Haunted Football Stories: Football is a beautiful game. But we can guarantee you that it can get really spooky too
Shop quality jerseys: Goal90.shop
Haunted Football Stories
Here are 7 haunted football stories that will scare your socks off. Make sure you’re sitting down for this one because it gets really scary. Let’s dive into it.
1. Lightning wipes out a team
Back in 1998, it was reported that lightning wiped out the entire starting lineup of a Congolese football team on their own home ground.
It was so suspicious because, while it wiped out the entire home team and injured some other members of their squad, it did not affect any member of the away team. So, people immediately blamed it on witchcraft. Apparently, it was not unusual for witchcraft to be used to influence games in that part of the country back then.
We would later find out, though, that the home team had on metal-plated boots while the away team wore rubber-plated boots and so were insulated. That explains it, doesn’t it? But let’s see if you can find an explanation for this next one.
2. Sunderland ghost
In the early 2000s, when Sunderland were chasing promotion to the Premier League, they themselves were reportedly being chased by a ghost who was always hanging around the training ground.
Two of the squad physios reported that they once chased the said ghost down a corridor.
Marcus Stewart, who was playing for Sunderland at the time, had this to say about the ghost:
“What made me think it’s true is Stephen Elliott has seen it. He’s adamant that he’s seen something.”
Stephen Elliott was his teammate at Sunderland at the time, by the way.
And we’re not suggesting anything here, but when the Sunderland staff and players started seeing the ghost happened to coincide with when their 8-game winning streak was snapped.
To cap this all up, some Sunderland fans attested to once seeing a groundsman working on the pitch, only for him to disappear into thin air seconds later.
Till today, there still isn’t any reasonable explanation for any of that.
3. Ghost goal in the Bundesliga
Hoffenheim once lost a Bundesliga game to Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a ghost goal by Stefan Kiessling.
The striker quite obviously headed the ball into the side netting but somehow it ended up in the back of the net. Kiessling had his head in his hand because he knew he missed the shot. But the referee awarded the goal and there was no protest from the opponents, so he just played along.
Even the commentator could not tell that the ball had entered through the side netting in real time. As a matter of fact, it was not until the replay was shown that fans figured that the ball had creeped in through a hole in the side netting. But unfortunately, there was no VAR to save the day back then.
Hoffenheim asked for the game to be replayed but the DFB refused to grant them that.
4. Haunted house in Barcelona
There’s a particular house in Barcelona that you can pretty much say is cursed. If Barcelona signs you and you move into that haunted house, just know you’re going to flop real bad at the club.
You don’t believe it? Ask Coutinho and Vermaelan who stayed in that same house at different times. You know who else stayed there? Fabregas. Things were going great for Cesc Fabregas until he moved into that villa. Months after his purchase, he was considered surplus to requirements at Barcelona and had to leave. That season he left, Barcelona won the Champions League, a trophy he never won in his career.
How can you not blame it on the house? Oh, and we didn’t even add that the house was burgled during the time Coutinho was an occupant. Someone needs to go and make sure that’s not the house Raphinha is currently staying in.
5. Haunted Saint Mary’s
Who the hell told Southampton that it was a good idea to build a stadium on a former graveyard? We all watch movies, don’t we?
We know that this is surely a bad idea. But these guys went ahead to construct Saint Mary’s on a former graveyard and moved there in the early 2000s.
After they moved in, things started going south for them. They started sinking in the Premier League, changing coaches like underwear, and being involved in relegation battles every season.
They once had 3 different managers within the space of just 8 months. Then the club chairman went ahead to do the unthinkable by hiring Harry Redknapp who was coach of their bitter rivals, Portsmouth.
And he happened to be the one who put the final nail in Southampton’s coffin. They dropped down to the Championship after 27 straight seasons in the Premier League. After that, he resigned and the chairman followed suit.
Southampton remained in the Championship until 2012 when they finally came back up again. But it was not before the club called a pagan white witch to cleanse the ground after rumors that their new homeground was haunted had spread exponentially among fans.
6. Goalkeeper witchcraft in Rwanda
If you don’t believe in witchcraft, then tell us how else you’d explain this.
So, in a game between Mukura Victory and Rayon Sports in the Rwandan league, Rayon were down 1-nil and were missing a lot of chances. Then, at some point, their striker, Moussa Camara, ran to the opposition’s post and picked something from just beside the upright. Once he picked it, he was chased by the goalkeeper but he managed to make it to the dugout and handed the item over to a member of his technical staff.
Guess what! Just a couple minutes later, Camara himself scored the equalizer. Now, how are you going to explain to Camara that that thing he picked up wasn’t the witchcraft that was stopping him from scoring the entire game?
7. Haunted Highbury
Herbert Chapman was coach of Arsenal between 1925 and 1934. He was the Arsene Wenger before Arsene Wenger. He absolutely revolutionized the club, turning Arsenal into a successful club. In his 9 years managing the Gunners, he won 6 trophies including 2 First Division titles.
He was named 9th greatest manager of all time by World Soccer in 2013 and 24th by France Football in 2019. That’s how good Chapman was.
Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia while still in charge at Arsenal in 1934. But weeks before his death, while his health was failing, he still managed to drag himself to go watch Arsenal games live, attending 3 in one week in January of 1934. This led to his health deteriorating rather quickly, and ultimately his untimely demise.
Following his death, it was said that Chapman’s ghost continued to haunt Highbury until Arsenal moved out in 2006. Some people said that they could hear the ghost of the former boss pacing up and down the stadium at night back then.
Which of these stories spooked you the most?
Let us know in the comments.
