Background: Footprint analysis is one of the methods that can be used to diagnose foot pathologies. Football is usually seen as a team sport whereby players attempt to move the ball, primarily with the action of the foot to an opponent's goal area to score. Players have a high risk of injury in this sport. Research question: The aim of this study is to evaluate the sole morphology of professional football players. Type of study: Cross-sectional study. Methods: One hundred and ten professional Turkish football players and healthy volunteers participated in the study. Footprint images of both feet were obtained by means of a specially designed scanner system. By means of this system images of the right and left static weight-bearing footprints were acquired, firstly with 50% of the body weight on each foot and then with 90% of the body weight (standing straight, single-limb, weight-bearing stance) were obtained. Measurements were performed using the AutoCAD 2004 software. Results: Arch angle, Chippaux-Smirak, Staheli, arch length, arch, footprint, truncated arch were calculated for both left and right feet. In the 50% weight-bearing stance of the right foot, the arch angle and Chippaux-Smirak, Staheli, footprint, and truncated arch indices were significantly higher in the professional football players than in the controls. For the left foot, only the arch angle and Staheli index were significantly higher in the professional football players compared with the controls. In the 90% weight-bearing stance of the right foot, the arch angle and truncated arch index were significantly higher in the professional football players than in the controls. For the left foot, the arch angle, and the arch length, footprint, and truncated arch indices were significantly higher in the football players compared with the non-athlete controls. Conclusion: Foot morphology of football players may assist in the design of the best football boots for the sport
