Footballer Quotes

Ask any Ferrari, Porsche or Ray-Ban salesperson about their average customer and you will very likely hear that he is not, as the adverts would have us believe, a virile young footballer with shiny hair, a rippling six pack and a trouser pouch like a new punch bag. He is, in fact, a middle-aged bloke wearing more chins than he started life with and carrying the clear evidence of forty years of beer and pies slung across his midriff. ~ Richard Hammond

Pele called me the greatest footballer in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life. ~ George Best

I play in a position that demands hard work and generosity and little glamour, but I like it. It's my job and I like it. I would rather intercept and steal 10 balls than shoot. That's what I'm here for, to make everyone else's jobs easier. ~ Sergio Busquets

If you're going to be a footballer, be a great one.If you're going to have a dream, dream big. ~ Alex Ferguson

If a footballer presents himself as a family man and goes and has sex with a prostitute, should he gag her? ~ Nicky Campbell

I am going to continue and bring this club forward. I am Paul Gascoigne the footballer. ~ Paul Gascoigne

If you cut me in half, I'm a footballer. ~ Michael Owen

Being married to a footballer is some girls' dream, but it isn't always like that. I work. ~ Abbey Clancy

Becoming a footballer is only the first half of the silent prayer a kid offers up to the sky or confides to his teacher in a primary school essay. The second part is the name of the team he wants to play for. ~ Andrea Pirlo

Now learning a bit more about footballers I think what they need to do well, is someone who really wants to stay in the background and just be a strong support. ~ Anna Friel

Scholes was playing tiki-taka football when nobody in England knew what it was. He was another of those players, like Denis Law or Bobby Moore, who at 15 probably looked as if he wouldn't make it. Too small, you would think - can't run, dumpy little ginger nut - but then the ball would come to him and he would dazzle you. He was the best footballer in that Manchester United midfield, better than Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane. ~ Harry Redknapp

I did Scottish footballer of the year this year, attempted to do some comedy at that. Not the brightest people in the world. There were seven O-Levels in that room, and they were all mine. ~ Frankie Boyle

It is annoying. The work we do is not getting the credit it deserves because we are not winning silverware. It is unfair because I think we have more merit as a club than those who have built their teams with millions of pounds whereas Arsenal have brought in young footballers, who have come here to play a certain kind of football and who have developed. ~ Samir Nasri

I think, just as footballers play better at home, maybe film-makers, too, create better at home, even though the rules of football are the same wherever you go. ~ Abbas Kiarostami

You're gonna have to go through hell, worse than any nightmare you've ever dreamed. But when it's over, I know you'll be the one standing. You know what you have to do. DO IT! ~ Tony Burton

Germany are a very difficult team to play ... they have eleven internationals out there today. ~ Steve Lomas

Messi is undoubtedly a gifted footballer, like Maradona and Pele, and he's playing for the best club side in the world at the moment. He's successful and he's winning trophies, so it's only logical that he'll be voted the best player in the world. ~ Oliver Kahn

I want to be a footballer - and that means playing on a Saturday afternoon. ~ Charlie Adam

I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one. ~ Brian Clough

Ryan Giggs will go down as the most successful British footballer of all time and I cannot see anyone ever overtaking him. He's on the brink of his 13th league title, after all. ~ Gary Neville

Pulling on your country's shirt is the greatest honour a footballer can have. It's what I always dreamed of as a kid and I get a buzz every time. ~ Wayne Rooney

As footballers, we have time on our hands. Yes, we work very hard but we also have spare afternoons. ~ Joleon Lescott

It's impossible to be more of a footballer than Messi. ~ Frank Rijkaard

The devil on my shoulder tugs on my hair and leads me to the delicious promises a pair of footballer lips offer. ~ V. Theia

One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best. ~ Alan Shearer

People say footballers have terrible taste in music but I would dispute that. In the car at the moment I've got The Corrs, Cher, Phil Collins, Shania Twain and Rod Stewart. ~ Andy Gray

As a footballer's wife, I take great exception to the way we are portrayed in Footballers' Wives. ~ Karren Brady

I want to be one of the best players around in two or three years time, to be a decisive footballer. ~ Cristiano Ronaldo

Dave Mackay was the kind of footballer that legends are built around. He was simply the greatest - tough as teak on the pitch and a real gentleman off it. ~ Alex Salmond

There is pressure every day as a footballer. ~ Jamie Redknapp

As a footballer I can't imagine life without the use of one of my legs ... Sadly this is exactly what happens to thousands of children every year when they accidentally step on a landmine. ~ Ryan Giggs

What makes the difference between a great player and just a normal player is dedication, work, commitment. ~ Thierry Henry

Would I swap what I have achieved as a cook if I could have been as successful as a footballer? Definitely. ~ Gordon Ramsay

The Greatest" is a bite-your-tongue-book. Ultimately a tragic tale it is also immensely uplifting and easily the best footballer biography I have ever read. ~ Mike Parry

I wouldn't want to go out six nights a week and watch somebody's reserves playing to check out a footballer to see if we're going to buy him. ~ Gary Lineker

Messi is class. There is him, and then there is the rest. What he does is extraordinary. ~ Franck Ribery

I blew the lot on vodka and tonic, gambling and fags. Looking back, I think I overdid it on the tonic. ~ Stan Bowles

It's is always nice to be respected as a footballer. I am going to go out and enjoy the game and if I can set one or two goals up then so be it - I would love to. ~ David Beckham

But there's never been anyone? Really?"

Sarah shrugs. "Penny and I were tutored at home when we were young . . . but in year ten, there was this one boy."

I rub my hands together. "Here we go - tell me everything. I want all the sick, lurid details. Was he a footballer? Big and strong, captain of the team, the most popular boy in school?"

I could see it. Sarah's delicate, long and lithe, but dainty, beautiful - any young man would've been desperate to have her on his arm. In his lap. In his bed, on the hood of his car, riding his face . . . all of the above.

"He was captain of the chess team."

I cover my eyes with my hand.

"His name was Davey. He wore these adorable tweed jackets and bow ties, he had blond hair, and was a bit pale because of the asthma. He had the same glasses as I and he had a different pair of argyle socks for every day of the year."

"You're messing with me, right?"

She shakes her head.

"Argyle socks, Sarah? I am so disappointed in you right now."

"He was nice," she chides. "You leave my Davey alone."

Then she laughs again - delighted and free. My cock reacts hard and fast, emphasis on hard. It's like sodding granite.

"So what happened to old Davey boy?"

"I was alone in the library one day and he came up and started to ask me to the spring social. And I was so excited and nervous I could barely breathe."

I ~ Emma Chase

What you've got to realise is that footballers, and me in particular, have seen everything in the changing room. Everything. I've seen the manager kicking off with the players, the players kicking off with him, players fighting each other, managers fighting, everything. ~ Ryan Giggs

A Kerry footballer with an inferiority complex is one who thinks he's just as good as everybody else. ~ John B. Keane

You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team. ~ Eric Cantona

When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. ~ Eric Cantona

A goal without a plan is a wish. ~ Herman Edwards

I'd rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd. ~ Johnny Giles

Even as a footballer, I was always being creative. ~ Eric Cantona

I've played a super soldier, a doctor, a World War II fighter pilot, a professional footballer, and a meth-dealing junkie. All those things allow you to educate yourself about different worlds that you have to get familiar with. ~ Robert Kazinsky

I take compliments and I take constructive criticism. Not everyone loves you. It's the way you react as a footballer. I use it all to make me play better. ~ Timothy F. Cahill

If that lad makes a First Division footballer, then I'm Mao Tse Tung. ~ Tommy Docherty

I'm convinced, that when you are a footballer you are a symbol. You have to be a superman in some ways, to send messages to people all the time, to the youth all the time. ~ Emmanuel Petit

If you do the bare minimum, expect bare minimum results. You want to be great, work to be great. Nothing just happens ~ J. J. Watt

He is a very complete, spectacular footballer. He always fights for the ball and tries to lose his marker to help his team-mates - either to defend or to have a shot on goal. For any football player in the Premiership, Scholes is a player you want to emulate. I would happily end my career with the medals that Scholes has. I am young and I hope that I will be able to surpass him - but it is not going to be easy. ~ Cesc Fabregas

Nowadays, Messi is better than Ronaldinho. He is the best footballer in the world right now. And I'm not the only who says so. Everyone who has seen him play says so too. ~ Sergio Aguero

I'm as happy as I can be-but I have been happier. ~ Ugo Ehiogu

My parents were skeptical about me becoming a footballer and encouraged me to study. ~ Carles Puyol

There is no rule that says a footballer needs to be 'this high' and 'this wide.' ~ Andres Iniesta

How would you know a Cork footballer? He's the one who thinks that oral sex is just talking about it. ~ John B. Keane

To be a footballer was just a dream, and I don't believe in dreams. I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I've never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I'm the same now. ~ Thierry Henry

What role models do kids have nowadays?Some ridiculously overpaid footballer prone to childish tantrums?The morons in the Big Brother house,perhaps? Or maybe the various gun-toting rappers who regularly delight us with their expletive-ridden vocabulary and eccentric attitude to women? ~ Frank Chalk

I'm a footballer, I don't think past next Saturday. ~ Joleon Lescott

I've always wanted to be a top footballer since I was young. ~ Michael Owen

There is no excuse for a professional footballer not to be 100% fit. ~ Jock Stein

As an ex-footballer, sometimes surfer and wannabe rock star, Quentin had been fucked by cheerleaders, surfer girls and groupies, but he had never, ever been fucked like that. ~ Ros Baxter

I would have loved to have been a footballer like my great uncle Matt Busby, but I knew quite early on that I wasn't going to make the grade. Luckily I was told by the age of 13 that I wasn't good enough. That's not a bad thing. You see this 'X Factor' generation of kids now who don't accept that they're not good enough. ~ Brendan Coyle

I'd have loved to have been a footballer. I was always playing football and I enjoyed it much more than tennis to begin with. It's more fun to play in a team, all the parents are there cheering you on. ~ Andy Murray

Never stop being YOU. I am out to be the best ME I can be. Do what you LOVE and you will be badass. ~ Terry Crews

I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid. A world superstar, but still a kid. Innocent, you know. He just plays. ~ Johan Cruyff

The money footballers earn today is incredulous ~ Bobby Gould

The lifestyle I lead as a footballer means I am always in the spotlight. ~ Wayne Rooney

There are two metaphors for Mario the person and not Mario the footballer. I think I am a man, but I don't believe I need to say it. But I could also be Peter Pan because I do things my own way and I am free. So, yes, maybe I should say that I am Peter Pan - although I am much more of a man. ~ Mario Balotelli

The only thing that's running well in Bulgaria is the Bulgarian Football Union. Unlike the BFU, many footballers here don't run, they limp. ~ Ivan Slavkov

It was very hard for me as a kid to get through as a footballer in Uruguay. ~ Luis Suarez

I started out in Scotland, not as a footballer of any note, and I didn't play to draw the attention of people abroad. ~ Walter Smith

The Champions League is a big ambition, and all the footballers want to play in it; it is a very important competition. ~ Fernando Torres

You have to put all the criticism of this club down to jealousy. United have produced more players who have played for their country, more world-class players and more players who have won European Footballer of the Year than any other team in this country, so we must be doing something right. ~ Alex Ferguson

I don't understand referees. It appears like some players can't even be touched, but in my case, everyone can hit me as hard as they can. ~ Cristiano Ronaldo

The other side of the coin is that fans can panic players into making poor decisions. The more unsettled a crowd gets, the worse the football on show will become - I've seen it a million times. Certain grounds have a reputation. Whenever I've played at Wolverhampton Wanderers or West Ham United , every manager has said "Keep this lot quiet for 20 minutes, and their fans will start getting on their back". ~ The Secret Footballer

Celebrity culture, it's everywhere, isn't it? It's reality TV, Big Brother. I didn't become a footballer to be famous, I became a footballer to be successful. I didn't want to be famous. Now people want to be famous. Why? Why would you want people following you about all day? ~ Ryan Giggs

I've been booed in Holland and in Uruguay - as a professional footballer, you need to have thick skin and just get used to it. ~ Luis Suarez

I had an early taste of fame. I was 20, going out with TV presenter Dani Behr and we'd have paparazzi chasing us. I'm not comfortable being photographed, though I accept it is part of the job. I had to ask myself, 'What comes first, being a celebrity or footballer?' ~ Ryan Giggs

He knew that he, Millat, was a Paki no matter where he came from; that he smelled of curry; had no sexual identity; took other people's jobs; or had no job and bummed off the state; or gave all the jobs to his relatives; that he could be a dentist or a shop-owner or a curry-shifter, but not a footballer or a filmmaker; that he should go back to his own country; or stay here and earn his bloody keep; that he worshiped elephants and wore turbans; that no one who looked like Millat, or spoke like Millat, or felt like Millat, was ever on the news unless they had recently been murdered. ~ Zadie Smith

When I retired in 2006, I stayed for a further two years in England. I stayed because I wanted to be in England without being a footballer, without the rhythm. I wanted to enjoy the city. ~ Dennis Bergkamp

More than anyone, I am aware of the preconceptions. I was a Spice Girl. I'm married to a footballer. ~ Victoria Beckham

I'll have you know that I am not a failed Third Division footballer. I am a failed Second Division footballer. ~ Eamon Dunphy

Pele really had everything - goalscoring ability, a great passer, good in the air, quick, he used both feet, almost the perfect footballer. Many words have been written about Pele but his record speaks for itself -more than 1,000 goals and three World Cup victories. He also played at a time when attacking players were not protected by referees as much as they are today. ~ Osvaldo Ardiles

Real Madrid is the most important thing that happened to me, both as a footballer and as a person. ~ Zinedine Zidane

Not just me but every professional footballer will tell you they miss playing the game, I miss the game especially as I retired early, not because I was a bad player but I retired solely for health reasons. ~ Fabrice Muamba

I want to work with kids and help develop them, show them the right way, the right morals and attitude into how to become a better footballer. Australia has many different cultures but I'd like to bring in the indigenous style, bring their competitiveness, athleticism and raw ability into the frame. ~ Timothy F. Cahill

Beckham in Paris will certainly be good for shopping. I love this player but he is not the footballer he was. And if he comes to Paris now it will be to do something other than football. ~ Michel Patini

Beckham is unusual. He was desperate to be a footballer. His mind was made up when he was nine or ten. Many kids think that it's beyond them. But you can't succeed without practising at any sport. ~ Bobby Charlton

The myth about me as a footballer has grown: I am now the lost Maradona of Norway. ~ Jo Nesbo

I run an academy in Spain for young footballers who are released by their clubs and who, in my opinion, deserve a second chance. It is a rewarding job for me, but one that also reveals many of the faults in the English game. ~ Glenn Hoddle

Sometimes in football you have to score goals. ~ Thierry Henry

If he isn't named footballer of the year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player should be sent to Kremlin.
(on Tommy Smith) ~ Bill Shankly

Footballers do get a hard time, and there is a lot of generalization going on. When you get to meet players and know them as lads, it's always a bit different. ~ Frank Lampard

Football is something like war. Whoever behaves too properly, is lost. ~ Rinus Michels

If you want to be a professional footballer, you have to respect your profession. You have to respect the people that are making you the star you are. You have to protect the passion everyday. ~ Emmanuel Petit

If you win without sacrifice you enjoy it but it's more satisfying when you have struggled. ~ Andres Iniesta

Nobody expects a footballer to have any kind of an IQ, which is a bit of an unfair stereotype. ~ Frank Lampard

Footballers are slaves. I know this from the personal experience of being a footballer. ~ Sepp Blatter