African Debate: Do Prayers In Football Actually Work?

Nobody would answer yes if you asked them whether praying hard helps a player succeed in his career or pushes a team to win trophies. Yet we have seen many a player pray, make the sign of the cross or hold hands, at some decisive moments of a game.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles and their juniors teams solemnly group themselves to pray before the start of a match, and again at the end. Argentina coach Diego Maradona was seen during the 2010 World Cup making the sign of the cross an uncountable number of times. Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba made a sharp sign of the cross when Cristiano Ronaldo’s bullet shot hit Copa Barry’s crossbar in their Group G opener against Portugal. And many players have been seen on TV raising both arms up to the sky to thank heaven after scoring goals.

What’s the secret of their success then, heaven or skills? I have wondered myself.

No football academy teaches kids to pray in order to be good on the pitch. They all teach tactics, game plan and resistance. No coach of a professional club would tell his men to pray hard ahead of an impending match. What they all do is train, jump, tackle and run; yet during encounters, coaches as well as players wither into a sober and fidgety mood, seeking divine intervention – as if all their skills, training and counter strategies just weren’t enough to subdue their opponents. 

Is this caused by fear, uncertainty or simply a way of being humble to attract the sympathies and favour from beyond? Or to invoke the powers of luck? Where do they keep their skills then, if luck and prayers should decide a match?

I feel it’s purely human. Footballers, like every one of us, may be religious people or have been brought up not to brag about their strength, but to be humble and obey fate. However strong and prepared, they evince their weaknesses by depending on God when situations tense up – like before a penalty shoot-out.

Former club coach in Togo, Severin Koffi, tells Goal.com that every team needs help from above at times, no matter how strong they are.

“Football is like every other human endeavour. You see a medical doctor praying before beginning surgery; that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know his work. I have seen lawyers doing some incantations before stepping into the court; that doesn’t mean they can’t convince a jury or have never done. I’ve seen even taxi drivers making the sign of the cross before starting their day,” he says.

“It’s that human connection with the force of divinity, which makes you somehow desire help from somewhere, from nowhere, even if you know perfectly what you’re doing. Pilots pray too. So don’t condemn footballers for praying even if they’re talented. It’s just part of us humans,” Koffi concludes.

But Adama Kemptore, a radio sports analyst from Burkina Faso, believes players pray simply out of fear.

“Footballers know well enough that their skills and training might not be enough to bring the desired victory, so they pray for help from above,” he says. “Anything can happen in a match: red cards, injuries, goalkeeping mistakes, etc. These things may alter the fate of the encounter. So players pray so that the day will augur well for them without these ugly occurrences.”

A former Africa Sports defender from Ivory Coast, who asked for anonymity, says prayers don’t really decide the finality of a game.

“Footballers pray because they somehow feel it will work. But it doesn’t really. Tell me, whose prayer of both teams would God answer since everybody is praying? I think what gives a team success is a combination of skills, hard work, discipline and dedication. But as a sportsman, expect anything, I mean anything,” he says. 

Not just players, fans watching their favourite teams pray even more. But like the ex-footballer said, whose prayer would God answer if fans of both teams keep praying fervently while their respective teams dig it out on the pitch?

Let us assume that the prayers of fans and their teams annul each other, what we would have left is still strength and skill, which I feel may bring victory. Do you think so?