Fundamentally, football is centred around excitement, entertainment and goals. One thing that ties all three of those pillars together is the goal celebration.
Over the past 40 years, goal celebrations have become integral to our enjoyment of football. That release of emotion, whether impromptu or elaborately choreographed, provides a truly special moment for those inside the stadium and watching from the comfort of their living rooms.
Some celebrations have become truly iconic over the years, performed by the biggest stars in the most high-profile games, and repeated by millions across the world in the playground or on the park.
Here are the 20 greatest goal celebrations of all time – ranked.
Jurgen Klinsmann arrived at Tottenham Hotspur with a reputation for hitting the deck a little too easily. Labelled a diver by many English football fans who were not overly enamoured with German national team players given the international rivalry, the striker swiftly responded to heckling audiences.
Scoring on his debut in a 4-3 win over Sheffield Wednesday, Klinsmann celebrated by diving in front of the home supporters. A memorable 20-goal Premier League season with Spurs started in style.
“I like to meditate. It makes me feel calm and gives me tranquility. This is why I sometimes celebrate like that when I score,” admitted Haaland when quizzed about his ‘Zen’ celebration in which he seats himself on the field and pretends to meditate.
If meditation is what’s required to perform at Haaland’s level, then plenty of strikers across the world need to lay down in a dark room with some soothing sounds and a few candles.
Sometimes the best celebrations are the simplest and, most importantly, the most impulsive. Such a celebration was offered up by Italian Marco Tardelli when scoring in the 1982 World Cup final, with the midfielder wheeling away with pure joy and crying “Go! Go!”
Subsequently nicknamed the ‘Tardelli Scream’, it epitomised what it must feel like to score on the biggest stage, in the biggest game of your professional career. Unbridled ecstasy.
Often players refuse to celebrate against their former employers, or they at the very least tone down their obvious happiness. There was zero chance of that happening when Emmanuel Adebayor netted for Manchester City against his old side Arsenal in 2009.
The Togo international ran the entire length of the pitch, bounding towards the visiting supporters and launching into a ferocious knee slide. Arsenal supporters had already been giving the striker stick but the away end swiftly exploded. A plastic chair was even thrown at Adebayor by travelling Gooners.
The sheer athleticism and flexibility of Lomana LuaLua was there for all to see when he got on the scoresheet. Most regularly seen at Fratton Park during his Portsmouth days, the Democratic Republic of Congo international would perform a series of jaw-dropping flips that would have given most players vertigo.
The celebration was so daring – and arguably foolish – that LuaLua actually injured himself performing it during a clash with Arsenal in 2006. LuaLua’s younger brother, Kazenga, also celebrated acrobatically during his career.
From a dangerous celebration to a disorientating one. Fabrizio Ravanelli quickly became renowned for how he marked his goals, lifting his shirt over his head and running wildly towards the crowd with his arms stretched wide.
Juventus, Marseille, Lazio and Middlesbrough fans were among those who got to witness his memorable celebration, and were almost certainly among those that performed it on a regular basis when stepping foot on the pitch themselves.
A celebration that stunned unassuming British football supporters during Bafetimbi Gomis’ stint with Swansea City, the striker celebrated his goals by crawling on the pitch, mouth wide open, like some sort of big cat.
Well, as it happens, that’s exactly what Gomis was going for, with his celebration inspired by former Saint-Etienne striker Salif Keita who was nicknamed ‘The Black Panther’.
If Eric Cantona was made of chocolate, he would have eaten himself long before donning a Manchester United shirt. That cockiness was embodied by his famous celebration against Sunderland in 1996 having just pulled off a ridiculous chip.
With his collar high, Cantona turned to the Old Trafford crowd and simply stood there, boasting an expression that said: “Did you really expect anything else?”
No Eric, no we didn’t.
Kylian Mbappe has had plenty of opportunities to perform a range of celebrations during his already illustrious career, but one has been served up more frequently than others.
The French forward, rather nonchalantly, folds his arms while facing an adoring or vexed crowd, tucking his hands beneath his armpits. However, the celebration was actually first performed by Mbappe’s brother, Ethan.
“[Ethan] scored a goal and celebrated by crossing his arms. Five minutes later, he stopped and said, ‘Kylian, you could do that in a match.’ So, I did it,” confessed the Real Madrid striker.
Thierry Henry employed a range of celebrations across a glistening career in which he regularly found himself on the scoresheet, but it was the celebration of a particularly iconic goal against bitter north London rivals Tottenham that was honoured by a statue outside Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
After scoring a sensational solo strike against Spurs in a 3-0 victory at Highbury, Henry celebrated by performing a knee slide with his fists clenched, head slightly down and chest tightened.
It’s since been immortalised in bronze.
Lionel Messi was a regular tormentor of Clasico rivals Real Madrid at Barcelona but he saved his most iconic celebration against the capital side for a milestone moment.
Having just scored a late winner during a 3-2 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu, Messi removed his shirt and held it up to the crowd, his name and number glaring at the furious Madrid faithful.
It was the Argentine’s 500th career goal and he celebrated in style. Few players could perform such a celebration and have the talent to back it up.
It’s often best to embrace the more embarrassing moments in your life, something Wayne Rooney exemplified in 2015.
After a video had been published which showed that the Manchester United striker had been knocked out during a friendly and booze-fuelled boxing session with former teammate Phil Bardsley, Rooney responded with his ‘K.O’ celebration after scoring against Tottenham Hotspur.
The England international did some air boxing before falling backwards to the turf dramatically. Fair play, Wayne.
Jimmy Bullard has become well-known and loved for his sense of humour post-retirement but his comedic timing was demonstrated during a clash with Man City in 2009.
Playing for Hull City at the time, the midfielder and his teammates had conceded four first-half goals to Man City during a trip to the Etihad, prompting manager Phil Brown to give his half-time team talk to the players on the pitch in front of supporters.
While Hull still lost 5-1, Bullard celebrated his second-half strike by sitting his teammates down and pretending to give them a good telling off.
The above picture shows that taking a still image of a goal celebration can be, well, unflattering. But Daniel Sturridge was proud of his celebration, most regularly seen at Liverpool when the striker would perform his signature dance in which he would wave his arms from side to side.
“I was there with my cousins one night and started doing the dance literally out of nothing, just fooling around. Then I was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this dance on Saturday if I score!’ It was a joke, but I did it,” said the striker.
A truly underappreciated footballer with an often under-appreciated celebration, Robbie Keane’s somersault, forward roll and gun fingers move was gymnastically beautiful and smooth as hell.
“The celebration was something I used to do as a kid. As a player, I always wanted to excite people and entertain them. Obviously, by scoring goals first and foremost, so yeah. The celebration just came after that,” said the Irish striker.
An exciting celebration indeed.
Peter Crouch has cemented his spot in the national treasure category post-retirement but he was always a footballer with tremendous character on the pitch too.
Of course, the lanky striker became synonymous with the ‘Robot’ and while not the inventor of the move, all 6’7 of him executed it with excellent precision.
Crouch performed the celebration fairly infrequently, first doing so against Hungary for England, and he saved it for special occasions – including his 100th Premier League strike in 2017.
In one of the Premier League’s most memorable matches – Man City’s 6-1 win over Man Utd at Old Trafford in 2011 – maverick and unpredictable Italian striker Mario Balotelli wrote his name into legend with two goals and a noteworthy celebration.
Having opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, Balotelli lifted up his Man City jersey to reveal a t-shirt that said: “Why always me?”
In terms of one-off celebrations, the Premier League hasn’t seen one more iconic than this, especially given the magnitude of the match it took place in.
“There were about nine of us who did the Dentist’s Chair in Hong Kong, but obviously, being the person I am, I’m the one who got hammered for it,” said Paul Gascoigne when speaking about his fabled Euro ’96 celebration.
“For some reason, in the second game against Scotland, I just said, ‘right guys, whoever scores does the Dentist’s Chair’ and fortunately for me, it was me.”
The story goes that during England’s pre-tournament tour of Asia, a number of players were strapped to chairs and filled with booze. Fortunately, it was only Lucozade in the bottle that was sprayed at Gazza as he lay flailing on his back after a sensational strike against the Scots.
If you haven’t seen, heard or been subjected to Cristiano Ronald’s famous ‘Siuuu’ celebration, then where have you been for the last decade?
One of the greatest players to have ever played the game with millions of fans across the world, Ronaldo’s celebration naturally caught on when he first performed it at Real Madrid. The Portuguese, who still uses the same celebration today, sprinted to the corner flag before jumping, turning and screaming ‘Siuuu’.
Simply Spanish for the word ‘yes’, the elongated and humorous nature of his outburst will forever live on – in meme format at the very least.
Celebrations have grown increasingly more common and elaborate since the turn of the 21st century and it’s arguably Roger Milla that we have to thank for the phenomenon.
The Cameroonian performed one of the first proper celebrations at the 1990 World Cup, honouring his four goals at the tournament by dancing round the corner flag with glee.
The legendary 38-year-old helped Cameroon reach the quarter-final of the World Cup with some exceptional displays, and some even more iconic celebrations.
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