Having to wear glasses to aid with your vision is incredibly common but why do we never see any professional soccer players wearing glasses on the field?
There are a number of reasons that we will discuss in more detail later on, but the main thing to note is that soccer players are know different to anyone else in the sense that they still need assistance with certain things on occasion.
With this in mind, today we’ll go through whether soccer players can wear glasses or not. We will be looking at the impact that wearing glasses can have on a player, whether any professionals wear them, and the alternatives that are available in the modern day. Let’s get straight to it!
Soccer players cannot wear traditional glasses on the field as they are deemed to be an injury risk by FIFA, this being said alternatives such as contact lenses and goggles are occasionally used by players that need help with their eyesight. Needing to wear glasses does not usually impact a player’s career in a major way.
The Impact of Wearing Glasses as a Soccer Player
As children learn the ropes, it can often feel like needing to wear glasses is a limiting factor when compared to their teammates, but in most cases, there is no reason players with glasses can’t be as good as their teammates or peers.
That is the most important thing to take from this piece as children should always be encouraged to play soccer if it is something they want to do.
At a professional level, there could be some problems for people with serious conditions, but these types of ailments are much rarer that simple long or short sightedness.
For most players, the main impact of having to wear glasses is taking them off to play. In the past there was no real way of players being able to play without their glasses and this resulted in some nasty facial injuries over the years.
Thankfully there have been advancements in the technology since then, something we will dissect further later in this article.
The impact of wearing glasses differs from player to player as each one has their own problem that they use their glasses to correct.
Players with short-sighted vision, may struggle to see far up the field as they attempt to place long-range passes or shoot from distance.
On the other hand, those with long-sightedness struggle to see things that are up close to them and could occasionally perform miss-timed tackles or shots as a result.
Have Any Professionals Worn Glasses?
Plenty of great players have been forced to wear glasses over the course of their playing career, legends such as Cristiano Ronaldo are known for needing glasses to help their eyesight.
The international rules of soccer do ban players from wearing glasses on the field as they could be a danger to both the player wearing them and the opposition as they could cause nasty cuts due to the glass of the lenses, despite this players have found ways of getting around the rule.
Here are some examples of soccer players who need to wear glasses:
- Edgar Davids
- David De Gea
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Mario Balotelli
- Jerome Boateng
The most notable example of a player using eyewear on the soccer field is Dutch hero Edgar Davids, one of the finest midfield players of the 1990s.
The former Juventus star was renowned for wearing custom-made goggles whilst on the field, these goggles were essentially fixed to David’s face and contained powerful lenses that prevented his sensitive eyes from being damaged by bright lights.
It is also quite common for players to need glasses after they retire from the game, especially those that have headed the ball relatively often.
The research into this subject is still rather limited but early connections are being made between heading the ball and long-term neurological damage, whether this also links to eyesight is yet to be seen.
Since the time of Davids, the technology has improved even further with many children and adults with similar eyesight problems to the Dutchman being able to play soccer thanks to him leading the way.
Like with any disability (or anything that makes you appear ‘different’ in any way) the most important thing is to remove the stigma attached to the supposed problem, this way people will no longer consider you to be different in any way. This is the only way that progress can ever be achieved in this sense.
I listed 7 famous soccer players who wore glasses in this post.
Are There Other Alternatives?
Whilst Edgar Davids’ goggles were revolutionary, not everybody wants or needs to wear them on the soccer field and as such some alternatives are now available.
Anyone that needs to wear glasses will likely be aware of contact lenses, essentially small lenses that fit in your eye and can be removed in the evening. These lenses prevent the need for glasses and can be the perfect solution for soccer players.
We mentioned David De Gea earlier as the Manchester United goalkeeper is one of the most prominent players that needs help with his eyesight.
It may surprise you to find out that one of the world’s top goalkeepers has problems with his vision, however, you would never know about it thanks to the contact lenses that he wears on the field.
Contact lenses are also a great choice for amateur players because they are considerably cheaper than buying special eyewear to use during matches.
This being said, some contact lenses are better than others so make sure you do your own research and get in touch with your optician to ensure you buy the right contact lenses for yourself or your child.
We hope that this short guide into whether soccer players can wear glasses has proven interesting and helpful and puts your mind at ease when it comes to wearing glasses.
Professional soccer players need glasses just as much as regular folk, but they cannot wear them on the field, this is why the alternatives we discussed in this piece have become more common.
