Michael Olise does not like shin pads.
So much so that when the France winger was being brought on for Leroy Sane during Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in November, he was not wearing any.
This was spotted by the game’s fourth official Florin Andrei, who instructed the 23-year-old to put some on. Olise reluctantly tucked some into his socks before slinging them out again when officials looked away.
As Michael Olise prepared to come off the bench for Bayern in their Champions League game vs. PSG, he appeared to have a brief exchange with the fourth official.
Moments later, Olise was seen putting his shinpads into his socks, but then slyly removed his left guard and tossed… pic.twitter.com/ep0mqMLG79
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 28, 2024
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) laws of the game state that shin pads must be worn by all players. There are no specific rules regarding size but Law 4 states that they “must be made of a suitable material and be of an appropriate size to provide reasonable protection, and be covered by the socks”
For years, many footballers have been playing fast and loose with their interpretation of the rules. The low socks and micro shin pads trend made cool by the likes of Manchester City’s Jack Grealish and Chelsea’s Lauren James has become vastly popular in recent years.
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“I don’t wear shin pads,” Olise told a fan who tried to gift him a pair recently, although the PSG incident may have been a one-off, with the 23-year-old usually spotted wearing shin protection in matches.
The former Crystal Palace player is not the only professional footballer who would prefer to enter games shin pad free if it was up to him.
“I don’t really like wearing shin pads — we never wear shin pads in the training,” former Sheffield United striker Oli McBurnie told The Athletic in November. “I want to feel how I train every day, so I wear normal socks. I cut my socks and roll them down, and then have little bits of foam that I put in like padding just to feel as comfortable.”
Manchester City’s Jack Grealish is an infamous tiny shin pad wearer (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)