Contents
Xavi
“Football is not about one or two or three-star players. It’s about the team.”
“Football is a team game, and it’s important to play with players who understand your way of playing.”
“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.”
“I spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I’m always between the opposition’s two holding midfielders and thinking, ‘The defence is here, so I get the ball, and I go there to where space is.”
Gary Lineker
“Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans win.”
Romario
“I never thought about the records I was breaking. I just wanted to score goals and help my team win.”
“Will I become a coach in the future? No way, I’d never be able to put up with someone like me.”
George Halas
“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.”
Zinedine Zidane
“Football is the only thing that can bring together an entire country, regardless of political or religious differences.”
“I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.”
Andres Iniesta
“I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put the work and time into it.”
Tim Howard
“When you’re a goalkeeper, it doesn’t matter how well you play; if you make one mistake and it costs the game, it’s a bad day.”
“I’ve worked too hard and long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down, and I will not let myself down.”
Lukas Podolski
“Football is like chess, only without the dice.”
Ivan Rakitic
“The smartest thing I did is I never gave up.”
Sarina Wiegman
“Inclusivity is not something that can be achieved simply by saying the right things. It requires meaningful actions and a strong commitment to making it a reality.”
“I boldly cut off my hair and joined anyway.”
“Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid of making mistakes because mistakes are part of your growth. Mistakes don’t mean you’re not good enough. It means you’re evolving. You will become the best version of yourself.”
Ronaldinho
“Football is not just a game; it’s an art form. You have to be creative, think outside the box, and always be one step ahead of your opponent.”
“It is not just about the money. It is about what you achieve on the pitch.”
“I learned all about life with a ball at my feet.”
“My heroes were always soccer players.”
Pelé
“Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player but how to be like a man.”
“Everything is practice.”
“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”
“The ball is my best friend.”
“A penalty is a cowardly way to score.”
“Football is a game that is played with the brain. We have to use our heads.”
“Football is a universal language, a passport to adventure.”
“I think that France, Germany, Spain, Holland and England will join Brazil in the semi-finals.”
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.”
Ian Holloway
“To put it in gentleman’s terms, if you’ve been out for a night and you’re looking for a young lady, and you pull one, some weeks they’re good-looking, and some weeks they’re not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best-looking bird, but at least we got her in the taxi.”
“Managing a league club is like making love to a mermaid… you should always be aiming for a top-half finish.”
“Every dog has its day – and today is woof day! Today, I just want to bark.”
“I love Blackpool. We’re very similar. We both look better in the dark.”
“It was lucky that the linesman wasn’t stood in front of me, as I would have poked him with a stick to make sure he was awake.”
“Apparently, it’s my fault that the Titanic sank.”
“Sometimes, when you aim for the stars, you hit the moon.”
“If I fell into a barrel of boobs, I’d come out sucking my thumb.”
Sepp Herberger
“The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory.”
Lucy Bronze
“Football is something I would never give up on, whether I ended up playing professional or in a Sunday league team.”
“I don’t feel like congratulating myself, because I know there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
“You cannot win a game of football on your own; it’s about the entire squad working together to achieve something. That’s how football works: it has always been about the group, not the individual.”
Francisco Maturana García
“Every defeat is a victory in itself.”
Dmitri Shostakovich
“Football is the ballet of the masses.”
Mario Balotelli
“When I score, I don’t celebrate because it’s my job. When a postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?”
Arsene Wenger
Football is an art, like dancing is an art – but only when it’s well done does it become an art.”
“The game of football has never been so quick, never been so technical. The demands on players have never been greater.”
“I take pride in the fact that people go home having felt that for 90 minutes today, life is beautiful – and that’s it, basically. That’s why professional football exists.”
“If you eat caviar every day it is difficult to return to sausages.”
“Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players. They should be encouraged to try skills with our fear of failure.”
Ray Hudson
“I’ve got nothing to say. Any questions?”
Berti Vogts
“If people had seen me walking on water, you can be sure someone, somewhere would have complained ‘look at that Berti Vogts, he can’t even swim’.”
Mark Viduka
“I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league.”
Steve Lomas
“Germany are a very difficult team to play. They had 11 internationals out there today.”
Lionel Messi
“The most important thing in football is what happens on the pitch.”
“I have many years to get better and better, and that has to be my ambition. The day you think there are no improvements to be made is a sad one for any player.”
“I always thought I wanted to play professionally, and I always knew that to do that, I’d have to make a lot of sacrifices. I made sacrifices by leaving Argentina and leaving my family to start a new life. I changed my friends my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream.”
“I always want more. Whether it’s a goal or winning a game, I’m never satisfied.”
“There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.”
“I am more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world.”
Cristiano Ronaldo
“If you don’t believe you’re the best, then you will never achieve all that you are capable of.”
“I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans but also to feel satisfied with myself.”
“Maybe they hate me because I’m too good.”
“Your Love makes me Strong, Your Hate makes me Unstoppable!”
“I’ve never tried to hide the fact that it is my intention to become the best.”
Ron Atkinson
“Well, Clive, it’s all about the two M’s—movement and positioning.”
Didier Deschamps
“The players are writing a beautiful page of French football history.”
Sam Kerr
“No one is bigger than the team, you win together, and you can certainly lose together.”
Julie Ertz
“If they thing your dreams are crazy, show them what crazy dreams can do.”
Kevin Keegan
“They’re the second-best team in the world, and there’s no higher praise than that.”
Bill Shankly
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”
“The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.”
Jean-Paul Sartre
“In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.”
George Weah
“Football is a universal language. It brings people together. irrespective of their nationalities, cultures or beliefs.”
Jürgen Klopp
“Football is a game you cannot play without making mistakes.”
“I am not a dreamer. I am a football romantic.”
“Anyone can have a good day, but you have to be able to perform on a bad day.”
“Life is too short not to celebrate nice moments!.”
“The best word I can say to describe this is: Boom!
“If you had Wikipedia or Google and put in European nights’, the answer must be: Anfield.”
“I’m one of you now; I love you to bits. On my jumper is ‘Thank you Luv’ and ‘I will never walk alone again’. Thank you for that! You are the best people in the world. Thank you!”
“I have only one understanding of development and of making success, and that’s by going step by step.”
“I am the normal one.”
Jose Mourinho
“Look, I’m a coach, and I’m not Harry Potter. He is magical, but in reality, there is no magic. Magic is fiction, and football is real.”
“I Prefer not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble, and I don’t want to be in big trouble.
“I think a footballer can have all the qualities in the world, but if he doesn’t have the attitude and hunger, then he’ll never reach the top.”
“We are a little horse. A horse that still needs milk and to learn how to jump.”
“You may as well put a cow in the middle of the pitch, walking. And then stop the game because there was a cow.”
“Losers complain; winners train.”
“I think I’m a special one.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
“If you are too nice, you will just get eaten alive. The football world is not always a nice place.”
“I can’t help but laugh at how perfect I am.”
“Arsene Wenger asked me to have a trial with Arsenal when I was 17. I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
“Only God knows… You’re talking to him now”
“A World Cup without me is nothing to watch, so it is not worth waiting for the World Cup.”
“I won’t be the King of Manchester; I will be the God of Manchester.”
“When you buy me, you are buying a Ferrari.”
“No way. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
George Best
“If you’d given me the choice of going out and beating four men and smashing a goal in from thirty yards against Liverpool or going to bed with Miss World, it would have been a difficult choice. Luckily, I had both.”
“I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”
“I’ve stopped drinking, but only while I’m asleep.”
“In 1969, I gave up women and alcohol – it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.”
“There are good players, there are great players, and there are those few at the pinnacle – the Peles, Cruyffs and Maradonas.”
“I used to go missing a lot… Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World.”
“I don’t have any regrets. I made all my own decisions.”
Tony Adams
“Play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they will remember the name on the back.”
Pep Guardiola
“The most important thing? To win, playing good football. That’s the most beautiful thing.”
“I will forgive if the players cannot get it right, but not if they do not try hard.”
Ian Rush
“Djimi Traore had to adapt to the English game, and he did that by going out on loan to Lens last season.”
Bob Marley
“Football is a part of I. When I play, the world wakes up around me.”
Eduardo Galeano
“When good soccer happens, I give thanks for the miracle, and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
Billy Eberhart
“Those who say it can’t be done shouldn’t interfere with those who are doing it.”
Thomas Muller
“Anyone who sacrifices his dreams to reality is forever beaten.”
Louis van Gaal
“I’ve signed a contract with the Dutch national team until 2006, so I can win the World Cup not once but twice.”
After taking over as Holland’s boss in 2000, he resigned after failing to qualify for the World Cup in 2002.
“Am I the one who’s so smart, or are you so stupid?”
“Guardiola follows the Van Gaal Philosophy. So, I’m not surprised Bayern has hired Guardiola. Bayern always hire the best managers.”
“I’ve never worn leggings like Robben does. I’m never cold because I am blooded. My wife says so, too. We always sleep spooning.”
“I have the body of a God. Lederhosen suits me. But I also have a belly.”
“We have to keep the ball better and move the ball quicker – that’s always what we have to do. Desire… it is a great word. I often use the word “horny” with my players.”
Bonus Van Gaal
“The three points are inside.”
“It’s a question of time.”
“We are running after the facts.”
“One swallow does not make a summer.”
“After that we are looking at upstairs or downstairs.”
“It’s again the same song.”
“That’s another cook.”
