Footballers in adverts are always a great laugh! Especially when the advert has absolutely nothing to do with football. We’ve all seen our fair share! Some football adverts are decent though. That’s probably because they’re footballers… Keep them in football ads! Keep them out of any other advert because they will just end up looking awkward and emotionless.
Below is our list of favourite footballer adverts. We list our top 5 worst – in the funniest way imaginable. The sort of ad that has you curling your toes. Or simply wondering ‘WHY?!’ We also list our 5 favourite – some of these are absolutely quality! They just show what you can do with a footballer in an ad when the ad is actually about football.
Top 5 Worst Footballer Adverts
Torres Cupcake Advert
Oh, Fernando Torres. What an unbelievable player! In his Atletico and Liverpool days anyway! At one stage for Liverpool he was possibly the best player in the league. Almost unplayable on his day. Sadly not an actor.
This advert is pretty standard for a footballer advert. It just makes absolutely no sense! He does a few kick-ups which are standard for these kinds of ads. But then he suddenly makes some cupcakes?! In his football kit. The cupcakes look great by the way! But we aren’t convinced of the relevance.
You watch it and just think ‘what on Earth?!’ Why was he doing kick-ups? Why was he making cupcakes? Why is he in his Chelsea kit in the kitchen? Full kit banker! They may as well have just had him strip down, do kick-ups and then just shown the Samsung branding. Would’ve gotten much more attention that way at least!
Michael Owen Dubai Advert
The once-great striker and Ballon D’or winner. Yeah, that’s right, he won the Ballon D’or! At the age of just 22 he lifted the trophy! Unfortunately, his acting won’t win him many awards.
It’s an advert for Dubai and it is dubious to say the least. No kick-ups in this advert though. Michael just flies around Dubai talking about the sights and generally advocating Dubai. Wonder what astronomical amount he got paid for this. We’ve brought to you the shortened ad but there is an unforgivable 8-minute version out there!
The acting is exactly how you’d expect from Owen though. If you’ve heard his commentary you’ll know he loves to state the obvious… “If they can score more goals than the other team, I think they’ll win”. There are two things that we think really make this advert what it is. Firstly, the bit when he ‘throws on the afterburners’ the lack of enthusiasm is just hilarious and the graphics, phwoar unbelievable. Our second favourite thing is how Owen’s eyes literally move while he reads his prompts. Lucky you were a decent footballer Michael.
Peter Crouch T-Mobile Advert
Peter isn’t a man to miss out on an opportunity to appear in an advert! If you’ve listened to his podcast you’ll know he’s actually hilarious and a top guy. Unfortunately for him, this advert has us cringing more than any on this list. It just the pure try-hardness of the advert that hurts us. We’re sure poor Peter probably knew he would look like a twat but after checking his bank balance he probably didn’t care!
It’s a T-Mobile ad, remember them? Really this is just their attempt to get a viral dance going on social media. Shame the whole advert including dance is terrible. And to make things even worse it features the TOWIE theme tune.
The ad is just terrible start to finish. The budget clearly couldn’t stretch to more than one footballer. This means Peter’s ‘teammates’ are randomers, good start. Then what on earth is he wearing? An ill-fitting suit with a bright pink tie?! Then the dance… Oh the dance. Peter actually has some rhythm – shown by his robot – but even he can’t pull this off. You could’ve had Diversity performing this and it still would’ve looked like a shambles! The TOWIE theme tune in the background just tops it off and makes us glad that T-Mobile is no more.
Cristiano Ronaldo Facial Fitness Pao Advert
You’d think with all the money he has he would be able to cherry-pick his advert and choose ones that are actually either good or relevant. Seemingly not as this one is just completely random. We can only imagine the unholy amount of money he must’ve got for this umm masterpiece?
It’s for a product called ‘Facial Fitness Pao’. It’s a Japanese product and it looks as weird as it sounds. Think shake weight. The thing that made you look like you were practising giving a guy a good time. Why they wanted Cristiano Ronaldo in it I have no idea. The ad does have the classic footballer doing kick-ups though!
I don’t know where to start with this advert. The product or the acting? The product is some kind of weight training for your head? You hold it in your mouth and wiggle it up and down. I mean you can imagine what it looks like they’re training for. Then there’s our fave part, Ronaldo cracking up laughing at the product. I guess that bit was probably legit as he started to think what the hell is this?
Man United Tomato Juice Advert
Not an individual player but a whole team. Possibly the world’s most marketable football club. Such a shame that they are in so many terrible adverts! There’s the classic Casillero Del Diablo wine one. That was an absolute classic! But it hasn’t quite made our list. Rooney and Co acting was just too good to make this list.
The advert that has made our list is the tomato juice advert. There’s not an advert in the world that could convince me to drink tomato juice. I wonder if this one had much success. Just make sure you keep the sound on to get the full experience.
Don’t know about you but who makes that much noise when they swallow? No ‘your mum’ jokes please. If that’s not enough to put you off then the acting must be! Giggsy looks like he’s about to chuck up! Poor guy looks like he actually had to drink it. We reckon RVP and Carrick must’ve had empty cans and Shinji probably drinks the stuff by the gallon anyway!
BONUS ROUND – Carlos Tevez Kid’s TV Advert
We’ve chucked this one in purely because we actually love it. Even though it is terrible. We won’t say too much, just have a watch.
We don’t speak the lingo but apparently Carlos is advertising a children’s TV network. Who would’ve known? Gotta say he’s got a bit of rhythm though! Not surprising given he is South American!
Top 5 Best Footballer Adverts
Nike Secret Tournament Advert
We are going to throw it out there that this is THE best footballer advert out there. If you wanna fight about it then just @ us, we’re up for the scrap. It’s a Nike advert for the 2002 World Cup. Featuring some huge names like Thierry Henry, Edgar Davids, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and more. It’s ‘refereed’ by the legend that is Eric Cantona.
The Secret Tournament in the cage is first goal wins. 8 teams of 3. Street style. Find 5 minutes and watch it below.
The soundtrack is glorious, love a bit of Elvis Presley! It had me humming it while I played when I was younger! Then there is the iconic silver football. And the stars of the game. What more could any football fans want? We get that there isn’t much acting but they’re footballers! Let them do football and they’ll do you a great advert! Just don’t make them stand there doing kick ups please!
Nike Brazil vs Portugal Advert
Nike (again) and oh what an advert this is! Anyone arguing this for top spot, we hear you, we argued over it for days. But I’m the one writing this article so I have chosen. As soon as Figo ‘Ole’s’ Ronaldo you know it’s about to get real. There are no expense spared in this advert either. We’ve got all the stars from either team, including Cristiano Ronaldo who is only a side chick in this advert before his hayday.
The soundtrack is another tune. Papa Loves Mambo. If that doesn’t get your footballing juices going then nothing will. Pop your sound on and enjoy.
In a very similar feel to the Secret Tournament, this advert has everything! Players mugging each other off. Funnies like Ronaldo slipping over after he’s just rinsed someone. Ronaldinho bamboozling someone with his flip-flap/elastico. And finally, the crowning moment, the referee absolutely clattering Ronaldinho! Now I think about it, maybe this could be my favourite.
Nike Winner Stays on Advert
As DJ Khaled would say… Another 1. It’s another Nike advert on this list. They just have the formula and the stars to make top adverts. This advert is just so relevant and aspirational to us. It’s also got a smooth soundtrack to go with it! Can’t all adverts be like this? All I can say is that someone at Nike needs a raise!
Get ready to go from your weekly kick about into a professional match with 50,000 people watching. We know you imagine it and this advert brings that to life.
What we love so much about this advert is that we absolutely relate. Shouting a player’s name as you do something always makes it better. When someone clips you a cross and you scream ROONEY as you overhead kick one into the top bins. Or ‘lovely cushion header, for GERRARD!!!’ Ah memories eh! We all do it. If you don’t then you clearly don’t love the game like we do.
Man United Pepsi Advert
The only ones to make it onto our good list and the bad list. This advert features two of the world’s biggest teams. United and Real Madrid, we also get a couple of stars from each team. Watching the ad over and over I am not quite sure the relevance of it. Either way it’s pretty cool.
The star-studded advert is set in the Wild West. The two main cowboys are Becks and Casillas. The acting isn’t the best, Beck’s definitely has a face for TV but a voice for silence.
It’s a really cool advert throwing it back to the cowboy days! It’s also got a great line up including Giggsy and Neville for United and Raul, Casillas and Roberto Carlos for Madrid. And, as you do, Becks and Iker have a shootout after Casillas steals Becks’ Pepsi. We now know how we will decide whose round is first in the pub every week.
KFC Make a Meal of it Advert
By far the funniest ad on our best list. This KFC ad doesn’t actually feature any top footballers. But who cares when it hilarious and directly mocks one certain player. We all know the feeling when you see someone make a meal of it. You think ‘get up you prick, there are better things to make a meal of’.
It’s a South African advert so depending on where you are you may not have seen it. So sit back and enjoy the lols.
We love the sheer stupidity of this advert. It doesn’t take much for Neymar to go down and do so many rolls he almost leaves the stadium. We’re pretty sure that’s who KFC are bantering with this advert. Our favourite bit is how the roll goes viral and we have kids doing it with him through football fields. It’s like diving is a disease that’s taken hold of footballer these days! KFC just wants you to make a meal of its food!
BONUS ROUND – Nike Joga Bonito
A short bonus round from us here but check out the video below for all of Nike’s Joga Bonito adverts stitched together. These were some of our favourite adverts. They feature Nike sponsored athletes playing football the way it should be played. The Brazilian way. Showing off, doing tricks and flicks and having a bloody good time!
