It is near impossible to watch a soccer match where at least one of the players doesn’t end up in tears. For a sport that portrays such strength and resilience, people are often in awe at the emotional response it brings out and wonder why soccer players cry.
- Love for the Game
- They Won the Match
- They Lost The Match
- Realization of a Mistake
- A Significant/Historic Moment
- An Injury
- Abuse by Fans
- Fan Support
- Elimination
- Sympathy or Manipulation
Table of Contents
- 1. Love For The Game
- 2. They Won The Match
- 3. They Lost The Match
- 4. Realization Of A Mistake
- 5. Significant/Historic Moment
- 6. An Injury
- 7. Abuse By Fans
- 8. Fan Support
- 9. Getting Benched
- 10. Sympathy Or Manipulation
1. Love For The Game
Soccer players quickly get emotional over the game because of their deep love for it. For players, soccer is their passion, life, career, dream, and love. Most circumstances around the game will make them emotional, for example:
- Singing the national anthem
- Getting recognition
- Completing a match
- Seeing the growth and success of themselves or their team.
- Watching or hearing others express love for the game, them, or their team.
2. They Won The Match
Winning a soccer game is a joyful moment. It brings soccer players immense happiness, gratitude, and excitement. All these emotions, combined with the love from family, friends, fans, teammates, and the natural energy of the situation, are highly overwhelming for players.
When soccer players win a match or a senior competition like the World Cup, and they realize that or finally see that and get their trophy, you will often see them cry tears of joy. Crying is a natural reaction to overwhelming happiness, and soccer players clearly portray that.
3. They Lost The Match
Losing a soccer game is heartbreaking, especially with many fans rooting for you and believing in the team. Losing can also affect your career and how people see you if the loss is due to a wrong move. Many soccer players experience this, which is expected in any competitive match.
However, when a team loses, the soccer players feel the loss deeply. They also take it personally. And a natural reaction to feeling failure is sadness. Soccer players allow their sadness to show through their ability to express themselves through crying.
We see how Christiano Ronaldo breaks down in tears at Portugal’s defeat against Morocco in the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finals. Watch this emotional moment for the popular player as he walks off the field in the following video.
4. Realization Of A Mistake
A sudden awareness of a mistake sometimes causes soccer players to burst into tears on the field during or after a game (specifically after a loss). A mistake can brutally affect the outcome of a match, and a soccer player who is conscious of their mistake can end up in tears.
Examples of mistakes that bring on tears in soccer players:
- Touching the ball with hands
- Hurting another player
- Scoring an own goal
- Foul play
- Missing the ball that results in the benefit of the opponents.
5. Significant/Historic Moment
Situations in soccer that result in significant and historical moments can make soccer players incredibly emotional. Some examples of these moments are:
- Winning an important match like a club tournament or World Cup competition.
- Winning a game that decides a player’s career in the future of soccer.
- Making a move (like scoring, saving, or handling the ball well) shows professionalism and competence.
Two beautiful situations of this caliber emerged from the latest 2022 FIFA World Cup, and they were:
- After scoring a hat trick, Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot for bringing France back into the game in the second half of the match at the World Cup Final. Mbappe might have also cried due to their defeat, but his personal win was significant, beautiful, and emotional.
- Morocco was the first African team that makes it to the semi-finals. They won against Portugal and Spain. It was one of the biggest historic World Cup wins, and the players, their loved ones, fans, and viewers worldwide all welled up with tears of pride and joy.
6. An Injury
An injury during a sports match like soccer is not a small thing. Players can get hurt without having trouble carrying on with the game, but sometimes the injury is slightly worse. This can cause a soccer player to cry for two reasons:
- They are hurt, and the pain is unbearable.
- They are deeply upset about being out of the game due to the injury.
7. Abuse By Fans
Abuse by fans can be catastrophic for soccer players. A huge part of their self-esteem and support lies in their fans. When they get abused for any reason, it can genuinely upset a soccer player and make him emotional.
Sometimes the abuse is because of a mistake they made, the loss of a match, an attack on their character, appearance, country, team, or even racial abuse. Any kind of hurtful comment can be detrimental to a player’s confidence and struggles, and that can cause them to cry.
8. Fan Support
Support from fans causes players to cry just as much, if not more, than fan abuse. The support from fans and viewers means so much to soccer players and their teams. It encourages them to train harder and focus on winning, and the outpouring of love, support, and praise gets them emotional.
9. Getting Benched
If a player gets benched before or after a game, it is common to find them shedding a few tears. Here are a few reasons getting benched makes them emotional:
- The player feels left out or upset they are not getting the recognition they want or deserve.
- If the team loses, they may feel hurt that they could have helped to change that.
- If the team wins, they may feel like they are not entirely a part of that win.
- They may feel embarrassed, angry, or unfair if they get benched during a game.
10. Sympathy Or Manipulation
Sometimes and in specific situations, you may find a soccer player crying as a form of overreaction to foul play, falling, getting hurt, etc. This is a tactic they use to gain the sympathy of fans, but primarily the referee to try and get a benefit towards their team or themselves.
Manipulating the referee’s decision by crying can get the referee to give an opponent a yellow or red card or even call for a penalty or free kick. This is undoubtedly unprofessional; however, it does exist in soccer.
