“The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory.” – Josef “Sepp” Herberger
“In football, the worst blindness is only seeing the ball.” – Nelson Falcão Rodrigues
“The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.” – William “Bill” Shankly
“I know more about soccer than about politics.” – James “Harold” Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx
“Five days shalt thou labour, as the Bible says. The seventh day is the Lord thy God’s. The sixth day is for football.” – John Anthony Burgess Wilson
“The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it until it does.” – Phillip Abraham “Phil” Woosnam
“Soccer is an art more central to our culture than anything the Arts Council deigns to recognize.” – Germaine Greer
“A football team is like a beautiful woman. When you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful.” – Arsène Wenger
“I think soccer is more respected now than it ever has been. You can see that in the numbers of young kids who are playing and the numbers of people who are coming to watch.” – Brandi Chastain
“I get asked this a lot: Why has soccer not succeeded? My answer is, soccer has succeeded. It is already the fastest growing youth participation sport in the U.S. It has already succeeded at the youth level, no question.” – Lamar Hunt
“Soccer was the first sport that my parents put me in” – Channing Tatum
“When you play soccer, most of the time you got to get the ball moving, but once you get into that attacking third you gotta’ be creative, you gotta’ let your talent take over.” – Freddy Adu
“I’m attracted to soccer’s capacity for beauty. When well played, the game is a dance with a ball.” – Eduardo Galeano
“Soccer isn’t very social. Plus, if you don’t like someone on the other team, you can do something about it.” – Mia Hamm
“To be honest with you, I never looked at soccer as a sacrifice.” – Brandi Chastain
“In Europe, it’s different – you eat soccer, you breathe soccer, you drink soccer. Everything is about soccer.” – Thomas Dooley
“I love soccer; I want to be on the field.” – Brandi Chastain
“Soccer is a great game, and the rich variety of styles and passions that come with being truly global makes the World Cup a nonpareil event in the universe of competitive sport.” – Serge Schmemann
“Over the last 10-15 years, you’ve seen soccer finally start to grow at a fast pace, start to get the recognition it deserves, and I think it has to do with all of the people who come to America from foreign countries.” – Claudio Reyna
“Every soccer player can be on the edge, at the limit, be the bad guy. We have to get used to it. Sometimes I am one of those.” – Luis Suarez
“As professional soccer players, we take our bodies to the extreme. We’re the people at the gym that look like we’re breaking the machines. Pushing our bodies to the limits is what makes us so strong and capable and Olympians. It’s not an easy thing to consistently do over and over again to your body.” – Abby Wambach
“Soccer is the most difficult business that we’re in, because one day you’re on top, and the next day you’re very low.” – Emilio Azcarraga Jean
“Soccer matches should be something special, something people eagerly look forward to, something that brightens life.” – P. J. O’Rourke
“I wanted to be a soccer player; I wanted to do it at the highest level.” – Tim Howard
“I love soccer. That’s all I ever watch. I’ll watch it all day if I can. But I’m too bloody old to play now.” – Geezer Butler
“What we are missing over here is the life of soccer.” – Thomas Dooley
“I like to watch soccer, no matter what teams or players are in the field.” – Andres Iniesta
“One of my biggest influences of all time would probably be one of my soccer coaches, Coach Darlington, from high school. He was always trying to get me to push myself really hard. No excuses. I always hated him, but it paid off. I think that’s what life is all about… when you push through the hard stuff and it pays off.” – Jonny Weston
“Soccer is my life.” – Ethan Zohn
“The aura of soccer is very different from other sports.” – Dave Checketts
“International soccer has been a big part of my love for the sport. I love the Men’s National Team. I can say that they’re my favorite sports team.” – Drew Carey
“I suppose young people think football is glamorous – soccer – it’s big money and the stars of it, they look good and have a great big house and a huge Ferrari.” – Bryan Ferry
“Playing college soccer was going to be the top of my athletic feats. I wasn’t going to the Olympics. I was a decent player, but it’s because of hard work, not because I was Freddy Adu.” – Mark Zupan
“I think, really, that the only way a person can open their heart to someone who is so much another is really by knowing them… whether that’s in a classroom, or a soccer team” – Elizabeth Strout
“I played English football – soccer – instead of American football, because we couldn’t afford the equipment.” – Wally Schirra
“To combat the monotony of gym workouts, I started playing soccer. I looked at workouts as training sessions. My soccer training includes squats, pushups, resistance-band work, and sprints. Ninety minutes of running became part of my love of the game rather than a chore.” – Adam Richman
“I love sports, and when I was playing soccer, I was always trying to be the leader on the team and the one who takes control.” – Gregg Sulkin
“Find a type of exercise that you love – whether it’s dance, soccer, softball, anything – just as long as it keeps you active. If you love it, you’ll dedicate yourself to it and stay involved.” – Francia Raisa
“Life is a soccer field, don’t you think?” – Shakira
“I’m not sure if I’m going to get into coaching. I’m sure I’ll stay in soccer somehow.” – Abby Wambach
“Soccer presented no challenge to me. Playing felt like breathing: I always had a magical connection to the ball.” – Pete Wentz
“As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game.” – Abby Wambach
“A game of soccer induces more than enjoyment, more than entertainment.” – Rabih Alameddine
“For me, soccer was a dance.” – Rabih Alameddine
“People have to pay a lot of money to play soccer here.” – Thomas Dooley
“If my soccer career were over, I would still come here because of the people.” – Lorrie Fair
“Quite frankly, I can’t get enough of soccer. I tell my jingoistic friends in the United States there’s a reason why it is the world’s No. 1 sport. The rest of the planet can’t be wrong.” – Billy Beane
“Soccer is my first love. I’ve been playing since I was 4 years old. I traveled the world doing it. I broke my leg when I was 16 or 17, and acting kind of filled the void.” – Kyle Schmid
“The secret is to believe in your dreams; in your potential that you can be like your star, keep searching, keep believing and don’t lose faith in yourself.” – Neymar
“Football is the ballet of the masses.” – Dmitri Shostakovich
“The game is not over till the whistle blows. Meaning don’t give up. Never give up”
“Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence.” – Sir Robert “Bobby” Charlton
“In his life, a man can change wives, political parties or religions but he cannot change his favourite soccer team.” – Eduardo Hughes Galeano
“You don’t have to have been a horse to be a jockey.” – Arrigo Sacchi
“If you’re attacking, you don’t get as tired as when you’re chasing.” – Kyle Rote, Jr.
“I don’t believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball.” – Roy Maurice Keane
“Soccer riots kill, at most, tens. Intellectuals’ ideological riots sometimes kill millions.” – John Jay McCarthy
