Soccer is about much more than a game these days. There’s a fashionable side to the sport, too.
We’ve seen soccer players become businessmen, Hollywood stars, and fashion icons. Many are as recognizable out of their club colors as they were in them. For instance, David Beckham played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and LA Galaxy, but you would easily spot him if he walked down your street without the famous shirts.
Fashion seems to be where a lot of these men end up thriving. Big brands clamor for the top stars to be seen in their products, and sunglasses are one such area where we see soccer players thriving. Sunglasses have always been cool, from James Dean’s iconic look in the fifties to Tom Cruise’s all-action heroes of the eighties. Shades are cool; that’s a stone-cold fact.
They’ve never been cooler than when placed upon the noses of some of the biggest soccer stars, but which shades do the biggest names wear? We’ve collected some here for you, so if you want to emulate the biggest soccer stars but don’t quite have the skills, at least you can look like them!
Courtesy Instagram
Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi is rated as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, and whilst he winds down his career on the field, a long and fruitful stint in fashion surely awaits. When you’re known by as many people globally as he is, it makes you hot property. That led to a deal with Spanish eyewear brand Hawkers, with whom Messi launched his own brand. It was a unique deal in that Hawkers were perhaps not considered a major player in the eyewear market. That was until they placed their products on the face of World Cup winner Lionel Messi.
Courtesy Instagram
David Beckham. Beckham might not kick a ball anymore, but he is still a global brand and has been linked with as many eyewear brands as you can care to count. He’s been seen in Prada, Ted Baker, and Police, to name but a few, but perhaps he is best known for bringing aviator eyeglasses into the modern fashion world. Aviators could have a retro eighties feel about them due to their popularity on the back of Top Gun, but Beckham makes them contemporary. He likes to sport Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses but has also been seen in eyeglasses. However, it’s unclear if that’s purely a fashion statement or to accentuate his eyesight. He certainly didn’t need them when he was pinging free-kicks in from 30 yards.
Courtesy Instagram
Kylian Mbappe. Oakley sunglasses are synonymous with sport, but not soccer players usually wear them. That trend has been broken by another World Cup winner, the man who seeks to take Messi’s crown as the World’s greatest, namely French striker Kylian Mbappe. He will be on the move this summer, which could be a big one. If he does make a switch from Paris, he will help further boost the profile of his commercial partner, Oakley. Like Messi, he joined the eyewear brand to release a signature series, but as the above social media post shows, he’s not afraid to try some of their more retro styles.
Courtesy Instagram
Edgar Davids: Dutch midfielder Davids didn’t win a World Cup, and he didn’t play here in the United States, but he is an icon regarding eyewear. Why? Because he became famous for wearing his glasses whilst playing. He got a special dispensation from FIFA to wear them after treatment for glaucoma, and they became part of his image. The orange lenses match the color of his Dutch shirt, making Davids’ glasses a big seller. Whilst they appeared to be Oakley glasses, matching many of their styles at the time, Davids usually wore bespoke ones created for him by Nike. Even now he has finished playing, he is still synonymous with sunglasses and is often the first player you think of when considering soccer players who wear sunglasses.
