An item of footwear is intended for sports practice and is used to protect the feet and legs of a user. The footwear includes: a first rigid shell defining a body (2) which is designed to receive the foot of the user and which extends in a horizontal direction (8); a second rigid shell defining a shaft (4) which is designed to receive the leg of the user and which extends essentially along a vertical axis (10); and a connection (6) which joins the body and the shaft and which is used to rotate the shaft in relation to the body along two essentially-perpendicular rotation axes (8, 12) and to move the axes of the connections in relation to the body, such that the axes of rotation of the aforementioned connection essentially coincide with the axes of rotation of the foot in relation to the leg of the user.