The best street football shoes for concrete ground
While grass is the traditional go-to surface when it comes to playing the beautiful game, the street adaptation can be played pretty much anywhere, on any surface whatsoever. As long as there are no cars around, of course.
For the children of today, as long as there is a semi-pumped bag of air to kick around and they have suitable kids’ football shoes, it’s game on. No park? No problem, the driveway will do. No goals? Not an issue, there are two bins to use and we’ll worry about where the crossbar starts and finishes later.
We all did it with our siblings and friends growing up and now, the kids of today are doing exactly the same; street football will quite literally never end and nor should it. What’s important though, is finding the right footwear for the job. After all, you can’t have the kids tearing about the street in their best gameday football boots.
To solve this problem, there's a simple solution - invest in the perfect pair of football shoes for concrete. But which ones? That’s where we step in to help…
Can you wear football boots on concrete?
As previously touched on, wearing any form of football boots on concrete is a complete no-no. Whether it’s soft ground studs, firm ground moulds or artificial ground boots, any of these choices will cause your kids major problems in the form of potential short-term and long-term injuries.
Soft ground (SG) studs are built specifically for wet, sloppy grass football pitches which require a longer stud to maintain balance and traction. Firm ground (FG) moulded boots do that too, but on harder, dried out pitches, which means neither are suitable for street football as the hard concrete would ruin the studs almost instantly, and also potentially cause injury.
Even in the case of artificial ground (AG) or multi-ground (MG) football boots, you’re going to find them unsuitable for concrete and street football. These types of boots are built solely for use on 3G and 4G turf pitches.
Check out our guide on all the different types of football boots, if you’d like to learn more about the options available.
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Can you wear astro turf trainers on concrete?
Technically speaking, yes you can wear astro turf trainers on concrete. They have a flat enough sole to be comfortable on concrete surfaces, offering a decent level of traction too. For optimum performance though, we would recommend going for indoor football shoes, as they offer a better level of grip on flat concrete.
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Which football shoes are best for concrete ground?
Just like any type of football boot, the top producers of street football shoes are Nike and adidas. The two sportswear giants have been producing astro turf football boots suitable for sand-based 2G surfaces for decades now, but have more recently started to release shoes suited to both the indoor game and street football. That doesn’t mean New Balance, Puma and Umbro aren’t stepping up their games either, though.
“What’s the difference?”, we hear you cry. Although only minor, there is an important difference between astro turf boots and indoor football shoes, mainly revolving around the soleplates and the grip they both offer. Street football shoes have subtly grooved soles, which are fit for hard, flat surfaces that have little debris. Astro turf boots have lots of mini rubber bumps covering the entire sole which helps with grip on the more slippery, sand-based/rubber crumb surfaces offered up by astro turf and 3G respectively.
Unless your kids fancy an impromptu slip’n’slide, you shouldn’t let them wear street football shoes on astro turf or 3G surfaces. There are no studs on indoor football shoes, which means the grip and traction is rendered non-existent and there is nothing to hook into the sand/rubber to help stabilise their feet - it’d be like playing in a pair of those extremely unflattering plimsolls you had to wear in PE at school.
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Top 5 kids’ football shoes for concrete
5. New Balance Tekela V3 Magique Indoor
Kids love to show off their skills on the street, there’s no better way to do that than in purple and orange, right? New Balance are competing with Nike and adidas in the street shoe arena, and it’s clear to see why with the Tekela V3. Lively, durable and you’ll save a packet on them.
4. adidas Copa Sense.3 Indoor
The adidas Copa has a long history with the streets, and the Sense is the future of it. Comfortable and durable, these understated crackers will help your young’n to play for hours with no issues. We can’t guarantee goals, but we can guarantee the cheapest deal.
3. Nike Jr. Mercurial Vapor 14 Academy Indoor
Nike are top drawer when it comes boot tech, this means their legendary Mercurial Vapor transfers from grass to concrete extremely well. Speed, agility and performance Cristiano Ronaldo-style here. A little more expensive than most but looking at them, worth every penny.
2. Puma Future Z 4.1 Indoor
Like New Balance, Puma are a brand which have seriously upped their boot game. The FG and SG Future Z have both received rave reviews, and that hasn’t changed for their indoor shoe version. You’re getting comfort and performance, at a seriously cut price vs. the big boys.
1. Nike Jr. Phantom GT Academy Dynamic Fit Indoor
One of the best boot releases of the last decade, it was inevitable that the indoor shoe would be top quality too. We’ve picked out the Dynamic Fit (ankle collar) version here, but you can find the Nike Phantom GT in a range of colours and sizes. And they’re not as expensive as you’d think!
Whether your kids are looking to play on concrete, grass, indoors or anywhere else, don’t forget you can compare prices to find cheap kids’ football boots with FOOTY.COM!
