These football boots are Beauyiful, but they Hurt My Feet...

Quality, comfort, and grip at an affordable price. Whether it's our standard, pro, or elite socks, there's an option for everyone. Try a pair for yourself now at puregripsocks.com. If there is one brand that I want to love and be able to recommend in 2026, it's Diodora. Where when I was a kid and leather boots were still cool, as much as we all loved the Nike and Adidas stuff, Diodora was the one that I really wanted. Specifically, the Diodora Maximus with the spring-loaded studs. Just an absolutely crazy pair of football boots that I'd love to own one day. We're inside this box. I have an incredibly cool-looking reissue or remake of a pair of football boots that on paper should be right up my alley. However, because of the same mistake that has consistently been a problem for me with Diodora football boots, I don't want to say that they're unwearable, but they're some of the most uncomfortable boots that I've tried all year. And for the dumbest, most avoidable reason possible. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Diodora Match Winner ITA OG 94 LT Plus MDPU. Boy, does that name just roll off the tongue. It's a modernized remake of a football boot that originally came out in 1994, making this design technically 32 years old. However, the materials are a little bit more modern than that, and I'd venture to guess probably not as premium as what the OGs would have actually had. With almost the entirety of this metallic gold upper being made from what Diodora classifies as premium leather, which I think does imply that this is a calf or cow leather rather than kangaroo, which of course is a material that Diodora used to use very frequently on their top-end boots, offering some of the softest leather that money could buy. And that of course is not to say that these aren't soft, but would I put them in the same category as a made in Japan Mizuno? Definitely not, and that's important to note because despite not being a made in Japan Mizuno, these made in Italy Diodoras, they're a retail price of $280, making them as expensive as just about anything. Where considering that price tag, would you or should you pick these over quite literally every other football boot currently available in 2026? Well, not to spoil the video, but I really don't think so. Where in today's review, we're gonna talk about the good, the bad, how these fit and feel on feet, and ultimately where I think Diodora needs to make both big and small changes to drastically improve the overall feel and comfort level of their current football boot offerings. So if you're interested in learning more, please stick around. And if you are interested in a pair of these for yourself, you can pick them up in a couple of different color ways below their normal retail price by way of some exclusive SR4U coupon codes via the first link down below. And as always, if you guys enjoy the content, don't forget to drop a like on the video. And if you appreciate the unsugarcoated, unsponsored, brutally honest opinions on this channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button along with the little bell notification so you don't miss out on my reviews of all the latest football boots of 2026. We're starting with the upper. Don't get things twisted. I think the overall quality is actually quite good. Of course, being made in Italy, there's a level of craftsmanship that I think people expect with that. And definitely, these feel like they're well-made. The design in general just has so many different panels and so much stitching across the entire foot, and all of it lines up really nicely. The materials overlap and kind of undercut each other in a way that looks nice and smooth. And the finish on the surface of the leather is also really nice. As far as the softness goes, again, I don't think it's as soft as they should be, but it definitely isn't what I would consider to be super stiff. I just think, again, for near $300, considering what else is available, even in today's limited full leather football boot market, I just think that they should be a little bit softer. And the fact that they're not using kangaroo leather like they used to back in their heyday is a little bit questionable to me. Where maybe I'm completely off base on this one, but if I were Diodora, I think it's important to recognize that this type of football boot ultimately has a bit of a niche audience. We can't expect a design from 1994 to ever be mainstream in 2026. So the audience that you're appealing to is definitely going to have some overlap to the made-in-Japan Mizuno crowd, where then again, if you're talking about $300 for a pair of premium leather football boots, are you going to spend $300 on calf leather or are you going to spend $300 on the softest of soft kangaroo leather? I think you know which choice most people would make. Having said that, because the entire upper, including the tongue, is made from what is still decently soft leather and also leather that has some pretty good thickness to it, this is one of those football boots that, unlike so many modern options, definitely has some substance and, dare I say, bulk to it, where obviously if you're looking for that raw barefoot feel, this is definitely not going to provide that, but if you like that more old-school padded leather feel, this definitely offers that on the ball, all of which, along with the aesthetic, might sound pretty good to you. That is until you get to the heel area, where as you can see, this has what appears to be a pretty traditional low-cut construction. You have a solid internal structure at the very back as your internal heel counter, but then when you look inside, it's a smooth, relatively soft, kind of microfiber-type lining material with almost no padding whatsoever. It's kind of hard for me to show you on video, but there's the thinnest amount of padding kind of in the upper middle part at the back of the heel, almost nothing down low, and then just a little bit of padding along the sides, but for the most part, as far as heel liners go, this is almost rock hard. It's also, as you can see from this angle, very straight up and down, meaning that it has no contouring to it, where we have seen certain heel liners get away with minimal padding based on really good shaping, but this has straight up and down shaping with plenty of width and almost no padding with the back of that internal heel counter being pressed directly against your heel. For me, this is the fatal flaw of these football boots and a lot of the newer Deodorant stuff that I've tried over the last couple of years, the Brazil being the one exception in that it did seem to fit me somewhat comfortably, but this is one of those football boots where I just could not get used to the way this heel fit, where, of course, your mileage may vary here, and maybe it's just the shape of my heel specifically, but I just found these not only to be uncomfortable, but borderline hurt the back of my heel. These were just not pleasant to wear. Will or would you have the exact same experience? Personally, I would hope not, but I still think that's not an excuse for making what is overall a pretty heavily padded full leather football boot, and then not include any of that padding directly behind your heel or along the sides of your ankle. It's just a weird decision, and Deodorant seems to do it on almost all of their football boots right now. Unlike the heel liner, the insole does have some padding to it. It's one of the main focal points in the tech specs on Deodorant's website for some reason, and as you can see, this is incredibly basic and unimpressive, but if you read this screen cap from their website, it makes it sound like they've done something very high-tech. This is a mesh liner with a single layer of relatively cheap white foam with an even cheaper yellow foam insert in the heel and forefoot. Well, don't get me wrong, it's not bad, but does this warrant an entire paragraph of tech explanation? I don't think so. Oh, and as a part of that tech, you get a very thin piece of foam in the shape of a circle also sitting directly underneath your heel. Maybe this was impressive in 1994, but in 2026, I just don't think this cuts it. And then moving to the base, you're going to find what is overall a fairly old school sole plate and stud pattern design utilizing modern plastics. You can see the bond between the sole plate and the upper has held up really well considering I was wearing these on turf. You almost can't see anything, which is pretty impressive. You also have the three rivets at the tip of the toe as well as one under the heel, which again is kind of an old school craftsmanship thing that we don't see from many other brands. So I do love the fact that Deodora is still doing it here. The sole plate has some decent flex to it, but it's definitely not overly flimsy like you might expect from something that looks as traditional as this does. And as far as the FG stud pattern is concerned, the studs are all conical in shape. The ones here at the base of the heel have a little bit of a teardrop kind of extension piece on them. But for the most part, they're relatively short as far as firm ground studs go and also fairly large in profile and that they definitely provide adequate traction, but more so prioritize freedom to twist and pivot rather than outright bite and digging into the ground. In other words, if you don't mind something that is less aggressive, these should do the job just fine. Whereas if you're more of a mercurial type person, this is probably not what you're looking for. Although to be fair, you probably don't want a full leather metallic gold Deodora anyways. And then there's the weight, where not to make this about Mizuno, but these are both full leather, kind of more old school design football boots. These made in Japan with kangaroo leather, these made in Italy with calf leather that also both retail for $280. So the comparison is without question, extremely relevant. We're gonna weigh them on a scale in real time, both in the same size, 9.5 US, starting off with the Morellias and you can see that they weigh in at 7.55 ounces, the equivalent of 214 grams, which is a lot lighter than I think a lot of people would expect a football boot like this to weigh. Throw on the Deodoras however, and you can see that they weigh in at 10.2 ounces, the equivalent of 290 grams. Where I don't think I need to do the math for you there. One of these is significantly lighter than the other, where granted this is technically a remake of a 32 year old football boot, but even still given the materials, similarities between these two, it's pretty crazy that there's that much of a difference. And then there's the fit and feel on feet, where like I talked about earlier, the heel is the major issue for me. From the front of my shins forward however, I really like the fit and feel of these boots. The leather, like I said, while not as soft as Mizuno made in Japan kangaroo leather is still really soft. It's got some nice thickness to it. And as a whole, the shaping is quite nice. However, along the sides of the ankle, because it comes up a little bit higher and has next to no padding, it's very stiff and kind of digs in, particularly on the inside. And then directly at the back of the heel from kind of the middle part down, the amount of pressure and hardness is just ridiculous. There is no reason why the heel on a $280 full leather football boot needs to feel this bad. Where again, I wanna be 100% clear in saying that maybe this is going to be a different experience for you depending on the specific shape of your feet, because at the end of the day, everybody's feet are a little bit different and are going to find certain football boots more comfortable than others. You might not necessarily line up perfectly with my own opinions and experiences. However, I can tell you, having tried just about every top end football boot to come out in 2026, this probably has the worst heel out of all of them, which again is just straight up unacceptable when you consider that these are nearly $300. It is for me, the one thing that really holds these back and prevents me from wearing them for any longer than 20 minutes at a time, because if I wear them any longer than that, I'm going to have really, really bad blisters at the back of my heel. When it comes to width and overall sizing, like a lot of the Deodorant stuff, these definitely have some decent width and volume to them, where definitely if you had wider feet, these are going to work really well for you. I would say if you have particularly narrow feet, these might not be the best choice, but in general, if you're looking for that higher volume, old school fit and feel, these definitely have that shaping about them that I think will work for the vast majority of people. And then as far as sizing is concerned, I'm wearing these in my usual size, 9.5 US, and the fit and the length is pretty good. I think with a full leather football boot like this, a lot of people think going down half a size is the best method, and I suppose if you're already wearing your boots with a little bit of extra space, that definitely wouldn't be a bad idea, but given that I already wear my boots quite snug, in a 9.5, my toes are pretty well right at the end, where going down half a size would only make the heel even tighter and more uncomfortable in the areas that have no padding. So for me, true to size seemed to work out quite well, but again, if you do wear your boots a little bit bigger, down half a size might not be the worst idea. We're in conclusion, like I mentioned at the beginning of this video, I want to love Diadora football boots. The look, the aesthetic, the nostalgia, the all over leather, everything about the way that this football boot presents is what I love about old school football boots, but then when I get them on my feet, unfortunately, all of that falls apart. Great leather and great craftsmanship ultimately doesn't mean anything if the boots aren't comfortable. And for me, I just don't find these, as well as many other modern or remake Diadoras in this case to be all that comfortable, specifically due to the lack of padding and shaping in the heel. Or if they could fix just that one thing, I really do believe that there would be some genuine interest amongst the leather football boot enthusiast community where even at $280, where maybe these are a little bit more expensive than they should be, if they looked this good and felt super comfortable, I really do believe there would be takers. Diadora, if you're watching, shoot me a message. I'd love to help you guys fix this problem and start making some incredible football boots again.