Looking After Your Boots

Football boots last considerably longer with a small amount of care, and almost all of that care happens in the ten minutes after you finish playing rather than at any other point.

Get the worst of the dirt off before it dries. Once it has hardened it takes real effort to remove, and the effort itself does more damage to the upper than the dirt ever would have.

Let them dry slowly and away from direct heat. Putting wet boots somewhere hot to speed things up is the fastest way to crack an upper and warp a sole, and the damage is permanent.

Loosen the laces and open them out rather than leaving them tightly tied in a bag. Air needs to get inside, and a boot squashed into a compressed shape overnight tends to keep some of it.