FitnessFootball
Earrings and sport: wear them, tape them or take them out?
Can you wear earrings while playing sports? In training, yes, as long as nothing hangs, nothing sticks out and nothing comes loose. In competition, the rules of your sport decide. Football forbids every piece of jewellery and does not accept tape. Handball allows small earrings only when they are fully taped. For everything else, check your federation's rules before the start. After training, wipe your pair and store it dry.
In short
Can you wear earrings while playing sports? In training, yes, as long as nothing hangs, nothing sticks out and nothing comes loose. In competition, the rules of your sport decide. Football forbids every piece of jewellery and does not accept tape. Handball allows small earrings only when they are fully taped. For everything else, check your federation's rules before the start. After training, wipe your pair and store it dry.
Football: all jewellery comes off
Football is the clearest case. Law 4 of the IFAB Laws of the Game puts it in two sentences: all items of jewellery, earrings included, are forbidden and must be removed. Using tape to cover jewellery is not permitted. Players are inspected before kick-off and substitutes before they come on. A player who refuses, or puts the item back in, is cautioned.
The rule stands under the heading Safety. It does not ask how small a stud is or how its back works. Every earring comes out, Baqless included.
So plan for it. Take your pair out in the changing room, not on the touchline. Put it in its tin rather than loose in a pocket of your kit bag. After the final whistle it goes straight back in.
Source: IFAB Laws of the Game, Law 4, The Players' Equipment, checked on 8 October 2026.
Handball: small earrings only when taped
Handball takes a different line. The equipment regulations of the International Handball Federation (IHF), as of March 2024, allow small earrings and piercings if they are fully covered with tape. Earrings and piercings that are not fully covered are not allowed. Hair clips of metal or plastic follow the same logic: off, or taped completely.
On match day that means tape over the whole earring, flat, with no edge left open. A small stud is easy to cover. A large hoop or a drop is not, so leave it at home. The referees have the last word on the day. If you are unsure, ask them before the warm-up, not after it.
Source: IHF Regulations on Protective Equipment and Accessories, status March 2024, section 11, checked on 8 October 2026.
Other sports: check your federation's rules
Beyond football and handball there is no single rule. Every sport, and often every federation, sets its own, and at a race the organiser's regulations count. What applies on the day stands in the equipment section of your competition rules.
Three habits help, whatever you play. Read that section once, at the start of the season. Ask the referee or the organiser when the wording is unclear. And decide before you arrive, so your pair is either in or in its tin, not in your hand on the start line.
Two limits come from the maker, not from a rulebook. The maker advises against wearing Baqless in the sauna and in extreme cold. Contact and combat sports are a case of their own: there, your pair comes out before you start.
In training: what gets in the way
Training has no referee. What counts there is what gets in your way, and with earrings, three things do.
The back. It is the one loose part of a classic stud. A shirt pulled over your head, a towel across your face, a side plank on the mat: these are the moments a back gets pushed, pulled or knocked off. Then it lies somewhere on the changing room floor.
What hangs. Drops and large hoops swing with every stride and every turn of the head. They catch on hair ties, caps, helmet straps and headphone cables.
What sticks out. A deep head can press under a helmet strap, a headband or the edge of a cap. Here the depth of the head counts for more than its width.
So the rule for training is short: small, flat, nothing loose. That is why every pair in our earrings for sport lists its head in millimetres, with the depth wherever the maker gives one.
Training without a back: how Baqless sits
Baqless has no back. The anchor is hinged to the post itself. It passes through the piercing in line with the post and then lies crosswise behind the earlobe. There is no second part for a towel or a collar to push off. No back. Nothing to lose.
The second difference is the grip. The anchor slides along the post and clicks into one of several positions, for thinner and thicker earlobes. You decide how firmly it sits. Too loose? Slide the anchor a little further. Too tight? Slide it back a little. It works with one hand and without a mirror, in the changing room as well as at home.
The heads stay small where it counts. Our earrings for sport are studs with small heads by the maker's measurements, plus a hoop of 15.0 mm. Every head is sterling silver 925, rhodium-plated or gold-plated. Sold as a pair.
What Baqless does not change is the rulebook. On match day the referee decides, with or without a back.
Small heads for training
Four pairs from our earrings for sport, with the maker's measurements.
- Amity Amour Gold Stud · 7.18 × 6.52 × 1.21 mm · 18 carat gold-plated
- Honesty Sol Gold Stud · 6.0 × 6.0 × 1.35 mm · gold-plated
- Honesty Aura Gold Stud · 4.9 × 4.9 × 2.0 mm · gold-plated
- Embrace Sublime Silver Hoop · Ø 15.0 mm · rhodium-plated
Keep reading
- Earrings for running
- Earrings for padel and tennis
- Lost an earring back? What helps now
- Caring for sterling silver when you sweat a lot
Questions
Can I wear earrings while playing sports?
In training, yes. Choose small, flat pairs with nothing loose behind the lobe. In competition the rules of your sport decide: football forbids all jewellery, handball allows small earrings only when they are fully taped.
Can I tape my earrings for football?
No. Law 4 of the IFAB Laws of the Game does not permit tape over jewellery. Every earring comes out before the match, and players are inspected before kick-off.
Do I have to take Baqless out for a match?
Wherever the rules say jewellery comes off, yes, like any other earring. Hold the earring at the front. Slide the anchor back, flip it lengthwise, pull out the post. One hand is enough. Keep the pair in its tin until the final whistle.
Which earrings get in the way least in training?
Small heads that sit close to the lobe, with nothing hanging and nothing loose behind it. Under caps, headbands and helmet straps, the depth of the head matters most. Our earrings for sport list it in millimetres wherever the maker gives one.
What do I do with my pair after training?
Wipe off sweat and dirt, let it dry and store it in its tin, away from direct sun and dust. Perfume and cream go on before you put the pair in, not after.
Does Baqless fit every ear?
Almost always, but not always. Baqless is made for a piercing in the earlobe, it is not a clip. On a very thick earlobe the anchor has no room. If you are unsure, ask us before you buy.
Last checked on 8 October 2026.
