A Virtual Tour of Football’s Most Iconic Goal Celebrations
A List of the Most Iconic Goal Celebrations in Football History
We all love to see our favourite players score big out on the pitch - especially when goal celebrations get creative.
Join us on a trip down memory lane as we take a look at the most iconic goal celebrations of all-time!
Robbie Fowler’s controversial goal celebration at the 1999 Merseyside Derby
They say that the feeling of ecstasy experienced when scoring a goal is incomparable.
Former England winger and self-styled mullet man Chris Waddle once claimed that scoring was better than sex, whilst his ex-England and Tottenham teammate Gary Lineker recently admitted he had forgotten how to do both!
One thing that most of us can agree on is that whatever the level - whether in the schoolyard, on the boggy, sodden, Sunday league marshes, or playing on the carpet-like canvas of a Premier League pitch - we can all appreciate the irrepressible urge to celebrate scoring goals, its one of the things fans love about the worlds favourite sport.
How would you celebrate? Are you the cool, understated type, or an uncontrollable, crowd-surfing maniac?
Join us on a virtual tour of football’s most popular goal celebrations - with examples of the cult heroes who made them so iconic!
The Shirt-Twirler
This celebration is a source of mild frustration if you’re a manager, given that players removing their shirts can trigger an automatic yellow card.
But who cares? We all have our own favourite memory of a goal that was so good it prompted a player to whip their shirt off in a frenzied blur of unbridled passion.
You would assume a player had a certain amount of confidence to readily expose their body whilst swinging their shirt around their head, but these are moments of elation that make you lose all sense of normality.
It would be easy to suggest that players who celebrate in this way are exhibitionists, desperately wanting to show off their immaculately honed physique, but usually, a reaction of this kind is a consequence of a hugely significant goal.
Here are three players who did the Shirt-Twirl best.
1. Sergio Aguero
Who could forget “Aguerrrrooooo” scoring in the dying seconds of the 2012 Premier League season? The campaign was one of the most dramatic ends to a season in the Premier League’s 31-year history.
City snatched their first top-flight title in 44 years as Aguero - possibly the calmest person in the stadium - sold a dummy and slammed home the winner with 93 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock.
Seeing the Manchester City forward swinging his shirt above his head and celebrating in front of a sea of sky blue with the commentator yelling “Aguerrrrooooooo” will live long in the memory of fans.
2. Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs’ solo effort after a mesmerising slalom through the usually miserly Arsenal defence in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final was masterful, and it prompted another passionate torso reveal.
Players seem to love taking their shirt off and Giggs’ hairy chest - whether we like it or not - is now an iconic FA Cup memory.
You could say Giggs’ goal was poetry in motion, but it is probably not appropriate to mention Giggs and poetry in the same sentence.
3. Chloe Kelly
Chloe Kelly was another worthy addition to the shirt-twirler during the Summer of 2022.
The super sub fired the Lionesses to glory against Germany in the European Championship final, thus following the familiar pattern of celebrating a momentous goal of historic importance in this way as it was England’s first major trophy in 56 years.
Other notable mentions include follicly gifted L’Oréal ambassador and Spurs and Newcastle maverick, David Ginola, who was quick to whip his top off after a ‘worldy’ against Barnsley in the 1999 FA Cup.
There’s also ‘The White Feather’, Fabrizio Ravanelli, who technically did not remove his shirt, but he treated Middlesbrough fans to a ‘shirt over the head’ celebration thirty-one times during the 96/97 Premier League season.
The Standard
This goal celebration is for those who just don’t care about anything but scoring.
No extravagant dance moves, no strutting, flipping or posturing - they prefer to punctuate a goal with a good old-fashioned fist pump or hold their arm aloft whilst wheeling away in jubilation.
Here are the three players who are most notable for ‘The Standard’ goal celebration.
1. Alan Shearer
Whether it is through sheer (or Shearer…) repetition owing to the hundreds of goals scored, or through its glorious simplicity, the image of the Geordie forward, full tilt, head down and arm above his head has become so iconic that it prompted the erection of a statue outside St. James’ Park displaying the very same pose!
Alan Shearer unveils his statue outside St. James’ Park, Newcastle
2. Gary Lineker
Very similar to Shearer, Lineker was a goal scorer who was not preoccupied with how he would celebrate doing what he does best.
Sometimes single arm, sometimes both arms aloft, it was about as extravagant as it got. Standard.
3. Harry Kane
Harry Kane is also an advocate of this type of celebration. Although Kane does add a little jump to his rather understated fist pump, these guys care about one thing and one thing only - and that is scoring.
There are far too many other players to mention who mark their goals in this way. Nevertheless, we applaud all the standard celebrators.
The Acrobat
Football has had its share of these show-offs who love nothing more than to channel their inner gymnasts.
Here are the top three tricky tumblers.
1. Lomana LuaLua
A few have tried to replicate LuaLua’s moves with similar tumbles and flips, including players like Rooney and Robbie Keane, but they were not executed with the same dynamism and did not quite reach the heights (literally) that LuaLua managed.
Those two only managed a modest cartwheel of sorts. Robbie Keane would cartwheel and then do what you could call a safe forward roly-poly before a finger-point-come-gun salute.
LuaLua, on the other hand, would complete several back-flips before a gravity-defying final somersault. Mightily impressive.
2. Nani
The former Man Utd winger may have been in his Portuguese teammate Ronaldo’s shadow in terms of playing, but not in the celebration stakes.
Nani loved to show his athletic, gymnastic prowess after scoring a goal. He scored 25 goals for Man Utd, that’s a lot of air time!
3. Peter Beagrie
The other goalscorers in this category are just pretenders to the throne (or pommel horse…), as one of the original high-flying flippers was tricky winger Peter Beagrie.
The Middlesbrough-born man who played for no fewer than 11 clubs raised the (uneven) bar, vaulting his way through a career that saw him take to the floor and run rings around the opposition 670 times.
Okay, let’s stop with the gymnastic references…
There have been acrobats all over the world, and too many to mention them all, but other notable tumblers in the world of football include Germany’s prolific international forward Miroslav Klose, and former Dortmund, Arsenal and Barcelona hot-shot Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Controversial
These are the players who just do not care about the consequences of their celebrations. The headline makers.
Apparently, every genius has a touch of madness and with that, we look at three players who courted controversy while celebrating a goal.
1. Paul Gascoigne
Controversy and Gazza were never far apart in the nineties - and any other decade if truth be told - with incident and drama sticking to him much more than any opposition player he faced.
His most controversial goal celebration is a moment that England fans will remember for years.
That sublime finish against Scotland in Euro 96, watching the ball carefully drop over his shoulder, flicking it over an onrushing Colin Hendry with his left foot, to then execute the perfect right-foot volley into the net was a perfect sample of the man’s genius.
He then gestured to his teammates to recreate the infamous ‘Dentist Chair’ capers that had dominated the back pages of the tabloids and blighted the preparations of the squad before the tournament.
The likes of Teddy Sheringham, Gazza and Steve McManaman had all been drinking to excess during a trip to Hong Kong, with bartenders pouring drinks and spirits into the open mouths of the players, who had seen the trip as an opportunity to let their hair (and their guard) down.
Gascoigne was hurt by the press coverage and wanted to exact revenge on the tabloids who had labelled him a ‘drunken oaf.’
2. Robbie Fowler
Another game that often has pulses racing and tempers flaring is the Merseyside Derby.
Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler chose to wear a plaster across the bridge of his nose to help his breathing, but he could have done with taking a few more deep breaths before deciding to celebrate a penalty against Everton in the manner that he did.
It was April 1999 and with unfounded allegations from Everton fans of drug-taking, Fowler decided that he would hit back by sticking a penalty away and subsequently getting on all fours to sniff the white line of the pitch, mocking the allegations that he claimed dogged his reputation and affected his family.
A four-game ban was issued and came in addition to the two-game ban he had received only a month earlier for homophobic taunts he made towards Chelsea defender Graeme Le Saux.
3. Jurgen Klinsmann
Jurgen arrived in England with a ‘diving’ tag following some theatrical performances in previous international tournaments.
Scoring a goal on his debut gave him the perfect opportunity to respond to the detractors.
With a wonderful back post header away at Sheffield Wednesday, he ran across to the fans and performed a sprawling dive in mid-air with arms outstretched as though an opposition defender had felled him.
It may have been viewed as controversial initially, but it showed a humorous side to the German star and broke the ice with English fans.
This genre is not short on suitable examples - many will also remember Emmanuel Adebayor using that rangy stride to leg it the entire length of the pitch just to slide on his knees and goad the fans of his former team Arsenal after scoring for Manchester City.
Many saw the act as disrespectful, causing a large proportion of Arsenal fans to lose their mind (and coins, bottles and anything else they could throw that was close to hand).
The ‘Look At Me’
We know who we are talking about here, don’t we? The footballing peacocks, the mavericks, the enigmas.
Never would these players be called shrinking violets in their school report. Here are the top three ‘Look at Me’ candidates.
1. Eric Cantona
The enigmatic Frenchman was not short on moments of genius that were followed by some posturing in front of the crowd.
But after scoring a sublime chip against Sunderland in 1996, cult footballer Cantona decided to turn slowly like he was on a rotating pedestal, allowing each corner of the stadium a moment to appreciate his brilliance.
2. Ronaldo
Another former Man Utd number seven currently holds one of the most identifiable celebrations in football, Ronaldo’s ‘Siiiiuuuuu.’
The celebration is a leap which incorporates a 180-degree turn whilst throwing his hands down by his side upon landing, all while shouting ‘Siiuuu.’
Yelling the word ‘Siiiuuu’ is a development of the word ‘Si’, the Spanish word for ‘yes’. If you are one of the world’s best footballers, you can get away with such self-indulgence.
However, fans recreating it outside a stadium is cringe-worthy - and if you ever see parents watching through the gaps in their fingers in embarrassment on a Sunday morning, it is possible they’ve just witnessed their child copy it.
3. Wayne Rooney
A hat-trick of proud Man Utd peacocks.
Wayne Rooney, normally full of fire and aggression, simply threw open his arms and threw back his head as he stood in a corner of Old Trafford, milking the applause as he’d just executed one of the best goals witnessed in the Premier League.
The bicycle kick scored against neighbours Manchester City was worthy of self-indulgence.
Other players that have displayed the ‘Look at me’ goal celebration include Ian Wright, who loved to outstretch both arms with a proud chest puffed out, and Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who needs no introduction.
Anyone who refers to themselves in the third person and is recognisable by first name only is doing a good job in terms of self-promotion!
The Humorous
Every team has a joker, the class clown who always has something in their locker to amuse the rest of the squad.
These are the top three humorous goal celebrations.
1. Peter Crouch
We all know that Peter Crouch was fantastic in the air during his playing days, but he was technically very adept and scored plenty of goals throughout his career, too.
This gave him many opportunities to display a unique goal celebration, and boy was his celebration unique.
Crouch is said to have performed the robot dance during a party hosted by David Beckham and agreed that if he were to score days later in a game for England against Hungary, he would perform the move.
He did so and kept his promise, and the celebration became so iconic, he even ended up sheepishly performing it in front of Prince William who visited the England squad as they prepared for the World Cup in 2006.
2. FC Stjarnan players
Many of these goal celebrations are as inventive as they are funny!
One that exemplifies this is the Icelandic side FC Stjarnan whose ‘fishing’ scene went viral.
After scoring, one player pretended to cast his line out to catch a fish, with another player expertly flapping across the turf like a fish out of water, with their teammates then proudly holding him horizontally for an imaginary photograph.
More catch of the day, than match of the day.
3. Jimmy Bullard
Bullard is no stranger to comedic situations, as we have seen on television since his playing days.
He took the chance to take the proverbial out of then Hull manager Phil Brown, who was once so incensed with his side’s performance that he humiliated them by giving his half-time team talk out on the pitch.
After netting an equaliser against Man City, Bullard proceeded to sit his teammates down in front of him and wag his finger at them, just as his boss had done the previous season at the same stadium.
The Best of the Rest
We couldn’t just leave it there, could we? There are players who have had brilliantly memorable celebrations but do not fit into the confines of these genres.
So, here are the unforgettable ones that a worthy of mention.
The Aeroplane
Jan Aage Fjortoft, the Nordic net-buster, made the aeroplane celebration his own whilst playing for clubs that included Swindon, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Utd and Barnsley.
The Baby
A heart-warming moment was captured during the 1994 World Cup as Bebeto celebrated the arrival of his third child by cradling his arms along with teammate Romario and swinging them from side to side following a quarter-final goal against Holland.
The Panther Walk
Bafetimbi Gomis terrifyingly prowled towards the camera after each goal and even once - whilst playing for Saudi side Al-Hilal - scared a ball boy who jumped off his stool in fear as Gomis moved towards him on all fours.
The Shimmy
Both Man Utd pin-up Lee Sharpe and 125-year-old, ahem sorry, 71-year-old Cameroon legend Roger Milla showcased the shimmy at the corner flag. We’ll let you decide who did it best.
The Boxer
Tim Cahill loved to practise his hand speed and punching prowess on an unsuspecting corner flag.
The Aussie and Everton midfielder was a big boxing fan, not sure he would fancy himself against Big Duncan Ferguson, though.
We hope these examples have evoked pleasant memories of past players. Why not tell us about the goal celebrations you loved the most? We’d love to hear your favourites in the comments.
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