Tips for making your boots more comfortable

The most comfortable football boot

The key thing to bear in mind is that there’s no better tip than buying a pair of football boots that are right for you, whether in terms of size, fit or details such as the upper or sole. This is the most important factor and will determine whether your brand-new football boots are a hit or a miss for you. 

Now that we’ve clarified that, another crucial point is the cleaning and care of your boots. We’ve already put together the definitive guide to looking after and cleaning your football boots, where we go through every detail – and it’s essential that you follow these steps to the letter.  Ultimately, details such as conditioning the leather and removing excess mud or rubber make your boots much more comfortable and ensure they last far longer.

How do I make it more comfortable?

If, once you’ve chosen your boots, you find you need a bit more space inside or perhaps want them to ‘mould’ to your feet as quickly as possible, there are several tricks to help with this; let’s go through a few. A fairly simple trick that not everyone is aware of is the use of boot trees – something commonly seen in shoe shops but which we sometimes forget about in the world of football. Quite simply, every time we use our boots, we place the shoe tree inside (with the boots clean) and leave them ready for the next use. This ensures that the materials don’t ‘forget’ the shape of our foot and the boots gradually mould themselves to our feet over time and with use. 

If you can’t find a boot tree, a very effective alternative is to use newspaper or magazine pages to ‘maintain’ the shape, as well as to absorb any moisture that might be left inside the boot. It’s a sort of DIY two-in-one solution that works really well. 

The hot water trick

Another of the most talked-about tricks, as it has often been said that Cristiano Ronaldo himself used to do this to soften his boots before every match. Let’s see how it works.

Firstly, make sure your boots are clean and have the insoles removed, as these can be damaged by direct contact with hot water, particularly if they feature any grip technology. It is also important to remember that it is advisable to have worn them a couple of times beforehand, as this allows the boot to mould to the shape of your foot. 

Once they are ready, we should immerse them in hot water (IMPORTANT: the water must not be boiling, as this could damage the outer materials of the boot shell). Once immersed, we should wait a few minutes and then leave them to dry. Once dry, put them back on and repeat the process if they still feel stiff. After following this procedure, you’ll find that the shell materials have softened and your boots will feel more comfortable and perfect for wearing at all times.

Another tip: water inside

With this trick, we aim to make use of a property of water to help stretch the boots just those few millimetres we need to make them fit perfectly. First of all, we need to make sure our boots are clean again, and this time we won’t remove the insole. Once they are clean and dry, we place a sealable plastic bag (such as the zip-lock bags used for frozen food) inside each boot, ensuring it fits snugly against the entire inner surface. With the bag in place, we fill it with water, making sure it is distributed evenly across the surface, and seal the bag so that no water can escape. After this, place the boots in the freezer and wait for the water to freeze.

As it freezes, it expands, thereby slightly stretching the areas that feel the tightest.

Hairdryer, microwave, etc…

There are various tricks you can try, such as running a hairdryer over the tightest part or even popping the boot in the microwave to soften it up. We really do NOT recommend these methods because, regardless of whether they work or not, they’re very harsh and sooner or later they’ll end up damaging the boot and rendering it unusable.

Making my boot narrower

If, on the other hand, you want to reduce the width of your boot slightly, you simply need to adjust the laces and choose the right socks. One of our basic recommendations over the years has been to choose good football socks. You can choose a pair that’s a bit thicker to fill that extra space, or even ones with grip features to improve the boot-to-foot fit. 

Conclusions 

We’ve gone through some tips that are sure to help more than a few of you; however, we’d like to remind you that the best way to ensure your boots fit perfectly is to choose the right size and the model you like. Luckily, at Fútbol Emotion you can exchange sizes hassle-free, which will make this task much easier. By following these tips, you’ll see that not only will your boots last longer, but they’ll also perform brilliantly in every pass and every move during every match. Let us know in the comments what other tips you use to keep your boots in perfect condition.