Many footballers have been seen doing anime celebrations through the years. Whether it be old animes like One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, and Naruto or newer ones like Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen, it is clear that anime and manga culture is prevalent among some of the best footballers in the world. This article talks about some of the best anime celebrations done by famous footballers around the world.
Ibrahima Konaté hit a salute from Attack on Titan after his goal 👊 pic.twitter.com/00kx9El8Rw
— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 16, 2022
Ibrahima Konate plays for Premier League side Liverpool. He has been seen doing anime moves multiple times while celebrating. He was seen doing the scout regiment salute from Attack on Titan after scoring against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. He was also seen making Satoru Gojo’s domain expansion move, Unlimited Void, while lifting the Carabao Cup trophy. Konate has said that he watches anime for determination before matches. He said:
“When I watch Manga, my Liverpool teammates say: ‘You’re too big to watch that!’. What they don’t understand is that it inspires me. Sometimes, before certain matches, I put on fight scenes, and it gives me determination!”
Harvey Elliott hit the Kamehameha 🥶🐉 pic.twitter.com/cutXz1oEFP
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 9, 2023
Harvey Elliott was seen doing the Dragon Ball Z Kamehameha celebration after scoring against Crystal Palace in the Premier League. He scored a 91st winner to help Liverpool win 2-1 against Crystal Palace on 9th December 2023. He scored a 30-yard screamer and decided to celebrate by doing the Dragon Ball Z character Goku’s signature move, Kamehameha.
Credit: The Independent
Mason Mount has done the Kamehameha himself. His celebration came a couple of years before Harvey Elliott did it. Ironically, it was in a game against Harvey Elliott’s team, Liverpool. After scoring against Liverpool in the Premier League on 5th March 2021, Mount celebrated by shooting a Kamehameha, Goku’s signature move, towards teammate Ben Chilwell. He later explained that this goal was dedicated to Kurt Zouma, who always watches anime on the plane.
Julian Brandt has been seen doing One Piece character Trafalgar Law’s signature move multiple times. In fact, this became so famous that many people made edits of Trafalgar Law playing football and Brandt celebrating as him after scoring. He uses his right hand to represent ‘Room,’ the first step of Trafalgar Law’s power, and his left hand to represent ‘Shambles,’ the final step used by the One Piece character.
This is CINEMA 🍿
Every single one of @DomSolanke's 21 goals in 2023/24 (feat anime celebrations) 🥷
Essential viewing 😍 pic.twitter.com/0JF46AXcom
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) June 4, 2024
Dominic Solanke might be the footballer who is the biggest fan of anime. He has been seen incorporating poses from various animes in many of his celebrations. Apart from poses, he has even gone far enough to wear a mask, which is worn by Obito Uchiha in the anime Naruto, while celebrating. Some of the poses he has hit while celebrating are the Room ability of Trafalgar Law and Gear Second by Monkey D Luffy, both of which are from One Piece.
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He has also done poses from characters of Jujutsu Kaisen. He used Satoru Gojo’s domain expansion (Unlimited Void) and Ryomen Sukuna’s domain expansion (Malevolent Shrine). To top it all off, he paid tribute to Naruto by hitting the pose he does before entering Sage Mode.
Credit: Goal.com
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was seen doing Dragon Ball Z character Goku’s Instant Transmission while holding a ‘Dragon Ball’ in his hand. He has been seen giving tribute to Black Panther by wearing a Black Panther mask and doing the Wakanda Forever salute. However, this time, the striker chose to reference the anime Dragon Ball Z. When asked about this celebration later, he said:
“It was a ball from Dragon Ball. With it, you can make a wish. I wanted to win and score a goal for my grandparents, who are gone. A friend of mine gave it to me”.
🔥 K A M E H A M E H A 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZkgvFTvxn2
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 27, 2019
Marco Reus and Achraf Hakimi are some other footballers who were seen doing the Kamehameha. They decided to celebrate together when Achraf Hakimi scored against Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga on 26th January 2019. They both did the Kamehameha gesture and pointed their palms towards each other.
Seattle Sounders' Nicolas Benezet celebrates goal by doing Gear 2nd pose#OnePiece pic.twitter.com/Thkf9XR2Rw
— Luffy Gang (@TheLuffyGang) August 16, 2021
Nicolas Benezet scored on his debut for Major League Soccer side Seattle Sounders on 15th August 2021. He decided to pose like the One Piece character Monkey D Luffy to celebrate his debut goal. He imitated Luffy’s move, Gear Second, by keeping his left arm on his thigh and slamming his right hand into the ground while bending down.
🔥🏴☠ pic.twitter.com/YeCqmlMT0w
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) January 29, 2023
Karim Adeyemi loves the anime One Piece. He has been seen hitting Monkey D Luffy’s Gear Second pose in the past. He has also recreated a one piece poster with Julian Brandt with him as Luffy and Brandt as Trafalgar Law. Adeyemi also has special shin pads with Luffy on them. He said he likes playing with these shin pads as Luffy is his favourite character. The German spoke about his shin pads. He said:
“They are shin pads designed specifically for me. I have the national flags of my heritage on them, one pair with Nigeria and the other with Romania. I also have the character Luffy from the One Piece anime on them. He is my favorite character from the series, so I always play with these shin pads.”
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Guransh Machra is a sportswriter at Gutshot Magazine. He covers football news from local leagues like the Indian Super League as well as international leagues like the Premier League. He follows various sports like Football, Cricket, Formula 1, and Tennis. Apart from sports, Guransh is also enthusiastic about reading and gaming.
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