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I certainly didn’t start out wearing barefoot soccer cleats, it’s actually been a bit of a process.

Finding shoes, especially for sports like soccer, that fit my feet appropriately has been challenging to say the least. Here’s how I eventually came around to wearing barefoot shoes as soccer cleats and haven’t looked back since:

When I started playing soccer in high school, I couldn’t believe how tight the cleats were made.

They’re intentionally made very narrow so there’s no space between your foot and the shoe. The cleats really squeeze the sides of your feet together and certainly do the same to your toes. They are the epitome of shoes coming to a ‘point.’

When I would take them off again, my feet felt like they were expanding back to normal. Once I started to have toe and bunion problems, I had to start looking around for wider options.

Between soccer and tae kwon do, all the kicking was putting my feet at risk to get hurt badly. I looked around for wide soccer cleat options and let me just cut to the chase here: there are none.

Do not believe anything on the internet saying “these are the best shoes for wide feet!” BS. No soccer cleats are made remotely wide. I have looked long and hard and saw nothing even close to what I wanted.

I knew I was going to have to try shoes that weren’t made for soccer. I tried several different options and looked into many more that I decided wouldn’t be worth purchasing.

Xero Shoes

I started with Xero Shoes, my tried-and-true shoes that I still swear by today. I tried playing (very casually, might I add) in the Hanas and Oswegos because when I bought these, I planned for them to be truly all-purpose shoes meant for any activity.

The cool thing is, they work for the most part because they form to the shape of your foot on top (the upper) which is good for kicking a ball. However, the shoes are thin so it ends up hurting a bit and the traction on the bottom wasn’t good enough for such an active sport.

This is not to say that Xero’s won’t work for soccer though. They have come out with several new models as they often do that look very promising. They are more geared towards athletic endeavors so the tread on the bottom of the shoe is better, while you still get the rounded upper and zero drop sole.

Merrell

I moved onto the Merrell Trail Glove shoe for a while.

This is a very popular shoe in the minimalist / barefoot shoe community and it’s not hard to see why. Merrell have come out with several different models of this shoe, offering slightly different features with each one.

Personally, I love the shoes and think they deliver on everything they promise. They’re very comfortable, very wide in the toe box, and flat in the sole which is what I was looking for.

I have to say these weren’t bad other than the fact that there’s not much grip on the bottom of them for lateral or sudden movements. I only stopped using these because when I started to play competitively against guys that were much better than me, the amount of running and lateral movement I had to use skyrocketed and these weren’t great for that on a turf field. Also, I put holes into each of my shoes from kicking in them so much.

It’s hard to play a sport when you don’t have great traction to the ground. That being said, these are probably the lowest, flattest, and have the least toe spring out of all the shoes I’ve mentioned so far.

These are very significant things when it comes to soccer especially. You need a shoe that allows your feet to be very low and flat to the ground because you can kick the ball with much more control and power this way. These shoes probably resemble a normal soccer cleat the most out of everything on this list.

Vivobarefoot

This made me move onto what I wear now and the shoes that are here to stay: the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail shoe.

These are nearly perfect for what I use them for. 95% of the time they are just used for playing soccer, the other 5% I might actually use them on a trail as they were intended. I very intentionally picked these to be my new soccer cleats and it turned out to be a very wise choice.

First, they are wide in the toe box which was my #1 priority. They are easily wider than any other soccer cleat on the market.

Second, they have the rubber studs on the bottom of the shoe for excellent traction. I’m almost always playing on turf fields and when I used to wear the Merrell’s, I could build up to a fast speed while running but it would be very hard to stop suddenly, make a sharp turn, or accelerate quickly.

For me, these are all very important aspects of my game because I really like to use my body to its full potential when I play.

Third, the shoes are very well-fitted. A lot of newer soccer cleats have a built-in sock / ankle guard that connects into the shoe. It’s a cool feature because it makes the cleats feel more snug and secure.

Interestingly enough, the Primus Trail shoes come with a very similar built-in ankle guard that makes them form around your foot and feel very secure. This is a really nice feature to the shoe, especially in combination with the wider foot and toe box. This shoe is definitely built with the athlete in mind: maintaining your body’s integrity while being functional and secure.

Lastly, the shoes are made incredibly well. I am a big fan of Vivobarefoot in general because they make a hell of a shoe. All the shoes I have seen or tried from them have been very durable and well-made.

I emphasize the durability part because I am able to wear my shoes as soccer cleats and there has been no visible wear and tear done to them yet, even after around 2 years of playing in them. That’s incredibly good quality there. Running, jumping, cutting, kicking, getting stepped on, getting kicked, etc. and there’s no sign of them getting torn up. 

I’d recommend to any soccer player who needs a wider toe box, no toe spring, and a zero-drop sole (or just wants a barefoot shoe) to look into the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail shoes. These are currently head and shoulders above all the other options right now.