I’ve stumbled upon this topic rather recently because I realized that a lot of the popular brands like Adidas and Nike have different variations of the same glove on their line-up. What happens is that they’ll send out Manuel Neuer for example with a pair of Adidas Predator Pro goalkeeper gloves to boost sales amongst fans. However, you’ll find that this particular glove has a replica model, and a pro model. Just right out of the gate it’s safe to assume that pro goalkeepers wear the pro model. In fact, in many cases what they actually wear is a modified version of the pro model that’s tailored to fit their needs. So even if you go out and buy the most expensive version of their glove, what they wear is in essence unique and not what you’re buying.
Now, the only guys that get a chance to modify their own glove are the cream of crop. Think Courtois, Neuer, Buffon, Donaruma, Ter Stegen, De Gea and company. All of the rest of the guys, even within the pro game, are going to be using the pro version of the glove that you can get at the store. Another reality that we have to face is that goalkeepers wear one glove or the other at times for commercial reasons. Simply put, they get money for using gloves from a particular brand. When you see guys switch brands it’s likely because they got a better deal from another company. I realized that Keylor Navas was one of the high profile guys that changed his brand a couple of years ago. Also, Jan Oblak recently made a change.
Who Wears What & Why
In any case, what I want to do in this article is look at a few high profile goalkeepers and the gloves that they wear. More so than really trying to answer what gloves do professional goalkeepers wear. As I mentioned there’s a sad answer to that which is, that they wear what they are provided by the brand that offered them the most money. Of course, in looking at what the pros wear I’m going to try and highlight some of the features from their gloves which probably led them to pick that model over others that the brand offers. After such a long intro, that I apologize for let’s get to it!
Thibaut Courtois – Nike Vapor Grip 3
One of the things that’s interesting about speculating “what gloves do professional goalkeepers wear” is that we sometimes see keepers contracted to the same brand with different models of gloves. That’s perfectly normal because different people will have diverse opinions on what they like or don’t like. We’ll see that through the article a bit. When it comes to Nike though, if you watched the World Cup you’ll realize that virtually all of the goalkeepers that are contracted to the brand wear Nike Vapor Grip 3 gloves. I put Thibaut Courtois in the headline because he’s arguably the best keeper in the world today. Allison Becker, and Memo Ochoa though, also wear the same gloves from the iconic. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that Nike doesn’t seem to grasp goalkeeper gloves at all!
They went all in perhaps before everyone else on the sleeve like gloves without a wrist strap that most brands seem to offer right now. Yet, the fact that their top goalkeepers are opting for this Vapor Grip model which is by all accounts a more traditional type of glove speaks volumes to me. These gloves are thicker than your average goalkeeper glove, that means they help you deal with hard shots. They also feature a wrist strap which stabilizes that part of the hand and can help prevent injuries. This strap situation is going to come up here shortly again. There are two ways to look at this though, either the modern Nike glove didn’t appeal to pro goalkeepers or Nike just has very old school goalkeepers on their roster!
Ederson & Jan Oblak – PUMA Future Grip 1 NC Goalkeeper Gloves
Puma has gone all out when it comes to giving money to players to wear their gloves. They’ve picked up a couple of the world’s top goalkeepers to do so in Ederson and Jan Oblak. Jan for his part was already all in on the sleeve type glove from Nike which was his former sponsor. I wanted to mention this because it’s interesting to see like I pointed out that everyone left at Nike goes with the traditional glove. While Oblak who seemed to be all in on the modern option has switched over to Puma, and wears their version of a modern no wrist strap tight fitting glove.
I get the sense that Oblak usually wears the PUMA Future Grip 1 NC gloves. Ederson for his part has been open to switching up the model of the glove that he wears. Although Puma have extended their line up of pro goalkeepers to promote their products they can’t seem to catch a break on the review boards. In my experience I’ve actually put a couple of Puma gloves on my articles about gloves that are a good deal. Some of their lower priced models can provide decent grip and stability for goalkeepers. I do get the sense though that they’ve dropped their prices because they’ve had some trouble competing with brands like Adidas, and other brands like Uhlsport who are solely dedicated to goalkeeper gear.
Manuel Neuer & Marc Andre Ter Stegen – Adidas Predator Pro
You really couldn’t have it any other way, the Germans are the ones that wear Adidas. I don’t want this to sound bad in any way. The brand understands that they need presence in their local market. For a long time going back to the days of Oliver Kahn they’ve had German keepers promoting their brand. Of course, since they are such a widely known brand across the world it’s not just German keepers that wear it. Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga also wears a version of the Adidas Predator pro which I recently reviewed. There’s something unique about Kepa that I want to get to. Ultimately though these are gloves that provide great grip, and as I said in the review they are a tad thicker than the Puma gloves for example that we just saw. That gives you better overall stability.
Back to Keppa though he wears the pro version of the glove with a strap. Both of the German goalkeepers from what I can see in the pictures of them in actual games don’t wear straps with their gloves. Adidas does offer a version of these gloves with a strap, but it’s the replica option for kids. There are some gloves where you can choose if you want the strap or not. The problem is not all of the glove retailers out there are going to give you this option. If you’re a goalkeeper that cost 70 million pounds at one point you get the choice of having a strap on your gloves. I’m with Kepa on this one. I think that with the strap the Adidas Predator Pro are up there as one of the best gloves on the market today.
Andries Noppert – Elite Sports Neo
For those of you not in the know Andries Noppert was the surprise goalkeeper for the Netherlands at the World Cup. He actually made his international debut at the tournament. He did so wearing a pair of gloves that are very near and dear to this site. Because of that, they are the gloves that I use on a regular basis. In fact, I just put down another hundred plus dollars to get myself a new pair of these gloves. They are supposed to be the 2022 version of the gloves for the life of me. I can’t tell them apart from my other gloves that are supposedly an older model. Elite Sports maybe haven’t gone all in to try and get extremely popular goalkeepers, but that shouldn’t be an indictment on the brand.
The grip and the fit that you get with these gloves is right up there with the best of them. What really blew me out of the water is their durability. I have to admit that I went all out trying to test these gloves, sometimes reluctantly so. At the time I didn’t have another pair, so I had to take them to play in a cement court with a rug on it that they called turf. These gloves held up big time! Thanks to that durability you’re really able to keep them sticky and maintain the grip. If you use Glove Glu on these gloves you can get optimal performance for a long time. That’s rare these days!
Keylor Navas – Sells Aqua
This was a pleasant surprise Keylor Navas repping Sells. They are a brand of goalkeeper gloves that’s been around for quite a while. From my perspective though they’ve just never been able to get as many people behind them as Uhlsport or Reusch. Speaking about brands that are fully dedicated to goalkeeper equipment. Navas has never been shy about changing brands. Actually when I talked about him changing goalkeeper gloves I thought he was still with New Balance. Which is another brand that somewhat awkwardly got into the goalkeeping market. Anyway, one of the reasons why I mention that it’s a pleasant surprise to see Keylor with these gloves is because it gave me the excuse to go look at them.
I have to be honest this is a brand that I’ve been aware of for a while, but I’ve never had any gloves from this brand. Also, it’s one of those brands that I tend to forget exists. Maybe that’s just a me problem, but I do feel it could be a problem as well. I literally talk about goalkeeping gear on a daily basis. The fact that they are so far off my radar may not be a coincidence. Anyway, in looking through the gloves I really liked what they had to offer. I feel like they are making thick goalkeeper gloves, no nonsense traditional models that any of us can get behind. We can imagine that they work well for Keylor. Although those 7 goals he took from Spain may not help brand recognition at all!
Yassine Bounou “Bono” – Uhlsport
It was so weird that I couldn’t find a top goalkeeper that wore Uhlsport gloves. I get the sense that the brand is very niche in the sense that old time goalkeepers know it and swear by it. So they don’t necessarily feel the need to overly advertise their products. Either that or their marketing team is rather subpar! I say that because you have to scroll down rather far down their IG feed to find a picture of Bono with their gloves. Instead, they’re highlighting a story about Canada’s Milan Borjan on their feed. I like Borjan, he was one of my underdog goalkeepers to watch at the World Cup. Bono though was one of the stars of the tournament.
Plus the Morocco story was an endearing one that people would likely gravitate to. Why they haven’t gotten around to launching a major campaign with Bono as the face of the brand is beyond me. In any case, if you want to find quality gloves in all shapes, sizes and colors Uhlsport is the brand that you go with. Quality is guaranteed with them. Let’s get real when it comes to goalkeeper gloves quality is not guaranteed with Adidas or Nike. The main issue with Uhlsport is that it’s going to be hard for you to find a decently priced glove from them. If you want quality though, and a chance to learn what gloves do professional goalkeepers wear this may be the place to look!
