With the World Cup in Qatar just around the corner, all eyes of FIFA and the world at large are looking ahead to November and December 2022. This is the ultimate football competition and more than ever footballers will need to be on top of their game to score maximum goals and take their countries to the top of the football world.
Have you ever seen a footballer playing with glasses? It's not very common, is it? Miopia, astigmatism and farsightedness haunt us all, even elite footballers. So how do the top players in the world's football leagues keep scoring goals without glasses? At Vision Direct, we have the answer: contact lenses.
Want to know which of your football idols are contact lens wearers and the vision problems they suffer from? We share the vision requirements of 5 of our favourite footballers, as well as some of the conflict witnessed on the pitch.
1. Álvaro Arbeloa. Due to a blow to the face, we discovered that Arbeloa is a player on the Merengue bench who wears contact lenses. During a match against Olympique, a player of the French team hit him in the face, which resulted in the loss of his right contact lens. The defender had to play the end of the first half without his contact lenses and consequently with only partial vision. As a solution, his teammate Albiol gave him one of his spare contact lenses and although his dioptres were not exactly the same, he was able to finish the match victorious.
2. Andres Iniesta. Spain's favourite midfielder may be one of the most historic players in Spanish football, but he might not have gone on to win many of the titles he holds if it weren't for his contact lenses. Iniesta is short-sighted and therefore always wears contact lenses when he plays. Who knows if we would have ever heard the famous phrase: "Iniesta of my life and my heart" if he had not been wearing contact lenses during the 2008 World Cup.
3. David de Gea. Is there anything worse in football than a goalkeeper without clear vision? David De Gea knows there isn't, which is why he resorted to daily contact lenses when he found out he was farsighted. The goalkeeper always plays with contact lenses so he can stop all the goals in the English league.
4. Mario Balotelli. The Italian player joins our list of players who wear contact lenses. The striker ended up undergoing refractive surgery to correct his vision problems for a long period of time, but that didn't stop him from wearing contact lenses. The Palermo player seems to have taken a liking to wearing contact lenses, as after the surgery he continued to wear them but in this case, they are coloured contact lenses, specifically blue.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo. Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo underwent a visual study and a very high capacity in terms of eye movement speed was detected. So it is not surprising that the most famous owner of “Suuuu” is considered by many to be one of the best players in history.
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Football and eye health fun facts
Don't think we've gone mad here at Vision Direct and we're looking for the importance of eye health in everything. We're not the only ones keeping an eye (see what we did there) on eye health. The Manchester United England team has its own optometrist who works hand in hand with the coaching staff. The opticians study any kind of deficiency in the players' movements and investigate the possibilities that vision could be a reason for performance.
And speaking of Manchester United, their main striker, Cristiano Ronaldo, underwent a vision test and was found to have a very high ability in terms of eye movement speed. So it's no wonder that Ronaldo is considered by many to be one of the best players in history.
Why visual health is important for playing football
When we think of football and football stars, sporting skills and hours of training immediately come to mind. To be Leo Messi, in addition to the intrinsic quality of the player, it takes many hours of exercise and training to win the golden ball. But is sport only about muscles, weights and cardio? Scientific evidence tells us that, to be a successful footballer, there is also an essential element to take into account: eyesight. Visual acuity, peripheral vision, eye-body coordination and visual memory are essential to be a star. So the expression: "he has the vision to play the game" is not a trivial one - a warning to sailors! For all of you who are dreaming and working to become a promising football player, don't neglect your eye health, because without these qualities, forget about scoring goals.
