These 5 Reasons Are Why Soccer Players Celebrate So Much

So you’re watching a game where a team scores in the dying seconds of a game.

What happens next is everybody goes wild, with players jumping on top of each other.

Now, if you have just turned the channel over and don’t follow soccer, you may be wondering what exactly is going on.

Or, if you are a soccer fan, you may be thinking, why do soccer players celebrate so much?

Having played the game for years and being lucky enough to hit the back of the net several times.

So being able to experience this, I feel like I can give you a good idea of why they act like this.

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Why Do Soccer Players Celebrate So Much?

A soccer player will celebrate so much after a goal because they are so happy about scoring.

If a player scores, they will celebrate a lot at the moment as they feel tremendous happiness.

The same goes for fans watching at a stadium.

If you have ever been to a stadium where a goal is scored, you will notice the fans will go crazy too.

When a goal goes in for the club, you either play for or support, its a great feeling.

For the player themselves, it is heightened even more because they are the ones who scored.

All the teammates will rush over to that person to congratulate them.

The manager will be over the moon.

Plus, if that player is playing in a stadium with thousands of fans.

It will feel so nice to have so many people cheering because that person has scored.

I can personally relate to the feeling myself, having scored over my career.

While I haven’t played in front of lots of fans like professional footballers do.

I have been able to feel that pure happiness at having scored for my time.

So while nearly all footballers will celebrate when they score.

There are times when they don’t celebrate much, in fact, not at all.

As if a player scores, however, the team is losing, while they will feel happy to be on the scoresheet.

They will be disappointed at the scoreline and how their strike as it stands isn’t going to get the team a result.

So instead of running around the field like a headless chicken.

They will instead grab the ball. out the goal and get it to the semi-circle to restart the game promptly

Is Celebrating A lot In Soccer Allowed?

Now while its so easy to get caught up in the moment by celebrating.

Sometimes doing so can get you in a bit of trouble.

Doing what is called an ‘exaggerated celebration’ will get you punished.

Now, if you were to celebrate by going over to hug your teammates.

Or go and do the popular knee slide in front of fans, that this is fine.

Even shouting loud is completely okay.

However, some types aren’t fine.

After a rule change in 2004 by Fifa, it meant that any excessive celebration by a player would be punished.

So if you were, to name a few:

Take your shirt off
Jump into the stands
Do an offensive celebration (for example, any from the video below)

Then you will get either a yellow card or a red card.

Now over the next sections, I will talk you through four reasons why a player will celebrate a lot and, in some cases, go against the rules.

1. A Deciding Moment

A common time you will find a soccer player celebrating a lot is when it is a big goal.

While a player will always feel happy for scoring if it impacts the result, the feeling will be even greater.

For instance, if a player scores a goal that wins a game or prevents them from losing.

Especially if its in the dying minutes of the game.

Then they will celebrate quite a bit, because, like I mentioned above, along with the passion that comes with scoring.

The fact that the goal means so much in terms of the game’s result is, therefore, a great feeling.

Not just for the player who scored but for the teammates who were working hard during the game to get a positive outcome out of the game.

In some situations, the celebrations can be even bigger and mean a lot more.

As if that winning goal was the one who wins a trophy, the player will feel so much emotion due to their passion.

Every player wants to win trophies and awards, so as a result, they will be ecstatic.

2. Dedicating The Goal To Someone

Another reason a player will celebrate maybe over the top is that they may be dedicating it to someone.

Many top players will dedicate a goal to either a loved one or ones, to someone who has passed away or even an injured player in the squad.

So, as a result, players will come up with some celebration to show their appreciation.

Some can be quite low key, such as Messi and his signature point to the sky.

While others will celebrate that bit further by doing things like taking off their shirts.

To show an image or message on an undershirt that they are dedicating the goal they have scored to.

3. Doesn’t Score Often

A player who doesn’t often score, maybe only once or twice a season if they are lucky, will typically celebrate a lot.

This consists of your midfielders or defenders who aren’t known for scoring, whose job is primarily to defend and make attacks.

It can therefore feel that bit nicer when it happens.

When these players score, its almost a shock to the system.

However, when they do, they are ecstatic because it feels so good to get a goal because of how rare it is.

4. Rarer Then Other Sports

With some games having only a few goals.

Sometimes even none at all.

It means that at times in the sport, goals can be few and far between.

So when a player does score, they will celebrate because they want to enjoy that moment.

Like I was talking about in the previous

This means that goals are somewhat quite rare.

When you compare it to a sport like Basketball, where most players will dunk at least a couple of baskets a game.

In soccer, sometimes even the best players don’t find the net every game.

So regardless of who scores, it is a cause for celebration as it doesn’t often happen due to how rare goals can be.

5. Goal Bonuses In The Contract

Now you would like to think that every footballer’s motive for celebrating too hard is for the passion of the game.

However, I would be surprised if some didn’t have in the back of their mind the bonuses they would get for it.

As I spoke about in a post where I mentioned how footballers don’t get any of the transfer fees when signing to a new team.

They will get bonus clauses, where for each time a professional footballer finds the net, they also get an amount of cash.

You would be surprised to hear that simply getting a round ball in the net can get players thousands of pounds.

For instance, Alexi Sanchez racked up £5 million pounds for 5 goals he scored at Manchester United.

So if a player knows that they are about to receive a huge payout, I can imagine it would fuel a celebration even more.

Conclusion

I hope that gives you a good idea of why soccer players celebrate so much.

As you can see, there is a multitude of reasons why they do so.

However, the main reason and having experienced it myself is simply just the move for the game.

Scoring is such a good feeling, and no matter if its a player’s 1st or 500th, they will celebrate it a lot.

If you have any questions or thoughts, do share them down below 🙂