The Soccer Geek

Here I have a complete list for you of the Europa League winners and UEFA Cup winners. The Europa League became the new name for the UEFA Cup in 2009/10, after a group stage was added to the tournament in 2004/5, and its first champion was Atletico Madrid who beat Fulham 2-1 in the final. The original UEFA Cup replaced the Fairs Cup in 1971/2 and its first champion was Tottenham Hotspur who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the final.

Spurs have won the cup twice overall, whilst Inter, Juventus and Liverpool share the crown for the greatest number of wins: the tally so far stands at 3. Italy is the nation whose clubs have had the most triumphs, with England, Germany and Spain coming 3 spots behind them on 6 each. The highest scoring single-leg final in the tournament’s history came in 200/01 when Liverpool defeated Alaves by 5 goals to 4, whilst 9 goals were also scored over 2 legs between Ipswich and AZ ’67 in 1980/1, and again in 1988/9 between Napoli and Stuttgart.

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UEFA Cup

1971/2: Tottenham Hotspur (beat Wolves in the final)

1972/3: Liverpool (defeat Burussia Monchengladbach)

1973/4: Feyenoord (beat Tottenham Hotspur)

1974/5: Borussia MG (beat FC Twente)

1975/6: Liverpool (beat FC Brugge)

1976/7: Juventus (defeated Athletic Bilbao)

1977/8: PSV (beat Bastia)

1978/9: Borussia MG (beat Crvena zvezda)

1979/80: Eintracht Frankfurt (beat Borussia MG)

1980/1: Ipswich Town (beat AZ ’67)

1981/2: IFK Goteborg (beat Hamburg)

1982/3: Anderlecht (defeated Benfica)

1983/4: Tottenham Hotspur (beat Anderlecht on penalties)

1984/5: Real Madrid (beat Videoton)

1985/6: Real Madrid (beat FC Koln)

1986/7: IFK Goteborg (beat Dundee United)

1987/8: Bayer Leverkusen (defeated Espanol)

1988/9: Napoli (beat VfB Stuttgart)

1989/90: Juventus (defeated Fiorentina)

1990/91: Inter (beat Roma)

1991/2: Ajax (won against Torino)

1992/3: Juventus (defeated Borussia Dortmund)

1993/4: Inter (beat Austria Salzburg)

1994/5: Parma (beat Jeventus)

1995/6: Bayern Munich (won against Bordeaux)

1996/7: Schalke 04 (beat Inter on penalties)

1997/8: Inter (beat Lazio)

1998/9: Parma (defeated Olympique Marseille)

1999/00: Galatasaray (won against Arsenal on penalties)

2000/01: Liverpool (beat Alavez)

2001/02: Feyenoord (defeated Borussia Dortmund)

2002/3: Porto (beat Celtic)

2003/4: Valencia (won against Olympique Marseille)

2004/5: CSKA Moscow (beat Sporting Lisbon)

2005/6: Sevilla (beat Middlesbrough)

2006/7: Sevilla (defeated Espanol on penalties)

2007/8: Zenit (beat Rangers)

2008/9: Shakhtar Donetsk (beat Werder Bremen)

EUROPA LEAGUE

2009/10: Atletico Madrid (defeated Fulham)

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post and found all the details you wanted. I had considered just writing a list of Europa League winners alone, but I don’t think that would have lasted very long! So I decided to review all the UEFA Cup winners since the tournament began, and was sad to be reminded that my team Arsenal only made the final once, and lost to Galatasaray, 4-1 on penalties! How has your club done in this competition over the years?

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

P.S. Why not take a look at my list of European Cup Winners Cup winners too?

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Here’s a comprehensive list for all you information hunters out there: the full history of European Cup Winners Cup winners. The competition began in 1960 and was contested by all the domestic cup winners of the UEFA soccer nations or, if that club had already qualified for Europe, by the runner up in the domestic cups. Once it ended in 1999, domestic cup winners would compete in the UEFA Cup instead.

Barcelona won the tournament the greatest number of times, totalling 4 victories. Anderlecht, Milan, Dynamo Kiev and Chelse each triumphed twice, whilst my team Arsenal won it just the once in 1993/4. England was the country with the greatest number of winners (8 in all), followed by Spain and Italy at 7 times each. Spain reached the final the most often, closely backed up by England – it was 14 and 13 finals respectively. Why not count how may times your team and country have been victorious?

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1960/1: Fiorentina (beat Rangers)

1961/2: Atletico Madrid (beat Fiorentina)

1962/3: Tottenham Hotspur (beat Atletico Madrid)

1963/4: Sporting Lisbon (beat MTK Budapest)

1964/5: West Ham (beat 1860 Munich)

1965/6: Borussia Dortmund (beat Liverpool)

1966/7: Bayern Munich (beat Rangers)

1967/8: Milan (beat Hamburg)

1968/9: Slovan Bratislava (beat Barcelona)

1969/70: Manchester City (beat Gornik Zabrze)

1970/1: Chelsea (beat Real Madrid)

1971/2: Rangers (beat Dynamo Moscow)

1972/3: Milan (beat Leeds United)

1973/4: FC Magdeburg (beat Milan)

1974/5: Dynamo Kiev (beat Ferencvaros)

1975/6: Anderlecht (beat West Ham)

1976/7: Hamburg (beat Anderlecht)

1977/8: Anderlecht (beat Austria Wien)

1978/9: Barcelona (beat Fortuna Dusseldorff)

1979/80: Valencia (beat Arsenal ON PENALTIES!)

1980/81: Dynamo Tbilisi (beat Carl Zeiss Jena)

1981/2: Barcelona (beat Standard Liege)

1982/3: Aberdeen (beat Real Madrid)

1983/4: Juventus (beat Porto)

1984/5: Everton (beat Rapid Wien)

1985/6: Dynamo Kiev (beat Atletico Madrid)

1986/7: Ajax (best Lokomotive Leipzig)

1987/8: KV Mechelen (beat Ajax)

1988/9: Barcelona (beat Sampdoria)

1989/90: Sampdoria (beat Anderlecht)

1990/91: Manchester United (beat Barcelona)

1991/2: Werder Bremen (beat Monaco)

1992/3: Parma (beat Antwerp)

1993/4: Arsenal (beat Parma!!!)

1994/5: Real Zaragoza (beat Arsenal)

1995/6: Paris St. German (beat Rapid Wien)

1996/7: Barcelona (beat Paris St. German)

1997/8: Chelsea (beat VfB Stuttgart)

1998/9: Lazio (beat Mallorca)

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Thanks for reading through this information-sheet on the European Cup Winners Cup winners. I hope you found the pieces of info you were after. While you’re here, why not take a look around some of my other tournament- information articles such as a list of all the Europa League and UEFA Cup winners ? Meanwhile, feel free to post any thoughts in the comments section below…

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

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Hi there,

Welcome to The World Cup Soccer Quiz 2010. Below are questions about various aspects of past and present world cups, so you can really test your soccer knowledge. There are some very tricky ones thrown in, but the multiple choice ensures you have at least a 25% chance of getting each question right. So here goes, enjoy!

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

 [QUIZZIN 1]

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If you are looking to set up your own soccer website and want to find the best soccer website templates around, then look no further. Here I’ve compiled a list of some of the best and most respected designs available for your blog or site. In this overview I have included some free soccer-specific templates for you to choose from, but on the whole I would advise that you go with a different option.

Indeed it is actually better to avoid the free soccer-styled templates and go for a premium theme instead. This is mainly because the structure of the premium themes is better for SEO purposes (search engine optimisation) and will allow greater flexibility and easier customisation of your site. These premium themes may not be specific for soccer, but you can adapt them as you wish and, after all, you can give them the right look with colours, logos and photos.

This  blog is built with WooThames- a fantastic option- a premium template company which even gives some quality themes away for free. As you can see I have still been able to make this ‘general design’ into a soccer site with the use of the right language, banners, photos, headlines and logos. Having a soccer-specific design from the off is not the be all and end all, then, as it is more important to get a quality site which you can then modify.

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Free Soccer Themes

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Soccer League 1.0 (WP Themes Free)

Features: Ready-made soccer design. 3 columns.

Price: Free

Compatible with: WordPress

My Rating: * * *

Visit Soccer League 1.0

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Soccer Theme

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Features: Ready-made soccer design. Green colouring.

Price: Free

Compatible with: WordPress

My Rating: * * *

Visit Soccer Theme

Twordder

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Features: Twordder is anything you want it to be as you can easily fill-in the background of the site with soccer-related pictures. The overall theme is in the style of soccer: this site even use to use it!

Price: Free

Compatible with: WordPress

My Rating: * * * *

Visit Twordder

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Premium Soccer Website Templates ( * * * )

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Brobst Systems

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Features: Ready-made soccer designs. Flash templates and flash intro’s. Customize with HTML editors. Free samples available.

Price: $62-65

Compatible with: Customize templates with DreamWeaver and FrontPage.

My Rating: * * *

Visit Brobst Systems

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i3d Themes

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Features: Read-made soccer designs.

Price: $69-$188

Compatible with: DreamWeaver

My Rating: * * *

Visit i3d Themes

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Easy Templates

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Features: Ready-made soccer design. Flash websites – no knowledge needed

Price: $60 + (approx)

Compatible with:

My Rating: * * *

Visit Easy Templates

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Premium ‘General’ Themes ( * * * * )

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WooThemes

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Features: Tools to upload logos, manage adverts, change colours and display posts automatically. Easy integration of Twitter and Facebook with your website. Very attractive design and SEO function.

Price: $40-$150 (free themes available too)

Used by: Michael Dunlop (6 figure blogger at IncomeDiary), Ben Lang (Young-Entrepreneurs Blog) and The Soccer Geek (err…Me!)

Compatible with: WordPress, Drupal, Expression Engine

My Rating: * * * * *

Visit Woo Themes

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Thesis (DIY Themes)

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Features: Flexible design, SEO framework, fast loading times

Price: $87-164

Used by: Lisa Irby (2CreateaWebsite), Brian Clark (Copy Blogger), Chris Brogan

Compatible with: WordPress

My Rating: * * * *

Visit DIY Themes

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Affiliate Theme (Unique Blog Designs)

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Features: Specifically designed for affiliate marketers. Control colours, fonts, layouts, buttons and more. Pre-made backgrounds for the templates.

Price: $97-$297

Approved by: Yaro Starak (Entrepreneurs-Journey), John Reese (Income.com)

Compatible with: WordPress

My Rating: * * * *

Visit Affiliate Theme

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Site Built It!

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Features: This is NOT just for website templates. SBI! includes hosting, research tools and email marketing, in addition to the actual design of your website. You can use their ready-built templates and customize them to make a clear and information content site of your own

Price: $299 per year (all services included)

Used by: Lisa Irby (Flat Stomach Exercises), Nori Evoy (Anguilla Beaches)

Compatible with: SBI! (DreamWeaver software can be used for the designs too)

My Rating: * * * *

Visit Site Build It!

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 Well there you have my pick of free and premium soccer website templates. As has been suggested already, I would advise going for the premium ‘general’ themes (some free versions of these are available) as these have extra benefits and you can adapt them to your soccer style anyway.

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

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Unfortunately Italy crashed out at the group stages of this world cup, so to remember their better efforts in previous years here’s a list of famous Italian soccer players. Italy have already won the world cup four times- in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006. Cleary they could not regain their title in 2010, but perhaps they’ll regain it next time. So here’s a quick summary of some of their best and most well known players from past and present. This list is not intended to be totally comprehensive, but should give a useful introduction to some of the ‘greats’.

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Dino Zoff

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Position: Goalkeeper

Detail: He made 143 appearances for Napoli and 330 for Juventus, in addition to playing for Udinese and Mantova.

Achievements: World Cup winning captain in 1982. For Juventus he won 6 league titles and the UEFA Cup. From September 1973 until June 1974, for a run of 12 matches and 1143 minutes of soccer, he did not concede a single international goal.

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Gianluigi Buffon

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Position: Goalkeeper

Details: He has first played for Parma, before moving to Juventus for a record goalie transfer fee of 32 million euros.

Achievements: He was named in Pele’s top 125 players of all time list. He was ranked as the best goalkeeper and most valuable player at the 2003 UEFA European Football Awards. He helped Italy win the 2006 world cup and was named the tournament’s best keeper.

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Francesco Toldo

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Position: Goalkeeper

Detail: He has played for Trento, Fiorentina, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Until the age of 13 he played at right back, before switching to keeper!

Achievements: He helped Italy to 2nd place in Euro 2000. He also was included in the squads for the 1996 Euro Championships, the 1998 World Cup, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

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Franco Baresi

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Position: Sweeper/Central Defender

Detail: Known for his tough tackling, he played for AC Milan for 20 years and his number 6 shirt was retired in his honour.

Achievements: He was the captain for Italy at the 1994 World Cup.

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Gaetano Scirea

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Position: Sweeper/Central Defender

Detail: He is a Juventus legend. Dino Zoff called him “an extraordinary man and footballer. An example of style and class both on the field and off it”.

Achievements: He won 2 Italian Cups, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 1 European Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 1 InterContinental Cup and 1 World Cup.

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Alessandro Nesta

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Position: Central Defender

Detail: He is world famous for his power and confidence as one of the great centre-backs for Italy and AC Milan.

Achievements: He won the 2006 World Cup with Italy and has won many other major honours, trophies and awards.

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Paolo Maldini

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Position: Defender

Detail: He made his debut for AC Milan in 1985.

Achievements: With AC Milan he won various competitions and his honours include 7 league titles, 1 Italian Cup and 5 League SuperCups amongst others.

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Fabio Cannavaro

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Position: Defender

Detail: He has played for Napoli, Parma, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.

Achievements: He won the 2006 World Cup with Italy, whilst also being awarded the prestigious Golden Ball in that tournament. He has been ranked the best defender in the Italian league.

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Giacinto Facchetti

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Position: Full back

Detail: He played for 476 times for Inter and scord 78 goals. He captained Italy 70 times out of 94 appearences. He could run 100m in 11 seconds despite weighing-in at 85kg.

Achievements: He won 2 European Cups with Inter in 1964 and 1965, in addition to winning 4 league titles. He also won the European Championship in 1968.

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Gianni Rivera

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Position: Midfielder

Detail: He played for Allesandria and AC Milan, appearing 658 times for the latter and scoring 164 goals.

Achievements: With AC Milan he won 3 League Titles, 2 Champions League cups, 4 Italian Cups and 1 European/South American Cup. In 1969 he became the first Italian to win the Golden Ball.

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Valentino Mazzola

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Position: Midfielder

Detail: He moved from Venezia to Torino in a transfer worth 200,000 lira plus 2 players. He captained the Grande Torino side and in 1949 tragically died with the team in an air disaster.

Achievements: He scored on his debut for the national side in 1942. He scored 118 times in 195 appearances for Torino over 7 years. He scored 4 goals in 12 matches for Italy.

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Andrea Pirlo

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Position: Midfielder

Detail: He has played for Brescia, Inter, Reggina and AC Milan

Achievements: He was a World Cup winner in 2006, winning the Bronze Ball and making the team of the tournament. He made the FIFPro World XI in that year and was man of the match in the World Cup final.

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Roberto Baggio

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Position: Striker/Winger

Detail: He played for Vicenza and Fiorentina, before moving to Juventus in 1990 for a record deal of $20 million. He then played for AC Milan, Bologna, Inter Milan and Brescia.

Achievements: He won the UEFA Cup in 1993. He has also been named the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Footballer of the Year.

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Paolo Rossi

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Position: Striker

Detail: He was 1.74m and 66kg, so he was not a physical presence. Nevertheless this was compensated for by his natural goalscoring ability and his being in the right place at the right time.

Achievements: He scored 6 goals to help Italy win the World Cup in 1982. In that tournament he won the Golden Boot (top scorer) and the Golden Ball (best player). In the same year, he won both the World and European Footballer of the Year awards.

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Luigi ‘Gigi’ Riva

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Position: Striker

Detail: He was known for his pace and footballing intelligence, as well as his speedy reactions and ability in the air. His powerful shots earned him the name ‘Rombo di Tuono’, meaning ‘Sound of Thunder’.

Achievements: 1965-1974 he scored 35 goals in 42 matches for Italy and this made him their highest all time goal scorer.

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Giuseppe Meazza

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Position: Striker

Detail: He played for Inter. The San Siro is now officially named after him

Achievements: He won the World Cup with Italy in 1934 and 1938. He scored 243 goals in 361 games for Inter. He scored a record 31 goals in his debut season in Serie A.

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Francesco Totti

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Position: Striker

Detail: He made his national debut in 1998, but retired from international soccer in July, 2007.

Achievements: He was man of the match in the final of Euro 2000. He was selected for the All-Star Team of the 2006 World Cup. In 2006-2007 he won the golden boot for the most club goals in Europe.

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Alessandro Del Piero

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Position: Striker

Detail: He played at Padova 1991-1993 and has spent the rest of his career at Juventus

Achievements: Del Piero is the top goal scorer of all time for Juventus, and was the top goal scorer in the Champions’ League in 95/96 and 97/98. He won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 and, at club level, has won the Champions League, 5 Italian Championships, 4 Italian Super Cups and more.

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So there are some of the most famous Italian soccer players of all time. As was suggested at the beginning, however, this is not a totally comprehensive list but a useful introduction to a few stars. If you know of many other legendary Italian players then why not compile your own list in the comments section below?

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

PS: Who is your favourite Italian soccer player of all time?

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It has been reported that numerous soccer stars at the South Africa World Cup 2010 have been made to sacrifice their freedom of speech for the greater good of their national teams.

England boss Fabio Capello, together with German coach Joachim Loew, Brazilian manager Carlos Dunga, and Mexico chief Javier Aguirre, have all imposed a twitter ban on their players. The Spanish team have also been blocked from social networking websites, prompting defender Carlos Puyol to respond: “We are old enough to know what to do and what not to do.”

The head coach of Chile, Marcelo Bielsa, has not only prevented their self-expression on Twitter, but also on the internet generally at night, and through the press. To top things off, there is a sex ban as well. Alcohol and sex bans are not uncommon (though Diego Maradonna is allowing sex for the Argentines) but all these combined constitutes serious control.

Part of me therefore says this is wrong for denying people the freedom of speech and behaviour they are entitled to. There is another side to all this, however. Holland manager Bert van Marwijk is one coach who did not impose a ban on social media, but lived to regret his tolerance when forward Eljero Elia stirred up controversy by using the words “Cancerous Morrocan” online. It would seem that Carlos Puyol’s complete faith in players to do what’s best is a little unjustified, then, indicating that perhaps managers are wise to exercise some control over their players speech and behaviour. After all, there have been enough media scandals involving top level players to know that too much freedom and attention has its own negative consequences.

Nor is this level of authority and discipline by any means unique to soccer. Workplaces across the world have banned the use of facebook for fears of distraction and lost productivity. Similarly, schools impose bans on social media and gaming sites to prevent students from escaping work during IT lessons. Perhaps it is only fair that soccer stars are brought into line with the standards that everyone else already experiences.

If a ban from using social media helps concentration and keeps a team on course for world cup victory, then I don’t think anyone will be complaining. It is a short term sacrifice, a minor one in the end you might say, and one that could be well worth the players making for their personal success as sports stars.

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Have fun,

Soccer Geek

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P.S. Do you agree with restrictions on the speech and behaviour of sports players?

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Hi there,

This article about James Cordon and England is dedicated to fast approaching world cup. English preparations have gotten into full swing. They flew to South Africa with the official England airline (Virgin Atlantic – Britain’s flag carrier), whilst Cordon and Dizzy Rascal pumped up the country’s fans with a spell-binding performance of their world cup song on Britain’s Got Talent last night (talent contest judged by Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan) to lift people’s spirits after the captain (Rio Ferdinand) recently sustained an injury.

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Shout for England

This is a great song, energetically performed.

James Cordon is not only a hillarious comedy-actor and presenter, but also the quintessential English footie fan and apparently now a singer for England!

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Comic Relief 2009

Here is a video of Cordon playing Smithy from Gavin and Stacey, inspiring the England team with his antics:

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Sports Relief 2010 with Manchester United

Check out Cordon showing Rooney and the others some truly remarkable moves on the gym floor:

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Sports Personality of the Year 2010

James also had a big role in this year’s sport,being involved with some of the country’s greatest sportsmen including Freddie Flintoff, Jensen Button and David Beckham. Smithy collects the award for best overall coach at the sports personality show!

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More James Cordon Moments

If you’d like to see more of James Cordon then you can try this James Cordon Fan Site where you’ll find an advert with him and Wayne Rooney amongst other posts and videos. Alternatively you could check out this Gavin and Stacey fan site which reports that Beckham will appear alongside Cordon in the celebrated sitcom.

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I LOVE these videos of James Cordon and England. This is helped by the fact that I am actually from England, so I understand that you might not get the same enjoyment from this post if you’re not English! Nevertheless James Cordon in my opinion is hillarious and has gotten himself very involved on the sporting scene through his comedy.

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

Shouting for England and, if that fails, simply for good football

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In relation to soccer, other sports, and just about anything else in life for that matter, finding ways to motivate yourself is an issue that is always present. I normally try to keep myself disciplined and determined, but when I suffer a lapse in motivation there are certain things I can try to get me going and ready for the task ahead. Although this post should be helpful for a soccer match, it is more pyschologically-based so it also applies more generally to any other event for which you need to motivate yourself. So when reading the following ‘top 10′ list, try to apply it to different scenarios in your life and then put some into practice to see how they can help.

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1. Build Momentum

It’s very hard to start running again once you’ve stopped, so keep running. By this I mean to stress the need to build momentum in your life rather than letting yourself become still or stuck in a rut. Always keep your body and brain moving so that when you need to really motivate yourself for a particular task, event or match, it will take far less effort. Exercise regularly, practice playing soccer often, and immerse yourself in the game so that you simply need to stoke an existing ember as opposed to lighting a new fire from scratch.

This is admittedly one of the long term ways of motivating yourself, whilst as we move through this list we shall work towards the short term solutions.

2. Focus on Scoring Goals

By this I do not just mean scoring goals in a soccer match, I mean setting yourself targets and stiving to meet them. This could be to go running 3-5 times a week, it could be to keep a clean sheet, win the golden boot in an upcoming tournament, practice the game 3 times per week, win a game or get man of the match. Whatever your goals are, it is helpful to write them down and focus on them consciously to help you achieve them. When you have a written goal, it naturally makes you more motivated to achieve it. Your goal should be a SMART one as well:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timely

3. Positive Messages

These are sometimes called affirmations and basically refer to how you can pump yourself up with your own self-talk. Say positive, success-oriented things to yourself in the first person and the present tense for maximum effect, increasing repetition and exposure as much as possible. For example you could repeat a set of 20 affirmations morning and night in order to keep yourself motivated. Top this up with further repetition before the event or match in question (e.g. ‘I am confident’, ‘I am motivated’, ‘I am a team player’, ‘I score goals’, ‘I work hard’ etc.)

4. Become Like What You Honour

Focus on your role models. If you’re a goalkeeper, for example, they might be Brad Friedel, Edwin van der Saar or some great from the past like Gordon Banks. Try to model your performance on their game and you may soon find their style rubbing off on you. If you feel the part, act the part and believe you are embodying their qualities, then this will increase your motivation because the task of succeeding will no longer seem so overwhelming. Of course this can be applied to any walk of life: a singer could aspire to the Beatles, an ambitious author could aspire to JK Rowling etc.

5. Forget Failure

What you focus on you get more of, so focus on success: forget failure. The fear of failure is virtual paralysis, so try to see everything as a result. If you use the term result this automatically removes the negative connotations of the word failure, whilst it also allows you to use each event as a learning experience. Your spirits no longer dampened by fear, you can let go of the anxiety that is the plug in your true flood of motivation.

6. Read Inspirational Quotes

This is like a cross between positive messages and using role models, as it allows you to take nuggets of inspiration and at once learn from your heroes. Becoming inspired is one of the best ways to motivate yourself to action and can thus be very effective in the case of soccer. Why not check out my post on inspirational soccer quotes?

7. Listen to Pump up Music

A fantastic method of motivation in the short term is to listen to songs that really get you pumped up. This could be a great rock anthem like ‘It’s My Life’, a dance track, a soccer tune or something with emotive lyrics like ‘Eye of the Tiger’. Whatever your preference of song and genre, losing yourself in hard or up-tempo music can really get you going and lift your spirits for the match or task ahead. You can learn my favourite soccer pump up songs here.

8. Warm up Properly

In the past I have made the mistake of not warming up properly for unjustified fears of needing to save my energies and best efforts for the match! I’m not saying go crazy on the warm up as it is just that- a warm up- but you can still see yourself as coming from a space of abundance in energy and talent. Commit to doing this properly: the footwork exercises, the passing drills or, for a keeper, the shot stopping practice. Get yourself into the game and remind yourself of how good you are. This is a necessary forerunner to a motivated and confident performance.

9. Focus on Helping Others

Try to shift your attention from yourself and the question of how well you can play, to the question of what you can do to help the other 10 players on your team. This might be to find space and give them options, make a generous pass to leave them in the best position or, as a keeper, commanding to let them know where they are meant to be. Although this is easier said than done, when your focus is on helping it removes attention from yourself and frees you up to play better. This sense of release can only improve your levels of motivation during the match.

10. Reward Yourself

When you play well you feel good, and this can serve as motivation to go into the next game with extra enthusiasm. So if this works, then why not further the cause: when you play well give yourself extra rewards, celebrate and congratulate yourself. In this way you can intensify the positive experience of victory and inspire yourself to achieve highly more often. Celebrating each small victory is a technique that works in all walks of life as it gives you an incentive to work towards. ‘Done well in exams? Go shopping!’ ‘Got a new job? Drink champagne!’ ‘Been working hard? Go take a break!’ As you can see, rewarding yourself after the event can help to motivate you for the next one.

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So there are 10 possible ways to motivate yourself. If you’re interested in short term motivation for RIGHT NOW, then focus especially on the pump up music, inspirational quotes and the proper warm up when you get out onto the pitch. Try implementing some of these over the coming days and weeks notice any results. None of them are a miracle cure and it is of course all easier said than done, but if anything provides extra positivity, determination, motivation and success then they’ve got to be worth a go. I hope you’ve enjoyed this list – now stay motivated!

Are there any other forms of motivation you can list?

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

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The beautiful game often provides us with some hillarious moments, and you might say there’s nothing better than some funny soccer celebrations. Admittedly many goal celebrations are boring, some are unoriginal and some try to be funny but simply aren’t. On occasion, however, we see some downright clever, innovative and humorous ones that are too good to miss. So here I compiled a list of some of my favourites. Which ones do you like best?

Fantastic Boxing Run

A brilliant and very inventive set-up here…

Team Get Caught Out Whilst Trying to be Clever

Now If they had tried this in the opposition half the referee wouldn’t have been able to re-start the match. But, as it is, they find themselves slightly embarassed at being caught out. I’ll take this as a lesson for how not to perform future celebrations!

Carlsberg Don’t Do Goal Celebrations…

A comic soccer advert here for you now:

Some Bizarre Arsenal Dances

I am an Arsenal fan, but NEVER will I be able to dance so well as this…

Crazy Goalie Can’t Contain His Excitement

As a goalie I know how thrilling it is when your team score, but you’re always at the wrong end to join in with the joy. Clearly this keeper is not going to let that stop him though.

Those are some of my favourite funny soccer celebrations. Clearly I am only touching the tip of the ice burg as to how many are out there, though, so please feel welcome to mention your own top ones below. Otherwise, why not check out some other funny soccer moments and funny quotes with some of my other articles?

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

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The beautiful game is not always so, and it is at these times when we find the best of all the funny soccer moments.  From goalie howlers, pointless aggression and obvious dives, to crazy behaviour, rude bits and hillarious chants, soccer often provides some great laughs.

I personally rank Jens Lehmann as a great goalkeeper, but you may be unsurprised to hear that he gets a special mention on this list, since he is well known for his on-pitch antics. Yes, he had thrown boots off the pitch, taken a tumble, charged out of goal and urinated on the sidelines to name but a few! I also have to painfully admit that Arsenal- the team I support- have had their fair share of comic but ungraceful incidents. A prime example was Martin Keown roaring in the face of Rude van Nistelrooy after a Manchester United defeat.

So with this article I’ll show you a string of great YouTube videos and link you over to some other useful websites. Of course I will still only be able to scratch the surface of the outstanding quality available, so if you’ve got any more funny soccer moments or tips to share then please feel welcome to leave your comments at the end of this post.

(WARNING: Some of the content below may be inappropriate for children.  I do not condone violence or cheating in soccer games…it’s just rather amusing sometimes!)

Now for the laughs…

Jens Lehmann

Here’s the Lehmann and Drogba classic. Andy Gray calls it ‘sad’, I call it hillarious…

And a remarkable clip of Lehmann taking a leak in the middle of a match, in front of a whole crowd…

And finally a wonderful set of clips including a push and a dive. Brilliant commentary on this one by Alan Hansen…

Manchester United

Gary Neville blanks Peter Schmeichel, one of the world’s greatest ever goalies…

And some memorable fights with Arsenal…

Drogba v Van Bommel

Watch Drogba’s hand here…

Goalkeeping Howlers

Paul Robinson misses a kick for England…

And an unfortunate moment for one keeper at a penalty kick…

Arsenal Penalty

Funny Dancing

Hillarious Referees

Awkward Positions

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Useful Links

If you’d like even more funny soccer images, videos and info, then you can head over to these sites:

FunnySoccerMoments.Org

World Photo Collections

Talk Sport Magazine

Soccer Holics

Maniac World

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Well that concludes this post of funny soccer moments. If you’d like to leave any extra ones in the comments section below then it would be great to hear from you. Alternatively, why not check out my list of funny soccer quotes and goal celebrations?

Have fun,

Soccer Geek

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