Why are so many players wearing pink footwear at the World Cup?

Pink is the new black at the 2026 World Cup.

It hasn’t taken viewers long to notice that the footwear on display in the tournament’s first few matches has been vibrant but remarkably monochromatic. Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance and Skechers have all supplied players with variations of bright pink cleats from special releases for the World Cup.

“People say it’s coincidence but it’s happened way too many times,” said Ben Warren, founder of BW Boots UK, which specializes in finding rare and classic soccer cleats/football boots and supplies several World Cup players.

“Different brands are releasing boots in more or less the same colors. We’ve seen boots looking quite similar in the last few years, but this World Cup is pretty much the exact same colour.”

So how did the manufacturers land on pink? Odinga Nimako, a senior figure at Nike’s global football footwear team, told The Athletic that high demand for bolder colors led the company to go pink at the World Cup.

“What we’ve been hearing consistently from the athlete and the consumer, especially when it comes to big moments, is that bright colors give them confidence, so that was really our starting point,” Nimako said.

“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 colors.

“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.”

Nimako said that Nike noticed how much a pink shoe can stand out during rounds of development. In trials on the pitch, nothing stood out more than pink.

“Pink really helps bring it out against the green grass on the pitch, whether you’re in the stands or whether you’re watching on TV, making sure that visibility is there,” he said.

“That is definitely something that we looked at. For this (World Cup) moment we really wanted to focus on that visual impact.”

What makes the pink stand out even more is that no teams at this World Cup have primarily pink kits (Belgium’s Adidas away kit may come closest). That was also a consideration.

“Our intent was really to make sure that the boot stood out against the kit,” Nimako said. “In every tournament we can take a slightly different approach. We’ve seen approaches in the past where we actually want to be a little bit more integrated. At this tournament, knowing the magnitude, we really wanted to make it pop.”

There will still be some footwear standing out from the sea of pink, though.

For one, FIFA confirmed to The Athletic that it requires match officials to wear traditional black boots (made by Adidas, a FIFA sponsor).

But certain players will also be bucking the trend. Lionel Messi’s El Ultimo Tango cleats made by Adidas are white and light blue to match Argentina’s kit, with shimmering gold accents. Christian Pulisic’s Kidsuper Ultra 6 made by Puma are white with blue stars reminiscent of the U.S. flag.

Nike, meanwhile, has designed special all-gold boots for Cristiano Ronaldo that will be released before Portugal’s first group-stage match.

“The fact that (Ronaldo) is playing his sixth World Cup, we wanted to celebrate the legacy he has set and the way he continues to add to his legacy,” Nimako said. “And there is no better color than gold to help do that.”

Most other players in the tournament are contractually required to wear the pink boots they’re given, but don’t expect the pink moment to last long.

“When a new season begins it’ll be a new color, around the end of July,” Warren says.

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