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Why so many pink cleats are on players' feet at the World Cup originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
This certainly isn't the first soccer tournament in which players had bright colors on their feet.
But the cleats at the 2026 FIFA World Cup have definitely trended in one specific color direction: pink.
Everywhere you look, players are wearing pink cleats.
It's kind of a coincidence, but also not a coincidence at all.
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Why are there so many pink cleats at the World Cup?
The Athletic reports that there was a "high demand for bolder colors" for cleats in this year's World Cup.
That story goes on to quote Nike's Odinga Nimako as saying that "bright colors give them confidence."
Pink is good at "amplifying confidence," Nimako told The Athletic.
It's certainly a long way removed from the days when players all wore black boots on their feet.
Pink cleats stand out from afar. In the stands or on TV, you can see which players have pink cleats on.
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There is one downside to so many players having pink cleats: They aren't as much of an identifier.
In the past, there might've been one player with a particular neon-level color of cleats, and fans could know who that was on the ball without even seeing his whole self because they could tell by the cleats.
Now, it's not that simple. Which of the pink-cleated players is that? You've got to take an extra second to figure it out.
The one other reason pink was chosen so often is that it doesn't match any of this tournament's kits, according to The Athletic.
Not everyone is wearing pink, but the men at this tournament are definitely wearing plenty of it.
More FIFA World Cup news:
- Japan fans clean up the stadium after World Cup games
- Spain makes a massive Lamine Yamal mistake
- Ref cams are making quite the fashion statement
- Lawrence, Kansas has fallen in love with the Algerian national team
- Cyle Larin proves all the cliches true for Canada
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