Wondered why there are so many pink cleats at the World Cup? You’re not alone

Ecuador's John Yeboah, left, and Ivory Coast's Yan Diomande both wear pink cleats during a World Cup match in Philadelphia. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Shortly before the World Cup trophy is placed into the hands of one team’s triumphant captain at MetLife Stadium on July 19, a gleaming Golden Boot award will be presented to the tournament’s top scorer.

Only, based on the evidence so far, it should really be pink.

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have inadvertently played host to the Fuschia World Cup this summer, as varying shades of bright pink have adorned scores of cleats across the opening round of fixtures.

It was a tone set right from the off, as the curtain raiser between Mexico and South Africa saw all but three of the 22 starting players from both sides step onto the hallowed emerald turf of the Estadio Azteca in some form of pink footwear.

The trend has only continued since, driven as much by the tournament’s biggest stars – be it Kylian Mbappé or Erling Haaland – as its smallest nations, with swathes of the squads for both Cape Verde and Curaçao similarly stepping into the same palette.

Booting up a brand

For those with their ear to the ground in the soccer apparel world, the writing was on the wall before a ball had been kicked.

Adidas, Nike, Puma, New Balance and Skechers – who only launched their first range of soccer shoes in 2023 and are fronted by England striker Harry Kane – all unveiled new lines of cleats ahead of the tournament.

The names for each hue varied by brand, from Adidas’ “Solar Turbo” to Puma’s “Poison Pink,” but the similarities were striking. Just why so many of the game’s manufacturers have all pledged to pink simultaneously is a little less obvious, explains New Balance head of product for soccer Rob Sheldon.

For starters, bright colors inject visibility – not merely for players looking to find each other amid the chaos of a World Cup match, but also for brands looking to draw the gazes of millions of onlooking fans towards their logo.

Yet modern soccer stars are also their own personal brands. With five of New Balance’s own ambassadorial roster that are featuring at the tournament – Eberechi Eze (England), Bukayo Saka (England), Endrick (Brazil), Timothy Weah (U.S.) and Yan Diomande (Ivory Coast) – boasting a combined 32 million Instagram followers, expressing confidence and personality is now an integral consideration of cleat design.

“What you’re seeing at this World Cup is the convergence of two trends,” Sheldon told CNN Sports.

“Athletes (are) demanding the most advanced performance footwear available and increasingly wanting products that reflect their individuality.”

New Balance’s methodology is echoed by their rivals at Nike, who say there has been an increased demand for bolder colors from athletes and consumers alike.

“The way we approached it was focusing on what are some of the brightest colors, what are those colors that are really amplifying that confidence, and pink is one of those,” Nike Football Footwear Director of Product Management Odinga Nimako told The Athletic.

“What we always hear from our consumers and athletes is when you wear a color like pink that is so loud and so bright it is like… you need to be really good to wear these (colors) as well. At the same time, there’s also been a level of acceptance with pink that makes it not too niche for people, it speaks to a broad audience.”

Sheldon maintains, though, that style will never trump substance when it comes to cleat design.

“No player is stepping onto a World Cup pitch because of a paint color,” he added. “They’re stepping onto it because the boot helps them perform at the highest level. The color is simply the most visible part of a much deeper product story.”

Predicting pink

Dig a little deeper, and another possible explanation for the abundance of pink at the tournament emerges.

All the way back in May 2024, consumer trend forecaster WGSN picked out five key colors that they predicted would be prominent in 2026. Second only to Transformative Teal was an “exhilarating and intoxicating” hue that sat between pink and purple: Electric Fuchsia.

Foreseeing a shift in consumer demands for “optimism, visibility and self-expression,” WGSN has seen its prophecy vindicated on sports’ biggest stage. Bright pink now accounts for 48.2% of all pink cleats and has gained 1.1% of the total soccer shoe color mix, according to the company.

“In an athlete-led sports economy, color has become commercial currency,” WGSN Data Associate Madeline Chant said in a press release.

“It does more than decorate a product: it turns (cleats), kits and accessories into cultural signals.”

Is it a stretch to say soccer manufacturers are all drinking from the same well of ideas? Not necessarily, according to famed footwear designer Christian Tresser, whose career has seen him occupy senior designer roles in soccer – and, in particular, for World Cups – at Nike, Adidas and Reebok.

“This is what happens when marketing and trend analysis is seeing and using the same sources,” he told British GQ earlier this week.

Whatever the reasons, the result is somewhat ironic. When so many players are donning pink, arguably the most visible cleats at this year’s tournament are those splashed with any other color.

Granted, Lionel Messi was always likely to attract more eyeballs than any other player, but the Argentine icon soared into an early Golden Boot lead – though he’s since been passed – after firing three goals into the Algeria net with his custom-made “El Último Tango” (“The Last Tango”) Adidas cleats that are etched in the light blue and white hues of his country.

USMNT captain Christian Pulisic donned a similar color scheme with his star-spattered Puma signature shoes against Paraguay.

For the vast majority of stars at this World Cup, though, the pitch is a place for pink.