Soccer Quotes

Browse these inspirational soccer quotes to help motivate and accelerate your game!

With the popularity of soccer rising in the U.S., it’s always motivating to look back at what the greats have said about the sport.

If you are a coach or parent, use these quotes to inspire and motivate your player or players. Words can be super powerful. Motivation coupled with action can make a player unstoppable.

Here is a collection of our favorite soccer quotes for all ages!

Inspirational Soccer Quotes

“You can overcome anything if, and only if, you love something enough.” – Lionel Messi

“Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it.” – Mia Hamm

“Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits and get on with trying to win.” – Lionel Messi

“When you win, you don’t get carried away. But if you go step by step, with confidence, you can go far.” – Diego Maradona

“In football (soccer), the result is an impostor. You can do things really, really well but not win. There’s something greater than the result, more lasting — a legacy.” – Xavi

“All good athletes make mistakes; the great ones learn to make that mistake only once.” – Raul Lopez

“Play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they will remember the name on the back.” – Tony Adams

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pelé

“Life is full of regrets, but it doesn’t pay to look back.” – Zinedine Zidane

“Surround yourself with good people. Surround yourself with positivity and people who are going to challenge you to make you better. If you just kind of let yourself stay alone and be by yourself, the negative, it is just not going to help you. You can control two things, your work ethic and your attitude about anything.” – Ali Krieger

“Keep dreaming, even when people laugh at your dreams or tell you that they are impossible to achieve. Keep believing in yourself.” – Tobin Heath

“A champion is someone who does not settle for that day’s practice, that day’s competition, that day’s performance. They are always striving to be better. They don’t live in the past.” – Briana Scurry

Before kids can play like a pro, they must enjoy playing the game like a kid.” – Steve Locker

“You owe it to yourself to be the best you can be.” – Christian Pulisic

“Soccer is simple. You just need to have the right mentality, fighting in every game, in every practice, and for every ball.” – Hristo Stoichkov

Keep working even when no one is watching.” – Alex Morgan

“I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.” – Abby Wambach

“I’ve never tried to hide the fact that it is my intention to become the best.” – Cristiano Ronaldo

“Talent without working hard is nothing.” – Cristiano Ronaldo

“Many people say I’m the best women’s soccer player in the world. I don’t think so. And because of that, someday I just might be.” – Mia Hamm

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pele

“All goalscorers go on droughts. It is how you cope with that. And it is not just about scoring, it is about what you bring to the team, bringing others into play and getting assists.” – Harry Kane

“Everything in my life has happened very early, personally and professionally. I’m always learning: I have to.” – Neymar Jr.

“There is no pressure when you are making a dream come true.” – Neymar Jr.

“Take the risk, or lose the chance.” – Eden Hazard

“I don’t have time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my job as a hobby. It’s something I love doing.” – David Beckham

“Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.” — Johan Cruyff

“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” – Pelé

“Good soccer players need not be titans sculpted by Michelangelo. In soccer, ability is much more important than shape, and in many cases, skill is the art of turning limitations into virtues.” – Eduardo Galeano

“It needs time. Nobody wants to hear it, but that’s the truth: if you want to have success in the future, you have to be ready to work now.” – Jurgen Klopp

“I don’t need the best hairstyle or the best body. Just give me a ball at my feet, and I’ll show you what I can do.” – Lionel Messi

“I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, improve, and evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans but also to feel satisfied with myself. It is my conviction that there are no limits to learning and that it can never stop, no matter what our age.” – Cristiano Ronaldo

Motivational Soccer Quotes

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

“The hard days are what make you stronger.” ―Aly Raisman

“Dreams don’t work unless you do.” – John C. Maxwell

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“I now tried a new hypothesis: It was possible that I was more in charge of my happiness than I was allowing myself to be.” ―Michelle Obama

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” –  John D. Rockefeller

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke

“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill

“No one is to blame for your future situation but yourself. If you want to be successful, then become ‘Successful.’” – Jaymin Shah

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” – Bruce Lee

“Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.” – Mark Cuban

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” – Muhammad Ali

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

“Never regret anything that made you smile.” ―Mark Twain

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm” – Winston Churchill

“Doubt is a killer. You just have to know who you are and what you stand for. “ – Jennifer Lopez

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

“I didn’t get there by wishing for it, but by working for it.” – Estée Lauder

“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.” – Warren Buffett

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan

“Unsuccessful people make their decisions based on their current situations. Successful people make their decisions based on where they want to be.” – Benjamin Hardy

“The big secret in life is that there is no secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.” – Oprah Winfrey

“To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It’s not about winning and losing; it’s about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It’s about embracing the pain that you’ll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.” – Summer Sanders

“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin

“Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard, then succeed on purpose.” – G.K. Nielson

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

“Do the best you can. No one can do more than that.” – John Wooden

“There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you.” – Derek Jeter

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.” – Richard Branson

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson

“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited about what could go right.” – Tony Robbins

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – J.K. Rowling