When Football Is Cursed: From The Pope to The Prophecies
Football is a sport full of fate and folklore, superstitions and coincidences, curses and prophecies. Throughout the history of the sport, there have been many examples of strange hoodoos that follow certain players and clubs, and never seem to let them go. Here is a quick tour through some of the strangest stories that refuse to go away.
The Club that Rises When a Pope Falls
One of the most peculiar superstitions surrounds US Avellino 1912, an Italian third division team based in Avellino, located in the Campania Region in Southern Italy. For fans of the club, success has been limited since their ten-year stint in Serie A from 1978 to 1988. Their struggles have worsened over the last 16 years, after having to restart from Serie D in both 2009 and 2018. However, the pain for the club was all worth it earlier this year, as Avellino got promoted to Serie B for the first time in seven years.
US Avellino 1912 players and fans celebrate their promotion
While fans and players took to the streets in their numbers to celebrate the club’s rise, sorrow struck after news of the death of Pope Francis hit. But what does the Pope’s death has to do with US Avellino 1912, a club over 250 kilometres away from the Vatican City? Well, this is only the latest example of this curse in action, as throughout the club’s history, they only seem to get promoted when a Pope dies. Yes, really.
The supernatural relationship between the two dates back to 1958, when US Avellino 1912 were promoted to Serie C for the first time in their history. During this same year, Pope Pius XII passed away. In 1963, Pope John XXIII died, while the club were promoted to Serie C again the very same year, repeating the pattern from only five years prior. Pope Paul VI was voted as the next in line, and he served until he died in 1978. John Paul, I took his place, but he lasted only 33 days before also passing away. This seemingly gave Avellino the boost they needed as they achieved the historic promotion to the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football, for the first time in their history.
With the next Pope, John Paul II, being in post for over 26 years, the mystical curse seemed to have been paused. That was until he died in 2005, the same year as Avellino defeated Napoli to gain promotion back to Serie B. The story took a new twist eight years later, when Pope Benedict XVI retired from his post, making him the first to do so in almost 600 years. Despite this turn of events, US Avellino 1912 were yet again promoted the same year, adding a new layer to the prophecy.
And now here we are, in 2025, after the death of Pope Francis, the coincidence has repeated, and Avellino has yet again been promoted in the same year as a papal death. To make things even creepier, Pope Francis blessed the shirt of US Avellino 1912, just a few months before he passed away. So can this really just be a coincidence? Maybe. But among football supporters, the pattern has become one of many strange happenings that cannot be explained within football.
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US Avellino 1912 players and fans celebrate their promotion
The Midfielder with a Deadly Touch
For most players, scoring a goal is a moment to celebrate. However, for Aaron Ramsey, his goals became another of football’s eerie prophecies. The Ramsey Curse is one of the most infamous coincidences known amongst football fans. It refers to the long list of links between the Welsh midfielders' goals and a famous death soon after. And this doesn’t just include C-list celebrities, the list is filled with some of the biggest household celebrities, maybe even more than you realised.
Well-known figures such as Osama Bin Laden, Gaddafi, Robin Williams and David Bowie have all died the day after an Aaron Ramsey goal. And this is not even close to the full list. This curse struck so often between 2011 and 2016 that it became a well-known phenomenon, with tabloid articles beginning to run stories with headlines such as “The Curse of Aaron Ramsey Strikes Again”.
Even recently, after Pope Francis’ death, football fans have linked the death with Ramsey’s first managerial appointment as the caretaker boss for Cardiff City, which was confirmed only 2 days prior to the Pope’s death.
Ramsey himself dismissed the curse, labelling it as “stupid” in an interview. “It’s just some crazy, stupid rumour. Unfortunately, people pass away every day,” he said.
Of course, this is true. The curse eventually ran out of steam as Ramsey became a more prolific goal scorer for both Arsenal and Wales, and not every single goal caused a famous figure to pass away. However, at its peak, it became arguably the most widely known footballing curse ever. The superstition even reached a point where fans half-jokingly were hoping he wouldn’t score, in an effort to protect their favourite celebrities from the so-called Ramsey Curse.
Ultimately, it was only harmless fun. Or was it……..
Aaron Ramsey
The Spell that Cast a Shadow on Benfica’s Glory
Benfica are a Portuguese giant, having won the domestic league title more times than any other team in Portugal. However, in the early 1960s, they weren’t just a Portuguese giant; they were the kings of Europe. Led by their Hungarian coach, Béla Guttmann, they defeated Barcelona and Real Madrid in consecutive seasons, marking themselves as one of Europe’s elite clubs.
All was good for Benfica until Guttmann asked for a pay rise. When the Benfica board refused his request, Guttmann was furious. While leaving the club, he reportedly placed a curse on them, stating that the success they experienced with him in charge would become a thing of the past.
“Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions,” he reportedly said. Back then, this sounded crazy. Like someone nowadays claiming that Real Madrid will not lift a European Trophy again until the year 2125. But that was back in 1962, and since then, Benfica have been involved in eight European finals, and have suffered eight defeats. This includes three consecutive losses in the three years after Guttmann had placed the curse, from 1963 to 1965.
Béla Guttmann died in 1981, but still the curse lived on, and Benfica proceeded to lose their next two European finals in 1983 and 1988. Legend has it that on the eve of their next final, the 1990 European Cup Final against AC Milan, Eusebio, arguably Guttmann’s and Benfica’s best ever player, visited his old coach’s grave. It is claimed that he begged Guttmann for forgiveness, pleading with him to lift the curse he had placed on his beloved club.
But if his old coach was listening, he clearly still held a grudge against his former employers as AC Milan bested Benfica by a goal to nil, and so the curse lived on.
A Portuguese journalist, José Carlos Soares, told CNN that “Every year when Benfica plays in Europe, they try to get rid of the curse”. “Any time that Benfica play near Guttmann’s grave, somebody will take flowers.” Clearly, it hasn’t yet worked.
63 years on from Guttmann’s departure, and the curse still appears not to have been lifted. The bad news for Benfica fans is that there are still 37 years until the alleged curse will expire, when they may finally be able to watch their team become champions of Europe again.
Béla Guttmann with the two European Trophies he won with Benfica
Belief in the Beautiful Game
So are these real curses? Probably not. But football is a game all about belief. Whether it’s a manager on the sideline praying that his team can score a last-minute winner, or if it’s a fan before the game putting on their lucky pair of socks.
Maybe it makes sense that curses and prophecies exist somewhere in the footballing universe. In a world where fans complain that football has lost its magic, maybe a little superstition isn’t always such a bad thing.
Written and Researched by Innes Taylor
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