Michael Olise doesn’t like shin pads.
The French winger wore nothing when he came on in place of Leroy Sane in Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in November.
This was spotted by the game’s fourth official, Florin Andrei, who ordered the 23-year-old to wear it. Olise reluctantly put a few socks in the bag and took them out again when the officials looked away.
Michael Olise was seen having a brief chat with the fourth official as he prepared to come off the bench during Bayern’s Champions League match against PSG.
Moments later, Olise appears to be putting his shin pad into his sock, but he cunningly releases his left guard and throws it away… pic.twitter.com/ep0mqMLG79
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 28, 2024
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules require all players to wear shin pads. There are no specific rules regarding size, but Law 4 states that they “must be of suitable material and of suitable size to provide adequate protection and must be covered with socks.”
Over the years, many soccer players have interpreted the rules to play fast and loose. The low socks and micro shin pads trend, seen by the likes of Manchester City’s Jack Grealish and Chelsea’s Lauren James, has been hugely popular in recent years.
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“I don’t wear shin guards,” Olise recently told a fan who tried to gift him pads. Although the PSG incident may have been a one-off, 23-year-old Olise is usually seen wearing shin guards during matches.
The former Crystal Palace man is not the only professional footballer who would prefer to attend games for free with shin pads if it were up to him.
Former Sheffield United striker Ollie McBurney said: “I don’t really like wearing shin pads. We don’t wear shin pads in training.” athletic In November. “I wear regular socks because I want to feel like I’m training every day. “I cut the sock, roll it, and then add a bit of foam that I put in like padding for comfort.”
Manchester City’s Jack Grealish is notorious for wearing small shin pads (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Sam Weller Widdowson is credited with inventing shin pads in 1874. He was a footballer and cricketer for Nottingham Forest, later becoming club president and a one-time England international. Weller Widdowson began cutting up a pair of cricket pads to wear to protect him during football matches, and his idea is said to have soon caught on.
Shin guards in sports are heavily influenced by shin guards, an ancient piece of armor made by Bronze Age soldiers to protect their shin bones. There is very little skin to protect the shin bones.
It was in 1990 that FIFA (using the rules of IFAB) mandated that all players must wear shin guards in all matches. Before then, athletes could pick and choose whether to protect their shins and ankles. At the time, shin guards were clunky and protected both the player’s ankles and shins.
Diadora shin pads custom made for Francesco Totti in Roma in 2006. Now it looks downright retro by modern standards (Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images)
They have slimmed down somewhat over the past 30 years. Players can now use credit cards. You can also use biscuit-sized shin guards if you prefer. The trend has become a cause for concern for grassroots football clubs, with some trying to ban their young players from wearing the kit.
Penstone Church, a team from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, imposed a ban in August last year after a 15-year-old player named Alfie broke two legs when he took on a challenge wearing small shin pads. It made headlines.
“Keeping him out of football for a few months isn’t worth speeding up. It’s not worth the risk.” Alfie spoke to the BBC after healing from a broken tibia and fibula during a 50-50 tackle. The shin pads the teenager was wearing at the time of the tackle measured just 3 cm (1.1 inches) by 9 cm (3.5 inches).
@officialbhafc The world’s smallest shin pad… 🤣 #BHAFC #AFC #PL ♬ Original Sound – Brighton & Hove Albion FC
Warrington Town defender Peter Clarke is 25 games away from making his 1,000th senior appearance since making his Premier League debut for Everton in January 2001. The 42-year-old says he remembers the heavy, bulky shin pads of the late ’80s. In the 90s and early 2000s, they had built-in ankle pads and Velcro straps. And while he’s wearing a smaller guard than he did when he started his career, a ton of on-field experience hasn’t shown him to have sized down too much.
The centre-back, who also played for Huddersfield Town, Oldham Athletic and Tranmere, said: “The one I’m wearing now is carbon fiber and it has chips and scratches, but when I see it, I think it’s nice to wear it.” Rovers says:
“Twenty years ago there were a lot more fly tackles. I remember going into a serious tackle and getting hit in the shin. As the game continued I realized there was blood on my socks. The stud had gone through the shin pad and cut off about 2 inches of my shin. “Because it is a contact sport, it is wise to be well protected rather than just wearing the smallest shin pads possible.”
Shin pads are designed to protect the athlete’s legs at the moment of impact (VI Images via Getty Images).
His longevity means Clarke has been playing in the National League North alongside his teammates at Warrington since his first professional appearance. Why do you think more athletes are choosing smaller shin pads these days?
“I don’t like that feeling of slipping around, so I wear sleeves to prevent that,” says Clarke. “Either that, or how the individual looks when they play; But I’m not sure a 7-inch piece of plastic or carbon fiber would slow an individual down that much. “I’m not completely sure, but things have definitely changed and it’s not the best in terms of player safety.”
Clarke estimates he has used five or six pairs of shin pads during his career spanning over 25 years and has defended against Thierry Henry (then an Arsenal player) and Cristiano Ronaldo (then a Manchester United player). He makes sure his daughter and son wear appropriately sized shin pads to protect themselves when they play, and encourages others to do the same.
He chose a more simple endeavor, but his kids have custom bouncers with photos of themselves and their family on them. It’s what many players at all levels are choosing now, and some elite players are even getting their own photos printed on their shin pads.
Cristiano Ronaldo wearing shin pads at Euro 2024 (Marcus Brandt/picture Alliance via Getty Images)
Manchester City and Brazil goalkeeper Ederson and Crystal Palace and France striker Jean-Philippe Mateta have entered the stadium with pictures of their faces stuffed into their socks. I went out.
Luka Modric pictured with his wife and children after playing for Croatia and winning the Champions League with Real Madrid While everyone often kisses before taking the pitch, Declan Rice prefers to keep it to himself. Simple job done with a plain shock absorbing material guard.
Luka Modric kisses his shin pad for good luck (David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
England and Arsenal striker Alessia Russo’s selfie with her parents is printed on the bottom, and above it is an image of her iconic backheel nutmeg goal against Sweden in the 2022 European Championships, which earned her a Puskas Award nomination that same year. Yes.
Arsenal and England striker Alessia Russo’s shin pads (Molly Darlington – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
For athletes, shin pads can serve not only as protection, but also as a positive treat to help psych themselves up before a game.
Former Real Madrid striker Joselo wore a picture of a dog on his shin guards during last season’s Champions League quarter-finals. (Gonzalo Arroyo – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Some soccer players decide to be specially equipped with shin guards. When former Wales international Gareth Bale was at Real Madrid, he wore shoes made by Podoactiva, a biotechnology company specializing in podiatry and biomechanics. We also design custom insoles to fit players’ boots.
Ultimately, shin pads are there to protect athletes from serious injuries, but they are also a fashion statement. Believe it or not, some shin pads are now assisting with the sourcing moves of some players during the transfer window.
Italy and Lazio striker Martina Piemonte moved from AC Milan to Everton in 2023, and her move to the Women’s Super League follows data generated by Italian analytics company Soccerment that XSEED shin guard helped collect during matches. Some are included.
Aldo Comi is the co-founder and CEO of a wearable technology company that has been fine-tuning artificial intelligence shin guards since the product’s official launch in 2022. Currently, approximately 3,000 players are wearing XSEED and using the adjacent app. Interpret your own data. Brand ambassador Inter Milan full-back Federico Dimarco is one of the most notable male footballers to wear shin guards.
“We strive to give players ownership of their data so they can use it to get faster and better performance, as well as gain visibility,” says Comi. Soccerment’s shin pads measure a player’s speed, sprint, shot, cross, pass and more. It also becomes the first wearable technology to provide expected goals (xG) metrics.
Soccerment’s ‘connected’ shin pads on display at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
Soccerment recently spent six days in California at the Major League Soccer youth tournament MLS NEXT Fest. “Over the course of six days, we covered 35 matches and over 220 players,” explains Comi. “And basically what we did there was create a scouting platform at the event.”
Comi says they’ve been able to create data analytics to scout players who outperform their peers in a variety of areas (one of their goals is to create a global scouting platform based on this data). However, the company has recently noticed a decline in shin guards, especially among youth athletes, and is already responding.
“Over the past two years, there has been a trend toward smaller and smaller shin guards. In some cases, the players don’t even wear them,” he says. “You see a lot of professional football players fake it by using little sponges under their socks, which I think is dangerous. What we need to do (in Soccer) is to respond to these trends. So we’re working on sizing the shin guards and making them smaller and lighter.”
Former Blackpool inside forward Allan Brown shows his old shin pads in this 1953 photo (Allsport UK/Getty Images)
However, Soccerment first focuses on capturing data and creating shin guards that protect players before protecting the technology within each pad.
“We wanted to be certified as protective equipment, which is why we had to choose premium materials. For example, we chose a copolymer that is also used in aerospace because of its shock-absorbing abilities. Although it was expensive for us, the shin guards were really protective.
“And that should be the main purpose of shin guards: to protect your shins.”
(Top photo: Pau Barrena/Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)
