I played many sports in my youth, but to my loss almost never soccer. As my kids and wife have recently gotten into it, however, I have started to learn more about it.
In every sport I'm aware of the rules around equipment and gear are intricate and precise in areas that affect play. In baseball the specifications for gloves, ball and bat are fairly rigorously defined. Football of course had Brady's DeflateGate, and rules around substances like Stickum. Racing bikes go through rigorous approvals. Rims in basketball and the ball itself are measured carefully and have defined bounce characteristics.
Soccer shoes, however, seem to have no rigorous definition except apparently around the safety of the cleats.
An obvious gap to my naive mind is not in the cleat but instead in the upper.
Having hardened/carved components on the shoe, or even inside, would seem to offer the player who could utilize them an advantage, in better catching the ball on the inside, conveying the leg action more efficiently on the kick, etc.
I can find no mention of these even in concept, no products for sale, no reports even of surreptitious use or anything.
What's the deal? Is this just not a thing? What am I missing?