Football Shoe Technology that Betters Your Game
Football boots date back to the time of King Henry VIII. His majesty ordered several pairs in 1526-45 velvet pairs and 1 leather pair for football. Since then soccer shoes have changed to be a vital part of the game and these days they’re made with materials such as carbon fiber and artificial leather.
Like football itself soccer boots have been through lots of changes over time. Prior to 1891 studs-blades or any other kind of sole just weren’t permitted. Following 1891 changes-studs and blades became legal so long as they were made of leather but not the size of half an inch. These studs and blades had been initially hammered into the shoes and professional players of the time had quite a few pairs with various stud lengths and this is probably the very first time soccer shoes have evolved.
The 2nd evolution started in the mid-1950s and it is one of the most questionable. Soccer heritage mentioned that during the 1950’s in Switzerland-Adidas who had been Germany’s boot provider kitted the German team using the first ever screw-in-studs soccer boots. However-Puma have counter stated they were providing screw-in-studs since 1952. Nonetheless whomever designed screw-in-studs the second advancement was the invention of the screw-in-studs shoes.
However-between 1950 and 1960 football shoe design took a giant step forward and shoes really began to make a difference on the sport. In Northern Europe soccer shoes still had the ankle protection-and the real reason they were referred to as boots. However-in South America the shoes were more flexible and lighter in weight with no need of ankle protection. It had been a boot intended to increase soccer ball control- boost kicking power and help to make players move quicker and switch direction faster.
The company Adidas next created a new kind of football boot which had more grip between the ball and shoe and as well as greater contact areas-and a series of power and swerve zones-it allowed players to generate better swerves and more powerful strikes of the ball.
This particular technology has been only the beginning of what was to come. Polymer extrusion engineering and other materials allowed the development of a more flexible sole-and studs were substituted by blades which provided players extra stability. Today there are football boots that weigh only 200g and with each passing football season-the football boots are getting more and more advanced-and now there are carbon sole plates adaptive studs that will extend and retract by up to 3mm.
Looking to the future there’s likely to be improvements to football shoe technology which will make the players perform better still and possibly boots that could respond to specific pitch conditions-whether that be rainfall over the game or the pitch getting drier-the boots can adapt accordingly.
Boot engineering has come such a long way since King Henry VIII and exactly who knows what other parts of football may change like football boots.