Want some tips or better ways to properly clean your football boots? We always get asked how to make football boots last longer. The simple answer is to clean your football boots as often and as thoroughly as possible.
So, we’ve listed our top 5 tips to cleaning your football boots. That’s not all, we’ve also got a FREE, downloadable step by step guide (PDF) to show you exactly how to clean your football boots properly. If you follow this guide every time you finish playing a game of footy then you boots are guaranteed to last longer!
How to properly clean your football boots to make them last longer
Download our handy how to clean football boots guide as a PDF!
Top 5 tips to clean your football boots to make them last longer
- #5 – Utilise boot brushes at the pitch
- #4 – Clean as quickly as possible
- #3 – Avoid very hot water
- #2 – Don’t neglect the underside of the boots
- #1 – Use a toothbrush for cleaning
#5 – Utilise boot brushes at the pitch
I’ll hold my hands up here, I’m not actually sure what these ‘things’ are called. But playing every Saturday and then trudging back from the pitch to a dilapidated changing room that looked old even when it was first built, we go past a small rail. It’s an old, seemingly inconsequential rail, but at the bottom is a metre-long brush specifically designed to brush the mud off boots.
If your changing rooms are lucky enough to have such apparatus, use it! It will get the majority of the large chunks of mud off your boots. This is great, as if you’re doing this right after the game the mud won’t have time to dry. If you don’t have this magical brush rail, then we still recommend wiping the mud off your boots after the game and doing the old clang-your-boots-against-one-another trick. This gets off most of the mud and makes it much easier to clean properly later at home!
#4 – Clean as quickly as possible
Like we implied in the previous section, time is at the essence when it comes to cleaning boots. DO NOT, however tempting it may be, just go home and chuck your boots in the porch. We know you intend to clean them ‘soon’ but what happens in reality is they stay in that very same place and don’t leave until you’re rushing to make kick off for your next game.
Try to put your boots in the sink immediately to make it easier for you to clean. Once you’ve showered and decompressed missing an open goal from 4cms out, get to cleaning your boots! The longer you leave it, the more the mud dries to the boots and the harder they are to clean.
#3 – Avoid very hot water
We associate hot water with cleanliness. Nobody washes the dishes in cold water (unless you’re a psychopath!). If you’re name is not David Goggins, it’s unlikely you’ll have cold showers to wash yourself. Bottom line – hot water = clean. HOWEVER, you have to be careful when it comes to football boots.
Use warm-to-hot water, by all means, but avoid using steaming-hot water to clean your boots. Depending on the material of your boots, hot water can damage or even reshape your boots. For instance, if they’re plastic, using boiling water could potentially melt parts of the boots.
#2 – Don’t neglect the underside of the boots
Football boots are like icebergs – apart from the fact that boots probably can’t sink a big ship. But they have an upper part that people see and then an underneath that is not seen but is as important.
Where the upper of the boots connect to the soleplate is the most common places that we see boots split or cracking. Therefore, it’s almost more important to focus on this part of the boot when it comes to cleaning – yet often, people neglect it as it’s not going to show. We recommend cleaning the whole of your boots to avoid damage and help them last longer.
#1 – Use a toothbrush for cleaning
We love using toothbrushes for cleaning football boots! They’re cheap to use, effective and let’s face it, everyone has a spare or old toothbrush lying around.
Toothbrushes are good because of the bristles. Gone are the days where boots have smooth outer surfaces. Nowadays, boots are multi-dimensional and often have ribbed uppers to allow for greater connections when striking. The downside to this is that it means mud can get stuck in the small crevasses, which makes it more difficult to clean. A toothbrush negates this as the bristles get in all the cracks and indents, to give you a thorough clean.
How to clean your football boots: Step by step guide
1. After you’ve finished playing your game, loosen your laces and take your boots off.
2. Remove any loose mud by carefully knocking your boots together.
3. Brush the bottom and sides of your footy boots with a stiff brush.
4. Use a damp cloth and warm water to go over your football boots and remove any smaller bits of mud.
5. Use an old toothbrush to help you get to any mud stuck in small grooves.
6. Scrunch up some newspaper and stuff it into your football boots. This helps them to maintain their shape and lets them dry quicker as the newspaper will absorb water.
7. Find a dry, safe spot to let your football boots dry thoroughly. Air drying in a room temperature room is best.
8. Bonus step: Grease the studs with Vaseline or a similar petroleum jelly based product once your football boots are dry. This will stop your studs from rusting and can prevent soil from sticking to them.
9. Polish your leather footy boots to keep their colour.
10. Let the polish work in for 24 hours. Then use a natural leather oil all over your boots. This will keep the leather supple and will retain your boots waterproof properties.
How to wash your football boots properly: Dos and don’ts
Don’t kick your football boots off at the heel, however tempting this might be! This will cause damage and make them loose their perfect fit over time!
Don’t use a wire brush to clean your boots. Wire is too harsh and will just damage them. Try to use a brush that’s made from a softer, more natural material instead.
Don’t clean your football boots with a cleaning agent like washing up liquid. Harsh chemicals won’t do them any good. Just using warm water and a cloth is so much better!
Don’t put your football boots in front of a radiator to dry faster. It’ll just cause your boots to stiffen which can make your boots weak and rip more easily. Heat can also cause the adhesive in the boots to deteriorate which weakens the joints and warps the soleplate.
Don’t use too much petroleum jelly on your studs. This will just reduce the friction and can stop the studs from properly tightening.
Do wash your boots properly after you use them. We know how easy it can be to sometimes forget or prioritise other more exciting things, like going to McDonald’s for a cheeky burger! But put the time in to properly care for your football boots and they’ll last much longer and ultimately save you money.
Do keep your old toothbrushes for cleaning. If you’ve been playing footy on a wet pitch then these little bushes are amazing to help clean your boots from dirt!
Do replace any newspaper in your boots frequently to help them dry out faster.
*Bonus Tip* Clean mud from your football boots immediately after playing football
The primary killer of football boots, believe it or not, is mud. During those winter months, where the air is cold and pitches have three blades of grass at the most, your boots will be coated with mud come the end of 90 minutes. It is all too tempting to simply just go home, retire in a long, warm bath and reminisce about scoring a brace past the obese community’s answer to Manuel Neuer in goal… But resist. It is crucial to clean your football boots before the mud has dried. We repeat: clean your footy boots before the mud has dried.
As soon as the mud dries, it is essentially game over. When wet, mud clumps together making it easier to get rid of all of it. However, once it has dried, the few lumps of mud will turn into hundreds of thousands of pieces, the size of a grain of sand. These are much more difficult to remove from all of the cracks and crevasses on the outside of your boots. Once it does begin to get in there, it will gradually wear away and break up the material, leading to your boots disintegrating.
Even with some of the more durable boots on the market, they will still have the capacity to fall apart should mud infiltrate the exterior. So your best bet is to just clean your football boots as soon as possible.
Which brings us onto the next issue…
*Pro Tip* Why you should wash football boots with warm water and a cloth every time
The old, chuck-the-boots-into-the-shower-after-a-game-technique is dangerous and should really be avoided. The outer material of boots is usually sufficiently waterproof, and the interior will also be able to withstand a certain amount of water. However, exposing the inner part of the boot to lots of water will make the material softer and begin to misshape the sole. Over time, it will weaken the whole boot and eventually make them unplayable.
So avoid being a lazy Larry, and go back to a simpler time. Fill a bucket up with hot water (no fairy liquid needed), grab yourself a cloth and go to town scrubbing. Be careful, for the same reason as above, that you do not submerge the boot under the water. Also, make sure that you clean the laces sufficiently. Laces are very thin and will not withstand much erosion at all until they will need to be replaced –the Adidas PureControls could benefit here if they actually were laceless.
So there you have it, nothing too extraordinary. But follow this simple mini-guide to properly clean your football boots and we guarantee your boots will last longer
How to properly clean your football boots to make them last longer
Download our handy how to clean football boots guide as a PDF!
Can You Put Football Boots into the Washing Machine?
No, we would not recommend putting your football boots into the washing machine to clean them. While most boots are well-made and fairly resistant, putting them in the washing machine is a recipe for disaster. Where glue is used, this could seriously weaken the stickiness and cause part of your boots to fall apart.
What’s more, the vigorous friction that will be applied when in the washer could batter them, causing more wear and tear. The washing machine will also not be too happy with two heavy (compared to clothing) boots bouncing around inside it, and they could even damage it.
If you really feel the urge to put them in the washer, we’d recommend wrapping them inside something else, like a pillow case, to prevent them flying around by themselves. However, this should be a last resort and we think that the far better option is to simply not be lazy, get out a cloth and clean them yourself!
