ATLANTA, June 20 — As Croatia pushed forward, one player kept stealing the spotlight — and it wasn’t because he had the ball.

Standing in a striking hot pink goalkeeper kit, Dominik Livaković has become one of the most eye-catching figures at this year’s World Cup, part of an unmistakable wave of “electric fuchsia” sweeping football’s biggest stage. Once you notice it, you can’t unsee it.

It’s everywhere. Referees have worn matching shades, while players from England, Croatia and dozens of other teams have laced up in vivid pink boots from Nike, Adidas, Puma and New Balance.

According to The Guardian, the colour takeover is anything but accidental.

After Barbiecore dominated fashion in 2023, trend forecaster WGSN predicted bright pink — or “electric fuchsia” — would remain one of this year’s defining colours.

“Pink is probably one of the most influential colour stories of the past decade,” WGSN head of womenswear Sara Maggioni told The Guardian.

Football, increasingly driven by image as much as performance, has become the perfect runway.

“A lot of young people probably watch matches on their phones and so the colour [which is easily seen] does your branding,” Maggioni said. 

Against the green pitch, the shade pops instantly, making players and sponsors stand out whether fans are watching on television or scrolling through social media.

The World Cup may feel like pink’s breakout moment, but the trend has been building for years.

Back in 2020, The Guardian reported that Premier League players wearing pink boots scored 636 goals during the 2019-20 season, compared with just 36 by players wearing traditional black footwear.

Club football has also embraced the look. Arsenal’s baby pink third kit became a fan favourite in 2022-23, while Inter Miami made pink part of its identity before Lionel Messi arrived. When the Argentine superstar debuted in the club’s distinctive Pantone 1895C jersey in 2023, demand surged and shirts sold out almost immediately.

Speaking to The Athletic, Nike football footwear director of product management Odinga Nimako said the sport has reached a tipping point for bold colours.

“What we always hear from our consumers and athletes is that when you wear a colour like pink, which is so loud and so bright, it is like … you need to be really good to wear these [colours] as well,” he said.

“At the same time, there’s also been a level of acceptance with pink that makes it not too niche for people, it speaks to a broad audience.”

Andrew Groves, professor of menswear systems at Westminster University, told The Guardian that football’s connection with pink stretches back much further, noting Everton wore a pink kit as early as 1892.

“The colour only became loaded later, first through wider consumer culture and then through a football culture that became increasingly anxious about masculinity, tradition and what male players were supposed to look like,” he said.

Today, those attitudes appear to have faded.

“The modern footballer is no longer just a player, but also a brand and a style figure,” Groves added. “Pink works because it makes him visible as an image.”

Or, as Maggioni put it: “It’s just the right shade because it’s got that energetic feel to it. It’s exciting.”