Female football boots  in landmark study

Female football boots are being examined in a landmark study with the support of the FIFA Research Scholarship to explore if they change the way players move when running, jumping, and quickly changing direction.

The study has been launched months after top-brands, including Adidas, have begun releasing their first women’s football boots.

Manufacturers claim the new boots will reduce injury risk, and now scientists will see how they compare to traditional unisex footwear typically designed around male foot anatomy.

The project is being led by Dr Alice Harkness-Armstrong, from the University of Essex’s School of Sport, Rehabilitation, and Exercise Science, in collaboration with Brunel University of London, and is being funded by the FIFA Research Scholarship 2025 administered by the International Centre for Sports Studies.

'Understanding injury risk'

Dr Harkness-Armstrong said: "Understanding injury risk is a prominent but complicated and multi-faceted issue within female football, and contributors to injury risk in all female sport, not just football, is an important knowledge gap in research.

"We are seeing a growing number of female boots being released from top brands, with some suggesting that wearing these boots would help reduce injury risk for female players.

"Whilst these claims make sense in theory, importantly we don’t have any evidence to support this.

"Our first step is therefore to understand whether there are any differences in sport-specific movements when wearing these boots, and then we can look to understand what implications this might have for potential injury risk."

Supporting women's sport

The study will combine 3D motion capture, force plates and the measures of muscle activity to see how movement might differ when wearing the female boots.

The research project comes at an important time of growth in women and girls’ football.

Recent research by UEFA found more than 2.3million women and girls started playing the beautiful game following the 2022 Euros hosted by England.

The project is one of many ongoing research projects supporting women’s sport within SRES and the University.

It follows the University collaborating with sustainable clothing company BAM Clothing to develop an eco-friendly sports bra, the launch of a partnership with Essex Cricket to start the county’s first top-tier professional women's team, and research exploring the impact of concussion on women’s rugby players.