Do footballers' pre-match rituals actually work?

Football shirt experts at Mystery Football have explored whether pre-match rituals - by the players and the fans - actually work by partnering with Eloise Skinner, an existential therapist, who explains the theory behind lucky rituals and superstitions.

Why do some of us believe in lucky charms or rituals?

Eloise says: “Where we're faced with uncertain situations, or circumstances in which we place a high degree of pressure on a particular outcome (such as a sports game), it can make us feel uncomfortable, anxious or stressed. Finding rituals or charms in these scenarios can help us regain a sense of agency, autonomy and ownership over our perception of the situation. Even if it has no impact on real-life events, creating a sense of structure (in which we can assure ourselves we've done our best to contribute to a desired outcome) can be fulfilling and meaningful.”

Can rituals actually lead to good luck?

Eloise explains: “I think it depends on the individual circumstances. For the spectator of a sport, performing rituals or certain behaviours is unlikely to have a direct impact on the outcome of the game.

“But for those contributing to the outcome (players, coaches, etc.), rituals could have a beneficial impact. If the ritual is able to make the individual feel more settled, grounded, confident and positive, it can have a real-life psychological impact on that person's performance and behaviour, enabling them to work at their peak level.

“On the other hand, if that person was unable to perform their ritual or set of behaviours, they might feel less confident, more unsettled and more anxious - which, again, can have real-life impacts on performance levels.”

Is there evidence to prove pre-match rituals work?

Eloise says: “It probably depends on how you define 'work' - there is some research to indicate that rituals can be helpful, although not necessarily that they give rise to any particular outcome.”

Mystery Football have collated the pre-match rituals of five of the biggest names in football and made a judgement on whether there is anything actually ‘lucky’ about the rituals.

Jack Grealish

During his time at Aston Villa in the 2018-19 season, Jack Grealish had a very strong superstition that changing his boots may end in disaster.

The current Manchester City winger wore the same football boots to every game that season, by the end they were practically falling apart, as he believed them to be his “lucky boots”.

Grealish said to Sky Sports “They were brand new and then I got a few goals, a few assists. I thought these were my lucky boots so I've had to keep them.” They very well may have been lucky as that season Aston Villa was promoted to the premier league after a successful season.

Facundo Pellistri

The Manchester United right winger has quite a few pre-match lucky rituals, the first one being sock-related.

Pellistri said that when getting dressed for a game, he will put his “two socks together to see which one is longer” and the longer one then goes on his right foot.

He also gets other people involved in his lucky rituals, by sending his girlfriend a text message right before the game, the message is the same every time: three heart emojis, then one more. He says she cannot reply and if she does he has to “send it to her again!”.

However, with more losses than wins and zero goals scored since he joined the Premier League, Pellistri may need to rethink his pre-match rituals to make them a little bit luckier.

John Terry

John Terry is a former Chelsea captain and played centre-back during his career, who happens to have quite the list of lucky rituals. The first being that when in the dressing room pre-match, he wouldn't touch the football.

Another one of his lucky rituals involves listening to the same Usher CD when driving to the game and then parking in the same spot. Similarly, he would always sit in the same seat on the bus en route to away games.

John Terry also had ‘lucky’ shin pads, which he wore for 10 years, however, they may not have been that lucky as after losing a game to Barcelona he decided to ditch them.