Girls' Soccer Cleats That Fit Orthotics: From the First Rec Season to Varsity

Soccer is one of the most popular sports for girls, from the first rec season at five to varsity at seventeen. The cleat is thin and narrow, its insole is often glued in, and its studs sit right under a growing heel. Girls also face one risk that boys face far less: a torn knee ligament. This guide is for parents of girls in soccer. It covers what the research shows, the heel pain that turns up every August, and the warm-up that protects knees and ankles. It also explains how to choose a cleat for a wide, narrow, flat or high-arched foot. Finally, it shows when a custom orthotic fits inside one.

Shopping for a son? Read our guide to boys' soccer cleats. For every sport a high-school girl plays, see our varsity guide for girls. A teenager already in women's sizes can also use our women's soccer cleat guide.

What the Research Shows About Girls in Soccer

Brant and colleagues (2019) compared leg and foot injuries across eight high-school sports that boys and girls both play. Girls' soccer had the highest rate of all, at 15.87 injuries for every 10,000 times a player took the field in that study. Girls had higher rates than boys in every sport compared. Joseph and colleagues (2013) looked at knee ligament tears in nine high-school sports. Girls' soccer had the highest rate of anterior cruciate ligament tears of any of them, higher even than boys' football. In the sports both sexes play, girls tore that ligament at more than three times the boys' rate in that study. Most of those tears ended in surgery.

The Warm-Up Matters More Than the Cleat

The strongest evidence in girls' soccer is not about shoes. Soligard and colleagues (2008) gave 1,892 Norwegian girls aged thirteen to seventeen a structured warm-up called the 11+ for one league season. Their injury rate overall was 32 percent lower in that trial. Overuse injuries were 53 percent lower, and severe injuries were 45 percent lower in the same trial. Leg injuries, the main target, fell too, but not by enough to rule out chance. Webster and Hewett (2018) pooled eight earlier reviews of these programs. In that review, warm-ups like this cut all anterior cruciate ligament tears by half. Among female athletes, they cut non-contact tears by two-thirds. For younger players, Rössler and colleagues (2018) tested a version called 11+ Kids with 3,895 children under thirteen. Injuries fell by 48 percent over a season in that trial. Ask the coach how the team warms up, and ask again each season.

The cleat still plays a part. Cass and colleagues (2025) compared 128 female soccer and lacrosse players who had torn an anterior cruciate ligament with 128 matched players who had not. The odds of a tear in that study were about 2.9 times higher in cleats with round studs than in turf shoes. For a girl, that means studs matched to the surface and never the longest ones in the store. On turf, a turf shoe is a reasonable choice wherever her level of play allows it.

Heel Pain at the Start of the Season

Heel pain is a common reason young players end up in a podiatrist's office. In a girl between about eight and thirteen, it is usually not plantar fasciitis. It is irritation of the growth plate at the back of the heel. That is where the Achilles tendon pulls on bone that has not finished growing. Wiegerinck and colleagues (2014) found 3.7 cases for every 1,000 registered patients aged six to seventeen in Dutch family practices. They believed that number was an undercount. Hard summer fields, a cleat with no cushion under the heel and a tight calf during a growth spurt all aggravate it.

James and colleagues (2016) randomized 124 children with this heel pain to a heel raise or a ready-made orthotic, with or without new shoes. The heel raise had a small early edge in that trial. By the end of the year, every group had improved about the same amount. In the office, that means a soft heel cup in the cleat, calf stretches, a cushioned trainer for some practices, and time. Most girls keep playing. Heel pain with swelling, a morning limp or night pain needs an examination. Read more about heel pain that won't go away.

What to Look For in a Youth Soccer Cleat

Start with length. Klein and colleagues (2009) measured 858 preschool children and their shoes in Austria. Most wore shoes that were too short, and short shoes were associated with a big toe that angled outward. The opposite mistake is common in soccer: buying a size up to grow into. A long cleat lets the foot slide, which causes blisters and black toenails. Measure both feet each season and fit the longer one. With her game socks on, she needs about a thumb's width of room past her longest toe.

• A firm heel counter. Squeeze the back of the cleat. It should hold its shape and keep the heel down.
• A soft upper over the widest part of the foot. Leather and soft knits give a little. Stiff synthetic uppers do not.
• Molded studs matched to the field. Firm-ground studs for grass, an artificial-grass sole for newer turf, and a turf shoe with short rubber nubs for older turf and many practices.
• A removable insole. Lift it in the store. Many cleats have it glued in, which makes an orthotic harder to fit.
• Laces, not a slip-on collar. Laces let you open the cleat for a wide or high-arched foot.

Youth soccer cleats are usually sold in unisex youth sizes. When a girl outgrows youth sizes, she moves into either women's sizes or men's sizes, depending on the model. A women's size runs about one and a half sizes larger in number than the same men's size. Check the size chart for each cleat, and fit by the foot, not the number on the box.

Getting an Orthotic Into a Soccer Cleat

The orthotic she wears in her sneakers will not fit most soccer cleats. The cleat is too shallow, and the device lifts her heel out of the counter. What works is a slim device made for the cleat. It has a thinner shell, a low heel cup and often a three-quarter length. Bring the cleats to the orthotic fitting, not just the school shoes. If the factory insole is glued in, we can often build the device to sit on a thinned insole.

A flat foot alone is not a reason for one. Wenger and colleagues (1989) followed 129 children with flexible flat feet in corrective shoes, heel cups, custom inserts or nothing. The arches improved in every group, and the treated children did no better than the untreated ones in that trial. An orthotic does not reshape a growing foot. In a soccer player, it earns its place when there is a problem to treat. Heel pain, an arch that aches after games and pain under the ball of the foot all count. See our guide to flat feet in children.

Match the Cleat to Your Daughter's Foot

Wide Feet

Most youth cleats are cut narrow. New Balance is the exception we found. It sells its youth 442 Team cleat, firm-ground and turf, in standard and wide, and its kids' 442 Academy in medium and wide. Puma describes its youth Future as a regular-to-wide fit in one width. A wide foot in a narrow cleat gets blisters and sore toes, so fit the width before the look.

Narrow Feet

Many girls have a narrow heel, and a cleat cut for a broader foot lets it slip. Lace to the top eyelet with a heel-lock loop, and choose a firm heel counter over a sock-style collar. A heel that slips is a common cause of blisters.

Flat Feet

A flexible flat foot is common and usually does not hurt. If it aches, a firm heel counter and a slim orthotic help more than any cleat sold as supportive. A stiff flat foot that does not form an arch on tiptoe needs an examination.

High Arches

A high-arched foot lands hard on the heel and the ball of the foot, and it rolls outward more easily. Choose a roomy instep, some padding under the forefoot and studs that are not too long. A cushioned heel cup helps.

Loose Ankles

No cleat can hold an ankle in place, even a high-collar one. McGuine and Keene (2006) randomized 765 high-school soccer and basketball players to a balance program or their usual training. The balance group had about half as many ankle sprains in that trial, and a previous sprain doubled the risk. After a sprain, wear a lace-up brace for the rest of the season. Read our guides on ankle sprains and strengthening after a sprain.

Playing All Year

Many girls play club soccer, school soccer and futsal in the same year. Jayanthi and colleagues (2015) compared 822 injured athletes aged seven to eighteen with 368 who were not injured. Training in a single sport was linked to more injuries and more serious overuse injuries in that study. Playing more hours a week than the athlete's age in years was linked to serious overuse injuries as well. Build in an off-season, or at least a different sport.

Girls' Soccer Cleats to Try

No shoe company pays for placement here. No brand sponsors this article. Every cleat here is our own pick, based on the features above and on what we see in the office.

We do run a separate website, footshop.cc. Patients kept asking where to find the products we talk about in the exam room. So we built a separate site that keeps the links in one place. It includes links to Amazon and other retailers. Every affiliate link over there is disclosed where it appears. If you buy through one of those links, we earn a small commission. It costs you nothing extra. We run it as a convenience for our patients, not as a condition of care. You are free to buy any of these cleats anywhere you like, at whatever price you find, with or without our links. Our advice is the same either way.

Medical footwear is not part of that. Prescription shoes, inserts, boots and braces are never on our affiliate site. They are not a shopping link, and we will not treat them like one.

Wide and Average Feet

• New Balance 442 Team (youth, firm-ground and turf): sold in standard and wide on New Balance's site. The turf version suits hard fields and artificial turf.
• New Balance 442 Academy (kids'): a simpler version, sold in medium and wide at Zappos.
• Puma Future Match (youth): one width, which Puma describes as a regular-to-wide fit.

Average and Narrow Feet

• Nike Tiempo Academy (youth): one width, with a soft, leather-like upper.
• adidas Copa League (kids'): one width, in what adidas calls a regular fit.
• Nike Mercurial (youth): a snug, narrow cleat. Nike suggests going up half a size.

For every cleat on this page, lift the insole in the store. If it comes out and the orthotic sits flat with her heel still inside the counter, you are in business. If it is glued, bring the cleat to our office, and we will design the orthotic around it.

What to Check Every Season

• Measure both feet standing, at the end of the day, in game socks. Fit the longer foot.
• Put her orthotic in the new cleat at the store. If her heel lifts, try another cleat.
• Ask the coach whether the team does a warm-up like the 11+ before every practice and game.
• Check the studs. Studs worn down on one side change how the foot lands.
• Ask about heel pain, blisters and black toenails.
• Keep a turf shoe or a trainer in the bag for hard fields and sore heels.

When to See a Podiatrist

Bring her in for heel pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks. A limp, swelling or night pain needs an examination too. Come in after a sprain that is still swollen after a week, or for an ankle that keeps rolling. Pain on the top of the foot or in the shin that gets worse as she runs needs an examination to rule out a stress injury. A knee that gave way or swelled after a cut or a landing needs a sports medicine exam the same week. If she already wears orthotics and has grown a size, bring the orthotics and her cleats. Our pediatric foot care page explains how we see young athletes. Our custom orthotics page explains how we make devices.

More reading: everyday athletic shoes for kids and foot care for athletes.