Kangaroo-skin cleats disappear from the 2026 World Cup

At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, kangaroo-skin soccer cleats have effectively vanished from the field after a six-year campaign by animal-welfare groups pushed the world’s biggest athletic brands to stop using kangaroo parts. The shift marks a major change in sports equipment manufacturing and a setback for the commercial killing of wild kangaroos.

Why it matters: - The disappearance of kangaroo-skin cleats from the 2026 World Cup signals a broad shift in how major sports brands source materials. - The change caps a six-year campaign that animal-welfare groups describe as one of the most consequential corporate animal-welfare victories in professional sports. - The shift reduces demand tied to the commercial killing of kangaroos in Australia.

What happened: - Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and other elite players are wearing boots made from materials other than kangaroo skins at the 2026 World Cup. - Of the 1,248 players on the official tournament rosters, just one player from Japan indicated he may use a shoe model made with kangaroo skin. - Japan was eliminated in a prior round, leaving the late rounds free of kangaroo-based shoes. - The Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action said kangaroo-skin cleats have effectively vanished from the tournament.

The details: - The groups launched the Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign in 2020. - The organizations say they secured commitments from every major athletic shoe manufacturer in the world to end the use of kangaroo skins. - In 2025-26, Adidas, ASICS and Umbro joined Nike, Puma, New Balance and Sokito in abandoning kangaroo parts. - Mizuno also announced an intention to stop using kangaroo skins, though the groups criticized the pace of action as slow. - The companies had sold dozens of kangaroo-skin shoe models to hundreds of millions of players in more than 190 countries. - The campaign said that demand drove the commercial killing of two million kangaroos across their native range in Australia. - At the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, kangaroo-skin cleats were already in steep decline and accounted for only a tiny fraction of goals scored during the tournament. - Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy, said elite players are signaling that kangaroo-skin soccer shoes are as archaic as film cameras, fax machines and phone books. - Pacelle traveled to Nuremberg in 2025 to address Adidas shareholders and leadership at the company’s annual meeting. - Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said the company had stopped sourcing kangaroos for shoes and was exiting production, drawing spontaneous applause. - The campaign succeeded through corporate engagement, filmmaking, shareholder and consumer education, investigative work and legislative action. - Jennifer Skiff, campaign leader and director of international programs for the Center for a Humane Economy, said the groups wanted people to see what the shoes’ innovation was built on. - Skiff said the industry’s ethical claims obscured a night slaughter of kangaroos and their young.

Between the lines: - The World Cup shift reflects more than a tournament trend; the groups frame it as evidence that consumer pressure and brand commitments can change animal-sourcing practices at global scale. - The disappearance of kangaroo leather from elite soccer also shows how quickly a once-common material can be pushed out when major brands align on substitution. - The campaign’s language casts the issue as a broader contest between technological innovation and animal exploitation.

What's next: - The groups say the World Cup outcome should be seen as a milestone in a larger movement toward a more humane economy. - The next test will be whether remaining manufacturers and retailers fully phase out kangaroo-skin products across lower levels of play and other markets. - Animal Wellness Action says it will continue promoting laws and regulations that forbid cruelty to animals.