vapor 16 Elite are truly top notch.
Offering great rotational support thanks to the supreme soleplate, the support of the Adidas Women's F50 Elite Mid is helped through the dynamic fit collar. Twisting, turning and cutting direction feels so much more secure.
Incredibly lightweight thanks to the full carbon soleplate, the Puma Women's Ultra 5 Carbon doesn't sacrifice any comfort in doing so. The stiffness of the soleplate ensures they're supported at all times.
With plenty of space in the forefoot and throughout the mid-portion of the boot, these are great for players with wide feet. They're anatomically shaped specifically for women's feet as well.
There's no extra space in the boot thanks to Nike's implementation of a one-piece upper on the Women's Phantom GX 2 Elite, which helps to keep the foot locked down at all times. The soleplate remains the same as the Mercurial.
Lightweight and thin, the Puma King Ultimate features K-Better, Puma's synthetic alternative to leather. This creates a barefoot feel in the upper, while underfoot the soleplate has been specifically designed for women.
Best overall
Nike's option when it comes to the best football boots for speed, the Mercurial Vapor 16 Elite offers a low-cut collar of the Nike Mercurial Superfly 10 Elite, with the only real difference being the aesthetic provided by the collar. In my personal opinion, I can't notice a difference between models so I'd recommend the slightly cheaper option.
What makes these boots most suitable for women is the outsole. Providing a springy sensation akin to running on clouds, the best way to describe this latest mercurial is that it feels like a running shoe with studs. This provides not only the support women's players need, but also the opportunity to manoeuvre easier thanks to the updated stud pattern.
Boasting a thin gripknit upper in the forefoot, which provides a sticky and close touch on the ball, the Vapors help players who enjoy taking small intricate touches on the ball. Rather than having that super locked-in fit previous models from Nike provided, this time around the upper is very soft, pliable and accommodating to any foot shape, without compromising too much on lockdown.
Best for traction
Made from a thin fibertouch upper, the Adidas Women's F50 Elite Mid offer a lightweight, glove-like fit that provides a responsive experience unlike no other. The mid-top silhouette incorporates an Adidas primeknit fabric panel around the ankle, providing adaptive support and comfort while playing.
Underfoot, the sprintframe 360 outsole features a combination of bladed and semi-conicalstuds, optimised for agility and speed in all directions. I found this configuration ensures exceptional traction and stability, providing players with a responsive feel off the ground, while also ensuring safety among women's players who might be more prone to injuries.
Padding in the heel is specifically designed to minimise irritation, ensuring a comfortable experience throughout the match, too. The boot uses a macro-texturing called sprintweb 3 on the upper, enhancing grip on the ball when passing and dribbling.
Best lightweight
The star of the show on the Puma Women's Ultra 5 Carbon is undoubtedly the outsole, which features the speedsystem carbon outsole - a fullcarbon fibre outsole that provides a more responsive and springy push off when running, while also reducing foot fatigue. Having carefully crafted the instep height and volume of their women's cleats to maximise comfort and performance, Puma has certainly made these cleats perfectly suited for the female player.
Jam-packed with advanced engineering and technology, the upper of the Puma Women's Ultra 5 Carbon features a lightweight mesh upper with gripcontrol pro skin technology that provides more grip on the ball, while still offering a close feel to the ball with every touch.
In order to prevent your feet from sliding around and stop any unnecessary movements, Puma has also added a nano grip sockliner. This lockdown is also amplified with the pwrtape SQD support frame to help give structure to the boot, while retaining its incredibly lightweight feel.
Best for wide feet
One of the best football boots for wide feet, the Puma Women's Future 8 Ultimate is also one of the best football boots for flat feet thanks to the multiple layers of fusionfit 3 on the upper, which provides a fit that adapts to the player's foot shape a lot better than regular materials.
The upper also has gripcontrol pro, which provides more grip on the ball, though I did find the feel was somewhat dampened by the thicker upper. This is to ensure there's more flexibility in the upper, but that comes at the cost of slightly bulky boots.
Underneath the upper there are 3D fuzionpods, which also help provide a custom fit and are there to provide a more dampened and cushioned feel when on the ball. Continuing on from the previous generation, the Future 8 features Puma’s pwrtape, a technology that I find does a great job in providing better lockdown on the top of the foot, with it working in the same way as kinesiology tape. To further enhance the lockdown the boots offer, the nano grip sockliner prevents foot slippage.
Best for lockdown
Softer and more pliable than the Mercurial, the Nike Women's Phantom GX 2 Elite still uses the same brilliant gripknit upper so doesn't lose out at all on performance, but it just feels a little thicker. The 3D texturing also enhances the feeling of a grippy, close touch, with the one-piece upper construction ensuring there is no extra space between the material and your foot.
There's great comfort throughout the boot as well, with the low recess heel coming with a lot of padding and the boot itself requiring little to no break-in time whatsoever. Players will similarly have the option of the Luna 2, which has the dynamic fit collar, with the only difference being that the Luna 2 may provide more unibody experience for players - everything else is exactly the same.
Nike became pioneers in the women's football boot market when it released the original version of this model, with the cyclone 360 stud configuration specifically created for the way a woman's body moves. The soleplate reduces rotational traction and thus place less stress on the body and ligaments, while still working well during intense phases of play.
Best for versatility
In a more modern update on traditional leather boots, the Puma Women's King Ultimate uses K-better, a synthetic material that is thinner, lighter, more water resistant, more durable and more stretchy than its natural counterpart. This makes these boots perfect for women's players looking to find the best fit for their new pair as a result, with that versatility essential.
I did find the King Ultimate fits a little narrow straight out of the box, but once broken in it should conform to the shape of your foot. The knit lace closure and collar also helps to provide a seamless fit with good lockdown, while the padded heel enhances comfort, too.
The soleplate has got an anatomical design specifically shaped for women's feet, with the conical studs ensuring safety when players are making sharp changes of direction, especially on artificial surfaces. Bladed studs are more likely to get caught in the ground and cause an injury, while conical studs can pivot a lot better around the same position.
How we test football boots
We wear each pair of football boots across several sessions, on a range of different surfaces, in order to help us determine their true level of performance. We focus on key factors including comfort, stability, fit and feel to then inform our ratings. . This also allows us to balance them against the claims from brands about new features and technology.
We like to balance the results against claims from the brands about new features and technology that are supposed to provide you with a marked improvement in performance, even if it's complete rubbish. If a material on the upper is supposed to provide a better fit, we'll take a look into how accurate the claim really is.
Each pair is tested by an expert member of the team who lives and breathes football boots. They're able able to cut through the marketing minefield and provide simple yet detailed advice for all players regardless of level.
How to choose the best football boots
What might be the best football boot for one person might be absolutely awful for the next - so it can often be difficult to find one that suits you best. But while we'd all love to go for the best looking boot, it's the fit and feel that is the most important thing to focus on - with the looks a secondary consideration.
Indeed, the market can be a minefield of marketing jargon at the best of times, so cutting through that is essential if you're to find a pair of boots that really suits your style and feet.
Are women's football boots the same as men's?
Absolutely. Men's and women's different body shapes and sizes means that the pressure loads through our feet aren't the same, while bone structures also affect how the foot works within boots. Soleplates and studs are therefore configured differently, in order to create a product that works best for both men and women.
In addition, the shape of the boot changes from men's to women's. Generally, a woman's foot arch height is different to a man's, therefore impacting the entirety of the rest of the foot shape. Wider toe boxes are therefore needed to support this, meaning there are lots of subtle changes in a woman's boot compared to a man's cleat that isn't necessarily noticeable at first glance.
Can women wear men's football boots?
Technically you can, but we wouldn't advise it. The way men's and women's football boots are designed is completely different, due to variances in ergonomic shapes. This affects how your foot works in the boot, potentially creating a greater risk of injury as a result.
In previous years, women's boots were a lot harder to come by, but that's definitely changing now. There are an increasing number of options available on the market right now, so opting away from men's boots would be a significant step to become a better, safer player.
Getting the right fit
We would always recommend trying a pair before buying because making sure your cleats are the perfect length and width is key.
Pairs of the same size often vary slightly in length between brands and across models, so it important to try a pair on in order to know whether it is better to go a half size up or down for a particular pair or brand.
Foot shape is highly personal so consider the shape of your feet when looking for a pair. Some cleats are very narrow so will not suit anyone with wide feet and likewise very wide fitting pairs can sometimes feel slightly awkward for those with especially narrow feet.
This is especially important if considering a pair of laceless cleats as the lack of laces means there is very little adaptability – they will either work for your feet or they won’t.
