200+ Football Quotes – Most Inspirational Quotes About Football
In sports, football is a game that makes people feel powerful emotions, feel like they belong together, and want to be the best. The appeal of sports goes further than just playing the game. It often leads to the best football quotes that speak to players, coaches, and fans. The path from practice to winning competitions is filled with hard work, working together, and never giving up.
People turn to these best football quotes not just for their eloquence but because they encapsulate the emotions and aspirations that football evokes. In football, every moment is a sign of how strong and determined people are. The crowd is full of excitement, and the players give their all. These best football quotes serve as reminders of iconic victories, crushing defeats, and the unbreakable bonds formed through a shared love for the game. They find their way into locker rooms, halftime speeches, and pre-match rituals, infusing players with the motivation to push harder, run faster, and reach for greatness.
This article explores the world of best football quotes, honoring the wisdom found in short phrases that capture the essence of the game.
Best Football Quotes
`I believe in Coach Louis Wong. He is so much more than just a football coach. – Stephen Covey
If what you did YESTERDAY seems big, you haven’t done anything TODAY. –Lou Holtz
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. –Lou Holtz
Show me
a good and gracious loser
and I’ll show you
a failure. – Knute Rockne
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
I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else. – Abby Wambach
A good football coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog, and a great quarterback – but not necessarily in that order. – Bud Grant
Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, the Germans win – Gary Lineker
Both sides have scored a couple of goals, and both sides have conceded a couple of goals. – PETER WITH
People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses or the problems of modern society. – Vince Lombardi
Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence…If you’re in control, they’re in control. —Tom Landry
When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you. — Walter Payton
I feel like I’m the best, but you’re not going to get me to say that. — Jerry Rice
Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. – George Halas
To be a better football player than you’ve ever been, you have to do something you’ve never done. – Felicity Lucky
The technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. The technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your teammate.
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi
I learned all about life with a ball at my feet – Ronaldinho
FOOTBALL IS A GAME OF MISTAKES. WHOEVER MAKES THE FEWEST MISTAKES WINS. – JOHAN CRUYFF
Before you can win, you have to believe you are worthy. – Mike Ditka
I was in Barcelona for many years where I won a lot of things and achieved a lot of dreams. For these reasons, it holds a special place in my life. – Ronaldinho
I don’t give a toss about pressure. I spent the afternoon sleeping and playing PlayStation. Then I went out and won the World Cup.
Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits and get on with trying to win. – Messi
As a manager, you learn with your ears and not with your tongue – Terry Venables
To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms. – Tom Brady
A CHAMPION is simply someone who did NOT give up when they wanted to. –Tom Landry
In life,
as in football,
you won’t go far
unless you know
where the goalposts are. – Arnold H. Glasow
The Enemy of the best is the good. If you’re always settling with what’s good, you’ll never be the best. –
Jerry Rice
God gives gifts to everyone, some can write, some can dance. He gave me the skill to play football and I am making the most of it. –Ronaldinho
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. – Archie Griffin
Do I not like that – Graham Taylor
I’ve been consistent in patches this season. – THEO WALCOTT
The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur. – Vince Lombardi
Excuses are the tools of the incompetent. —Mike Tomlin
Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it. — Lou Holtz
If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn’t the same as the one I was wearing, I’d run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother. — Bo Jackson
Many people flounder about in life because they do not have a purpose, an objective toward which to work. – George Halas
It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference. – Bear Bryant
Someone who has juggled the ball in the air during a game, after which four defenders of the opponent get the time to run back, that’s the player people think is great. I say he has to go to a circus.
Without self-discipline, success is impossible. Period. – Lou Holtz
Without football, my life is worth nothing. – Cristiano Ronaldo
IF FOOTBALL HAS TAUGHT ME ANYTHING IT IS THAT YOU CAN OVERCOME ANYTHING IF, AND ONLY IF, YOU LOVE SOMETHING ENOUGH. – LIONEL MESSI
Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it. – Lou Holtz
I would like my Dad to be alive so he could see what I am. – Ronaldinho
This pretty much sums the mentality of Pirlo up and that he never seemed pressure in any reputable match and saw the PlayStation as a great way to relax prior to games.
Being named among the best at something is special and beautiful. But if there are no titles, nothing is won.
If you’re a goalkeeper, it doesn’t matter what you save the ball with; if you keep it out, it’s not a goal. – Mark Lawrenson
You’re not going to see my sense of humor on the football field. That’s not a place for me to joke around. – Tom Brady
The man who complains about the way the ball BOUNCES is likely the one who DROPPED it. – Lou Holtz
You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional. –Joe Paterno
You can learn a line
from a win
and a book
from a defeat. – Paul Brown
We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible. –
Vince Lombardi
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. – Pele
There are only three things you should ever do about a mistake: Admit it, learn from it, don’t repeat it. — Bear Bryant
I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary. – Lou Holtz
When seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. – Eric Cantona
In the end, Rosicky initially did well. – ANDY TOWNSEND
Football’s not just about scoring goals – it’s about winning. – Alan Shearer
If you want to win, do the ordinary things better than anyone else does them day in and day out. —Chuck Noll
Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. — Tom Landry
Football is football and talent is talent. But the mindset of your team makes all the difference. — Robert Griffin III
Don’t do anything in practice that you wouldn’t do in the game. – George Halas
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
Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s.
Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it’s so incredible, it’s unbelievable. – Tom Landry
There is no pressure when you are making a dream come true. – Neymar
Most football teams are temperamental. That’s 90% temper and 10% mental. – Doug Plank
I have never imagined doing anything other than football, but now, thinking about it coldly, if I hadn’t been a footballer, I would have been a musician. – Ronaldinho
Hodgson mispronounced my name. He called me “Pirla” (a term used in Milan dialect which roughly translates as “dickhead”), perhaps understanding my true nature more than the other managers.
You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.
Football is simple. You are in time or too late. When you are too late, you should start sooner. – Johan Cruyff
I didn’t start playing football a lot until I was in high school. I played it in seventh and eighth grade, but I didn’t play Pop Warner or anything. – Patrick Mahomes
Losing doesn’t make me want to quit, it makes me want to FIGHT that much HARDER. —Bear Bryant
Football is like life. It requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority. –Vince Lombardi
No one ever drowned in sweat. –
Lou Holtz
Everything is practice. –Pele
You have to play this game like somebody just hit your mother with a two-by-four. – Dan Birdwell
You can’t win anything with kids. – Alan Hansen
He’s got a lot of self-belief in himself. – GRAHAM BEECROFT
Show class, have pride and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself. – Bear Bryant
Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. — Vince Lombardi
My thing is, and I’ve always been this way — to get to know as many people as I possibly can on a personal level, so that way, when you get on the football field, you’ve got your buddy right beside you, and you’re ready to go. — Russell Wilson
Find out what the other team wants to do. Then take it away from them.
Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision.
In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it. – Gale Sayers
I once cried because I had no shoes to play football with my friends but one day I saw a man who had no feet, and I realized how rich I am. – Zinedine Zidane
THE REASON WOMEN DON’T PLAY FOOTBALL IS BECAUSE 11 OF THEM WOULD NEVER WEAR THE SAME OUTFIT IN PUBLIC. – PHYLLIS DILLER
Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up. – Knute Rockne
I am very pleased it has all been resolved. I wanted to stay at the club and they wanted me too, there was never a problem. There were only a few small matters to sort out. – Ronaldinho
I thought about quitting because, after Istanbul, nothing made sense anymore. The 2005 Champions League final simply suffocated me.
Everything that’s happened to me in my career has been special, even the tough times because they leave marks on you that shape your life.
There are no good saves, there are only weak shots. – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
It’s pretty easy for me to say that the most important thing in my life is my relationship with Jesus Christ, followed by my relationship with the family. And football’s later on down the line. – Tim Tebow
If it doesn’t matter who WINS or loses, then why do they keep SCORE. –Vince Lombardi
Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. –Mike Ditka
Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t. –
Jerry Rice
Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable! – Cristiano Ronaldo
Our goal was to win, to win a Super Bowl, but also to win in the right way, to be role models to our community, to represent Indianapolis, the state of Indiana, and the National Football League. – Tony Dung
Why do you want Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood? – Jack Walker
They were numerically outnumbered. – GARRY BIRTLES
Winners never quit and quitters never win. – Vince Lombardi
Try not to do too many things at once. Know what you want, the number one thing today and tomorrow. Persevere and get it done. — George Allen
Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling. — Bill Belichick
No one has ever drowned in sweat. — Lou Holtz
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
The level of football success that you can conceive and believe, you can achieve. – Felicity Luckey
Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.
Success is not forever, and failure isn’t fatal. – Don Shula
If football was a drug, I would have died from an overdose. – Fernando Torres
IT IS THE SAME FOR ANY FOOTBALL PLAYER. HOW MANY GAMES CAN PLAYERS LOOK BACK AND REMEMBER CLEARLY
For me, winning isn’t something that happens suddenly on the field when the whistle blows and the crowd’s roar. Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream. – Emmitt Smith
Ashley Cole is a fantastic defender. I have seen him keep the best players in the world quiet. – Ronaldinho
After the wheel, the PlayStation is the best invention of all time. And ever since it’s existed, I’ve been Barcelona, apart from a brief spell way back at the start when I’d go Milan. I can’t say with any certainty how many virtual matches I’ve played over the last few years but, roughly speaking, it must be at least four times the number of real ones.
I don’t need the best hairstyle or the best body. Just give me a ball at my feet and I’ll show you what I can do.
If we start counting our chickens before they hatch, they won’t lay any eggs in the basket. – Sir Bobby Robson
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, 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. – Lionel Messi
The harder you WORK, the harder it is to SURRENDER. –Marv Levy
Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble. –John Madden
Everyone has the fire, but the champions know when to ignite the spark. –
Amit Ray
There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits. –Unknown
Football is an honest game. It’s true to life. It’s a game about sharing. Football is a team game. So is life. – Joe Namath
Not to win is guttering. – MARK NOBLE
Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. – Vince Lombardi
You fail all the time, but you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else. —Bum Phillips
Winning is what happens when commitment, desire, talent, preparation, hard work and leadership all come together. — Tom Coughlin
The pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. — Peyton Manning
Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes teamwork, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole. – John F. Kennedy
I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.
I expect to win out there. – Drew Brees
I think I’m like wine. The older I get, the better I get. – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
FOOTBALL IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. – TOM BRADY
Henry is a beautiful player and has got a complete technique, I adore watching him. I respect him very much as a man and as a footballer. He reminds me of myself.
You could see the red mist coming down and he just wasn’t able to hide it. We could tell what was coming and so we’d commandeer all the knives. Gattuso would grab a fork and try to stick it in us. Some of us ended up missing games because of one of Rino’s fork attacks, even if the official explanation from the club was one of muscle fatigue.
Sometimes you have to accept you can’t win all the time.
The missing of chances is one of the mysteries of life. – Sir Alf Ramsey
The first ninety minutes of a football match are the most important. – BOBBY ROBSON
The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer. – John Madden
You cannot make progress with excuses.
Cam Newton
I don’t expect to WIN enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to WIN enough to warrant an investigation. -Bob Devaney
I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I’m not enjoying it, I will leave football.
Take someone like Antonio Cassano. He says he’s slept with 700 women in his time, but he doesn’t get picked for Italy any more. Deep down, can he really be happy? I certainly wouldn’t be.
We are not a team because we work together. We are a team because we respect, trust, and care for each other.
It was lovely to receive the affection from some of the supporters of our biggest rival, … It doesn’t happen to you very often in your career.
IF I HAVE TO MAKE A TACKLE THEN I HAVE ALREADY MADE A MISTAKE. – PAOLO MALDINI
When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success. – Diego Maradona
What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.
Losers assemble in small groups & complain, winners, assemble as a team & find ways to win.
If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it. — Ronnie Lott
He’s put on weight and I’ve lost it, and vice versa. – RONNIE WHELAN
Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a person as if he were where he could be and should be, and he will become what he could be and should be. – Jimmy Johnson
Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one. – Walter Payton
Today, you’ve got a DECISION to make. You’re gonna get BETTER or you’re gonna get worse, but you’re not gonna stay the same. Which will it BE? –Joe Paterno
Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, especially children.
I’m a bit of a wandering gypsy on the pitch. A midfielder continually on the lookout for an unspoiled corner where I can move freely just for a moment, without suffocating markers or randy Maltese guys sticking to me like shadows.
Don’t aspire to be the best on the team. Aspire to be the best for the team.
The toughest opponents for me are the defenders who are tough in the way they play – where you can’t see a way through.
WHEN YOU BUY ME YOU ARE BUYING A FERRARI.
I love football, football is my life – Wayne Rooney
There’s only one moment in which you can arrive on time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late.
Confidence is only born out of one thing demonstrated ability. It is not born of anything else. You cannot dream up confidence. You cannot fabricate it. You cannot wish it. You have to accomplish it. – Bill Parcells
I’ve had 14 bookings this season – 8 of which were my fault, but 7 of which were disputable. – PAUL GASCOIGNE
Confidence doesn’t come out of anywhere. It’s a result of something – hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication. – Roger Staubach
Stay focused. Your start does not determine how you’re going to finish.
Herm Edwards
There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a happy and smiling child. I always help in any way I can, even if it’s just by signing an autograph. A child’s smile is worth more than all the money in the world.
I strike dead balls all Pirlo. Each shot bears my name and they’re all my children. They look like one another without being twins, even if they do boast the same South American twins.
My heroes were always soccer players. – Ronaldinho
MAYBE THEY HATE ME BECAUSE of I’M TOO GOOD. – CRISTIANO RONALDO
Don’t dream your life, live your dream. – Mesut Ozil
Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake.
Blame no one. Expect nothing. Do something. – Bill Parcells
The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. — Vince Lombardi
Germany are a very difficult team to play…they had 11 internationals out there today. – STEVE LOMAS
Life is full of all sorts of setbacks and twists and turns and disappointments. The character of this team will be how well you will come back from this letdown, this defeat. You could still be a great team and you can still accomplish great things like football players but it’s going to take a real resolve to do it. –
Coach Ladouceur
We’ll FIGHT ’em until hell freezes over, then we’ll FIGHT ’em on the ice. –Dutch Meyer
I’m a normal person who tries to have a family life. Yes, it’s true that I’d like to go unnoticed and have a normal life without everyone watching me from time to time.
If I look in the mirror when I get up, or before going to bed at night, I see a man of average ugliness. With stubble, an unruly mane of hair, a squint nose, slightly protruding, ears and bags under my eyes. But I also see a man who’s completely happy with the figure staring back at him.
Paolo Maldini and John Terry are two of the toughest men I have met on the field. – Ronaldinho
I EAT FOOTBALL, I SLEEP FOOTBALL, I BREATHE FOOTBALL. I AM NOT MAD I AM JUST PASSIONATE. – THIERRY HENRY
As a footballer, you always want to test yourself against the best – David Beckham
When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.
The more you prepare beforehand, the more relaxed and creative and effective you’ll be when it counts. – Bill Parcells
If football taught me anything about business, it is that you win the game one play at a time. — Frank Tarkenton
Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match. – IAN WRIGHT
There is no substitute for work. – Vince Lombardi
For EVERY pass I caught in a game, I caught a THOUSAND in practice. –Don Hutson
Obviously Mateo doesn’t yet, he finds it strange when someone comes and asks for a photo or an autograph. He doesn’t understand. Thiago is starting to understand, more or less but not quite. He likes to go to the stadium and watch games, but he doesn’t fully understand. Sometimes at home he sees me and calls me Messi like the fans do, he doesn’t quite understand.
We also need Mario Balotelli. I’m not sure he really appreciates it yet, but he’s a special kind of medicine, an antidote to the potentially lethal poison of the racists you find in Italian grounds.
A lot of the moves I make originate from futsal. It’s played in a very small space, and the ball control is different in futsal. And to this day my ball control is pretty similar to a futsal player’s control.
i’m PISSED OFF FOR GREATNESS. BECAUSE IF YOU AIN’T PISSED OFF FOR GREATNESS, THAT MEANS YOU’RE OK WITH BEING MEDIOCRE. – RAY LEWIS
That’s the mentality-don’t just play it, win it – Luis Suarez
After you’ve won something, you’re no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It’s like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterward, there’s a little less gas inside.
You can easily separate ‘team guys’ from ‘me guys’ by how they accept coaching. The guys that accept it are about winning.
All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed. – MITCHELL THOMAS
I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved. –
Urban Meyer
The ONLY discipline that lasts, is SELF-discipline —Bum Phillips
It’s a very big change in every respect. You start to see different things and in a different way. The truth is that being a father is the most beautiful thing that’s happened to me in all my life. We have two children and are waiting for another; the first was an incredible feeling, the second the same and so will be the third.
To most people’s minds, the reason we lost on penalties was Jerzy Dudek – that jackass of a dancer who took the mickey out of us by swaying about on his line and then rubbed salt into the wound by saving our spot-kicks.
Football is about joy. It’s about dribbling. I favor every idea that makes the game beautiful. Every good idea has to last.
EVERYTHING I HAVE ACHIEVED IN FOOTBALL IS DUE TO PLAYING FOOTBALL IN THE STREETS WITH MY FRIENDS. – ZINEDINE ZIDANE
There is no rule that says a footballer needs to be this high and this wide. – Andes Iniesta
I’m not religious. In Spain, all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works all matches must, therefore, end in a draw.
What sets disciplined people apart? – The capacity to get past distractions. Focus on the task at hand.
One accusation you can’t throw at me is that I’ve always done my best. – ALAN SHEARER
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them. – Kirk Mango
How do you WIN? By getting average players to play good and good players to play great. That’s how you WIN. -Bum Phillips
I don’t need any change. I’m at the best team in the world. My challenges are renewed year after year. I do not need to change teams or leagues to set new goals. I am at home and I do not need to change.
I helped Messi and I know he will do the same with Neymar. – Ronaldinho
ANYONE WHO THINKS SUNSHINE IS HAPPINESS, HAS NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL IN THE RAIN.
Every time I went away I was deceiving my mum. I’d tell her I was going to school but I’d be out on the street playing football. I always had a ball on my feet. – Ronaldo
We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time.
The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability. – Bill Parcells
I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel. – STUART PEARCE
The minute you hesitate you are in trouble. – Steve Waugh
Work isn’t WORK unless you would rather be DOING something else. –DON SHULA
I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year, it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.
I am what I am thanks to my mother, my father, my brother, my sister… because they have given me everything. The education I have is thanks to them. – Ronaldinho
I AM CONSTANTLY BEING ASKED ABOUT INDIVIDUALS. THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS AS A TEAM. FOOTBALL IS NOT ABOUT ONE OR TWO OR TWO OR THREE STAR PLAYERS
I want to get back into football, it is my life. – CLAUDIO RANIERI
Surviving the first round is never my aim. Ideally, I’d be in one group with Brazil, Argentina, and Germany. Then I’d have lost two rivals after the first round. That’s how I think Idealistic.
Like water, many decent individuals will seek lower ground if left to their own inclinations. In most cases, you are the one who inspires and demands they go upward rather than settle for the comfort of doing what comes easily.
You appreciated your reading. Whether you’re trying to find the motivation to overcome challenges or capture the substance of football’s radiance, let these best football quotes give inspiration and fuel your desire for the wear.