Soccer cleats traditionally have a very narrow and pointed toe box. This can pretty painful, especially if you have have wide feet. Here is a list of soccer cleats for wide feet and soccer cleats with a wide toe box.
If you grew up playing soccer, you may have fond memories of chasing the ball around the field, making moves on the opposing team or even scoring the winning goal. But most of us also remember how tight and narrow the cleats were!
This post is called the best soccer cleats for wide feet, but it’s really about the best soccer cleats for any feet. The issue with most cleats is that the toe box is so narrow. This blog is all about barefoot shoes, which are based on the premise that shoes should fit the natural shape of the feet. Our feet are naturally widest at the toes, so shoes, including cleats, should be too.
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Cleat Brands that Tend to be Narrower
If a wide cleat is your goal, then you’re going to want to avoid these brands that tend to be on the narrower end: Nike, Under Armor, Adidas and Puma. This list isn’t exhaustive, but includes some really popular brands that we’ve found to be pretty narrow.
Wide Soccer Cleats from Traditional Brands
First up, there are a few options from traditional cleat brands that make soccer cleats for wide feet. By traditional, I mean they still taper at the toe box, but they’re overall wider than many of the popular options.
Wide Toe Box Cleats
There are a few companies that specifically make a true wide toe box cleat.
Natural Athletics: This is a newer company that makes minimalist cleats and basketball shoes for kids and adults. The soccer cleats have a truly wide, foot-shaped toe box. However, these have a sock-like collar around the collar, which can make them difficult to get on for those with wider and higher volume feet.
The basketball shoes are also great for wide feet, and also feature flexible, grippy soles.
CODE Footwear: These soccer cleats are custom-made, based on a 3D scan of your feet. They have a wide toe box that reflects your foot’s natural shape. These are geared towards professional athletes, which is reflected in the $600 starting price tag.
Barefoot Shoes as a Cleat Replacement
There are some barefoot shoes that work well as a cleat replacement as they have decent lugs and a toe cap.
My son has mostly worn the barefoot shoes listed below instead of cleats for baseball and soccer. At his age (7 and under) and level, we haven’t noticed a difference in performance. Since the main trade off with not wearing cleats is the larger lugs, it seemed like as long he wasn’t slipping or sliding around, he wasn’t at a significant competitive disadvantage.
Here are some of the options:
Xero Shoes Kid’s Prio: We’ve used these Xero Shoes as a substitute at younger ages as they have lugs and a toe cap.
Saguaro Water Shoes: The lugs on the Saguaro Kid’s Smart I shoes aren’t super deep, but we’ve found the sole really grippy. My son used these for basketball, baseball, soccer, and just a lot of outdoor play. Use code KELLY15 for an extra 15% off on the Saguaro website. You can also find Saguaro Shoes on Amazon.
Vivobarefoot Trail Running Shoes: Vivobarefoot has trail running shoes with deeper lugs that can work as an alternative to cleats for both kids and adults. You can use code KELLY10 for 10% off at Vivobarefoot. In 2024, use my boosted code KELLY20 for 20% off.
For kids, the Primus Trail II FG has 2.5mm multi-directional lugs.
There are a few more options in the adult sizes, including the Primus Trail FG, Hydra Esc, and the Tracker Decon Low.
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