Best lightweight soccer cleats: The latest ranges designed for speed and agility from Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance and Mizuno

Best lightweight
(Image credit: Future)

The best lightweight soccer cleats are an essential piece of kit for any player's arsenal, though specifically those who rely on speed and agility during games.

Having the right cleats can make a huge difference to a player's game, with certain ranges specifically designed to assist defenders, midfielder, strikers, wingers, speed merchants, and even those with wide feet and those whose feet are flat

FFT has been dedicating itself to categorising designs to make boot shopping easier for you. If you're simply looking for the best soccer cleats out right now, be sure to check out our other reviews.

But here you'll find the best lightweight soccer cleats on the market right now...

The quick list


Best for dribbling

Adidas F50 Elite

Adidas F50 Elite (Image credit: Future)
Improvements are clear and obvious with Adidas' latest speed cleat

Specifications

Colorways available: 7
Studs: Firm ground, soft ground, artificial ground
Sizes available: US 4-13
As worn by: Lionel Messi, Mohamed Salah

Reasons to buy

+
Return of a classic, fan-favourite model
+
Extremely lightweight

Reasons to avoid

-
Slight bunching at the ankle doesn't make them the most comfortable

Bringing back the F50 is a masterstroke from Adidas, with the fan-favourite model more technologically advanced than it ever was, and still extremely light even considering the brand's decision to create something slightly sturdier than before. That's not to say they've even remotely moved away from being lightweight. In fact, they're lighter than the Nike Mercurial Superfly 9 Elite - no mean feat considering that cleat is often regarded as the kings when it comes to weightlessness.

The soleplate isn't as responsive as other cleats on this list, though, largely due to Adidas' decision to remove the carbon insert from the plate. This improves comfort, but takes the aggression away from the cleat somewhat. 

What truly stands out for me is Adidas' Fibretouch upper material coupled with Sprintweb 3D texturing to offer a rough, gritty grip on the ball - perfect for wingers and strikers looking to dribble at opponents during games. Don't mistake this for extra weight, either, they're still extremely thin and light. 


Best barefoot feel

Nike Mercurial boots

Nike Mercurial Superfly 9 Elite (Image credit: Future)
Most weightless Mercurial boots ever

Specifications

Colorways available: 23
Studs: Firm ground, soft ground, artificial ground
Sizes available: US 4 - 14
As worn by: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Beth Mead

Reasons to buy

+
Unbelievably light
+
Beautiful design
+
Barefoot feel
+
Unique air zoom unit
+
Aggressive studs

Reasons to avoid

-
Nike Swoosh isn't as prominent
-
Unsuitable for wide feetEmpty List

A cleat that has long been the most popular in the speed category, the Mercurial Superfly 9 Elite is often at the very cutting edge of technology. In implementing an Air Zoom unit in the soleplate, Nike has once again pushed the boundaries to provide an even more responsive feeling during the acceleration phase. 

 A super-thin upper, formed of Nike's Vaporposite+ material, makes these super light - though that doesn't detract from the quality of touch on the ball when dribbling, passing and shooting. 

With a weight of less than 200 grams, I honestly forgot at times that I had a pair of cleats on my feet. Only when I pushed off from a standing start did I notice, though, with the aggressive soleplate helping me get up to top speed a lot quicker. The cleats being lighter than virtually every other single pair on the market certainly helped with this, too. 


Best for traction

Puma Ultra 5 Carbon

Puma Ultra 5 Carbon (Image credit: Future)
Perhaps the most technologically-advanced cleat ever made

Specifications

Colorways available: 2
Studs: Firm ground
Sizes available: US 7-14
As worn by : Kyle Walker, Kingsley Coman, Theo Hernandez

Reasons to buy

+
Very responsive soleplate
+
Great traction
+
Good comfort

Reasons to avoid

-
Awkward sizing

Puma took four years to create this cleat, using academic research and traction studies in order to determine the ultimate configuration and design for a lightweight, speed option. It doesn't disappoint.

I'm a huge fan of the Speedsystm outsole, which is comprised entirely of carbon fibre. For some, this may prove too stiff, but I loved how responsive it felt when sprinting, twisting and turning. This is further helped by the FastTrax studs, which are super aggressive. 

Carbon fibre is, of course, what helps make the Ultra 5s especially lightweight, but the thin upper also provides a barefoot feel on the ball that rivals the best cleats on the market.


Best for comfort

New Balance Furon V7+ Pro

New Balance Furon V7+ Pro (Image credit: Future)
The best speed cleat you’ve (probably) never tried

Specifications

Colorways: 5
Studs: Firm Ground, Soft Ground, Artificial Ground
Sizes available: US 5-13
As worn by: Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Sadio Mane

Reasons to buy

+
Soft knitted upper
+
Something different

Reasons to avoid

-
Awkward sizing

Lightweight cleats aren't always comfortable, trust me. But that's not the case with the New Balance Furon V7+ Pro. The heel area is curved, which is more anatomical than what other cleats offer, while the Hypoknit material is great straight out of the box and gets even better - and more comfortable - with time. 

Indeed, it's soft, flexible and completely faithful to all of the movements of your feet. Touches on the ball also feel completely at one, with the upper still thin enough to be compared to the best speed cleats around. The off-centred lacing system is also excellent at leaving a clean striking zone for midfielders and strikers to hit long passes or take shots at goal, too.

Underfoot, I enjoyed the angled chevron studs, which provide a good level of traction that still feels safe when twisting and pivotting. There's a good response from the soleplate as well, but not as much as I noticed on other lightweight cleats. 


Best of both worlds

Adidas Predator 24

Adidas Predator Elite (Image credit: Future)
A modernised Predator manages to retain its iconic look, feel and performance

Specifications

Colorways available: 6
Studs: Firm Ground, Soft Ground, Artificial Ground
Sizes available: US 4-14
As worn by: Jude Bellingham, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alessia Russo

Reasons to buy

+
Aesthetically beautiful with the return of the tongue
+
Immediately comfortable
+
Lightest Predator ever

Reasons to avoid

-
Narrow forefoot makes them unsuitable for wide feet

Lightweight soccer cleats can sometimes fail to focus on areas that actually improve performance, such as comfort, construction quality and enough protection to ensure even the slightest stud isn't met with agonising pain. Fortunately, the Adidas Predator Elite is great at focusing on those areas as well as, perhaps surprisingly, being super light. 

Weighing just over 200 grams, wearing the Predator Elite barely feels like you have anything on your feet - that is, until you control the ball and notice those rubber fins synonymous with the Predator range. Midfielders love the extra grip and control they offer when passing, while strikers gain an extra edge when shooting.

Fortunately, both are placated through the lightweight design. The synthetic upper shaves off excess material plus the soleplate isn't too aggressive, meaning those wanting something more understated but still lightweight can't go too far wrong with the Predators. 


Best quality

Mizuno Alpha Made in Japan

Mizuno Alpha Made in Japan (Image credit: Mizuno)

Mizuno Alpha Made in Japan

A cleat with high-end materials and a detailed construction

Specifications

Colorways available: 6
Studs: Firm ground, artificial ground
Sizes available: US 4-14
As worn by: Sergio Ramos

Reasons to buy

+
High tech
+
Constructed with quality materials

Reasons to avoid

-
Expensive

Mizuno constructed the Alpha model with clear focus and intricacy, taking its time to create something truly brilliant on feet. Lightweight, thanks to the quality materials being ultra-thin, they provide a true one-to-one feeling between foot and ball.

The thinness and lightness of the cleat does not come at the expense of any structure or comfort as the quality of the materials used can be felt from the moment you put these on. The soleplate features triangular studs in a configuration that provides a good level of bite when pushing off. 

In utilising the brand's Enerzy foam, seen on Mizuno's running shoes to aid energy return to add to the responsiveness of the Alpha outsole, they're also successful in combining the lightweight feel with an explosive boost on the field. 


How we test soccer cleats

Our expert reviewers have an abundance of experience in each and every cleat available on the market, taking them all through their paces during training sessions and games to learn as much as they need to know about them.

When it comes to lightweight cleats, they didn't just pick them up and see how they felt in hand - they put them on their feet and truly learned as much as they could about the performance levels.

How to choose the best soccer cleats

There are so many soccer cleats available nowadays, that it's a minefield attempting to navigate all of the options. Each brand will always champion the latest tech, but that doesn't necessarily mean any of it will work as well as intended. 

Therefore, it's best to consider what suits your game the best, though ultimately it's down to personal preference. There are a few key things to consider when looking to purchase your next cleats, though...

Getting the right fit

Before worrying about anything else, whether that be aesthetics, models or stud configuration, the main thing to focus on and concern yourself with is finding a pair of cleats that fit your feet perfectly.

For that, we'd recommend heading into a local soccer cleat store and physically trying on as many models from as many different brands as possible, helping you to ascertain what is the most comfortable cleat for your feet. Because it's no use having the lightest cleats available when they give you blisters and cause you agony for every 90 minutes you put them on.

Ryan Dabbs
Staff writer

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. 

With contributions from