Football is one of the best games that attract a lot of attention, wide media coverage, glory and a lot of money. In fact, football is becoming like a religion where some people are prepared to die for their teams. You become happy when your favourite football club or national team wins a match but become very sad when they lose the match.
There could be times you were able to predict the outcome of any football match and it may happen exactly as predicted but the question is, are there some lessons to learn from football, AFCON, Premier leagues, La Liga, World Cup Matches, etc.
In this article, I will take you through some top 40 amazing lessons to learn from these international matches. Kindly share your views and experience with us when done reading.
Top 40 Inspirational Lessons To Learn From Football, AFCON And World Cup Matches
- The success of football requires frequent training
You cannot sleep and wake up and start working out magic on the field of play. Football requires frequent training otherwise, you may lose your skills. Individual training is as important as a group training as a team. You can train on your own but perform abysmally when in a team. Group training as a team is as important as individual training.
- You have equal opportunities
Regardless of any condition that may prevent you and your team from winning, know that you all have equal opportunities on the field of play. No team is allowed to play with more players than the other team. It largely depends on the efforts you put in to win.
- It’s not all over until the referee says it’s over
In football, you may be leading or knocked down with many balls in your net but it doesn’t matter so long as the final whistle is not blown yet. The game is not over until the referee says so. Many teams were able to redeem their image and win within the last few minutes to end of regulation. Don’t give up so soon in life. Until your final whistle is blown to go on retirement or taken away by death, know that you still have the chance to win.
- Shoot on target
In football, you don’t just throw your legs and kick the ball. When shooting, make sure you shoot on target and that is likely to fetch you some luck. Sometimes, you get angry and rain insults on players because they just kicked the ball and you could tell the ball has no direction near the target area.
- Work with the rules of the games
You are not going to succeed if you are not ready to apply the rules of the game. The referee is there to ensure that the game is played and rules applied to ensure fairness on the pitch. The yellow and red cards will be flashed to warn or kick you out if you go contrary to the rules.
- Greater ball possession doesn’t make a win
Have you realized that most of the teams that lose their matches had the greater part of the ball possessions? Ball possessions do not necessarily win a match until they are converted into opportunities and chances to win. You have to create opportunities from those many possessions and shoot on target.
Read Also: 10 Ways To Know You Are A Blessing To People
- Football requires team work
No matter how skillful and talented you are, you need the efforts and assistance of your other players. You cannot play a game of football all alone. It is a team work. Learn to work as a team. You complement each other in a team.
- Every player is important and has a role to play
One of the important lessons in the game of football is that every player is very important and has a role to play. Most of the times, people pay attention to the roles of the top strikers or scorers but forget that the defender, goalkeeper, midfielder, etc. all have to do their job for the team to win. No player is important than the other.
- Have a backup plan (Reserved players)
Here is another important lesson to learn from the game of football. You need a backup plan, thus reserved players on the bench. Your best players can get injured before the end of the first half and you need a perfect replacement for them.
- Rest when tired
In the game of football, you cannot be productive when you are tired on the field of play. All spectators and your fans will surely know that you are tired. Sometimes, you need to signal your coach for a change if you are too tired or hurt to carry on. And during the short break, ensure that you rest to regain some energy to continue.
- Don’t be distracted by the crowd or spectators
There have been times that football players paid attention to the songs, the criticisms, praises, insults and names calling from the crowd and this affected their moods and eventually messed up on the field of play. You cannot concentrate on the distractions of life and win a match. The best thing to do is to shut your ears to the distractive comments by the crowd.
- You need someone to coach you in life
Your coach may know better and may be more experienced than you are. He may be trained and well informed than you. If you are going to win the match, then you need to listen to your coach. Avoid those too knowing attitudes and listen to the strategies of your coach. It will assist you and your team.
- Take advantage – counter attacks on your opponent’s mistakes
One single mistake of your opponent and refusing to score you should be your greatest opportunity to score them rather. You need to counter attack your opponents and take advantage of their mistakes to punish them.
- Create chances and opportunities
Your ability to create chances and opportunities can essentially amount to the success you make in winning a game. You either create and win or you waste the entire time and lose. Creativity is an important element in winning a game in life.
- Your speed to outrun your opponents are very important
You need speed and accuracy and sound judgment on the field of play to make some decisions. Your ability to outrun your opponents and score is advantage over them.
Enjoy This Rib Cracking Joke: The Funny Old Woman Giving A Pastor Direction, You Can’t Stop Laughing
- Great skill and talent are required for a win
Talent is good but adding skill is better. Continual training adds some skill to your talents to make you a great player. Without acquiring the necessary skills in life, you may not make the most out of your natural talent.
- Football requires work with happiness
To some people, your profession as a footballer is an entertainment and source of happiness to someone. Learn to work in happiness in life. You have to be serious in life but know when to play for fun and when to play for a fee.
- You need stamina
Football requires tenacity. You need the stamina to run and work within your pacing. Without these, expect no better results.
- You have be creative
Most valuable players are not those who can just run after the football but those who exhibit great skills and are very creative at working out opportunities for victory. Learn to be creative in your field of business. Don’t do the same thing over and over again with the same old methods. Learn to vary your methods and you may be amazed about the results.
- You need high level of thinking and calculations
The game of football demands thinking and making mental calculations of distance to shoot and many other things. It requires rapid work. It is those who are able to think within micro seconds that do real business and work out the magic for the success for the entire team.
- One person’s fortune or mistake affects the whole team
Know that you are not born to live on an island. You are born into a community, to live and work with people. Football requires a teamwork. Your mistake or fortune affects the entire team. Be careful how you go about your life.
- Don’t build a team around only one key player
Those who build the entire team around one key player get disappointed when that player is hurt or fallen sick. You must learn to develop other people also. There is the importance of having a substitute player. Learn to have a backup plan in life.
- Playing or moving backwards may not be a retrogression or failure
The game of football teaches us a very important lesson in life. That is to say that moving backward may not necessarily mean that you are retrogressing in life. It could be a strategy for victory. Never be discouraged if you see yourself moving backwards sometimes in life instead of moving forward.
- There is a referee in every game of life
God, who is the maker of your destiny, is watching and directing every action of His children in order not to fall into traps. In like manner, there is supposedly a “referee” that oversees everything you do in life. It could be your boss, teachers, pastors, friends and loved ones.
- You will be flashed out if you don’t pay attention to warning cards
In a game of football, you can’t be too smart and beat the system. You will be shown the yellow card as a warning and further noncompliance with the rules will lead to being shown the exit by being shown the red card. In order to succeed in life. You must learn to work according to the rules of the game.
- Your success and failure affects many people
Everyone becomes happy when you win and sad when you lose. People even die out of shock when you perform abysmally on the field of play. People’s businesses may collapse and others lose great fortunes through the failure of a whole team. Surprisingly, some people even lose their marriages. In like manner, your success can also put great smiles on the faces of people.
Don’t Miss This: Best 100 Inspirational Bible Verses
- Your appearance represents a whole nation
Know that in football, you do not represent yourself. Do not think that you are doing your own thing. Know that you are working but representing a whole nation, a group interest and lot of people you may never come across in this world. Do not disappoint people. Learn to improve and have a good image of those you represent.
- Know that you do not win all the time
One of the important things you have to know is that you cannot win all the time. There may be a draw one day and there could be a total lose one day too. Whatever be the case, learn to do well in your next game for a win.
- You do not have time and the whole day
You are working with time and you must learn to make the most out of the time given you. Once you waste the time, you lose the opportunity of having a point on the score sheets.
- Take the risk to save the whole team
The game of football is all about sacrifice. Sometimes, you have to take the risk to hit hard on a player, kick him down and your opponent awarded a free kick or penalty in a bid to save the entire team from disgrace and a lost game. Life is all about taking risk. You may be shown a red card and taken out of the game but that effort could save the entire team from losing.
- You need a strategic plan to win every match
No two opponents are the same. You need a strategic plan on all the players in order to strategize your attacks to win the game. You only have a strategic plan when you take into consideration, the records of the past victories, defeats, opportunities and threats of the entire team and individual players of your opposing team. In addition, you need to consider the strength and weaknesses of your team and work out a plan to sail through for victory.
- Football requires discipline.
You are there to play and win but not to play. Learn to be disciplined and aim at scoring a goal to achieve your goal. You are not there to entertain people but for business.
- Communication and timing are very important
Many chances are blown away and wasted because of poor communication on the field of play. Without proper communication and accurate timing, you will waste all your chances and lose at the end.
- Do not underrate your opponent
Once of the worst things you can ever do is to underrate the power and winning abilities of your opponent. You should never judge people based on their past records, failures and other factors. You have no idea what training and learning that person or team might have gone through and prepared very well to face you.
- Your past glories and trophies don’t win your next match
One of the important lessons to learn in life in the game of football is your past glories and trophies do not win the next match for you. It takes hard work, consistent training and learning. Stop depending on your past glories. There are more room for improvements and better trophies to win.
- Don’t waste opportunities
Opportunities are hard to create and so never waste it when it presents itself. You may have a thousand and one opportunities and still waste it and lose the game. Another person could just have one and carefully utilize it and win the game.
- You Are Not Indispensable
You get substituted when you don’t play well. Never brag and think that the team can never stand without you. That is pride and should not be part of you. During the 2017 Gabon AFCON, eight (8) key players from Cameroon turned their backs on the National Team thinking they may not win. The nation had no option than to go for young and inexperienced men but surprisingly, they emerged the winners of the 2017 Gabon AFCON tournament. Never think you are indispensable.
- Know your opponent’s weakness and capitalize on it for a victory
Team managers have a serious work to do before beginning every game. It requires studying the weaknesses and strength of the entire team as well as the weaknesses and strength of each player of your opponent. Once you know their weaknesses, you can devise strategies to beat each of them and perhaps, pull the magic word and work out a victory.
- You can still play with less men and win the game
Sometimes, a team may lose a player through a bookable offence and be red carded but that is not the end of the whole event. You can still play with less men, re-strategize and cover up the gap and still win the match with less men. It all depends on your seriousness on the field of play.
Before you go, freshen up with this life touching story: Help Me To Steal
- Your profession could be someone’s pleasure & leisure
Do you know that people go to the stadium or sit by their Tvs watching football just for the relaxation and pleasure of it. Your profession is someone’s pleasure. Once you do it well, people will pay high amounts of money to have you entertain them. Do your very best in life and see how the world will value you.
Did we miss any more lessons in the Top 40 Inspirational Lessons To Learn From Football, AFCON And World Cup Matches? Kindly share with us by commenting.
