Art, obsession, and identity
Superstition plays a role in all sports and soccer is not immune. The sport has its fair share of historical curses that still haunt players and fans, alike. Bizarre stories include burying black cats, mystical jersey numbers that are doomed to provoke career flops, and even consultations with witch doctors to lift a team's bad luck. Soccer’s rich history is filled with stories like these. In this gallery, we’ll feature some of the most infamous curses of all that seem rather convincing.
Curious to find out more? Click through the gallery.
In November 1969, Australia's national team, known as the Socceroos, made their way to Mozambique to qualify for the 1970 World Cup. Australia was already confident in their qualification, but both games they played were draws.
This meant that the Australian team had to play a third game in order to qualify. A local journalist in Mozambique suggested the team may need esoteric assistance. The journalist encouraged the team to visit a witch doctor to place a curse on their rivals.
The team took the journalist’s advice. The witch doctor gave the team instructions: on the eve of the match, they should bury bones close to the goal post, placing a curse on their rivals.
The Australian team won the match, but as they were set to leave Mozambique, the witch doctor demanded US$1,000 for the services provided. This didn’t sit well with the Socceroos, and they refused to pay.
For their refusal to pay the witch doctor, the curse was reversed, targeting them instead. From that moment on, according to the "Godfather of Australian soccer," Johnny Warren, “everything went wrong for the team.”
Australia suffered unbelievable losses in the World Cups to follow. Decades later, following Australia’s disappearance from international soccer, a television producer, John Safran (pictured), interviewed Warren. Safran was convinced there may be something behind the mystical curse.
Safran traveled to Mozambique, meeting witch doctors to identify how to lift the curse. Safran was subjected to a number of rituals, which sought to channel the spirit of the original witch doctor who had cursed the team. Exactly one year later, Australia qualified for its first World Cup in 32 years.
Manchester United carries a curse of its own, this time tied to a jersey number. The team’s number seven jersey has brought disappointment to all of its bearers since soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo left the team.
In addition to Ronaldo, the jersey number has been worn by soccer legends such as Eric Cantona (pictured) and David Beckham. Perhaps it is the high expectations that come with the number that bring its players such bad luck.
When Memphis Depay joined the team and took the number, fans began calling him “the next Ronaldo.” Depay crumbled under the pressure, ultimately leaving the team 18 months later due to his poor performance. But Depay wasn’t the only one.
Antonio Valencia (pictured) took the jersey number in 2012, only to go back to his ‘25’ jersey, deeming the number seven bad luck. Angel Di Maria, another player who had a great deal of potential, only lasted a year. Chilean football player, Alexis Sanchez, also fell victim to cursed seven.
Sanchez, deemed the Premier League’s highest earner after securing a contract with Manchester United in 2022, was hailed as “one of the best attacking players in the world,” according to then-team manager Jose Mourinho. Yet, Sanchez was a flop at Manchester United while sporting the seven jersey.
Another bizarre tale from soccer history takes place in Argentina. In 1967, the Intercontinental Cup winners, Racing Club (pictured), were cursed when rival fans from the Independiente club buried seven dead black cats in their stadium.
While the team managed to recover six of the seven cats, the seventh remained missing for decades. The team was unable to reproduce the success it had achieved in the 1960s, further flopping in the 1970s and 1980s, before eventually declaring bankruptcy in 1998.
A year following the team’s bankruptcy declaration, a last attempt was made to lift the curse. In front of more than 100,000 people, a priest performed an exorcism to rid the team of the curse.
Two years after the public exorcism, the last cat was found buried in the stadium. In a wild plot twist, just months after the last cat was identified and removed, Racing won its first Argentinian title since 1966.
Back to the United Kingdom for the next curse, this time 86 miles (138 km) north of Manchester. Birmingham City built their St. Andrew stadium on Roma land. According to the legend, the Roma community placed a 100-year curse on the team in 1906 due to this.
From the very first game played in the stadium, things were already murky. The kickoff was delayed by over an hour due to intense snow storms. Setting the tone for what was to come in terms of bad luck, the team was relegated that season.
Years later, during the Second World War, the stadium’s main stand burned down, resulting in a massive bill for the repairs and removal of the waste and contamination caused by the fire.
The club, failing to win any major titles, began to take drastic measures. The club’s former manager, Ron Saunders (pictured), put up crucifixes on the stadium’s floodlights in an attempt to lift the curse.
In 2006, 100 years after the curse had been issued, the team was relegated once again. However, five years later, Birmingham City finally achieved victory in the League Cup, winning its first major title.
“Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champion,” angrily claimed former Hungarian coach to the Portuguese team, Béla Guttman, after being sacked.
In 1962, after managing to achieve Benfica’s second consecutive European Cup win, Guttman asked the team’s management for a 65% pay raise. Benfica’s management refused.
Despite making it to the European finals eight times since then, the team has never won. Many attribute the team’s inability to claim their championship as a result of Guttman’s curse.
Guttman was certainly known for his personality and controversial behavior. A Holocaust survivor, the Hungarian coach was a former dancer before becoming a football player.
Coaching several teams in Europe and South America, he was fired from AC Milan in 1953 after going head-to-head with the club’s board. At that time, he claimed he was fired despite not being “a criminal nor a homosexual.”
After his loud goodbye from the Italian team, Guttman moved to another Southern European nation, managing Portugal’s FC Porto, before moving on to coaching Benfica.
It was under his leadership that the team won its first-ever European Cup. During his second season with the team, he continued his controversial reputation by choosing to fire 20 of Benfica’s most senior players.
It is due to Guttman’s leadership that Eusebio, a young Mozambican soccer prodigy, became one of Portugal’s most famous soccer players. Eusebio joined Benfica and Guttman is credited with creating a path for the player’s success.
In 1990, on the eve of Benfica vs AC Milan’s European Cup final in Vienna, Eusebio visited Guttman’s grave, begging Guttman's spirit to lift the curse. Unfortunately, the team lost that final, too.
Sources: (On This Day) (Goal) (ABC News) (Sports Illustrated)
See also: The Royal Shrovetide: an ancient version of soccer with (almost) no rules
The most famous curses in soccer history
Black cats and witch doctors included
LIFESTYLE Sports
Superstition plays a role in all sports and soccer is not immune. The sport has its fair share of historical curses that still haunt players and fans, alike. Bizarre stories include burying black cats, mystical jersey numbers that are doomed to provoke career flops, and even consultations with witch doctors to lift a team's bad luck. Soccer’s rich history is filled with stories like these. In this gallery, we’ll feature some of the most infamous curses of all that seem rather convincing.
Curious to find out more? Click through the gallery.