In brief
Prominent goalkeepers including Pickford, Neuer, and Onana have been observed putting Vaseline on their gloves.
Vaseline can enhance handling, according to research, thus elite goalkeepers can use it as a technique.
Football goalkeepers looking for an advantage are likely to adopt the practice of applying Vaseline to their gloves and even posts.
During Manchester United’s recent 2-2 Europa League match with Lyon, Andre Onana was seen putting Vaseline on his goalie gloves.
On social media, a lot of perplexed football fans were left wondering why any professional goalie would profit from adding the jelly-like substance on their gloves. Adding Vaseline would probably make the gloves more slick, which would make it more difficult to catch the ball. Particularly in light of Onana’s errors, such is the general consensus.
This season, Onana has been under fire, in part because of his poor defending but also because opposing forwards know they should put him to the test. However, it appears that the Cameroon international is not the first elite goalie to apply Vaseline to his gloves, and it is said that doing so has no detrimental effect on performance.
Manuel Neuer and Jordan Pickford also use Vaseline on Gloves
Onana is not the first goalkeeper to apply the product
Prior to Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga match against Hoffenheim last January, Manuel Neuer—possibly the best goalie of his generation and among the best of all time—was spotted putting Vaseline on his gloves. Reddit pointed out that the Germany international had done the same thing in the locker room prior to a 2023 match.
During practice, England goalkeepers, like as Jordan Pickford of Everton, have been observed putting Vaseline on their gloves. What, then, is the cause of this strange but apparently expanding trend?
Vaseline Seems to Enhance Glove Grip
Especially helpful in rainy weather conditions
The fundamental reason appears to be that it offers goalkeepers more grip – particularly during wet conditions. The rain was pouring down inside the Theatre of Dreams when Onana was spotted adding the product to his gloves against Liverpool last season, and the adverse weather in Manchester may have been one of the reasons United’s No. 1 decided to apply Vaseline.
A YouTube video from OP1GK tested whether adding Vaseline to gloves improves grip. The conclusion was that it did – improving handling, in particular – albeit not by a great deal. The YouTuber also stated that there were no bad side effects on the gloves, which were fine to use the following day. Watch the video in full below:
It’s interesting to note that the video’s top comment explains that applying Vaseline to goalie gloves in dry weather has no clear advantages. Nonetheless, it makes natural that “keepers” would decide to use Vaseline even in the absence of rain because professional fields are frequently sprayed.
According to a comment made by YouTube user @leegarghan9239, “Vaseline on gloves should be applied under wet conditions rather than dry ones. In the dry, it has little ability to improve performance. It does, however, significantly enhance performance in rainy conditions. Professionals use it frequently because they heavily hydrate their pitches both before and during games. I suggest repeating this experiment while it’s raining a lot so you can observe the change.
As football journalist David Cartlidge noted on X (previously Twitter), despite the purported advantages, goalkeepers using Vaseline to their gloves will always seem a little out of the ordinary. “The Vaseline on gloves thing will never not be bizarre,” he tweeted during the Manchester United vs. Liverpool match. Onana, many have already done it, and it seems to be even more advantageous in rainy conditions. It’s strange, though.
Ben Foster witnessed Joe Hart do it initially.
It appears like Hart was using Vaseline during the 2014 World Cup.
Ben Foster said he first witnessed Joe Hart putting Vaseline on his gloves during the 2014 World Cup in an interview with former Coventry City goalie Ben Wilson. “I remember the first player I saw do that was Joe Hart in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup,” The Athletic cited the former England goalie.
“Fozzy, really, it is a game changer!” he said after applying Vaseline to his gloves.
In a training session, Foster continued, “It’s difficult to explain, but I could tell which one had Vaseline on their gloves because it does feel grippier as soon as you caught the ball.”
Vaseline has even been applied on posts by goalkeepers.
It was done by Andries Noppert at the 2022 World Cup.
During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Dutch goalie Andries Noppert went one step further by covering his posts with Vaseline. He spread the stuff on his posts, presumably to avoid having to open the pot each time he needed to refill his gloves.
Given that some of the top goalkeepers in the world choose to apply Vaseline to their gloves, particularly in wet weather, it is reasonable to believe that this practice will only continue to develop in the years to come. Although some will question the advantages, Onana and Neuer, for example, wouldn’t do it if they believed it would make mistakes more likely.
Football Players Looking to Get New Benefits
It’s possible that the Vaseline craze may continue.
Football players are constantly searching for new and creative ways to obtain subtle benefits during games, such as the reason why elite professional outfield players are cutting holes in their socks—a practice that has been strongly chastised by individuals like manager Jose Mourinho and announcer Richard Keys. Another innovation that may be here to stay is the application of Vaseline to goalie gloves.
