Why players are cutting the back of their boots at World Cup as fans spot strange trend for first time

While we’re watching the lads kick the ball about the pitch and it gets a bit quiet, we have to find other ways to keep it entertaining.

That might be singing the most bizarre World Cup chants you’ve heard in your life, doing your own commentary or perhaps assessing the details of the footballers’ appearances.

And no, I’m not opening myself up to objectifying accusations with a game of ‘smash or pass’ but I’m talking about their kits, obviously.

There’s often the talk about why a lot of the England players tend to cut holes in their socks but now viewers are noticing it can go further than this. Fans have spotted a strange trend for the first time as players are cutting holes in the back of their boots.

Pedro Neto's boots vs Spain. (Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

“This is my first time seeing this,” one viewer wrote with a laughing face on X as another pointed it out during the Portugal vs Spain game last night (6 July).

It kind of seems to contradict the point in even having shoes on as some players totally cut open a large hole below the ankle, exposing their socks and putting them closer to being in clogs.

Roberto Fimino and Phillippe Coutinho have both been spotted doing it in the past.

And it seems it’s not an aesthetic thing (I mean you’d hope not given it looks a bit ridiculous really) but more of a medical choice.

Apparently, the holes in the shoes can be a way to take off the load of the annoying ‘Haglund’s heel’.

This is also nicknamed the ‘pump bump’ which can happen to athletes when the heel bone forms a bit of a bony bump on the back. It can come about with the constant pressure of a stiff shoe heel being against the bump and triggering painful inflammation of the Achilles and the bursa.

It's not quite as common as the socks but many players do it. (Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Typically, players will get relief from wearing open-back shoes when they’re not playing (hello sliders), applying ice or using gel sleeves.

Or, it seems, by simply cutting out the hard part so its not touching the heel bone.

“To relieve pressure on the Achilles/heel and avoid blisters,” one X user offered up.

But with Haglund’s heel deformity plaguing many players and discomfort being caused by boots, another user criticised: “Billion-dollar ‘experts’ still can’t design boots that don’t cripple players after 100 years? Players hacking their own gear is the only honest take.”

Although, there is also the suggestion of it simply being because the boots don’t actually fit properly.

“Most footballers wear smaller sizes so they get a better feel for the ball, lamine for example wears a couple sizes down than his normal boot size,” one user speculated.