Kickstart Your Inspiration Motivational Quotes From Soccer Legends
Explore the vibrant tapestry of football’s rich history, woven with colorful characters and unforgettable player quotes.
Delve into the best football quotes that transcend the game, offering a motivational boost for both players and enthusiasts alike.
Whether you’re an active participant in the sport or a passionate spectator, the principles of perseverance, willpower, diligence, and hard work exhibited by individual players and teams resonate beyond the field.
These qualities are not only instrumental in determining championships but also serve as pillars for success in business and life. As a team sport, football imparts valuable lessons in teamwork and effort.
Witness how legendary teams, driven by a shared vision and players willing to sacrifice for the collective, outshine more individually talented opponents throughout history.
Are you seeking legendary, testosterone-fueled, and impassioned football quotes to propel you to new heights?
Your quest ends here! Dive into this collection of inspirational and best football quotes, designed to ignite excellence not only in sports but also in your professional and personal pursuits.
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Motivational Quotes From Soccer Legends
1. “For every pass, I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice.” ― Don Hutson
2. “The most valuable player is the one who makes the most players valuable.”
3. “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” ― George Halas
4. “Football is the most important of the less important things in the world.” ―Carlo Ancelotti
5. “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.” – Pelé
6. “If you want to see the best, you have to do the best.” – Zinedine Zidane
7. “I don’t believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball.” – Ron Greenwood
8. “The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.” – Lionel Messi
9. “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” – Pelé
10. “I’d rather fail while trying to be brilliant, than succeed being mediocre.” – Samuel Eto’o.
11. “You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
12. “Football is all about passion, it’s about fighting for the shirt, for your team, and for the supporters.” – Jürgen Klopp
13. “I’d rather have a player who was 10% talented and 90% professional than the other way round.” – Carlo Ancelotti
14. “The most important quality a player can have is not skill, but mentality.” – Jose Mourinho
15. “Teams don’t learn. Individuals within the team learn. Development is a personal process even when conducted in a team environment.” – Johan Cruyff
16. “I hate to speak about individuals. Players don’t win you trophies, teams win trophies. Squads win trophies.” – Jose Mourinho
17. “In soccer, ability is much more important than shape, and in many cases, skill is the art of turning limitations into virtues.” – Eduardo Galeano
18. “Don’t be scared to be ambitious. It’s not a humiliation to have a high target and to fail. For me, the real humiliation is to have a target and not to give everything to reach it.” – Arsene Wenger
19. “Leadership must be likable, affable, cordial, and above all emotional. The fashion of authoritarian leadership is gone. Football is about life. You can’t be angry all day.” – Vincent Del Bosque
20. “Many people say I’m the best women’s football player in the world. I don’t think so, and because of that, someday I might just be.” – Mia Hamm
21. “The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory.” – Sepp Herberger
22. “I always felt that our triumphs were an expression of the constant application of discipline. Once you bid farewell to discipline you say goodbye to success.” – Sir Alex Ferguson
23. “The interesting thing about coaching is you have to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled.” – Ric Charlesworth
24. “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.” – Bill Shankly
25. “I learned all about life with a ball at my feet” – Ronaldinho
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Funny Soccer Quotes
26. “I don’t have time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my job as a hobby. It’s something I love doing.”- David Beckham
27. “When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.” – Diego Maradona
28. “The first 90 minutes are the most important.” – Bobby Robson
29. “I just hate losing and that gives you an extra determination to work harder.” – Wayne Rooney
30. “I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.” – Zinedine Zidane
31. “The football field, I’d definitely say that’s my safe place.”
32. “I am not a superstar or an ego. I am just the same as I always was: Someone who plays football.”
33. “In football, you can win or lose. We always have to be together, with the same spirit we’ve always had.”
34. “When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.”
35. “Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.”
36. “When you don’t give up, you cannot fail.”
37. “I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated.”
38. “There is only one way to succeed in anything…and that is to give it everything.”
39. “You cannot make progress with excuses.”
40. “It is my conviction that there are no limits to learning, and that it can never stop, no matter what our age.”
41. “There are people for whom Rangers Football Club is their entire way of life.”
42. “Football is a game you cannot play without making mistakes.”
43. “I don’t believe in luck, I only believe in hard work.” – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
44. “The reason I success is because I’ve never been afraid to fail.” – David Beckham
45. “The only way to get the best out of yourself is by playing with freedom.” – Ryan Giggs
46. “Success is not permanent and failure is not fatal.” – Sir Alex Ferguson
47. “Football is a wonderful game that teaches you how to be a man.” – Zinedine Zidane
48. “Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.” – Johan Cruyff
49. “I see myself as the best footballer in the world. If you don’t believe you are the best, then you will never achieve all that you are capable of.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
50. “You can always improve, you can always get better.” – Ryan Giggs
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Short Soccer Quotes
51. “It’s not about the name on the back of the shirt, it’s about the badge on the front.” – Patrick Viera
52. “If you’re not prepared to run, don’t play the game.” – Roy Keane
53. “If you do not believe you can do it then you have no chance at all” – Arsene Wenger
54. “To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent.” – Johan Cruyff
55. “Behind every kick of a ball, there has to be a thought.” – Denis Bergkamp
56. “A penalty is a cowardly way to score.” – Pelé
57. “Football is played with your head. Your feet are just the tools.” – Andrea Pirlo
58. “Every disadvantage has got its advantage.” – Johan Cruyff
59. “Football is the ballet of the masses.” – Dmitri Shostakovich
60. “Every defeat is a victory in itself.” – Francisco Maturana García
61. “In football, the worst things are excuses. Excuses mean you cannot grow or move forward.”
62. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
63. “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.”
64. “You fail all the time. But you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else.”
65. “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”
66. “Confidence is a massive part of success in football. If you believe in yourself and your team, you can achieve anything.” – Rio Ferdinand
67. “The key to success in football is to be in the right place at the right time.” – Teddy Sheringham
68. “The secret to success in football is to always give your best and never give up.” – Carles Puyol
69. “I always believed in pushing myself to be the best I could be, and that hard work and determination would pay off. I learned that success in football is not just about talent, but also about putting in the effort to improve every day.” – Thierry Henry
70. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Arjen Robben
71. “The greatest reward for a player is to see the joy in the faces of the fans.” – Franz Beckenbauer
72. “Success is not only about winning, but also about learning from your failures and making the necessary adjustments to improve.” – Sergio Ramos
73. “The beautiful game is all about having fun and enjoying yourself. That’s what I try to do every time I step onto the field.” – Ronaldinho
74. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” – George Best
75. “I think soccer is a great game because it brings people together. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what language you speak, soccer unites everyone.” – Marco Van Basten
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Motivational Soccer Quotes
76. “We don’t want our players to be monks. We want them to be better football players because a monk does not play football at this level.” – Bobby Robson
77. “I couldn’t be more chuffed if I was a badger at the start of mating season.” – Ian Holloway
78. “If you eat caviar every day it is difficult to return to sausages.” – Arsene Wenger
79. “Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.” – Gary Lineker
80. “Dilly ding dilly dong” – Claudio Ranieri
81. “Sometimes maybe good. Sometimes maybe ****.” – Gennaro Gattuso
82. “Do I not like that” – Graham Taylor
83. “Why do you want Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?” – Jack Walker
84. “I think you are an ostrich.” – Nigel Pearson
85. “That lad must have been born offside” – Alex Ferguson
86. “You can have all the ability in the world, but if you don’t have the right attitude, you’ll never be a great player.” – Dwight Yorke
87. “It’s not about being the best player, it’s about being the right player.” – Gary Neville
88. “I was never the quickest, but I could anticipate where the ball was going and get there first.” – Paul Scholes
89. “To be a good soccer player, you need to be able to see the game in slow motion. You need to be able to see the spaces and be two steps ahead of your opponents.” – Gerd Muller
90. “You have to play with intensity, with courage, and always be thinking about winning.” – Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima
91. “You can learn a lot from losing. You can learn how to handle disappointment and come back stronger the next time.” – Marco Van Basten
92. “I always believed in myself and in my qualities, even when others didn’t.” – Luka Modric
93. “The best way to prove yourself is to play with pride and passion.” – Tony Adams
94. “In soccer, it’s not just about the final score, it’s also about the journey and the memories you create along the way.” – Martin Keown
95. “The only guarantee with football is that there are no guarantees.” – George Best
96. “When you are 4-0 up you should never lose 7-1.” – Lawrie McMenemy
97. “Sandro’s holding his face. You can tell from that it’s a knee injury.” – Dion Dublin
98. “Frank Lampard still has the same legs he had five years ago.” – Ray Wilkins
99. “We must have had 99 percent of the game. It was the other three percent that cost us the match.” – Ruud Gullit
100. “I’m 30 now, but back when I was 19…that’s seven years ago.” – Lee Bowyer
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Famous Soccer Quotes
101. “I don’t believe in superstitions. I just do certain things because I’m scared in case something will happen if I don’t do them.” – Michael Owen
102. “Well, Clive, it’s all about the two M’s—movement and positioning.” – Ron Atkinson
103. “I’ve had 14 bookings this season—eight of which were my fault, but seven of which were disputable.” – Paul Gascoigne
104. “They’re the second-best team in the world, and there’s no higher praise than that.” – Kevin Keegan
105. “One accusation you can’t throw at me is that I’ve always done my best.” – Alan Shearer
106. “You can’t win if you don’t score.” – Thomas Muller
107. “I would rather fail with ambition than succeed with nothing.” – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
108. “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” – Gary Player
109. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Arrigo Sacchi
110. “A good coach makes players see what they can be, rather than what they are.” – Ariël Jacobs
111. “Dream. Sacrifice. Work Hard.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
112. “”My goal has always been to be a better player tomorrow than I am today.” – Dani Alves
113. “The only way to improve is to play against the best.” – Pep Guardiola
114. “The most important quality a player can have is not skill, but mentality.” – Jose Mourinho
115. “Aim for the sky and you’ll hit the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you’ll stay on the floor.” – Bill Shankly
116. “I wouldn’t say I was the top manager in the business but I would say I was in the top one.” – Brian Clough
117. “I think in England you eat too much sugar and meat and not enough vegetables.” – Arsene Wenger
118. “I’ve never played for a draw in my life.” – Alex Ferguson
119. “To be sitting on the bench behind somebody who only started to play when he was 30 is not funny.” – Jens Lehmann
120. “The best team did not win this match.” – Jose Mourinho
121. “I want to talk about facts.” – Rafa Benitez
122. “You can’t win anything with kids.” – Alan Hansen
123. “I will love it if we beat them. Love it.” – Kevin Keegan
124. “He will go right to the very top.” – Harry Redknapp
125. “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” – Bill Shankly
Motivational Soccer Quotes
126. “I would have played for free, but they insisted on paying me.” – Tony Gwylim
127. “I’m football mad. I’m mad about the game. When I go to sleep, I’m thinking about football. When I wake up, I’m thinking about football.” – David Beckham
128. “Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence.” – Bobby Charlton
129. “We have to win every game, we’re Manchester United.” – Sir Alex Ferguson
130. “When I’m on the pitch, I’m not afraid of anyone. But when I watch a horror movie, I hide behind the sofa.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
131. “I once tried to steal a ball from Zinedine Zidane, but he ended up stealing my soul.” – Xabi Alonso
132. “If you don’t concede goals, you won’t lose games.” – Steve Bruce
133. “When I was younger, I was a bit of a hothead on the pitch. But as you get older, you learn to channel that aggression into your play.” – Wayne Rooney
134. “The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it until it does.” – Phil Woosnam
135. “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think the sardines will be thrown into the sea.” – Eric Cantona
136. “That shot is impossible. I saw Yaya Toure do it once” – Michael Owen
137. “Squeaky bum time” – Alex Ferguson
138. “That would’ve been a goal had it gone inside the post.” – Michael Owen
139. “We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right.” – Brian Clough
140. “We go into the second half with United 1 – 0 up, so the game is perfectly balanced” – Peter Jones
141. “You may as well put a cow in the middle of the pitch, walking. And then stop the game because there was a cow.” – Jose Mourinho
142. “Oh, he had an eternity to play that ball, but he took too long about it”. – Martin Tyler
143. “Will I become a coach in the future? No way, I’d never be able to put up with someone like me.” – Romario
144. “He dribbles a lot, and the opposition don’t like it—you can see it all over their faces”. – Ron Atkinson
145. “I just love being a role model for young girls. I just hope that I can inspire them to work hard and follow their dreams.” – Alex Morgan
146. “There’s nothing like scoring a goal and having your teammates run over and pile on top of you.” – Christine Sinclair
147. “I believe that the future of soccer is bright, and that there is a bright future for female soccer players all over the world.” – Marta
148. “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does.” – Hope Solo
149. “The only way to get better is to work hard every day and never be satisfied with what you’ve accomplished.” – Carli Lloyd
150. “It is not just about the money, it is about what you achieve on the pitch.” – Ronaldinho