Everyone who has played a sport has been there. You are playing soccer, or another sport and the rain is pelting down, the ground is muddy, and you are constantly running through it all and your cleats get dirty.

You look at them and think they need a good clean. But the question is, can you wash soccer cleats?

You can wash your soccer cleats. It is important to clean your soccer cleats as it can help them stay in good condition for longer, not to mention they look better clean.

How to clean your soccer cleats

There are several ways to clean your dirty soccer cleats. First of all, you are going to want to get rid of all the grass, mud, and dirt that are stuck between the studs of the cleat.

After that, you should take out the laces from both cleats however with some boots you will not be able to.

You should wash the laces in the washing machine and then grab a cloth or sponge that has been soaking in warm water and soap and scrub away.

We will now go into more detail regarding these steps.

1. Get rid of the mud and dirt as soon as you can

After a long, tough, hard game of soccer, this is going to be way down on your to-do list, however, it is a good idea to get into a routine to do it.

Once you achieve this, then it will come naturally, and you will do it without even thinking.

Once your game ends try and get out of your cleats as soon as you can. You a small stick or brush to get rid of all the mud and dirt as well as grass that gets caught in between the studs of your cleats.

You can even smash them against one another to get the desired result too. Put them in their cleat bag until you manage to get home.

2. Take out both the soles and laces of your cleats

When you do manage to get home, the next thing you are going to want to do is to take out both the soles and laces of your cleats, if they can be taken out of course.

You can then put them together into a wash bag and put them into your washing machine with some warm water as well as your choice of soap.

By having clean laces for your cleats they will look as good as new while the sole of your cleat will smell fresh as a daisy.

3. Use water that has a lot of soap and is warm

Next is perhaps the most time-consuming. You will want to fill up a bowl or laundry sink with some hot or warm water along with some soap or laundry detergent.

In an ideal world, there should not be an abundance of soap suds. You should use a cloth or towel and even an old toothbrush and begin to get them as clean as you can.

You do this on both the outside of your cleat as well as the inside. The worst thing that you can do is to put your dirty cleats fully underwater to fully try and get your cleats clean.

It is the most time-consuming, but it is perhaps the most important thing do to for your cleats.

However, if you stick to it and develop a routine your soccer cleats will look nice and clean for every game, and on top of that, your cleats will last you a lot longer too.

Just think of it this way, if you take great pride and care for your cleats, then when you are on the pitch, they can take care of you too.

4.  Be careful when drying them and go it thoroughly

So we have now cleaned every inch of our cleats, now comes the time to dry them.

This is the last thing you will do, and it is a good idea to have your cleats as well as the laces and soles completely dry before you use them.

You should find a nice place in your house that has great airflow and put your cleats, laces, and soles there to dry.

Ideally somewhere where a little bit of sunlight can get to them however if you leave your cleats out in the sun it can damage them.

To avoid this you should look for a place that is indoors or if you want to let them dry outside, then place them under a tree or somewhere else when there is shade so you do not damage your freshly cleaned boots.

Once they are completely dry (usually a day or two) then you are good to go. Put the sole back in, tie up the laces and you are ready to hit the pitch in your freshly cleaned cleats.

How to clean smelly soccer cleats

Now from time to time, we all forget our cleats are in our soccer bag; we go to get them out for practice, and they smell horrible.

As mentioned above, the best way to wash them is to take out all your laces and soles and wash them separately to your boots.

Then use warm water on the inside and outside to get rid of all the mud and grass and then leave them in a safe place to dry off.

To get rid of the smell, experts suggest using bleach. Simply spray it on a newspaper or paper towel and then push it into your cleats. Leave it for a day or two and the smell will be gone.

How to wash smelly soccer cleats

First, you will want to get a bucket or your laundry sink fill it with some warm soapy water, and let your boots soak in it for around an hour.

After that, you can get a toothbrush or a stiff brush and use it to brush away all the grass, mud, and other things on the outside of your boots.

If they happen to smell bad then as we said before, put bleach on some paper and shove it into your cleats, leave it for a while and the smell should be gone.

How to clean soccer cleats with socks

The process is remarkably like cleaning your other cleats, except this time you are going to clean the sock as well as the boots.

Soccer boots can affect how you run and how you dribble the soccer ball. Now some companies have designed cleats to come with what they call a dynamic fit collar or in layman’s terms a sock.

This attaches the cleat to your foot. It also gives greater ankle support and helps protect your ankles from injury.

To clean them you simply follow the steps as you would for a normal boot, except after taking out the soles and laces you can use another toothbrush or towel and scrub the sock to get it clean.

Because of where the sock is, you can not soak it as you would with the underside of your boots so handwashing it is the best way to go.

How to dry soccer cleats

Ideally, you will want to place your freshly cleaned soccer cleats in a dry place. Also, you should have them in a place that has a little breeze or if you can not manage that, set up a little fan and have that act as the breeze.

Having a fan push air around it is the perfect way to have your cleats dry quickly and you will be able to use them in no time.

You should avoid putting them in places that are wet or damp as this will take your cleats longer to dry.

Another option to dry your soccer cleats is to use a hairdryer however you should use caution as too much exposure to intense heat can damage your precious soccer cleats.

Can you put cleats in the dryer?

Well, the answer is you can, however, it is not recommended. You should not put your cleats out to dry where they are going to be in direct sunlight or by exposing them to direct heat from things like a dryer or a hairdryer.

This is because doing this can make the make-up (structure) of your cleats weak, and then this can cause them to fall apart on you.

It might seem like a good idea and a great way to save time, however, you should resist the temptation to throw your cleats into the washing machine or dryer as doing this can cause some serious damage to your cleats that you spent hundreds of dollars on.