Why Did Edgar Davids Wear Glasses? The Glaucoma Story

Edgar Davids wore protective goggles because of glaucoma, an eye condition that damages the optic nerve. Sources say it developed after eye injuries in 1995, he had surgery on his right eye in 1999, and the wraparound goggles let him keep playing for Juventus and the Netherlands. They became his trademark, but they started as eye protection, not a fashion choice.

Davids was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, on 13 March 1973, so he is 53 in November 2026. This guide covers what happened to his eyes, when he first wore the goggles, how the story is told in different sources (they do not all agree on the dates), what he did afterwards and what he does in 2026. It is general football history, not medical advice.

Why did Edgar Davids wear glasses?

The short version, as reported by Wikipedia, Vice and a Brazilian health-and-wellness outlet:

• Davids developed glaucoma after eye injuries sustained in 1995, the year he won the Champions League with Ajax. Vice describes an eye injury to his optic nerve that developed into chronic open-angle glaucoma.
• In 1999 he had surgery on his right eye. Wikipedia says that is when he began wearing protective glasses.
• Vice writes that he could not have carried on playing unless he found a way to shield his eyes from contact and from stadium floodlights.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve and can cause loss of vision. Catraca Livre, a Brazilian outlet, wrote in November 2022 that it often causes no pain, so damage can build up unnoticed. We are not doctors and this page is not health advice: anyone worried about their own eyes should see an eye specialist.

The dates, and where sources differ

• 1995: the year the eye problem is said to have started after injuries (Wikipedia; Catraca Livre also dates a head injury to 1995).
• 1999: surgery on the right eye and the first goggles, per Wikipedia. It gives 4 September 1999 as the first match he wore them.
• September 1999: Reuters wire copy from that period, archived on a Juventus fan site, says he had been sidelined while Italian sports officials and FIFA dealt with a treatment he was prescribed (diamox, which contained a diuretic that is on the banned list). It reports that a FIFA letter then gave him a dispensation to use it. That is a medication question, not a ruling on the goggles.
• 2000-01: one lifestyle article (NSS Magazine) places the surgery at the start of the 2000-01 season, after therapy failed. This conflicts with the 1999 date, so we treat 1999 as the better documented year and flag the disagreement.

We could not find a primary source, such as a club statement or an interview given at the time, that settles the exact day of the operation. If you read a precise date for it elsewhere, check where it comes from.

Did he keep wearing them after the operation?

Yes, for the rest of his playing career. NSS Magazine reports that the glasses were no longer medically necessary after the surgery but that Davids kept wearing them because they gave him a feeling of security. That is how the article puts his own explanation; we paraphrase it rather than quote it, as we could not check the original wording.

What glasses did Edgar Davids wear?

They were wraparound sports goggles, not ordinary spectacles. Vice describes them as tinted in a shade of Oranje, the Dutch national colour, and notes that goggles of that type had previously been associated with snowboarders and NBA players. NSS Magazine says Nike designed a pair for him, described as light and ergonomic. We did not find a reliable source for the brand or model of his very first pair, so we do not name one.

He was not always in goggles. He broke into the Ajax first team in the early 1990s and won the 1995 Champions League before the surgery; the goggles belong to his Juventus years and later. He wore them for the Netherlands too, from a friendly against Belgium in September 1999 onwards, including at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, where the Dutch lost in the semi-finals both times.

Does he still wear glasses in 2026?

As Netherlands assistant coach in 2022, he was photographed in dark glasses, and Catraca Livre explained in November 2022 that this was linked to his eye history. We did not find a 2026 interview in which he talks about his eyes, so we cannot say how his eyesight is today.

Who is Edgar Davids? Career summary

• Born: 13 March 1973, Paramaribo, Suriname. Nickname "The Pitbull", which Vice says was given to him by his manager Louis van Gaal.
• Ajax (youth from 1985, senior 1991 to 1996): 106 league appearances and 20 goals. Honours: three Eredivisie titles (1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96), the 1991-92 UEFA Cup, the 1994-95 Champions League, the 1995 UEFA Super Cup and the 1995 Intercontinental Cup.
• AC Milan (1996 to 1997): 19 league appearances, one goal.
• Juventus (1997 to 2004): 159 league appearances, nine goals. Serie A champion in 1997-98, 2001-02 and 2002-03, Supercoppa Italiana in 2003, and a Champions League finalist in 1997-98 and 2002-03. He was a teammate of Zinedine Zidane and, in the first half of 1999, Thierry Henry.
• Barcelona (loan, 2004): 18 league appearances, one goal.
• Inter (2004 to 2005): 14 league appearances, Coppa Italia in 2004-05.
• Tottenham (2005 to 2007): 40 league appearances, one goal.
• Ajax again (2007 to 2009): 25 league appearances.
• Crystal Palace (2010) and Barnet (2012 to 2014): short late-career spells; at Barnet he became player-manager in October 2012.
• Netherlands: 74 caps and six goals between 1994 and 2005. He was sent home from Euro 1996 during the tournament, was in the team that finished fourth at the 1998 World Cup (named in the tournament's All-Star team), and reached the semi-finals at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004. The league figures above are from English Wikipedia; Wikipedia's infobox gives 423 league games and 34 goals in total.

The goggles' legacy

Davids is the player most people think of when they picture a footballer in glasses. Two things made that stick. He was a leading midfielder in one of Europe's strongest sides, so the goggles were on screen in Champions League and Serie A matches watched worldwide. And the look matched his style of play: Vice says his image transcended calcio, the Italian word for football. NSS Magazine adds that players who wear glasses have since been called "the new Davids".

His image has had a commercial life too. In 2017, according to Wikipedia, a Dutch court ruled that Riot Games had to compensate him over the use of his likeness in a League of Legends skin without permission.

Glasses never became common among footballers, though. NSS Magazine notes that most players who need vision correction prefer contact lenses, and that the rules allow protective equipment, with referees expected to be tolerant, especially with young players.

Other footballers who wore glasses or goggles

According to NSS Magazine's history of the subject:

• Annibale Frossi (Italy, 1930s): played in round-lensed glasses and helped Italy win Olympic gold at the 1936 Berlin Games, later winning two Serie A titles with Inter.
• Jef Jurion (Anderlecht, 1960s): wore glasses for short-sightedness; the article cites a 1962 European Cup match against Real Madrid.
• Rinus Israel and Joop van Daele (Feyenoord, 1970s): both wore glasses. Van Daele scored the winner in the Intercontinental Cup against Estudiantes, after which Argentine players pulled off his glasses and crushed them.
• Ignazio Abate (AC Milan): wore glasses in a friendly against Lugano after being hit by a hard shot.
• Alex Song: wore protective glasses because of an infection.
• Andrew Farrell (New England Revolution): wore protective glasses after a retinal detachment, according to the same 2019 article.

What does Edgar Davids do in 2026?

• Coaching: his coaching career took him to Telstar as assistant coach (2020), Olhanense in Portugal as head coach (announced 4 January 2021, left 19 July 2021) and the Netherlands staff as assistant to Louis van Gaal, announced in May 2022 for the World Cup in Qatar. Earlier, he was player-manager and then manager of Barnet in 2012 to 2014. We found no announced coaching job in 2026, so we cannot say he holds one.
• Public appearances: on 21 April 2026 he attended the launch of the Hong Kong Football Festival and told AFP that Tottenham, where he played in 2005 to 2007, were suffering from "a lack of quality and a lack of management". He was introduced as a former Tottenham and Netherlands midfielder.
• Business: he founded the street-football brand Monta Street in 1999 and, according to Wikipedia, was involved in street football from 2010 and managed the Sunday-league side Brixton United before joining Barnet in 2012.

The current Netherlands head coach is Xavi, who was appointed in August 2026. We found no report of Davids being part of his staff.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Edgar Davids wear goggles? To protect his eyes after glaucoma and surgery on his right eye, per Wikipedia and Vice. He is also reported to have kept them afterwards for the security they gave him.

What was Edgar Davids' eye condition? Glaucoma. Vice describes chronic open-angle glaucoma that developed from an eye injury to the optic nerve.

When did Edgar Davids start wearing glasses? Wikipedia says 4 September 1999, after eye surgery that year. One other article puts the surgery in 2000-01, so sources differ.

Did FIFA allow Edgar Davids to wear glasses? Reuters copy from September 1999 concerned FIFA's dispensation for a medication, not the goggles. The rules do allow protective equipment, per NSS Magazine. We found no ruling banning his goggles.

Which brand were Edgar Davids' glasses? NSS Magazine says Nike designed a pair for him. We could not confirm the maker of his first pair.

Was Edgar Davids blind? No source we found says so. He kept playing at the top level for years after the surgery, including at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004.

Did Edgar Davids wear glasses at Ajax? Not in his first spell: he won the 1995 Champions League with Ajax before the 1999 surgery. His second Ajax spell (2007 to 2009) came after it, when he was still playing in goggles.

Is Edgar Davids a coach now? We found no announced job in 2026. His last confirmed role was assistant coach of the Netherlands in 2022.

Which other footballers wore glasses? Annibale Frossi, Jef Jurion, Joop van Daele, Ignazio Abate, Alex Song and Andrew Farrell, among others listed above.

Where was Edgar Davids born? In Paramaribo, Suriname, on 13 March 1973, which makes him 53 in November 2026.

Sources

English Wikipedia (Edgar Davids), Vice ("The Cult of Edgar Davids"), NSS Magazine ("Goggles in football"), Catraca Livre (30 November 2022), Reuters wire copy of September 1999 as archived on a Juventus fan site, AFP via Asharq Al-Awsat (21 April 2026), and Wikipedia's coaching record. All checked in November 2026.