A soccer match is certainly a tough thing, with players battling it out and up and down the pitch for 90 minutes, desperate to score goals. There’s never any certainty, and a single last minute goal can be the difference between defeat and euphoric victory.
For that reason, there has become a tradition of wild and creative soccer celebrations when particularly amazing or important goals are scored.
However, these soccer celebrations have been happening for decades – across loads of different players, games, matches, countries, and more. This means that it’s pretty difficult to narrow the soccer celebrations down to the very best because there’s so many to choose from.
That’s where we come in! In our fun article below, we’ve got a list of the best soccer celebrations. You’ll enjoy reading about these creative, and often crazy, celebrations across some of your favorite players.
Best Soccer Celebrations
1. Peter Crouch
Peter Crouch is a now retired English soccer player, but that doesn’t mean his most famous soccer celebration hasn’t stayed with us. Back in 2006, when he was playing for Liverpool FC, he broke about the celebration that he would become famous for: the robot.
Most of you will already know this famous dance move, where you move stiffly as a robot would, but Peter Crouch made it especially memorable when he busted it out on the soccer pitch.
Crouch is famously tall (see also: How Tall Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic?)and skinny, measuring an astonishing 6’7” tall, which makes his version of the dance quite a sight.
As a result, it became his celebration staple for a while, until he retired it, only to bring it back for a match against Ukraine in 2009. However, it would fantastically return again much later, when Crouch would score his 100th Premier League goal in 2017.
It seemed only right that he brought it back for such a landmark goal, and fans went wild!
2. Jimmy Bullard
This is a one of a kind celebration that was also incredibly funny. In the season before, Man City and Hull had faced off, with Hull doing very badly. So badly, in fact, that their manager, Phil Brown, had openly given his half-time speech to the team right on the pitch. Talk about embarrassing!
It’s fitting, then, that player Jimmy Bullard would reenact the moment during the next season. He rounded up his team on the pitch at half-time and told them off in a very exaggerated way, making good-natured fun of the previous event.
3. Paul Gascoigne
Now this is a classic! Before Euro 96, Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne and other players had been criticized for a wild night of drinking, where they were reportedly tied to a chair and given alcohol.
Fittingly, he and some other England players would poke fun at the story during an actual Euro match, where Gazza lay down on the ground and had his teammates spray him with water.
4. Carlos Tevez
Like Peter Crouch and the robot, this is another great dancing one. This time, the year was 2004 and Carloz Tevez had just scored an important goal against his rival team.
What was his response? To tear his shirt off and flap around like a chicken, performing the always-funny chicken dance.
5. Marcelo Vieira
Speaking of tearing off shirts, it reminds us of this particularly smart soccer celebration done by Marcelo Vieira, and imitated many times after that (including by Messi!)
When other players rip their shirts off, there’s understandably nothing underneath but their bare skin.
Not so for Marcelo, who cleverly wore two shirts through the entire game, right up until he could celebrate a goal and tear the top shirt off. Better yet, having two shirts meant that he could throw one to a fan to keep.
6. Facundo Sava
This is a very unique one, and is especially great if you’re a fan of the famous masked “Zorro” character.
Whenever he would need to celebrate, Facundo Sava would pull out a Zorro mask that he had been storing in his sock all game. He would then put it on his face, looking like the famous masked hero. It’s a sweet and creative soccer celebration – and it can’t have been easy keeping it in his sock!
7. Aylesbury United
This soccer celebration isn’t so much done by a single player, but rather a whole team. Aylesbury United had the nickname “The Ducks”, which, of course, meant they had to live up to their name.
During a 1994 game, they scored an important goal and celebrated by kneeling down on the pitch, shuffling along and moving their arms in exaggerated sweeps. The whole row of players looked just like ducks waddling around!
8. Brandi Chastain
It’s always important to cover female soccer players, and this monumental soccer celebration by Brandi Chastain is one of the best ever – in the whole sport(see also: Is Soccer A Contact Sport?).
We’ve already covered male players ripping their shirts off, in two different ways, but female players rarely tear theirs off for obvious reasons. But why shouldn’t they? Chastain broke the taboo, in a sense, ripping hers off in a 1999 World Cup match.
9. Robbie Fowler
This one isn’t quite so inspiring, but it is funny. Robbie Fowler was an English footballer who had a reputation for allegedly using cocaine. Whether it was the case or not, he made fun of it in a 1999 game.
Very cleverly, he pretended the white line of the penalty (see also: Best Penalty Takers)area was a line of the drug, then simulated snorting. Unfortunately, though, he was fined £60,000!
10. Fernando Torres
We’re finishing with a true classic. It may not be the most creative or crazy soccer celebration, but Fernando Torres’ habit of sliding along the pitch on his knees has become famous – and it’s a glorious representation of the joy of the game.
Final Thoughts
There have been loads of great soccer celebrations over the decades, whether they’re creative, inspiring, wild, or rude. Picking our 10 best of them was no easy task!
Soccer is the most popular sport played and watched in the world, yet it is one rarely talked about in the United States. Why is this?
Hi, my name is Adrian Turner and I am a self-proclaimed soccer head.
Since I was young, I have always been fascinated by soccer, and any of the games I could find on the TV channels. There weren’t many games broadcast, so thankfully I could find more on the internet as I grew up.
I turned all of my friends onto soccer and we’d play into the evenings after school.
