The language of football is universal, and countries from all over the world take pleasure in participating in the sport. It is also an international sport that has been bringing people together ever since it’s existence.
Whether you are a player or prefer to be the one who is cheering on the side, the match is equally exciting. This is why I have compiled some of the most memorable football quotes in this article.
Football is more than just a game. In fact, for some people, it is their passion, their first love, or even their career. Great players are characterized by their perseverance, as well as their devotion to this sport. Many of them have also moved on to become coaches themselves, passing their legacy on to new generations.
34 Football Quotes That Teach Important Lessons
Football Quotes About Teamwork and Practice
#1. “You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” Lionel Messi
#2. “The level of football success that you can conceive and believe, you can achieve.” Felicity Luckey
#3. “The secret is to believe in your dreams; in your potential that you can be like your star, keep searching, keep believing and don’t lose faith in yourself” Neymar da Silva Santos
#4. “You only stop learning when you quit.” Ruud Gullit
#5. “If you are determined and confident, there is nothing in this great existence that can stop you from achieving what you want.” Zinedine Zidane
#6. “In football, the result is an impostor. You can do things really, really well but not win. There’s something greater than the result, more lasting — a legacy.” Xavier Hernández.
#7. “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” Edson Arantes do Nascimento
#8. “Nobody has enough talent to live on talent alone. Even when you have talent, a life without work goes nowhere.” Arsene Wenger
#9. “In football, the worst things are excuses. Excuses mean that you cannot grow or move forward.” Josep Guardiola
#10. “My way of getting through difficult times of low confidence — hard work.” David Beckham
#11.“I never played for a draw in my life.” Alex Ferguson
#12. “Football is like riding a bicycle; you have to pedal a bike continuously, otherwise you will fall off.” ― Mustafa Dönmez
#13. “Football is about joy. It is about dribbling. I favor every idea that makes the game beautiful. Every good idea has to last.” Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
#14. “Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality are boring.” Johan Cruyff
Football Quotes About Leadership
#15. “In football as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigour and precision.” Lionel Messi
#16. “Football is played with the head. Your feet are just the tools.” Andrea Pirlo
#17. “When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball three or four minutes on average. The important thing is what you do during those 87 minutes without the ball. Football is a brain game, where to run, when to run, when to cover, when to press, when to move, how to move, it is decisions like these that come from the brain that determines whether you’re a good player or not.” Johan Cruyff
#18. “Behind every kick of the ball, there has to be a thought.” Dennis Bergkamp
#19. “In soccer, skill is the art of turning limitations into virtues.” Eduardo Galeano
#20. “When I score, I don’t celebrate. It’s my job. Does a postman celebrate when he delivers mail?” Mario Balotelli
#21. “As a footballer, you always want to test yourself against the best.” David Beckham.
#22. “As a coach, we can motivate them to do it, but the attitude will determine how well they do it. Find the player with attitude and motivation no longer comes from the coach, this is the key to building success.” Marcelo Bielsa
#23. “When I say I want to become a legend, some people say it’s pretentious. For me, it’s a challenge — my desire, my dream. I’m not saying I’ll get there, but it’s what I want.” Paul Pogba
#24. “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Other Important Football Quotes
#25. “If football has taught me anything, it is that you can overcome anything if, and only if, you love something enough.” Lionel Messi
#26. “I learned all about life with a ball at my feet.” Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
#27. “To see the ball, to run after it, makes me the happiest man in the world.” Diego Maradona
#28. “Some people tell me that we professional players are football slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence!” Bobby Charlton
#29. “It is not just about the money, it is about what you achieve on the pitch.” Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
#30. “For me, football is the only thing more inspiring than the cinema. You wake up in the morning and it was all real.” Jūrgen Klopp
#31. “Always respect your opponents because they are enemies you have generated. The reason why they look like enemies is that we are all contestants who want to reach a common goal, that’s all.” ― Mustafa Dönmez
#32. “I see football as an art and all players are artists. If you are a top artist, the last thing you would do is paint a picture somebody else has already painted.” ― Cristiano Ronaldo
#33. “My advice to any young footballer is don’t leave anything on the table, go enjoy your football, and get as much out of it as you can. It comes and goes in the blink of an eye.” ― Joe Cole
#34. “Football fans share a universal language that cuts across many cultures and many personality types. A serious football fan is never alone. We are legion, and football is often the only thing we have in common.” Hunter S. Thompson
The Name of the Game
Above all, there is so much more to football than chasing a ball around the pitch and scoring a goal. A talented player is nothing without his team. And a team that doesn’t know how to work together is destined for failure.
This is a serious sport that requires high emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, as well as concentration. In addition to that, it takes a lot of endurance and practice to become a skilled competitor.
The famous footballers that have been quoted in this article were not always as popular as they are now. Furthermore, some of them have literally come from the ground up. But the one thing they all have in common is their passion for the game, as well as their desire to succeed.
They have all worked very hard to get to where they are today, and as a result, people from all over the world look up to them. Hopefully, these football quotes have motivated and inspired you, or at least reminded you of what an amazing sport this is.
