Soccer players playing in tights: When did the tights wearing start happening in soccer? Why do soccer players wear tights even if it’s not too cold? It hasn’t gotten that much colder over in Germany, England and Italy has it? Is climate change starting to cause professional soccer players to pull on some tights or leggings? Neymar will wear tights playing for Paris Saint-Germain even if it’s 50 degrees in France, as he does in the above photo.
Perhaps Neymar’s worried about pulling a hamstring too though. And compression tights or leggings help reduce the chance of pulling a muscle. Above image credit goes to Eurosport UK for the picture of Neymar playing in tights – see Tweet below too.
Two goals from Robb…hold on…tights with shorts sleeves?! pic.twitter.com/u85NvEZRSO
— Pro:Direct Soccer (@ProD_Soccer) November 27, 2018
Even video gamers in some corners are clamoring to have the option to have the soccer players they’re playing with in video games wear tights or compression skins in games like FIFA Soccer 10 and other soccer video games. How do you wear soccer tights or leggings? Pretty simple, just wear them over your shorts. Soccer brands like Nike and Adidas offer a number of different colors and types.
The first person I remember playing in tights was the Brazilian Ronaldo when he was at Inter Milan. I can’t seem to dig up a photo though. But he, understandably, had a good reason for wearing tights. Ronaldo’s from the warm beaches of Brazil and playing for Inter Milan in Italy proved to be a bit colder than he’d expected on occasion.And these aren’t any old tights either. These are thermal tights in an array of colors, from black to red to gray to green.
Call them tights or compression skins or whatever. Heck, call them underwear or leggings, but most say they are compression pants that are usually for players coming off an injury who want to keep a hamstring, calf or groin injury warm and the tights help keep the muscles loose so they don’t tighten up.
However, some of the soccer players playing in tights these days grew up playing in the cold or even the snow. Robben is from Holland, where they have their fair share of cold temperatures during the year. Robben did go from Spain to Germany though, so that is a bit of a change in climate, but I’m sure he’s acclimated by now, right? I guess not. Robben loves to wear tights whenever he plays no matter the temperature.
Soccer players playing in tights is becoming more common though across Europe.
I can understand the need to maybe wear tights if there’s snow on the ground and it’s below freezing, but sometimes these players are wearing tights while some of their teammates are in short sleeves. I’ve heard even some wives of the players complaining about the tights, telling their husbands they look terrible. Again though, if you’re coming off a hamstring pull or groin injury, then it makes sense to keep that area warm by wearing some compression tights.
Bayern Munich told Arjen Robben that he’s has to wear tights that match the team’s shorts color on the day, and not the gray ones he was wearing. So red tights when they wear red shorts and white tights when they wear white shorts. That’s the least he could do. But he’s even got other Bayern Munich players into wearing the tights, like Frenchmen Franck Ribéry. Don’t know of the Bayern brass are happy about that.
Robben: “When I kicked the ball against Arsenal, I knew it would go in. That’s the nicest feeling, that’s why we play football.” ⚽️#UCL pic.twitter.com/5a1G8K8tuR
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 28, 2017
Would Alex Ferguson let his players wear tights? If Giggs can do it I guess anybody can. I think Wayne Rooney might have even wore tights in a game or two.
Is this going to be a new trend? Are youth players going to be scooping up tights from Nike and Adidas soon? I understand the gloves and even the scarves that many a player wear in the Serie A, but tights, I’m not so sure they’re really needed.
The Brazilian duo over at AC Milan, Pato and Ronaldinho, are in favor of the black tights when the temperature drops below their liking, as they wore in their recent Champions League match versus Manchester United.
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it though.
Neymar wears tights even when it’s warm.
It’s currently 9°C in Madrid and Neymar is wearing tights 😳 pic.twitter.com/5afUa58DnK
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) February 14, 2018
Yes, they’re able to make incredibly thin yet warm under garments these days, so maybe they actually make you feel more comfortable and hold everything together let’s say. And for those injury prone players, maybe the tights help ward of a hamstring or calf strain, so they’re more than worth it.
Exceptionally talented players can get away with wearing whatever they want. White shoes, pink shoes, green shoes; who would have thought those colors would become the cool color-way for soccer shoes?
Years ago, in youth soccer, odd colors used to mean you couldn’t play the game. The white shoed players were the ones who didn’t really know how to play soccer. Actually, maybe those kids just couldn’t afford the cool shoes. Maybe player the players who are wearing tights today are setting the trend. They don’t care what other people think and that’s what they’re so good.
I remember wearing game shorts over my sweats when it was cold, not thin, light sweats, but thick almost bulky sweats. And when I had the sweats on underneath I was more apt to slide tackle. Get stuck in. But the tights wearing players are the fancy dribblers, the artists. The ones I admire. The players that take other players on.
If Robben or anyone else is wearing tights in the coming months, when it’s warm, well that’s another story.
No matter what though, Robben keeps the ball tethered to his foot and has blazing speed. He takes players on and score goals, whether he’s wearing tights or not, and whether they are black tights, red tights, white tights or gray tights.
If you’re playing for Rubin Kazan, and playing in Kazan, Russia, then it makes sense to wear tights, as both of these players smartly have done.
This summer’s World Cup down in South Africa, could get a little chilly. Will we see players in leggings or tights? Who knows what they allow in the tournament. They might end up banning the use of that horn, the vuvuzela, and then along with it ban tights too.
How to stay warm during winter – learn football tips with these football winter hacks. In today’s video, we’ll give you 5 tips for staying warm when you play football in the cold and during winter. In some countries, winter gets really cold, and playing football during winter can be an extremely cold experience – so in today’s video, JayMike will give you 5 tips on how to stay warm and play football in the cold during the winter.
Staying warm is of course something you can easily achieve by running, but if you follow these tips and football hacks on how to stay warm during the winter, you’ll have some tools on how to play football when it’s really cold outside and still be comfortable enough.
Some of the tips include getting base layer, some proper, warm training clothes, gloves and snoods and of course muscle heat gel – and there are of course also some more questionable winter football hacks which JayMike will bring to the table.
