Instagram wiped clean, no boot deal, a hand-painted shoe: Michael Olise acts as if none of it matters – and that’s exactly why he’s making noise at the World Cup.
Coolness is hard to fake. On Michael Olise, it looks effortless. In the 3-1 win over Senegal, his first ever World Cup match, the Frenchman took to the pitch in a Nike Hypervenom Phantom III that exists only once in the world: a white base, hand-painted cartoon figures, scrawled lettering, yellow paint splatters. By the end, he was holding the Man of the Match trophy. The coolest guy on the pitch, in the loudest shoe.
The man behind the paint is Matt DiGiacomo, better known in the scene as Matty Boy, for years the creative director of Chrome Hearts – the California label that started out with chunky silver jewellery in the biker scene and now sells clothing for four-figure sums. Olise wears the brand not just when the cameras are rolling, but privately too. Having his favourite boot painted by, of all people, Matty Boy is only fitting.
Why Olise Wears One of the World Cup’s Loudest Boots Without a Deal
The truly unusual thing about Olise: according to the French sports paper L’Équipe, he still has no boot deal. He plays exclusively in Nike boots but earns nothing for it, while other players of his calibre pocket double-digit millions a year. That leaves him free to wear whatever he likes – and to stick with the Hypervenom Phantom III, a model from 2017.
The same laid-back attitude shows up on Instagram. The only post still left there documents the Senegal game in a picture quality that should feel long out of date – grainy, blurry, like an old television set. On Olise, that feels right: anyone who does what he wants anyway doesn’t need a clean resolution to look cool.
Under a post about his appearance in the customised Nikes, the brand with the Swoosh itself dropped a single word: „MOtion“. What the MO stands for should be obvious. So is the boot deal coming after all?
