Funny Punishments for Losing a Game

Soccer teams are very well known for their inventiveness when it comes to coming up with funny punishments for losing a game, so we take a look at some of the most famous silly punishments in the game.

In fact, such is the competitive nature of many soccer players that even losing in training sessions can be met with a variety of funny consequences.

Every professional soccer team has its own way of highlighting performances both good and bad, and very often the spirit in the team’s locker room means that something is usually planned for after or sometimes during the daily training drills.

The Dirty Yellow Jersey

At one particular soccer team, the player voted as the one who performed worst at the previous training session by the rest of the team is forced to wear a ‘yellow jersey’ which is daubed with a selection of obscenities and different paraphernalia to highlight just how bad that individual player had been!

The Roundabout Lady

Rumours of one guy who missed a last minute penalty for his team in a Cup game having to stand on the street corner of the main interchange in his City wearing a dress and holding a sign saying, “Honk if you think I suck at penalties!” are legendary at one particular club.

Locker Room Karaoke

Then there is the story from English Premier League team Chelsea where every new player to join the team was made to stand on a stool in the middle of the locker room and sing a song to the rest of his teammates. This was famously introduced by the team captain John Terry who insisted that no new players coming into the club were allowed to arrive with an ego which might get in the way of the team spirit at the club.

By making them sing a cheesy song in their broken voice in front of a screaming and howling locker room it removed the chance of anybody's ego getting out of hand!

The Spins

Other English Premier League teams have a ritual known as “the spins” which they use every Friday to round off the week. Any minor indiscretion from that week’s training such as not wearing the right kit, or turning up at the wrong pitch at the wrong time is punished by a certain number of spins of a special wheel on the wall of the team’s dining room where they all eat after training.

This particularly dangerous ‘Wheel of Misfortune’ has a variety of different forfeits on each of its points and by incurring a spin the unlucky player has to suffer whichever forfeit they land on.

Again, rumours of forfeits can get pretty eye watering and legendary but some of them are believed to include, giving a lap dance to a team mate, having to lie down in a freezing cold river for 3 minutes, or even having to work a particularly silly sounding phrase into their next press interview!

Punishment Penalties

If these forfeits are a bit too extreme for your team then follow the lead of the Swedish guys in the video below, and get your own back with Punishment Penalties!!!

Why are Forfeits so Widely Accepted?

Believe it or not, all such things are usually actively endorsed by the coaches at the professional club’s that operate them because it engenders one of the key aspects of any successful soccer team - a fantastic team spirit.

For all the jokes and forfeits and silly punishments for losing a soccer game in training, winning soccer games when it really matters often comes from being there for your teammates and digging deep to get through difficult times together.

The highly regarded soccer coach at one of the English Premier League clubs that has ‘the Spins’ punishments finishes his team talk every game with the same words,

“Look around the locker room and look into the eyes of the peo​ple you're going into battle with. Help each other through, do it for each other. The power of the group is much bigger than any one individual. Be there for your teammates and fight together.”

No matter what the silly punishments, no matter what the funny consequences, if it has the effect of binding a team together through their shared experiences so that they fight on the soccer field for each other then it will always have a future for soccer teams. 

Have your Say 

Send us a note in the comments below as we'd love to hear from you:

• What punishments does your club use for your players?
• Do you think silly punishments work for the team?
• What's the worst thing you've had to do?