Top 10 unusual football player's superstitions

These players have atypical practices before the game.

Sport is often played on a knife edge, with the difference between winning and losing down to the smallest of margins. It’s no wonder footballers do everything they can to ensure they come out on top, from diet to training and the more outright strange efforts. Players are so desperate to win games that they often turn to pre-match traditions in the hope that it will give them a slight advantage on the pitch. And if you think something as simple as keeping the same seat on the team bus will cut it, wait until you read the length some players will go to to ensure a win. Here are some very unusual and absurd superstitions.

10. Luis Suarez

For several seasons defending La Blaugrana, this player almost always wore a blue bandage on his right wrist. It was wrapped around his thumb even though he was known to have no problems with any of his body parts. Suarez considered if the bandage that adorned his right hand always gave him luck. For Suarez, this has now become a habit. He almost never forgot to wear a wrist protector, even when he was wearing a long sleeve costume. Suarez indeed often does unusual things. Another thing that is often done by Suarez is that he often smells tattoos on his hands every time he enters the field. These various kinds of things then become a ‘ritual’ for Suarez to win the match.

9. John Terry

Terry even had a lucky pair of shin pads he wore for ten seasons. John Terry has a series of pre-game rituals. The former Chelsea captain used to sit on the same seat on the bus every time. He said, “I am very superstitious and, for me, if we win a game then I add it onto my next superstition”. He also used to tape his socks exactly 3 times.

8. Jack Grealish

During Aston Villa's 2018-19 promotion-winning season, Jack Grealish became somewhat superstitious about the boots that he wore. Having scored a few goals and laid on some more for his Villa teammates on his return from injury, the playmaker decided that it had to be his boots. Grealish kept wearing the same pair, only changing after the club achieved a place in the Premier League.

7. Cristiano Ronaldo

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner and one of the greatest players of all time, that’s what comes to your mind when you hear the name. It is surprising to see Ronaldo on this list because many times he has said that he believes in hard work and nothing else but he also has some superstitions.  From being the first player to disembark while travelling to a game by plane, and being the last of the tunnel and ensuring that he puts his right foot first on the pitch before making a jump.

6. Mesut Ozil

The former Gunners star, who has won La Liga, the FA Cup and the World Cup, prepares for matches by tying several knots into his boots repeatedly. Ozil always insists on tying several knots to his boots and also puts on his right boot first.

5. Raymond Domenech

Domenech had a particular problem with players with the Scorpio sun sign in his squads, referring them to as reckless, unreliable, troublesome and attention-seekers. Thus, he effectively ended the career of Robert Pires. Then-manager Raymond Domenech was a big believer in star signs and astrology, and actually, let it dictate his team selections. He displayed his eccentricity by responding to being knocked out of Euro 2008 by proposing to his girlfriend on the pitch and oversaw a mutiny two years later – but they all seem sane when compared to his dependence on astrology.

4. Cesc Fabregas

The midfield maestro liked to kiss a ring his wife gave him four times (his lucky number) before removing the item. He mentioned that he isn’t superstitious at all but he feels this habit brings him good luck.

3. Phil Jones

For a man plagued by misfortune throughout most of his career so far, it seems a bit ridiculous to think that Phil Jones is superstitious.  the Manchester United defender admitted that he had a 'stupid' pre-match ritual; Jones would decide which sock he puts on first on a matchday, depending on whether United was at home or away. If they were at home, and their name on the fixture list was on the left, then Jones would put his left sock on first. If they were away, he'd put his right sock on first.

2. Johan Cruyff

He was dependent on a series of obsessional pre-match rituals, something he would have never tolerated as a coach himself and the former Ajax hero would always slap his goalkeeper Gert Bals in the stomach before kick-off. If that wasn’t strange enough, he would then walk towards the opposition half and spit his chewing gum onto their side of the pitch. during the 1969 European Cup final, Cruyff gave Bals his customary smack and then walked over towards the opposition half, to spit his gum. It was only then that the Dutchman realised that he’d forgotten to chew gum and Ajax ended up getting thrashed 4-1.

1. Pele

Pele may be regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, but the Brazilian suffered a rare dip in form at Santos during the mid-1960s. The forward then hired a detective to track down the old shirt and a week later it was returned – and his form immediately returned.  But what the detective left out was the fact that he had actually failed in his pursuit of that particular jersey and had instead given the three-time World Cup winner the shirt that he had used in the previous match. But still, the legend got his form back and again started to score again.