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In football (soccer), a goal celebration is the practice of celebrating the scoring of a goal. The celebration may be performed by the goalscorer (most notably), his or her teammates, the manager or coaching staff and/or the supporters of the team. Whilst referring to the celebration of a goal in general, the term can also be applied to specific actions, such as a player removing his shirt or performing a somersault.

Common celebrations

The scorer rocking his arms from side to side, as though rocking a baby. This usually signifies that the scorer recently became a parent, whether or not for the first time. This was started by Brazil striker Bebeto at the 1994 FIFA World Cup after his quarter-final goal against the Netherlands. He was joined by teammates Romário and Mazinho.Most recent being Chelsea's Andriy Shevchenko who was joined by all his team mates to celebrate the birth of Sheva's second son.
"Diving" onto the pitch with arms and legs outstretched. Supposedly first done by Jürgen Klinsmann, shortly after he joined Tottenham. Klinsmann was actually performing this goal celebration to satire his own (in his belief unjustified) reputation for diving to win free-kicks and penalties. It became known as "a Klinsmann".
The scorer putting a finger to his mouth, as if telling the (opposition) crowd to be quiet.
The scorer putting his hand to his ear, taunting the opposing supporters for having suddenly gone silent following his goal.
The scorer kissing the club badge on his or her shirt, to show his or her love for the club.
Fabrizio Ravanelli's signature celebration when scoring a goal was pulling his shirt over his head and running around the field.
Raúl kisses the ring finger of his right hand after a goal, a salute to his wife. A number of other married players, for example the Korean Ahn Jung Hwan and Frank Lampard, do the same.
Kaká of AC Milan points to the sky. This is a symbol of thanks to God, as Kaka is heavily religious.
Australian players sometimes "box" the corner flag in celebration of a goal. Most notably Tim Cahill, who ran to box the corner flag, when he scored Australia's first ever World Cup goal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It was a trend that began with teammate Archie Thompson.
A growing number of players in the English Premiership show an "A" by holding their index and middle fingers down, while crossing them with the index finger of the other hand. This is to promote an organisation known as A-Star, founded by Fitz Hall.

Notable celebrations

Most celebrations are modest and merely involve the goalscorer being congratulated by team-mates, however some players, such as Lomana LuaLua and Roger Milla amongst others, have a trademark and often extravagant celebration that follows scoring a goal. LuaLua, a former gymnast, is capable of multiple flips and somersaults. Milla used to dance around the corner flag. Other famous celebrations in England include the Chelsea team gathering around Dennis Wise, as if posing for a team photo; and the Aylesbury United team, nicknamed The Ducks, going down on their knees, and waddling in a line, with their elbows flapping. German forward Miroslav Klose does a forward somersault after scoring, though he omitted his routine in favour of a more modest pointing to the sky action after scoring Germany's equaliser against Argentina in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Another famous celebration, especially in the United States, is the shirt-stripping moment by American Brandi Chastain after she converted the winning penalty in the 1999 Women's World Cup final against China. The image of Chastain with her shirt off and revealing her toned tummy and her sports bra, immortalized on the covers of Time, Newsweek, People, and Sports Illustrated, is one of the most famous in women's sports history.

One of the most memorable choreographed celebrations came when Paul Gascoigne scored against Scotland during the Euro 96 championships. He lay on his back while other England players (including Teddy Sheringham and Gary Neville) grabbed water bottles from the touchline and poured water into his open mouth. This celebration mimicked a controversial pre-tournament incident when England players were photographed in a nightclub, sitting in a dentist's chair having alcoholic drinks poured down their throats.

The 1982 FIFA World Cup saw some of the most memorable celebrations. The usually quiet Falcão ran the pitch screaming with both his hands raised after scoring Brazil's second goal against Italy. The most memorable celebration came from Italian midfielder Marco Tardelli after scoring Italy's second goal against West Germany in the final. With tears in his eyes, he sprinted into his own half, fists beating against his chest, tears pouring down his face, screaming his name as he shook his head wildly. This is also called the "Tardelli cry". In the 2006 FIFA World Cup Fabio Grosso did his best Tardelli impression after scoring against Germany in the semi-final. With tears in his eyes, he ran into his own half waving his finger shouting "I Don't Believe It". In the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korean forward Ahn Jung-Hwan imitated a speed skater after tying the game against the United States, in reference to the controversial disqualification of Korean short track speed skater Kim Dong-Sung in the 1500 m at the 2002 Winter Olympics, allowing American Apolo Anton Ohno to win the gold medal.

Atletico's Luis Garcia celebrates after every goal he scores by sucking his thumb as a sign of love for Joel, his first son. In 2001 during England's 5-1 rout of Germany, Emile Heskey put in England's fifth goal and celebrated by simulating a golfer hitting a putt. This celebration was indicative of how easily England demolished Germany on the day.

In 2006, Peter Crouch's 'robo-kop' goal celebration became a fad across England.
Pentapichichi Hugo Sánchez always celebrated his goals by performing a backflip. This was in honor to his sister, who was a gymnast and participated in the Montreal Olympic Games.
Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer always celebrated by raising his right hand with palm open.
Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho usually exhibits some samba dancing after scoring a goal. Another Brazilian, Kaká, celebrates by raising both his hands and pointing towards the sky to thank God after scoring the goal. This is because Kaka attributes his recovery from a potentially crippling injury and a difficult surgical operation to Jesus. Adriano raises his hands for God and a salute to his father who died a few years ago.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Robbie Keane celebrates with a round-off into a cartwheel, finishing on knee and mimicking the firing of a rifle or an arrow from a bow after he scores. Cuauhtémoc Blanco does something similar. Walter Pandiani, nicknamed "The Rifle", also emulates the firing of a rifle.
Some players, including Manchester United's Patrice Evra, will congratulate a team-mate on scoring by kneeling down and pretending to shine their shoe.
Following the death of professional wrestler Eddie Guerrero in 2005, Middlesbrough's James Morrison emulated his signature chest-slapping and shoulder-shaking taunt, as well as John Cena's "You can't see me" hand gesture.
Julius Aghahowa of Wigan Athletic sometimes celebrates by doing backflips. He is known for doing about seven at a time.
Robert Earnshaw of Derby County and Wales does a front flip, sometimes followed by a "presentation" gesture.
Clint Dempsey, lately of the New England Revolution of MLS and now of Fulham, will occasionally do the "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" dance, from the eponymous video by Dem Franchize Boys.
Archie Thompson of Melbourne Victory celebrates by running to the corner flag, karate punching and kicking it followed by a gun shooting action, he got this from Everton FC's Tim Cahill as they both went to the same soccer school as each other.
Nicholas Anelka of Bolton celebrates by making a butterfly with his hands.
Craig Bellamy of West Ham United celebrated his goal against Barcelona, simulating a golf swing, due to media speculation into a fight between him and teammate, John Arne Riise, at a karaoke night near their training ground in Portugal, where he allegedly tried to hit Riise with a golf club.
Obafemi Martins of Newcastle United celebrates by performing a series of somersaults culminating with a backflip. Alternatively he will also jog slowly to the touchline and pump his fists close to his chest.
Bas Savage of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates by performing either the standard moonwalk, the moonwalk 360 or the side glide. This has gained him a regular spot on Soccer AM with the section 'I Wanna be like Bas.'
Albanian-born Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi jumps with arms open wide in the air and then falls down in the grass, landing heavily.
Mark Bresciano of Palermo and Australia freezes and mimics a statue.
Alberto Gilardino of A.C. Milan pretends to play a violin on one knee.
At one point in the 2006-2007 season, Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and John O'Shea celebrated by kneeling down and pretending to shoot a bazooka. The bazookas were supposedly aimed at Chelsea FC. This supposedly started with Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney playing the Playstation 2 game SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs along with Chelsea FC's John Terry and Frank Lampard at the England national football team camp during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Nani of Manchester United celebrates a goal by doing a cartwheel followed by a backwards somersault
Italian striker Luca Toni, who currently plays for Bayern Munich, always celebrates by stretching his fingers and waving his hand next to his right ear, and then closing the same hand into a fist and throwing it in the air.
Brazilian striker Ronaldo of AC Milan slowly jogs around the pitch, whilst waving his right index finger in a "I told you so" fashion.

Exceptions

Apart from when a player scores an own goal, there are many cases where scoring goals might not be celebrated:

In a friendly match.
When a team is losing by a heavy scoreline and the goal won't affect the outcome of the match.
When a team is winning by a heavy scoreline.
When time is running out and the scoring team is desperate for one more goal to equalise.
If a player is unhappy playing for his current team.
If a player scores against one of his previous clubs, he may not celebrate as a sign of respect (e.g. Gabriel Batistuta of AS Roma famously broke into tears after scoring a goal against Fiorentina, the club which he had played for nine years before transferring to Roma. Rui Costa at Fiorentina did the same against Benfica, and Mark Viduka also stood perfectly still when he scored against Middlesbrough whilst playing for Newcastle Utd.)
If a player scores a goal that may condemn the opposition to relegation. (e.g.Denis Law scored the winning goal against his former club Manchester United, but he was devastated to have relegated United - although it turned out they would have been relegated even if the match had been drawn, but Law did not know this at the time - and he did not celebrate the goal, walking off the pitch with his head down as he was substituted immediately afterwards. This turned out to be the last time he kicked a ball in League football.)

Punishment

In recent seasons, The Football Association have tried to crack down on some of the more enthusiastic celebrations in the FA Premier League. If a player incites the crowd and/or takes his shirt off after scoring a goal he is likely to get booked by the referee (e.g., Bastian Schweinsteiger during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Marlon Harewood for West Ham after scoring in the 2006 FA Cup Semi-Final against Boro, and Carlos Alberto Gomes during the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final). This can cause huge controversy if the player has already been booked, since he would then be sent off. Similarly, in American women's soccer at school and collegiate levels, the practice of taking the shirt off to celebrate a goal (made popular by Brandi Chastain), has been prohibited. However, some players get around this rule by pulling the hem of their shirts over the head, without taking the shirt off entirely, but this is not always overturned by the referees as shown by Italian Stefano Farina, referee of the 28th October, 2006 famous Milan Derby which Inter won 4-3 away in San Siro, he gave Marco Materazzi a second booking and thus a red card for doing that exact act after Materazzi gave Inter a 4-1 lead over Milan.

Jumping into the crowd is also a bookable offence ("deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission", as identified in Law 12), one which caused Arjen Robben to be sent off in a Premier League match in 2006. Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack were both shown yellow cards after they jumped into the crowd to celebrate their goals for Chelsea against Portsmouth in the 2006-07 season. Carlos Tevez also got booked when he dived into the crowd in a Premier League game in 2007.

In 1999 former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler was fined £60,000 by his club and the FA Premier League for having celebrated his penalty goal against Everton by getting down on all fours and miming the snorting of cocaine off of the white touchline. Although it was seen as Fowler's response to being accused of drug abuse in the tabloid press, then-manager Gérard Houllier famously claimed that he was merely imitating "a cow eating grass" which, Houllier claimed, teammate Rigobert Song had regularly joked about in training.

Thierry Henry was fined a sum of money by UEFA after he removed his Arsenal shirt to reveal a T-shirt reading "To the new-born Kyd". This was a comment directed to his friend Texas lead singer Sharleen Spiteri who had just given birth.

External links

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 *[[Kaká]] of [[AC Milan]] points to the sky. This is a symbol of thanks to [[God]], as Kaka is heavily religious.
 * Australian players sometimes "box" the corner flag in celebration of a goal. Most notably [[Tim Cahill]], who ran to box the corner flag, when he scored [[Australia national football (soccer) team|Australia]]'s first ever [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]] goal in the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]].  It was a trend that began with teammate [[Archie Thompson]].
-* A growing number of players in the English Premiership show an "A" by holding their index and middle fingers down, while crossing them with the index finger of the other hand. This is to promote an organisation known as A-Star, founded by [Fitz Hall]].
+* A growing number of players in the English Premiership show an "A" by holding their index and middle fingers down, while crossing them with the index finger of the other hand. This is to promote an organisation known as A-Star, founded by [[Fitz Hall]].
 ==Notable celebrations==