Guide
Football boots: what FG, AG, TF, MG and IC change about the pair you buy
· · By Redacción HYPEIBIZA
The two or three letters after a boot's name decide whether it is any use to you. They are the part of the listing most people skim past. Here is what each one marks, and which ones the boots we carry come on.
A football boot is bought for a surface before it is bought for a colour. The plate under it decides whether a pair grips or slides. In our catalogue, as in most shops, that plate is declared in the product name, not in the description. FG, AG, SG, TF, MG, IC. Two letters, sometimes three, between the model and the colourway. Skim past them and you can buy the right boot for the wrong pitch.
What each code marks
The table below gives the plain meaning of each code and a pair we hold that carries it. That way you see the letters in a real name. The codes are data and are not translated. The meaning beside each one is what the letters stand for.
Codes are data and are not translated. The pair named in the third column is one we hold, and its page shows the shops behind it.
| Code | The surface it is built for | A pair we hold that carries it |
|---|---|---|
| FG | Firm ground — the standard stud pattern for dry natural grass | IR0786-701 |
| FG/MG | One plate sold for firm ground and multi-ground use | IO5000-701 |
| AG | Artificial grass — a denser pattern of shorter studs for synthetic pitches | IR0785-701 |
| SG | Soft ground — the stud plate for wet, soft natural grass | JP6237 |
| TF | Turf — the low nubbed sole for short synthetic and hard ground | IR0787-701 |
| MG | Multi-ground — a mixed stud pattern intended for several surfaces | IF8517-600 |
| IC | Indoor court — a flat, non-marking sole for futsal and indoor courts | HQ2319-200 |
| IT | Indoor — the same flat-sole idea, as our catalogue writes it on one family | 106696-02 |
People get two of those wrong. TF is a different sole for a different surface, not a cheaper FG. A TF boot is uncomfortable on a full grass pitch, and breaking it in does not fix that. FG/MG is one plate sold for both surfaces, hence the two codes in the name. Play on one surface nearly always? Buy for it. Split your weeks between two? FG/MG is the compromise the catalogue offers.
Which plates the boots we carry come on
FG is the plate most boots in this article share: nine pairs, counting the two player-edition runs and the Premier. TF and MG follow, with four and two. AG appears on two retained Mercurial pairs. SG, IC and IT have one pair each. The shops we check chose that mix; it is no verdict on the best plate. It shows which surface the market serves right now.
Product
adidas Predator Elite Fold-Over Tongue FG Zinedine Zidane 30 Years
Style code: KK4187
fromRRP 276,38 €
Cheapest today: 11teamsports, Futbolemotion, adidas
View productThe families those boots belong to
Seven families account for the boots we hold, across three brands. The table gives each family, the plate codes that appear in the names we carry for it, and one code you can look up directly. The plate codes are not shared out evenly. Mercurial and Phantom between them cover six of the eight codes, while the Premier is an FG-only line in our catalogue.
Every family in this table is one we hold at least one pair of, and every example code is a pair with its own page.
| Family | Brand | Plate codes in the names we hold | An example code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercurial Superfly 11 | Nike | FG, FG/MG, AG, TF | IR0786-701 |
| Mercurial Vapor 17 | Nike | FG, MG | IF8517-600 |
| Phantom 6 | Nike | TF, MG, IC | HJ4123-600 |
| Premier 3 | Nike | FG | HM0265-003 |
| Predator | adidas | FG, AG, SG | KK4187 |
| Copa Pure IV | adidas | FG, TF | KI0627 |
| F50 | adidas | FG | KJ3432 |
| King | PUMA | IT | 106696-02 |
One model name covers several price levels: Club, Academy, League, Pro, Elite. The plate code is written the same at every level. An Academy FG and an Elite FG suit the same surface, though they are very different boots. Children's pairs in our catalogue follow the same naming: a (GS) boot carries its plate code in the same place. You buy for a child with the same two letters you use for yourself.
Sizing: why the two charts disagree
Boots are where our two biggest size charts most visibly disagree. European sizes come in thirds at adidas (40, 40 2/3, 41 1/3) and in halves at Nike. Put the two side by side at the European numbers both charts carry and something surprising comes out. They agree on the American size and disagree by half a size on the British one.
Both charts as we publish them, at the four European numbers they have in common. The numbers are the charts and are not translated, including the one Nike writes as 6 (40).
| EU | UK on the adidas chart | US on the adidas chart | UK on the Nike chart | US on the Nike chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 6.5 | 7 | 6 (40) | 7 |
| 42 | 8 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 8.5 |
| 44 | 9.5 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| 46 | 11 | 11.5 | 11 | 12 |
In the first three rows the American size matches on both charts and the British one sits half a size apart, adidas higher. EU 46 breaks it the other way: the British number matches and the American one moves. So "I'm a UK 11" is ambiguous for a boot and "I'm an EU 44" mostly is not. That is why the product page shows each shop's own numbering, not one converted figure.
What to do with this
- Decide the surface first and the colour second. The plate code is in the product name on every boot we carry, so you can filter for it before you look at anything else.
- Treat TF and FG as different boots, not as two grades of the same one. One of them will be wrong for your pitch whichever you pick.
- Convert through the European number when you can. The two charts agree there and disagree on the British column, sometimes by half a size.
- Read the level in the name too: Club, Academy, League, Pro, Elite. It tells you what the boot is built from, while the plate code only tells you where it is meant to be worn.
Each page names the shops that have the pair and shows today's offers, in that shop's own size numbering. The plate code, the level and the sizes are all on the page. Nothing here is a figure we wrote down once and forgot to update.
