Why pink boots are causing problems for World Cup commentators

When Vicki Sparks takes her seat in the broadcast booth for a World Cup game, she takes out her print-out of the two matchday rosters and scours the field during the warm-ups.

As a commentator for the UK’s BBC Sport, one of her first steps in the stadium is to look out for any clues which may help differentiate between the stars in the match ahead. She will scribble little notes by each player’s name.

Play-by-play announcers are often positioned towards the very top of vast stadiums, reducing the players to ant-like specks far below. Of course, they have already done hours of preparation, but no stone is left unturned as they seek every marginal gain from the gantry, eager to ensure that the game’s definitive moments can be called with confidence.

They look for signs of any difference between the 20 outfield players in the match: hair color, hairstyle, a wristband, a bandage, whether a player is in a short- or long-sleeved jersey and, in many cases, the color of their footwear.

Yet this World Cup has presented a unique challenge, because so many of the players are wearing pink boots. From such a distance, whether these are made by Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance or Skechers, they all look very similar. There are exceptions — including Lionel Messi’s white and pale blue Adidas cleats, or the golden pair designed by Nike for Cristiano Ronaldo — but pink footwear is pervasive at this World Cup.

The blur of pink has also created complications for announcers such as Sparks, particularly for identifying players from those countries whose national teams are not usually followed by mainstream audiences outside major tournaments. In an expanded 48-team World Cup with increased rosters of 26 players, that leaves commentators trying to familiarize themselves with more than 1,000 individuals. That’s a lot of pink boots.

“You want to get them in your head so you can immediately call it,” Sparks tells The Athletic. “The aim is to call it in the moment. Anything that can give you those marginal gains makes it easier and makes it more likely to be more accurate, which is so important as a commentator.

“I’ve done some games in the World Cup at SoFi Stadium (in Los Angeles). It is an incredible venue, but you are nearly at the very top of the stadium. Those players are tiny dots running around in front of you, so you are looking for absolutely anything to distinguish. Boots are the first thing you go to, because they stand out and it is just such an easy way. It really helps if you’ve got a mix of colors, you narrow it down.”

Ian Darke, who has been working on the tournament for Fox Sports, wrote on X: “Only the commentators care — but why are all the World Cup players wearing the same pink boots? Clearly commercial reasons but so dull and sameish. Don’t they come in other colours anymore?”

Derek Rae, who has also called games for the same U.S. broadcaster during this World Cup, is more forceful, joking that “pink boots can be banished to the dustbin of history”.

Rae tells The Athletic: “People always say, ‘What do you do to make sure your identification is as well-oiled as possible?’ Boot colors are a very important part of that. As soon as the teams come out, I do my writing up of the line-ups. When the players warm up, you can see me with binoculars glued to every single player, looking at their boot colors and other identifying features on that particular day. Pink is the ‘in’ color at this World Cup, much to the chagrin of every commentator, because normally we have an even spread of maybe white, black, red, orange and blue. But this time, it is not much else except pink.

“I’m always grateful for the one or two who are not wearing pink. They get big capitals (by their names) with the color that they’re actually wearing!”

Sparks laughs: “Leandro Trossard, who played for Belgium, started the tournament with blue boots! I was like, ‘Yes! Thank you, Trossard!’ He has a big ‘Blue’ next to him on my sheet.”

For other announcers, different factors have presented obstacles in calling names.

Seb Hutchinson, a commentator for ITV in the UK, also has binoculars to hand, but his preparation and visual aids focus more on hairstyle, a player’s gait and the positions they occupy on the field. He says one complication has been identifying the number on the back of player jerseys, particularly where the digits can blend in with the pattern on striped fabric.

Ian Dennis, a BBC Radio 5 Live commentator, says the vantage points in NFL stadiums being used at this World Cup have created “a real test for the eyesight”. Dennis, who has been in the U.S. since England first arrived for two pre-tournament friendlies in early June, has another preparatory trick: gaming via EA FC.

“At home, I normally play on my son’s game,” he says, adding that the graphics are so “lifelike” that it helps to associate player movements with the figures he calls on the field. “All I do is, for instance, play a video game simulating Borussia Dortmund against Borussia Dortmund. I literally pass the ball from player to player. I don’t play the game as such, but it’s all about number association for me.”

He continues: “Boots are normally a giveaway. But a problem I’ve found is, normally, you spot the numbers on a player during their warm-up and align them with the players early doors. That 15-minute warm-up for a commentator is absolutely crucial, because it gives you an opportunity to look for distinguishing features.

“But one thing I noticed with three or four teams is that, because of the heat at some venues, they were not wearing the kit with their numbers on to warm up, which they would tend to do back in the UK. So they’re wearing different training tops, without numbers, and different shorts. I noticed it with Saudi Arabia and with Iraq.

“It means that you can’t get that number association, which is how you identify the players. When the team sheets come out, I can normally say, ‘Right, number 15, black boots or orange boots, blond hair’, and I write it down in little thumbnail descriptions to go alongside the player.”

To Rae, however, the footwear has been the biggest challenge:

“It is obviously our job to know the players, their traits and what they look like on the ball irrespective of boot color… but it has been harder. Also, because the commentary positions in the USA are, by and large, a lot higher than we are accustomed to in Europe and further away.

“That may be a function of how things are set up for the NFL and, talking to colleagues who cover the NFL, they don’t necessarily want to be close to the action. They want to have this bird’s-eye view, as if they’re watching a chessboard in front of them. But, of course, they have spotters who help them with who’s carrying the ball and who’s made the tackle. We don’t have that in our work.

“I’ve never worked with a person who would call themselves a spotter. It’s down to our own identification. We’re always up for a challenge. It is not meant to be easy. I would say the pink boots have definitely been a little bit of a detriment this summer.”