The abundance of pink cleats at the FIFA World Cup is likely just a coincidence stemming from sportswear companies’ focus on bold colors to “stand out” on the pitch, a Japanese company representative said.

So the company, Mizuno Corp., deliberately introduced boots in a different color—white–to distinguish its footwear at the quadrennial event.

In the June 15 Japan-Netherlands match, 10 of Japan’s starting 11 and nine of the Dutch starters wore pink boots.

Japanese midfielder Takefusa Kubo and goalkeeper Zaion Suzuki are using pink shoes made by Adidas.

“The World Cup is a special moment that fans around the world watch and are moved by,” said a representative for Adidas Japan K.K.

Regarding the pink color, the representative explained: “It creates a vivid contrast with the green pitch and demonstrates high visibility.”

Spain’s winger Lamine Yamal also wears the pink Adidas shoes.

The company hopes the color pink leaves an impression on stadium spectators and on viewers watching broadcasts.

According to Adidas, bold colors have been adopted in football boots in recent years.

At the previous World Cup in Qatar, Puma gained much publicity through replays of “Mitoma’s 1 millimeter,” the moment Kaoru Mitoma’s orange Puma boots touched the ball on the goal line.

That World Cup in 2022 featured a diverse range of shoe colorings inspired by the host country’s flag, culture and architecture.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia also saw players wearing footwear in vivid colors.

“In modern football, performance and self-expression have become more inseparable than ever,” said the Adidas Japan representative.

MIZUNO, MESSI GO WITH WHITE

For the World Cup in North America, Mizuno deliberately introduced white boots.

“Just like in the fashion industry, each company has color trends. Our analysis shows other companies happened to converge on pink this time,” said the Mizuno representative.

Mizuno’s product development is planned on a yearly basis, and “the World Cup is a stage where each company makes plans and spends money,” the representative said.

In past World Cups, overlaps of shoe colors from multiple brands “have always occurred,” the representative added.

With that competitive stage in mind, Mizuno released a white-dominant collection in June.

The representative said, “We anticipated color overlaps, so we based our boots on white.”

White is a staple color for footwear that sells well, but what color each company will use at the World Cup “remains to be seen until the matches are played,” the representative added.

In this tournament, midfielder Ao Tanaka is the only player on the Japanese national team wearing Mizuno’s white-dominant boots.

“Among the pink, white is standing out in the opposite direction,” the representative noted.

Lionel Messi, Argentina’s superstar and a six-time World Cup participant, also wears white-based cleats.

However, they are not Mizuno boots, but Adidas’s Messi signature model bearing his name.

(This article was compiled from reports by Yuhei Nakahodo and Ryuhei Tsutsui.)