Football is one of the most loved sports globally. However, it is not just about goals and glory. Many tales of mystery and superstitions are there. Over the years, bizarre curses in the world of football have captivated the fans as these incidences happened so coincidently that people started considering the facts.
From cursed jerseys to stadiums, several occasions have stunned soccer fans including me as getting into their depth has made a profound basis. Here, I am going to explain the most bizarre football curses that receive massive popularity among people and pundits equally.
The Most Bizarre Curses in Football
Here are bizarre curses in the world of football ever happened with teams, players and stadiums.
09) United #7 Curse
Ever since Cristiano left in 2009, Valencia, Depay, Di Maria, Owen, Sanchez, and many others have tried but were awful in the 7 kits. It took 12 years, Edinson Cavani and Cristiano Ronaldo himself for that curse to finally come to an end.
08) Birmingham’s Curse
Birmingham built their stadium in 1906 on an acquired land that led to a 100-year curse. They were relegated that season. A manager even urinated on the corner flags to fix it. They were trophyless for a century. What after 100 years? They won a League Cup.
07) World Cup Curse
Since 1998, the Team that won the World Cup was thrown out of the next World Cup from the group stages.
- ’98: France wins the WC and in ’02: Out in the Group Stages
- ’06: Italy wins the WC, In 2010: Out in the Group Stages
- 10: Spain wins the WC and in 2014: Out in the Group Stages
- 14: Germany wins the WC, In 2018: Out in the Group Stages
Only Brazil survived this curse after winning the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Fans were expecting a similar situation for France to get knocked out from the group stage in the 2022 World Cup. However, Les Bleus topped their Group D teams and reached the knockout stage.
06) The Ramsey Curse
What do the deaths of famous personalities like Steve Jobs, Bin Laden, Paul Walker, Whitney Houston, Robin Williams, Burt Reynolds, Ken Norton, Kim Jong II, and David Bowie have in common? All these deaths happened almost immediately after Aaron Ramsey scored a goal.
05) Australia’s WC Curse
In 1970, Aussies met a witch doctor before facing Zimbabwe in a WC qualifier. The Australian football team hired a witch doctor, who buried bones near the goalposts and cursed the opposition. Players didn’t pay him so the curse reversed. They lost & never qualified until 2004 when Safran, an Australian TV star visited that place and reversed it. They qualified for every WC since then.
04) Bella Guttman’s Curse
“Never in 100 years will Benfica ever win another European Trophy”, said manager Gutmann before leaving them in 1962. They reached 8 European finals since then and lost all. Eusebio visited his grave for the curse to be broken in 1990 but they still lost. Literally one of the most Bizarre Football Curses ever.
03) Milan #9 Curse
Since the great Inzhagi, anyone with Milan’s 9 jerseys has struggled. Ten players tried their luck with the No. 9 shirt at Milan since Filippo Inzaghi retired in 2012 and the poor return has been labeled as the curse of the famous jersey. Piatek performed great with #21 but once he switched to #9, he flopped. Then why is Milan doing so well now? Because there’s a #8 and a #10, but there’s no number 9.
However, Giroud scored 10 goals wearing number #9 in 22 appearances. Seems like he has finally put an end to Rossoneri’s No. 9 curse.
02) Drake Curse
Drake was on a European Tour in 2019. With any footballer who clicks a photo, a certain football Player’s team loses the next match. It happened so many times in a row that, people started suggesting Drake deliberately click selfies with his rival team players.
- April 6: Auba, 7 April: Lost to Everton
- April 8: Aguero, the Next day a missed penalty against Spurs & lost
- April 9: Lukaku and on April 10 Lukaku and the team lost to Barca
01) Argentine Curse
Racing was the best Argentine club in 1967. Argentine club Racing celebrated the 1967 Intercontinental Cup win. The fans of their greatest rivals, Independiente, broke into Racing’s El Cilindro stadium and buried the corpses of seven black cats. Racing was relegated in ’82 and went bankrupt in ’98. They were trophyless. In 2001, the cats were taken out. Months later, they won the league.
Final Thoughts
These are the details about the most bizarre curses in the world of football. While some of them are based on facts, others are exaggerated by fans. Still, all of them add a flavor to the world’s most expensive sport. Me, as a fan, also get attracted to such myths as they sometimes give goosebumps.
Well, you may also come across some incidents that can be added suitably to this rundown. So, head to the comments section and share what you have witnessed that I probably have missed.
