Beauty’s taking on the World Cup in a big way this year, hoping to grasp the attention of a global legion of fans.

For the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history, the World Cup has an official skincare and haircare sponsor by way of Paula’s Choice and Clear Men, respectively. Paula’s Choice launched its Proud Supporter of Your Skin campaign in tandem with the multi-week event, as well as a Starting Lineup kit, featuring key products like its liquid exfoliant and SPF. Clear Men, which has long worked with soccer stars including Cristiano Ronaldo, Vinícius Júnior, Kenan Yıldız and Salem Aldawsari, is running a World Cup fan campaign.

It’s not only official sponsors wanting a piece of the World Cup pie. Other beauty brands are tapping ambassadors — such as Vichy and Vitinha; L’Oréal Paris and Declan Rice; Dove and Clint Dempsey; and Remington and Micah Richards — to leverage the player’s social media influence through shared posts and Instagram stories, vox pop videos, and limited-edition ranges for certain markets.

The World Cup is big business. According to Fifa, commercial deals for the 2022 World Cup drove $7.57 billion in revenue, with beauty brands seeing the tournament as a launchpad into the men’s category. Globally, the men’s grooming sector is on track to grow 6.8% to $73 billion by 2027, according to Euromonitor, while North America is forecasted to grow 3.8% to $15.4 billion and the Latin market by 6.4% to $15.4 billion.

Today, as soccer players’ stardom continues to evolve off-pitch, beauty brands are taking note. “Fans see athletes differently today. Years ago, people only watched the match, now they follow the entire journey — from training sessions, recovery routines, and travel to family life and personal habits,” says Giovanni Santoro, a Fifa-licensed soccer agent and co-founder of Amyn, the beauty brand launched by Iraqi soccer player Youssef Amyn in April and gained backing from Global Bright Future.

However soccer audiences are highly engaged and discerning, so brands must show up in ways that reflect how fans experience the game. At the 2022 World Cup, for example, Adidas gained a social media reach of 10.3 billion through its campaigns starring Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema, according to CreatorIQ. Beyond sportswear, men’s grooming could be the next opportunity, so long as brands approach it correctly. “Success comes from understanding the culture and participating meaningfully, building long-term relationships rather than treating soccer as a one-off moment,” says Andrea Cappi, global brand director for Clear Men.

The faces of soccer

It’s a prime moment for beauty brands to delve deeper into the soccer opportunity. Fans are watching more than a match — they’re observing their looks, from hairstyles to kits to off-pitch attire. According to GWI, 82% of Gen Z sports fans identify as health, fitness, and beauty enthusiasts, and soccer fans specifically are highly receptive to sponsorship deals, per Nielsen’s Future of Sport report. “Younger athletes are helping to remove old stereotypes. Taking care of yourself is part of being a professional and that’s something fans understand now,” says 21-year-old soccer player Amyn.

Ronaldo has been a Clear Men ambassador since 2008 and has sustained his partnership to present day. The Portuguese player has been central to Clear Men’s growth trajectory. “The early partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo helped accelerate the brand’s entry into what was then an underdeveloped men’s scalp care segment, establishing Clear Men as a category leader and creating a strong foundation for future growth,” says Cappi.

But it’s only now that Clear Men is entering the World Cup conversation through a campaign featuring soccer fans and a limited-edition gold shampoo bottle in a thousand-piece run, while other core products feature its ambassadors across the branding. “We’re giving our talent a meaningful role in shaping the brand experience. Clear Men creates partnerships that feel credible rather than purely commercial,” says Cappi. “Our approach is not about entering soccer as a sponsorship play, but about showing up where culture is already being created. Soccer lives across social platforms, fan communities, and everyday rituals — and our focus is on making our brands part of those moments in a way that feels natural, relevant, and meaningful,” she adds, noting that the brand is building long-term partnerships in soccer rather than treating it as a series of short-term campaigns.

Soccer has helped strengthen Clear Men’s positioning with younger consumers. The brand has been experimenting with 25-year-old player Júnior at this year’s World Cup to test how they will perform in the future. In Brazil, the haircare brand has released a series of YouTube episodes with Júnior, in which he gets ready ahead of the matches and discusses the physical and mental toll such events take on an athlete. “This enables a continuous stream of culturally relevant content and conversation that keeps the brand visible beyond campaign moments. Over time, this consistent presence helps build long-term brand desire, turning cultural relevance into sustained engagement and growth,” Cappi says.

Another brand capitalizing on its ambassador is Vichy. In April, the L’Oréal Group-owned brand tapped Portuguese soccer player Vitinha as the face of its Dercos dermatological haircare range, one of the brand’s most successful products, ahead of the World Cup. Turnover for the range has quadrupled in five years, according to the brand, making it Vichy’s biggest growth driver. In naming Vitinha an ambassador, the brand is building intergenerational appeal among men more broadly. Global brand president Jamel Boutiba says soccer unites audiences from Gen Zs to baby boomers. “Vitinha is someone that’s focused on health and his performance, which is a match for Vichy. The magic of soccer is that it’s cross-generational and resonates no matter a person’s social background,” he adds.

Future goals

Over the next month, gaining consumer attention and trust will prove to be a challenge as more brands jump on the bandwagon.

“Major sporting moments attract significant brand investment, which means consumers are exposed to a huge volume of content and messaging. That makes authenticity even more important. Brands need to contribute meaningfully to the conversation rather than attaching themselves to the occasion without authenticity,” says Woolley. That extends to female fans, too. Glitter patch brand Fazit has released a soccer range called Soccer Speckles with the glitter patches imitating different nation’s flags; official skincare sponsor Paula’s Choice has a limited-edition kit with an exfoliant, SPF, and moisturizer; and Patchology has created eye patches using the American flag.

Dove’s The Game Is Ours campaign calls on young girls to continue taking part in sports. At the World Cup, the bodycare brand is partnering with Tori Penso, the first American woman to referee at the men’s World Cup this summer. She will have her own Dove whistle during the matches. “It’s our first time at Fifa, but won’t be our last — we’re already thinking about how Dove shows up at the Fifa Women’s World Cup next year,” says Marcela Melero, chief growth marketing officer at Dove.

In Brazil, Dove is working with former female soccer icon Formiga and current national team star Tamires to surprise a grassroot girl’s team with a locker room pep talk about body confidence, which will then be shared on social media. “With over a billion people tuning into the World Cup, that scale makes it an incredible platform to share that same message, encouraging girls to stay confident and keep playing the sports they love,” says Melero, adding that sporting moments like the World Cup presents some of the only times for a globally shared unmissable moment in an age where algorithms are carefully curated.

This year’s matches have already broken broadcast records, with more than 54 million viewers tuning into the opening matches featuring Canada, Mexico, and the US, according to Fifa. If the tournament is any indication of how fast the men’s market is growing, then beauty is bound to score even bigger come 2030. “For years, men’s beauty was discussed as a niche category. Today, it’s mainstream and younger generations are completely comfortable talking about skincare, wellness, and grooming,” says Santoro. “When you combine that shift with soccer’s global audience or the World Cup, the opportunities become enormous.”