Rules Broken By Pogba: What UEFA 'Dictates' For Special Equipment Like Undershirts, Tapes & Socks

Oct 16, 2020

by Chris

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If you have been an avid follower of our website, you know that UEFA has strict regulations for football kits and how a kit worn in UEFA competitions is allowed to look like. However, UEFA does not only have rules for the shirts but for a lot more stuff. All the equipment rules are written down in the official "UEFA Equipment Regulations".

Items worn on legs and arms should be the same colour as the corresponding playing attire item

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Today we take a closer look at one of the chapters of the UEFA Equipment Regulations - Chapter 10. Chapter X (10) covers the "special equipment worn on the field of play".

The UEFA Equipment Regulations have been in place since decades. The regulations for official equipment have been getting stronger and stronger over the years. The latest edition of the UEFA Equipment Regulations was released in 2018.

UEFA Equipment Rules - X – Special equipment worn on the field of play

Chapter 10 (Special equipment worn on the field of play) of the UEFA regulations consists of two Articles - 41 - "Clothing and accessories" and 42 - "Electronic performance and tracking systems".

The much more important and detailed Article is #41 about the "Clothing and accessories". It regulates all the stuff worn by players that is not their uniform / boots (e.g. Undershirts, Headgear, Tapes, Captain’s Armband).

Long-sleeved undershirts must be the same colour as the main colour of the shirt sleeve

In example, it regulates that "Long-sleeved undershirts must be the same colour as the main colour of the shirt sleeve" and says that "one team identification is allowed on each glove and wristband".

The Paragraph violated by Pogba is the one about "Medical Equipment" (Chapter X, Article 41.01, i., i & ii.). Pogba's white sleeve is not allowed as it was no emergency case (then it would be allowed (not forbidden) to have a differently colored tape we read out from the rules).

Allowed by UEFA rules despite the tonal logo visible we think...

i. Medical equipment (e.g. head protection, face-masks, casts, kneepads or knee braces, elbow pads)

i. Medical equipment worn on the field of play must be a single colour and free of team and manufacturer identification.
ii. Items worn on legs and arms should be the same colour as the corresponding playing attire item (e.g. elbow pads or tape used on the arm the same colour as shirt sleeves and kneepads the same colour as shorts).

There is no rule for the dimensions of manufacturer identifications on boots

Interestingly, there is also a regulation for the manufacturer's logo on goalkeeper gloves. This forced brands like Nike to reduce the size of the Swoosh in the past, in example. There is no rule for boot brandings (manufacturer identifications), in contrast.