315 Football Quotes (Funny, Inspiring, and Motivating)

315 Best Football Quotes (Both American Football and Soccer Quotes)

Football is a way of life, it’s not just a game. It’s a culture, a community, and more.Β  Here are football quotes for all football fans and players in the world. Be inspired, be motivated, and laugh out loud with all these lines from some of the greatest football players who ever lived.

Football Quotes (Funny, Inspiring, and Motivating)

Have you played ball? If so, you must know the thrill of it. If you love watching these games, you must know the excitement and the loud cheer from the crowd. There’s nothing more awesome than moments like these and we all know we have to snap and share some of it with our friends. Snap a photo or two and caption it with one of the football quotes below.

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Important: In this post, we cover both American Football Sayings as well as Soccer Quotes.

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Short Football Quotes

Who needs long captions when you have short ones? Check out these short football quotes and let your friends feel fun!

  • The pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.
    ― Peyton Manning
  • I started out as a football player. I liked to inflict pain. In basketball, it was the same thing. ― Shaquille O’Neal
  • Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
    – Lou Holtz
  • If what you did YESTERDAY seems big, you haven’t done anything TODAY.
    ―  Lou Holtz,Β Notre Dame
  • Show me a good and gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure.
    ― Knute Rockne
  • The problem with winter sports is that β€” follow me closely here β€” they generally take place in winter.
    ― Dave Barry
  • Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence. If you’re in control, they’re in control. – Tom Landry
  • In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are.
    – Arnold H. Glasow
  • In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.
    ― Jean-Paul Sartre
  • The man who complains about the way the ball BOUNCES is likely the one who DROPPED it.Β 
    – Lou Holtz
  • You can learn a line from a win and a book from a defeat.
    – Paul Brown
  • Everyone has the fire, but the champions know when to ignite the spark.
    ― Amit Ray
  • Football is like life. It requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority.
    – Vince Lombardi
  • Aim for the sky and you’ll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you’ll stay on the floor.
    – Bill Shankly
  • Football is the ballet of the masses. ― Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
  • If it doesn’t matter who WINS or loses, then why do they keep SCORE. – Vince Lombardi
  • 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
  • Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings. ― George Will
  • Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble. – John Madden
  • It’s not the SIZE of the dog in the fight, but the size of the FIGHT in the dog. – Archie Griffin
  • Don’t give up at half time. Concentrate on winning the second half.–  Paul Bear Bryant
  • You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone. ― John Madden
  • The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. –Vince Lombardi
  • When you’re GOOD at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re GREAT at something, they’ll tell you. – Walter Payton
  • A winner never stops trying. – Tom Landry
  • Football: A sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture. ― Elbert Hubbard
  • No one ever drowned in sweat. –Lou Holtz
  • WINNING is not everything–but making the EFFORT to win is. ― Vince Lombardi
  • You never lose a game if the opponent doesn’t score. ― Darrell Royal
  • No matter the circumstances you may be going through, just push through it. – Ray Lewis
  • It’s the name on the FRONT of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the BACK. – Joe Paterno
  • Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. – George S. Halas
  • The harder you WORK, the harder it is to SURRENDER. – Marv Levy
  • Success is not forever and failure isn’t fatal. – Don Shula
  • It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size in the fight of the dog. – Archie Griffin
  • If you want to WIN, do the ordinary things BETTER than anyone else does them day in and day out. – Chuck Noll
  • Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period. – Lou Holtz
  • When you’ve got something to prove, there’s nothing greater than a challenge. – Terry Bradshaw
  • Life is TEN percent what happens to you, and NINETY percent how you respond to it. – Lou Holtz
  • Before you can win, you have to believe you are worthy. – Mike Ditka
  • It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up. – Vince Lombardi
  • You FAIL all of the time. But you aren’t a FAILURE until you start blaming someone else. – Bum Phillips
  • I’ve never played for a draw in my life. – Sir Alex Ferguson
  • If you’re not IN the parade, you WATCH the parade. That’s life. – Mike Ditka
  • Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.– Johan Cruyff
  • I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved. – Urban Meyer
  • The ONLY discipline that lasts, is SELF-discipline. – Bum Phillips
  • To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent.– Johan Cruyff
  • I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated. – Emmitt Smith
  • Today I will do what others WON’T, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others CAN’T. – Jerry Rice
  • If you do not believe you can do it then you have no chance at all. – Arsene Wenger
  • There is only one way to succeed in anything and that is to give it everything. – Vince Lombardi
  • How do you WIN? By getting average players to play good and good players to play great. That’s how you WIN. – Bum Phillips
  • Good luck is a residue of preparation. – Jack Youngblood
  • Work isn’t WORK unless you would rather be DOING something else. – Don Shula
  • I want players who are always striving to improve. – Gordon Strachan
  • Success isn’t owned, it’s leased. And the rent is due every day.Β  – J.J. Watt
  • The GREATEST mistake is to continue to PRACTICE a mistake. – Bobby Bowden
  • Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.– Bo Jackson
  • To do things you’ve never done before, you have to do things you’ve never done before. – Sean Payton

Short football quotes

Football Team Quotes

Quarterbacks are nothing if they don’t have their teammates supporting them! Your teammates are your friends, brothers, and families. Let them know how you feel about these quotes.

  • A CHAMPION is simply someone who did NOT give up when they wanted to. – Tom Landry
  • The way you motivate a football team is to eliminate the unmotivated ones. – Lou Holtz
  • Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence. If you’re in control, they’re in control. – Tom Landry
  • Think training’s hard? Try losing.
  • A football team represents a way of being, a culture. – Michel Platini
  • 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
  • A team will always appreciate a great individual if he’s willing to sacrifice for the group.
  • A football team is like a beautiful woman, when you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful. – Arsene Wenger
  • Losing doesn’t make me want to quit, it makes me want to FIGHT that much HARDER. – Bear Bryant
  • A football team is like a company. All of the people working in a company are not supposed to love each other, but they are supposed to be professional. – Emmanuel Petit
  • Winners never quit and quitters never win. – Vince Lombardi
  • Bad attitudes will ruin your team.
  • A good football team plays offense and defense. You have to be aggressive and disrupt. – Vince FlynnΒ 
  • If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today. – Lou Holtz
  • Teamwork – It is amazing how much people get done if they do not worry about who gets the credit.
  • If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team. – Bud Wilkinson
  • Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t. – Jerry Rice
  • A leader must inspire or his team will expire.
  • To be able to get a football team that’s capable of competing for world championships, you always got to get a little bit lucky, but you got to have all phases to win it all.Β  – John Elway
  • The most valuable player is the one who makes the most players valuable. – Peyton Manning
  • There is no β€œI” in TEAM.
  • Remember, once you set a goal, it’s all about how hard you’re willing to work, how much you’re willing to sacrifice, and how badly you truly want it. – J.J. Watt
  • Teamwork – A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.
  • The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there. – Vince Lombardi
  • Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.
  • Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there. – Bo Jackson
  • We are not a team because we work together. We are a team because we respect, trust, and care for each other.
  • The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi
  • Winning isn’t everything but wanting to win is.

Football team quotes

Motivational Football Quotes

Losing is such a demotivator, after a play, some just don’t have the heart to pick up the ball and run again. This isn’t just applicable to the players, the coaches, and the benches. It’s also applicable to the fans as well. Here are some quotes to motivate you!

  • 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
  • The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose. – Ernie Banks
  • We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible. – Vince Lombardi
  • When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important. – Bill Shoemaker
  • If you want to win, do the ordinary things better than anyone else does them day in and day out. – Chuck Noll
  • Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind. – Jackie Joyner-Kersee
  • I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability. – Bruce Jenner
  • You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional.Β  – Joe Paterno
  • A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever. – Mary Lou Retton
  • Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority. – Vince Lombardi
  • Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too. – Pat Tyson
  • Everyone has the fire, but the champions know when to ignite the spark.Β  – Amit Ray
  • Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. – Ross Perot
  • The pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. – Peyton Manning
  • You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself. – Larry Brown
  • Excuses are the tools of the incompetent. – Mike Tomlin
  • Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. – Ted Williams
  • I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated. – Emmitt Smith
  • An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.Β  – Emil Zatopek
  • Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts. – Jim Brown
  • Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss. – Doug Williams
  • Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence. If you’re in control, they’re in control. – Tom Landry
  • Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement. – Marv Levy
  • Anyone can go hard on the last sprint of a workout, if you’re tough, you’ll go hard on each and every one. – Travis Macy
  • I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat. – Tom Landry
  • 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
  • Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears. – Laird Hamilton
  • Being a champion has nothing to do with sports, it’s a mindset. A skill of looking at challenges that seem impossible, and rising up to overcome. – Jeremy Coates
  • I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it. – Sandy Koufax
  • When you don’t give up, you cannot fail. – Adrian Peterson
  • If you can’t outplay them, outwork them. – Ben Hogan
  • You cannot make progress with excuses. – Cam Newton
  • People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. – Rogers Hornsby
  • Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one. – Walter Payton
  • Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. – William James
  • Stay focused. Your start does not determine how you’re going to finish. – Herm Edwards
  • Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play. – Mike Singletary
  • I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved. – Urban Meyer
  • 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
  • Good is not good when better is expected. – Vin Scully
  • Winning isn’t getting ahead of others. It’s getting ahead of yourself. – Roger Staubach
  • The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination. – Tommy Lasorda
  • Greatness, whether athletic or otherwise, doesn’t come from those content on just being but from those who seek to be the difference. – Kirk Mango

Motivational football quotes

Quotes from Football Players

Players have experienced so much in the field and this experience has taught them many things. Here are some of the wise words to remind yourself how awesome football is.

  • I know what it’s like to win things. You need a certain type of player with a determination to win. You see it in the eyes. –Ruud Gullit
  • I don’t like playing PlayStation. It seems like a waste of time to me. Reading, instead, leaves something inside you. ― Mattia Caldara
  • I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.Β  – Abby Wambach
  • Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.– Michael Jeffrey Jordan
  • The smell of the sweat is not sweet, but the fruit of the sweat is very sweet. ― Amit Kalantri
  • 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
  • We knew that you don’t get to be world champions without a struggle. – Γ‰ric Daniel Pierre Cantona
  • I may win and I may lose but I will never be defeated. ― Emmett Smith
  • 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
  • Behind every kick of the ball, there has to be a thought. ― Dennis Nicolaas Bergkamp
  • I see football as an art and all players are artists. If you are a top artist, the last thing you would do is paint a picture somebody else has already painted. ― Cristiano Ronaldo
  • Champions never sleep, the eternal spirit keeps them alert and awake. ― Amit Ray
  • It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference. ―  Bear Bryant
  • Football’s not just about scoring goals – it’s about winning. ― Alan Shearer
  • It is not over. Champions extend their limits and make things happen. ― Amit Ray
  • Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable! ― Cristiano Ronaldo
  • When results aren’t good the manager gets the sack, that’s the game.― Roy Keane
  • It’s an enemy that I can’t allow to wound me a second time. It’s already done enough damage: most of it hidden far from the surface. ― Andrea Pirlo
  • There will be obstacles.Β There will be doubters.Β There will be mistakes. But with hard work,Β there are no limits.
  • You can’t be begging players to stay at your football club. Sometimes you gotta lose to win. ― Roy Keane
  • Soccer must be played with the heart, not with strength and talent as perceived. ― ABC
  • Take your victories, whatever they might be, cherish them, use them, but don’t settle for them. – Mia Hamm
  • I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league. – Mark Anthony Viduka
  • Love of sports will always break your heart, but in doing so, it reminds us we have one. ― Stuart Stevens
  • It’s hard to beat someone who never quits.
  • As a professional football player, I have known perfectly well from the day I started playing that every day I have to fight for my place. ―Luis Figo
  • Fourth-quarter field goals often win games; first-quarter field goals often lose them. ― R.A. Mathis
  • Keep working even when no one is watching. ― Alex Morgan
  • It doesn’t matter how the teams are doing, it is always the biggest game of the season and always the one you look forward to the most. ― Ryan Giggs
  • I have not the least sympathy for these useless and destructive pastimes, football and politics. ― CΓ©sar Aira
  • Maybe they hate me because I’m too good. – Cristiano Ronaldo
  • Nothing improves your confidence and brings a team together more than winning a cup. – Gary Neville
  • The players are writing a beautiful page of French football history. β€” Didier Deschamps
  • People say it is part of the game. You win some, you lose some. But not for me.β€” Ruud van Nistelrooy
  • Only in sport can you live through emotions like this. We knew how to put them in difficulty, we made them run, we prepared well. – Samuel Umtiti
  • Sometimes in football, you have to score goals. – Thierry Daniel Henry
  • Tactically, the coach did a perfect job yesterday, so we know we will be fully prepared. – Antoine Griezmann
  • The team played very well and I was delighted to help out with three goals. – Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
  • I always look forward to playing for my national team, especially at major tournaments. – Luka Modric
  • It doesn’t matter who scores the goals so long as we win. – Steven Gerrard
  • I hope the players benefit from my experience but this is their final. It is something they have worked for and they will be able to enjoy it. β€” Didier Deschamps
  • I just hate losing and that gives you an extra determination to work harder. β€”Β Wayne Mark Rooney
  • Our country has been through difficult experiences in terms of unity. Sport β€” football in particular β€” has the power to help that. It is a special feeling. – Gareth Southgate
  • Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits and get on with trying to win. – Lionel AndrΓ©s β€œLeo” Messi

Quotes from football players

Funny Football Quotes

Football isn’t all about the past, it’s also about the fun while playing out in the field or while watching the game progress. Check out these funny football quotes and share them with your feed!

  • Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority. – Vince Lombardi
  • I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel. – Stuart Pearce
  • My wife doesn’t like football. One day she called me 10 minutes before a game to find out where I was. – Peter Crouch
  • I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league – Mark Viduka
  • I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock. – Barry Venison
  • American football makes rugby look like a Tupperware party. – Sue Lawley
  • They’re lucky I didn’t come 10 years ago because I would be the president today.Β  – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
  • Left alone with our own heads on, we can be pretty mental. – Tony AdamsΒ 
  • We can’t run. We can’t pass. We can’t stop the run. We can’t stop the pass. We can’t kick. Other than that, we’re just not a very good football team right now.Β  – Bruce Coslet
  • I asked my son who his favorite player was. I expected him to say β€˜You, Dad’. But he said, Thierry Henry. – Didier Drogba
  • It’s a no-win game for us. Although I suppose we can win by winning. – Gary Doherty
  • Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggressions without going to jail for it.Β  – Heywood Hale Braun
  • My parents have been there for me, ever since I was about 7.  – David Beckham
  • It’s great to get the first trophy under the bag. – Michael Owen
  • If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead. – Erma Bombeck
  • Sometimes in football, you have to score goals. – Thierry Henry
  • The stars above the Italian club’s badges show you how many times they have won the Gazette. – David James
  • I wouldn’t ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important -like a league game or something. – Dick Butkus
  • 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 dream of playing for a club like Manchester United, and now here I am in Liverpool. – Sander Westerveld
  • It was really difficult for us, playing in the midday sun with that three o’clock kick-off. – David Beckham
  • Football was my only hope in life. I wasn’t too good at school. To give you an idea, I managed to fail art in a class where my uncle was the teacher.Β  – Richarlison
  • I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league. – Mark Viduka
  • The reason women don’t play football is that 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public. – Phyllis Diller
  • I had no idea who my teammates at Genoa were when I signed. So I turned on my PlayStation and looked them up on FIFA.Β  – Krzysztof PiΔ…tek
  • I don’t believe in superstitions. I just do certain things because I’m scared in case something will happen if I don’t do them. – Michael Owen
  • Most football players are temperamental. That’s 90% temper and 10% mental. – Doug Plank
  • I shouldn’t say this – definitely not now! But when I was young I was a massive United fan. – Raheem Sterling
  • I’ve been consistent in patches this season. – Theo Walcott
  • You get to hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided. – Criss Jami Β  Β 
  • I have one selfie on my smartphone. That’s with Messi. Cristiano was in the room, as well.Β  – JΓΌrgen Klopp
  • If you don’t believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed at the end of the day. – Neville Southall
  • Football is the ballet of the masses.Β  – Dmitri Shostakovich
  • You have to be gentle with the ball like you are gentle with a woman. – Dimitar Berbatov
  • Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match. – Ian Wright
  • Football: A sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture.Β  – Elbert Hubbard
  • Have Tottenham closed the gap on Arsenal? The last time I checked they were still 4 miles and 11 titles away. – Arsene WengerΒ 
  • I never make predictions, and I never will. – Paul Gascoigne
  • [Books are] vital to learning. Half the population doesn’t go to football matches but that doesn’t make football any less important. – John Sutherland
  • He’s leaving because he’s Guardiola’s favorite. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I can’t make myself shorter and learn Spanish. – Jurgen Klopp
  • I was surprised, but I always say nothing surprises me in football. – Les Ferdinand
  • But a college needs something else besides education. And what this college need is a good football team and you can’t have a good football team unless you have good football players.–Bert Kalmar

Funny football quotes

Summary

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Valentino
Work hard, inspire, be humble, keep moving. I work online since 2010, and all I need is my laptop and a decent internet connection. On the Instagram Circus I share my knowledge, motivational quotes and how to squeeze the best out of your Social Media Channels.