The Nike Tiempo Legend 6 football boots were one of the first to feature the Anti-Clog technology
In this guide we talk about everything you need to know about Anti-Clog – answering the question ‘What is Nike Anti-Clog? We look at what exactly Anti-Clog is, what it does, how it works and how to care for it. We’ll also look at whether it really works, why other brands haven’t copied it and why you don’t see many pro players wearing Anti-Clog.
What is Nike Anti-Clog?
Nike Anti-Clog technology includes an extra lubricated layer between the soleplate of your football boots and the pitch. It’s designed for mud to slip straight off it as opposed to clumping up around your studs and bogging you down. It works thanks to the adaptative polymer soleplate, which becomes a lubricated surface when coming into contact with water.
“Don’t let this be you, buy Nike Anti-Clog”. That’s the slogan Nike’s marketing team should have used to introduce us to their Anti-Clog technology. The soft ground soleplate technology has been created by Nike because “the beautiful game is not played in beautiful conditions” amen to that! Released in 2016 on the Hypervenom Phantom 2, Magista Obra and Tiempo Legend 6, Nike Anti Clog SG has now almost completely replaced the normal SG soleplate on the top Nike range – making them some of the best football boots on the market.
What does Nike Anti-Clog do?
What is Nike Anti-clog
Anti-Clog was created by Nike to provide better traction on soft ground surfaces. It’s a technology that actually works and has real benefits. We don’t mean to slag off Nike ACC (All Conditions Control) or Adidas Controlskin – among others – as we guess they have some effect on ball control. But those are essentially invisible technologies that have such a tiny effect on ball control that they may as well not be there – they definitely won’t sort out your trampoline touch!
Whereas Anti Clog is actually useful and will keep the mud from sticking to your soleplate and studs. This means you’re still at full speed when playing on soft, wet, muddy pitches, whereas everyone else is slowed down.
How does Nike Anti-Clog work?
Football boots with and without Nike Anti-Clog
When developing their groundbreaking technology Nike was looking at ways to repel mud and water as much as possible. It makes sense because how else would you keep mud off the bottom of a pair of football boots?
Well actually, the breakthrough technology was formed when they decided to start attracting water, like Fortnite attracts virgins, to the adaptive polymer soleplate (whatever that is). This meant that the soleplate was lubricated when exposed to water either from your bottle (more on that later) or even just from the pitch itself. Once lubricated the mud would slip right off.
Does Nike Anti-Clog work?
The short answer is yes. In our personal experience, Anti-Clog has always performed as expected. That is it keeps mud off the sole of our Nike Phantom Venom Anti Clog SG. And while we can’t say for sure that we have had better traction as it’s just so hard to measure, we can say that we haven’t been slipping and sliding Gerrard style when others have been.
Why don’t other brands copy Nike?
The Puma One football boots are a great alternative to Nike’s Anti-Clog boots
There isn’t a real answer here that we’re aware of. Perhaps Nike have patented the design so well that there just isn’t an alternative. Perhaps other brands don’t see the benefit of investing in the technology as they don’t feel it will help sales. Whatever the reason, there is currently no technology from any other brand that is similar to Anti-Clog.
Choosing another brand might mean you have to put up with muddy boots, but you can still look good while you do it. If you’re looking for a decent alternative then we recommend trying out these black silver and red Puma One boots this winter. Just make sure you properly clean them!
How to look after Nike Anti-Clog
Anti-Clog works best when wet so give the soleplate a spray of water from a water bottle before you go out to warm up to make sure they’re ready
A quick read of the box gives us a pretty good idea of how we’re going to look after our boots. Don’t be too rough when cleaning the sole as this can scratch off the special surface that gets nice and lubricated when wet. Just run some water over the sole and any mud should slip off nicely. If it doesn’t then use a soft cloth or your hand to wipe off any tougher mud.
The box also lets you know that Anti-Clog works best when wet. So give the soleplate a spray of water from your water bottle before you play to make sure they’re ready.
The above also explains why there is no FG Anti-Clog plate. A soft ground surface will do little damage to the soleplate so the lubricated surface won’t get damaged. A firm ground surface can scratch the surface and could then affect the Anti-Clog system. There isn’t really a need for Anti-Clog on firm ground either as the ground is not normally wet enough for any mud to stick to your boots.
Why don’t pros wear Anti-Clog?
You may have noticed that you don’t see many professional players in the top leagues wearing Anti-Clog. This is odd as surely Nike would want to promote their new, exclusive technology and show it off wherever possible. Professionals honestly have no real need for it because their pitches are like carpets. Even when its winter and they’ve had more rain than the plane in Spain, the pitches drink it up. Even though a SG plate might be used, there’s just no need for Anti-Clog as there’s no mud in sight!
Another reason Nike don’t insist on pros wearing Anti-Clog is that they weigh slightly more than a normal SG plate. The difference is about 50 grams (2oz for our imperial friends) which is small but will be felt over 90 minutes of high-intensity football.
Are Nike Anti-Clog worth it?
We recommend the Nike Premier II SG-PRO AC football boots
When Nike were mixing selling Anti-Clog SG and standard SG plates this was a harder question to answer. Now they sell mainly Anti-Clog with a few standard SG plates cropping up, it’s easy. If you’re looking for a pair of soft ground football boots that won’t let you down then buy a pair of Anti-Clog boots. In my opinion, they’re a massive improvement to soft ground boots and the type of considerable improvement that had almost started to become non-existent in football boots.
If you’re looking for a decent pair of Anti-Clog boots then we personally recommend the Nike Premier II SG-PRO ACs. They’re great to play in and a real steal at their price point!
