Football
10 of the craziest goal celebrations ever in football history
Forget dabs, dance routines and pulling your shirt over your head, these players showed everyone how you really celebrate scoring a goal.
From Roger Milla’s dancing at Italia ‘90 to Cristiano Ronaldo’s trademark ground pound and Mario Balotelli’s Incredible Hulk impression, there have been some truly iconic goal celebrations over the years.
But none of those are a patch on any of these...
Jacopo Violan headbutts the dugout
For some reason, footballers occasionally seem to be utterly furious when they put the ball in the back of the net. Some sort of primal rage escapes from them in the moment and, rather than celebrating the goal, they look as if they’ve just been given a thousand parking tickets. Jacopo Violan of Italian amateur team Riolo Terme takes the idea a step too far when, having scored the winning goal in a game against Ponticelli, he runs to the dugout and proceeds to slam his head through the side. Imagine what he does if he scores at the wrong end.
Edmilson Ferreira gets his five a day
A balanced diet is important for us all but it’s particularly important for professional footballers. Even back in 1998, Atlético Mineiro’s Edmilson Ferreira knew he should get his five portions of fruit and veg a day and he wasn’t about to let a little thing like a local derby against América get in the way, so upon finding the back of the net he retrieved a carrot from his shorts and started munching. How was he to know the opposition were nicknamed the Rabbits and they wouldn’t take too kindly to his mid-game snack?
Mario Gjurovski drops his pants
Everyone knows you get booked for taking your shirt off these days but nobody told Mario Gjurovski that the rule also applies to other parts of your kit. Having scored a neat chip to give his Thai League 1 team Muangthong United a two-goal lead, the Macedonian midfielder removes his shorts, puts them on his head and performs a strange victory dance to the crowd. Having been booked 15 minutes earlier for a careless foul, however, the unamused ref shows him a second yellow and his game’s over after just 35 minutes.
Stjarnan get on their bike
It’s hard to pick just one of Stjarnan’s crazy celebrations, such is the range of ways the team have commemorated sticking the ball in the back of the net. The Icelandic club went viral a few years ago with their extravagant post-goal routines, which included miming a fish being caught on a line, a Cool Runnings style bobsleigh, and a more theatrical variation on the classic ball up the shirt. But the finest has to be this elaborate human bicycle routine, which involves various members of the team forming the constituent parts of a bike, which the goalscorer Thorvaldur Árnason then jumps aboard and rides. Absolutely bonkers.
Antoine Griezmann hitches a ride
Atlético Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann has become well known for his quirky celebrations, recently copying a hopping victory dance from multiplayer shoot ‘em up game Fortnite, but his most extravagant came during his time for Real Sociedad. He marked doubling his team’s lead against Deportivo by jumping behind the wheel and beeping the horn of a car that had been parked pitchside, followed shortly by his ecstatic team-mates filling the passenger seats. Bolivian side Oriente Petrolero’s striker Tanque did the same thing recently after scoring with his first touch in a Copa Libertadores game against Universitario. The Uruguayan got a booking for his troubles.
Adebayor vs 3,000 angry Arsenal fans
Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is a master of celebrating in front of an opposition team’s fans but he’s never quite matched the way Emmanuel Adebayor taunted his former supporters in 2009. Having left Arsenal for Manchester City that summer, the Togo striker played against his former employers in a 4-2 win a few months later, and, having been abused by the Gooners all game, decided to sprint the full length of the pitch and slide to his knees right in front of the away end. He was met by a shower of missiles, expletives and venom, as City’s stewards held back the rabid mob. That’s how you do it, Jamie.
Temuri Ketsbaia hates capitalism
It can be easy to let your emotions get the better of you when you score a goal, particularly a last-minute winner, and Newcastle United’s Georgian midfielder Temuri Ketsbaia famously lost control when he did exactly that against Bolton Wanderers in 1998. Having chucked his shirt into the crowd – and seemingly thinking about sending his shorts and boots after it – he proceeded to let out months of frustration on the advertising hoardings surrounding the St James Park pitch. He claimed many years later that it was pure frustration over not playing as much as he thought he should, but to be honest, it’s the photographers sitting right in his firing line we feel sorry for.
Francesco Totti breaks the internet
Having been 2-0 down at half-time, legendary one-club man Francesco Totti celebrated an equaliser against Roma’s city rivals Lazio by retrieving his phone from goalkeeping coach Guido Nanni and taking a selfie in front of the club’s ultras in the Stadio Olimpico’s Curva Sud. It was a real ‘break the internet’ moment, not just because it was an acrobatic strike but because it meant he became the all-time top scorer in the Rome derby. Totti had form for using props in his derby goal celebrations, having taken control of a pitchside TV camera and turning it on the crowd after scoring in one in 2004.
Hidetoshi Wakui strikes it lucky
There’s something immensely satisfying about getting a strike at the bowling alley, so why shouldn’t you be able to feel the same way on a football pitch? Having opened the scoring for Estonian side Nõmme Kalju, Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Wakui runs to the sidelines and has his teammates arrange themselves in a vague approximation of the ten-pin formation, before bowling them all over with the match ball. Nice try, Hidetoshi, but as there were only nine players in your line-up, that’s only going to count as a spare. Sorry.
Medi Dresevic celebrates himself
A defender scoring a hat-trick is a rare thing indeed, so you’d think the crowd at Swedish third-division club Norrby IF would celebrate sufficiently when their centre-back Medi Dresevic bagged three goals in a 6-1 win over Tvååkers IF. It would seem the 24-year-old didn’t feel they were going sufficiently nuts, though, especially considering he’d only ever scored one professional goal in his career before this day, because he vaulted the advertising hoardings and applauded himself from the front row of the stand. Unfortunately the ref didn’t see the funny side and showed him a second yellow card. Worth it.