We love to collect and share soccer quotes. We’ve put together a list of the most inspiring and motivating quotes by famous athletes. You can read them here. If you’re a soccer fan, you should check out this group.
“One of my biggest influences of all time would probably be one of my soccer coaches, Coach Darlington, from high school. He was always trying to get me to push myself really hard. No excuses. I always hated him, but it paid off. I think that’s what life is all about… when you push through the hard stuff and it pays off.” – Jonny Weston
“What we are missing over here is the life of soccer.” – Thomas Dooley
“The aura of soccer is very different from other sports.” – Dave Checketts
“If you’re attacking, you don’t get as tired as when you’re chasing.” – Kyle Rote, Jr.
“I played English football – soccer – instead of American football, because we couldn’t afford the equipment.” – Wally Schirra
“Five days shalt thou labour, as the Bible says. The seventh day is the Lord thy God’s. The sixth day is for football.” – John Anthony Burgess Wilson
“Soccer is the most difficult business that we’re in, because one day you’re on top, and the next day you’re very low.” – Emilio Azcarraga Jean
“In football, the worst blindness is only seeing the ball.” – Nelson Falcão Rodrigues
“International soccer has been a big part of my love for the sport. I love the Men’s National Team. I can say that they’re my favorite sports team.” – Drew Carey
Best Soccer Quotes
“As professional soccer players, we take our bodies to the extreme. We’re the people at the gym that look like we’re breaking the machines. Pushing our bodies to the limits is what makes us so strong and capable and Olympians. It’s not an easy thing to consistently do over and over again to your body.” – Abby Wambach
“Football is the ballet of the masses.” – Dmitri Shostakovich
“To combat the monotony of gym workouts, I started playing soccer. I looked at workouts as training sessions. My soccer training includes squats, pushups, resistance-band work, and sprints. Ninety minutes of running became part of my love of the game rather than a chore.” – Adam Richman
“For me, soccer was a dance.” – Rabih Alameddine
“Find a type of exercise that you love – whether it’s dance, soccer, softball, anything – just as long as it keeps you active. If you love it, you’ll dedicate yourself to it and stay involved.” – Francia Raisa
“People have to pay a lot of money to play soccer here.” – Thomas Dooley
“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.” – Roy Maurice Keane
“The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.” – William “Bill” Shankly
“When you play soccer, most of the time you got to get the ball moving, but once you get into that attacking third you gotta’ be creative, you gotta’ let your talent take over.” – Freddy Adu
“Soccer riots kill, at most, tens. Intellectuals’ ideological riots sometimes kill millions.” – John Jay McCarthy
“In his life, a man can change wives, political parties or religions but he cannot change his favourite soccer team.” – Eduardo Hughes Galeano
“Every soccer player can be on the edge, at the limit, be the bad guy. We have to get used to it. Sometimes I am one of those.” – Luis Suarez
“Soccer matches should be something special, something people eagerly look forward to, something that brightens life.” – P. J. O’Rourke
“Soccer is my first love. I’ve been playing since I was 4 years old. I traveled the world doing it. I broke my leg when I was or and acting kind of filled the void.” – Kyle Schmid
“A football team is like a beautiful woman. When you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful.” – Arsène Wenger
“Soccer was the first sport that my parents put me in” – Channing Tatum
“I like to watch soccer, no matter what teams or players are in the field.” – Andres Iniesta
“I think soccer is more respected now than it ever has been. You can see that in the numbers of young kids who are playing and the numbers of people who are coming to watch.” – Brandi Chastain
“I love soccer. That’s all I ever watch. I’ll watch it all day if I can. But I’m too bloody old to play now.” – Geezer Butler
“Over the last 10-years, you’ve seen soccer finally start to grow at a fast pace, start to get the recognition it deserves, and I think it has to do with all of the people who come to America from foreign countries.” – Claudio Reyna
“Soccer is an art more central to our culture than anything the Arts Council deigns to recognize.” – Germaine Greer
“I get asked this a lot: Why has soccer not succeeded? My answer is, soccer has succeeded. It is already the fastest growing youth participation sport in the U.S. It has already succeeded at the youth level, no question.” – Lamar Hunt
“A game of soccer induces more than enjoyment, more than entertainment.” – Rabih Alameddine
“Quite frankly, I can’t get enough of soccer. I tell my jingoistic friends in the United States there’s a reason why it is the world’s No. 1 sport. The rest of the planet can’t be wrong.” – Billy Beane
“Soccer isn’t very social. Plus, if you don’t like someone on the other team, you can do something about it.” – Mia Hamm
“The secret is to believe in your dreams; in your potential that you can be like your star, keep searching, keep believing and don’t lose faith in yourself.” – Neymar
“As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game.” – Abby Wambach
“Soccer is a great game, and the rich variety of styles and passions that come with being truly global makes the World Cup a nonpareil event in the universe of competitive sport.” – Serge Schmemann
“You don’t have to have been a horse to be a jockey.” – Arrigo Sacchi
“I love soccer; I want to be on the field.” – Brandi Chastain
“Soccer presented no challenge to me. Playing felt like breathing: I always had a magical connection to the ball.” – Pete Wentz
“Soccer is my life.” – Ethan Zohn
“If my soccer career were over, I would still come here because of the people.” – Lorrie Fair
“In Europe, it’s different – you eat soccer, you breathe soccer, you drink soccer. Everything is about soccer.” – Thomas Dooley
“The game is not over till the whistle blows. Meaning don’t give up. Never give up.” – Unknown
“I’m attracted to soccer’s capacity for beauty. When well played, the game is a dance with a ball.” – Eduardo Galeano
“I love sports, and when I was playing soccer, I was always trying to be the leader on the team and the one who takes control.” – Gregg Sulkin
“I’m not sure if I’m going to get into coaching. I’m sure I’ll stay in soccer somehow.” – Abby Wambach
“To be honest with you, I never looked at soccer as a sacrifice.” – Brandi Chastain
“I know more about soccer than about politics.” – James “Harold” Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx
“I wanted to be a soccer player; I wanted to do it at the highest level.” – Tim Howard
“The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory.” – Josef “Sepp” Herberger
“Playing college soccer was going to be the top of my athletic feats. I wasn’t going to the Olympics. I was a decent player, but it’s because of hard work, not because I was Freddy Adu.” – Mark Zupan
“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.” – Phillip Abraham “Phil” Woosnam
“Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence.” – Sir Robert “Bobby” Charlton
“I suppose young people think football is glamorous – soccer – it’s big money and the stars of it, they look good and have a great big house and a huge Ferrari.” – Bryan Ferry
“I think, really, that the only way a person can open their heart to someone who is so much another is really by knowing them… whether that’s in a classroom, or a soccer team” – Elizabeth Strout
“Life is a soccer field, don’t you think?” – Shakira
Motivational Soccer Quotes
“The greatest feeling in the world is when your on that soccer field, and you know that your team is going to succeed because you look around and see your best friends playing beside you.”
“Every moment you spend not playing soccer, someone out there is getting better than you.”
“The pride you gain, is worth the pain.”
“You don’t inspire your teammates by showing them how amazing you are. You inspire them by showing them how amazing they are” – Robyn Benincasa
“Soccer isn’t something that you can fake. It’s a feeling, a passion, a lifestyle. If you don’t live, eat, sleep, and breath soccer, then you are not a true soccer player, you just wear the jersey.”
“If you ask why I play soccer, I ask you why do you breathe.”
“Soccer is life. I was born to play soccer and I will die playing soccer, that is why I need to live it out!”
“Play with your heart not just your feet”
“A great soccer player is never content with their performance.”
“I don’t play soccer because it’s fun, I play it because of the passion for the game, because without it there is nothing and it is like a headache when you can’t play. Soccer isn’t just my sport it is my way of life and my passion!”
“Good players practice until they get it right. But great players practice until they never get it wrong”
“Soccer is more than a ball and some goals. Soccer is the reason I wake up everyday and breath.”
“In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.” – Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre
Funny Soccer Quotes
“If you want to see me, you must be quick. If you want to catch me, you must be fast. If you want to beat me, you must be kidding.”
“My boyfriend told me to choose between him and soccer… I’m really gonna miss him”
“Give a man a soccer ball, he plays for a moment. Teach a man to play soccer, he plays for a life time.”
“If you eat caviar every day it’s difficult to return to sausages.” – Arsene Wenger after the Arsenal fans booed the team following a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough (November 1998).
“What Carew does with a football, I can do with an orange.” – Answering to criticism from John Carew that Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s moves are pointless (April 2002).
“Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence.” – Bobby Charlton replied when soccer players were referred to as slaves.
“We lost because we didn’t win.” – Ronaldo on Brazil’s 3-0 defeat to France in the World Cup final.
“We didn’t underestimate them. They were just a lot better than we thought.” – Bobby Robson after playing Cameroon at the World Cup.
Xavi Quotes
“I spend the entire 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 the space is.” – Xavi
“There are two types of football – there’s physical football and football talent.” – Xavi
“You pressure, you want possession, you want to attack. Some teams can’t or don’t pass the ball. What are you playing for? What’s the point? That’s not football. Combine, pass, play. That’s football – for me, at least.” – Xavi
“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.” – Xavi
Thierry Henry Quotes
“That’s the way I’ve been educated: I always think about what I missed and the things that you did, you did them, so you don’t have to think about them any more.” – Thierry Henry
“My dad always taught me to never be satisfied: to want more and know that what is done is done. That was his way of seeing the game.” – Thierry Henry
“I always think about what I missed, and I think that was my driving force – never be satisfied with what I’ve done.” – Thierry Henry
“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
Bill Shankly Quotes
“A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.” – Bill Shankly
“Aim for the sky and you’ll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you’ll stay on the floor.” – Bill Shankly
“Pressure is working down the pit. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That’s the reward.” – Bill Shankly
“Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.” – Bill Shankly
“Some people think football (soccer) is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.” – Bill Shankly
“If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.” – Bill Shankly
“A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing.” – Bill Shankly
“Football (soccer) is a matter of life and death, except more important.” – Bill Shankly
“If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.” – Bill Shankly
Christine Sinclair Quotes
“I think the thing that has sort of always separated me, even from when I was younger, is my ability to score goals.” – Christine Sinclair
“I have a Pomeranian dog named Nutmeg – a combination of the soccer move and the colour. It’s perfect.” – Christine Sinclair
“I think a lot of people thought women’s soccer had arrived and it was here to stay and it was going to be huge, but that wasn’t realistic. It has progressed slowly.” – Christine Sinclair
“When I was growing up, you didn’t know there was a women’s national team. Now girls grow up dreaming of playing for Canada.” – Christine Sinclair
Soccer Quotes by Lionel Messi
“What I do is play soccer, which is what I like.” – Lionel Messi
“Whether it’s a friendly match, or for points, or a final, or any game – I play the same. I’m always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself, for the fans, and to try and win.” – Lionel Messi
“The day you think there is no improvements to be made is a sad one for any soccer player.” – Lionel Messi
“I have many years to get better and better, and that has to be my ambition. The day you think there is no improvements to be made is a sad one for any player.” – Lionel Messi
“I’m lucky to be part of a team who help to make me look good, and they deserve as much of the credit for my success as I do for the hard work we have all put in on the training ground.” – Lionel Messi
“In football as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigour and precision.” – Lionel Messi
Soccer Quotes by Diego Maradona
“When you win, you don’t get carried away. But if you go step by step, with confidence, you can go far.” – Diego Maradona
“There are hundreds of Beckhams playing football (referring to soccer) all over the world.” – Diego Maradona
“I have top players and they are all ready to put on the jersey and work on the pitch and that makes you happy and then you have peace of mind.” – Diego Maradona
“To see the ball, to run after it, makes me the happiest man in the world.” – Diego Maradona
“When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.” – Diego Maradona
Soccer Quotes by Cristiano Ronaldo
“I have my flaws too, but I am a professional who doesn’t like to miss or lose.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“One rule that will work if it is used everywhere, is that when you have a free-kick, the referee puts the mark on the floor to make sure the defenders keep their distance.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“I want to consistently play well and win titles. I’m only at the beginning.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“Talent without working hard is nothing.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“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
“I’m living a dream I never want to wake up from.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“Winning – that’s the most important to me. It’s as simple as that.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“Every season is a new challenge to me, and I always set out to improve in terms of games, goals, assists.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“I think sometimes the best training is to rest.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“In football, I don’t have a lot of friends. The people who I really trust, there are not many… Most of the time, I’m alone.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
“Without football (soccer), my life is worth nothing.” – Cristiano Ronaldo
Soccer Quotes by Pelé
“I am constantly being asked about individuals. The only way to win is as a team. Football is not about one or two or three star players.” – Pelé
“I always had a philosophy which I got from my father. He used to say, ‘Listen. God gave to you the gift to play football. This is your gift from God. If you take care of your health, if you are in good shape all the time, with your gift from God no one will stop you, but you must be prepared.” – Pelé
“Of course, my father was a soccer player. He used to play very good. Then, when I was young, eight or nine years old, ten years old, I just want to be like my father.” – Pelé
“I always think that I would have become an actor if I hadn’t been a soccer player.” – Pelé
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pelé
“A penalty is a cowardly way to score.” – Pelé
“If I pass away one day, I am happy because I tried to do my best. My sport allowed me to do so much because it’s the biggest sport in the world.” – Pelé
“At I already had responsibility because I took care of my family, but in the football I was young; I wasn’t experienced or the captain – I was just in the team.” – Pelé
“Lionel Messi is a wonderful player. Very skillful. Highly intelligent. He is not good in the air.” – Pelé
“Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.” – Pelé
“You must respect people and work hard to be in shape. And I used to train very hard. When the others players went to the beach after training, I was there kicking the ball.” – Pelé
“Everything is practice.” – Pelé
“All my life I thank God. My family was very religious.” – Pelé
“Sport is something that is very inspirational for young people.” – Pelé
“A lot of people, when a guy scores a lot of goals, think, ‘He’s a great player’, because a goal is very important, but a great player is a player who can do everything on the field. He can do assists, encourage his colleagues, give them confidence to go forward. It is someone who, when a team does not do well, becomes one of the leaders.” – Pelé
Quotes by Zinedine Zidane
“We must not let ourselves get driven off course, no matter what happens we must stick to our natural game.” – Zinedine Zidane
“Football boots are very technical and have lots of specific requirements.” – Zinedine Zidane
“I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.” – Zinedine Zidane
“I have a need to play intensely every day, to fight every match hard.” – Zinedine Zidane
“When your own fans whistle and jeer, then you have a big problem.” – Zinedine Zidane
“The door can never be closed for good to any player.” – Zinedine Zidane
Quotes by Johan Cruyff
“You have got to shoot, otherwise you can’t score.” – Johan Cruyff
“I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.” – Johan Cruyff
“Players that aren’t true leaders but try to be, always bash other players after a mistake. True leaders on the pitch already assume others will make mistakes.” – Johan Cruyff
“To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent.” – Johan Cruyff
“Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football, and nobody will convince me otherwise.” – Johan Cruyff
“After you’ve won something, you’re no longer percent, but percent. It’s like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there’s a little less gas inside.” – Johan Cruyff
“Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.” – Johan Cruyff
“Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.” – Johan Cruyff
“Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster.” – Johan Cruyff
“There is only one ball, so you need to have it.” – Johan Cruyff
“Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.” – Johan Cruyff
“There are very few players who know what to do when they’re not marked. So sometimes you tell a player: that attacker is very good, but don’t mark him.” – Johan Cruyff
“Without the ball, you can’t win.” – Johan Cruyff
“Technique is not being able to juggle a ball times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.” – Johan Cruyff
“Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with strong 1’s.” – Johan Cruyff
Soccer Quotes by Ronaldinho
“It is not just about the money, it is about what you achieve on the pitch.” – Ronaldinho
“If you’re playing for five hours you don’t want to score goals all the time and I loved dribbling. I could score a goal, but I preferred to dribble.” – Ronaldinho
“I come from a family where soccer has always been very present. My uncles, my father and my brother were all players.” – Ronaldinho
“My only concern is playing. Everything else, my family looks after. In our house, everyone has a job, and my job in our house is to play soccer.” – Ronaldinho
“For me soccer provides so many emotions, a different feeling every day.” – Ronaldinho
“Football is about joy. It’s about dribbling. I favour every idea that makes the game beautiful. Every good idea has to last.” – Ronaldinho
“My heroes were always soccer players.” – Ronaldinho
“My game is based on improvisation. Often, a forward does not have the time to think too much. You have a second, rarely more, to decide whether to dribble, shoot or pass to the right or left. It is instinct that gives the orders.” – Ronaldinho
David Beckham Soccer Quotes
“We stay as a team. I might be England captain, but that doesn’t mean I get treated differently.” – David Beckham
“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
“As a footballer, you always want to test yourself against the best.” – David Beckham
“My private life is perfect. If your private life and your life outside football is good, then it is good on the field for you.” – David Beckham
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” – David Beckham
“I love scoring goals for England and playing for England. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t retire – I love playing for my country.” – David Beckham
“I’m a very stubborn person. I think it has helped me over my career. I’m sure it has hindered me at times as well, but not too many times. I know that if I set my mind to do something, even if people are saying I can’t do it, I will achieve it.” – David Beckham
“I just want people to see me as a hard-working footballer and someone who is passionate about the game.” – David Beckham
“Soccer is a magical game.” – David Beckham
Wayne Rooney Quotes
“I just hate losing and that gives you an extra determination to work harder.” – Wayne Rooney
“There are many ways to grow football-wise. You go slow or are pushed to go faster, otherwise you get left behind. For me, there would be trouble in stopping learning.” – Wayne Rooney
“I love football so when I finish playing I would like to still be involved in it somehow and a manager would be my first choice.” – Wayne Rooney
“I’ve trained all my life. I’ve always been one who enjoys training so it’s not something that I think I can just stop doing. It might not be as regular but I want to keep training.” – Wayne Rooney
“I love football, I’ve never really taken an interest in anything else.” – Wayne Rooney
“As you get older you play in more important games and that is when you start thinking about what will happen if you win or lose.” – Wayne Rooney
“I love football, football is my life.” – Wayne Rooney
“I play the game as honestly as I can. If the referee gives a penalty there is nothing you can do.” – Wayne Rooney
“Football is made up of all kinds of conflict. In a dressing room, between players, between us and the manager, between us and loads of people who don’t seem to matter. It’s constant and harsh sometimes.” – Wayne Rooney
“If you don’t score, and you have chances, you are disappointed.” – Wayne Rooney
“You just want to keep playing consistently now and keep working hard and I’m sure the goals will come.” – Wayne Rooney
“I train as hard as I can every time I train and I do extra training every day and I’ve done that since I was a young boy.” – Wayne Rooney
“Sometimes you have to rest in certain games, but I want to play in every game.” – Wayne Rooney
Steven Gerrard Quotes
“I was always determined to make it as a footballer, but if things hadn’t worked out, I’d have maybe followed my dad into the building industry.” – Steven Gerrard
“It’s too easy to blame other people in football.” – Steven Gerrard
“In football, the hero and legend status is given out far too easily for me.” – Steven Gerrard
“If you don’t play well, you have a bad game or a nightmare you know that the amount of coverage is worldwide.” – Steven Gerrard