Nowadays, it’s almost completely rare to see soccer players wearing glasses during games. However, using eyewear for protective purposes is still a fairly common practice in some sports.
The eyes are vulnerable to sports-related injuries. In the US, nearly 30,000 eye injuries treated in emergency rooms annually are related to sports. Findings indicate that 90% of serious eye injuries could be prevented by wearing appropriate protective eyewear.
Fortunately, eye injuries are relatively less common in soccer. A study found that basketball was the leading cause of sports-related eye injuries, followed by baseball, softball, and more. However, experts still recommend the use of protective sports glasses that meet the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards for sports like racquet sports, soccer, and field hockey.
Over the decades, the eyewear industry has evolved to meet varying needs and purposes. One of the reasons we don’t see a lot of soccer players wearing glasses on the field nowadays is that they either sit the match out when injured or wear contact lenses for corrective purposes. Still, it’s interesting to think that soccer players back in the day were able to score goals with eyeglasses on.
Below, we’ll look at five soccer players known for sporting eyewear on the soccer field:
Annibale Frossi
Annibale Frossi was an Italian soccer manager and player. He was a forward for the Italy national team, contributing to the nation’s gold medal in the soccer tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Frossi also finished as a top scorer in the tournament.
Notably, Frossi is best known for wearing rounded glasses while playing, as he suffered from myopia since he was a child. Today, round eyeglasses remain a popular design, with giants like Ray-Ban still making thin-wired, rounded frames reminiscent of those seen on Frossi. Later in his life, Frossi moved away from the rounded lenses, favoring designs similar to Ray-Ban’s Wayfarer model.
Edgar Davids
If there are two things Edgar Davids is most known for as a soccer player, it’s being one of the most red-carded players at 25 red cards, a little below Sergio Ramos’ 29. Of course, this doesn’t top Gerardo Bedoya’s record of 46, but it is an interesting flaw in Davids’ otherwise iconic career.
Aside from his penchant for the red card, Davids is also known for wearing special glasses — a requirement after receiving an operation to treat glaucoma. The midfielder needed explicit permission from FIFA to wear the glasses during games. While it took some getting used to, Davids went on to win league titles later on and became one of the most technically gifted midfielders of his generation.
Eric Ross
Another midfielder on our list is Eric Ross, who also played for the Northern Ireland national football team in the ’60s and ’70s. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Ross joked that his glasses may have prevented him from becoming a Manchester United player.
Legendary Manchester United rep Bob Bishop, who was based in Northern Island, spotted Ross as a 12-year-old and invited the young player to his soccer academy, known for producing many of the sport’s stars. Unfortunately, Ross was never sent to Old Trafford and believes that not wearing glasses might have given him a better shot.
Joop Van Daele
Known for playing left-back for a host of Dutch soccer teams between 1967 and 1982, Van Daele is also known for having been photographed wearing glasses while playing a match.
Unfortunately, Van Daele is also known for a very specific soccer incident during the Intercontinental Cup in 1970. After scoring the winning goal that secured his team a 1-0 victory and a 3-2 aggregate win at the tournament, an opposing player reportedly broke Van Daele’s glasses. Afterward, Van Daele stated he was told that in Argentina, he wouldn’t be allowed to play wearing glasses.
Leopold Kielholz
Finally, like Annibale Frossi, Leopold Kielholz made his name in the world of soccer in the 1930s. Between 1927 and 1958, Kielholz made history as one of the first soccer players known to wear glasses. Additionally, records indicate he was the first player to score for the Swiss national football team at a World Cup tournament.
Kielholz was also awarded several honors and titles throughout his soccer career, including being the Central European International Cup top scorer, Swiss League Champion, and Swiss League Top Goalscorer.
