Drinkwater is a midfielder who has played for the likes of Manchester United, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Chelsea.
Most footballers have names that are easy to pronounce and fans love it when commentators scream those names. On the other hand, some players have funny names which makes one wonder why they were named so.
In this post, FootballOrbit presents you with 30 footballers with funny names.
This article is not in anyway trying to mock the players.
1. Răzvan Rat
Răzvan Dincă Raț is a Romanian former footballer who mainly played as a left-back for the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk, Westham United and Rayo Vallecano.
His name instantly reminds one of those rodents that terrorise homes, especially at night.
Rat retired in 2018.
2. Steve Cook
Cook is an English defender who plays for newly promoted Premier League side, Nottingham Forest.
The 31-year-old had earlier played for the clubs like Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth in his career.
3. Declan Rice
Rice plays as a midfielder for West ham United and he is currently the captain.
Oryza sativa?
4. Yaya Banana
Banana is a Cameroonian defender that currently plays for Indian club Bengaluru FC.
He has 16 caps for Cameroon.
When he scores a goal…….. Banana!!!
5. Gernot Sick
Sick is an Austrian midfielder who retired very early at the age of 28 after numerous knee operations.
6. Danger Fourpence
Danger is a former Zimbabwean defender.
Not only is his first name (Danger) hilarious, his second name (Fourpence) is also amusing. Pence is used to refer to a sum of money.
So, four pence…….
7. Daniel Killer
For real?
Yes!
Daniel Killer was a former Argentine football defender who was part of the Argentina squad that won the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
Killer was also part of the Rosario Central team that won the Primera Division Argentina Nacional championship of 1973.
He was a defender and must have made attackers shit in their pants.
8. Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
Jazzi Barnum-Bobb is from Caribbean country, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
He plays as a defender for Chelmsford City in the sixth tier of English football.
His name is quite funny.
9. Chris Wood
Wood is a New Zealand striker currently playing for Newcastle United in the Premier League.
10. Eden Hazard
Hazard is one of the best players in the world but the Belgian’s name means DANGER in English language.
11. Eric Djemba Djemba
Eric Djemba Djemba is a Cameroonian former midfielder who was most notable for his transfer to Manchester United in 2003.
Although Djemba Djemba’s time at Old Trafford was underwhelming, he played for clubs in France, England, Qatar, Denmark, Israel, Serbia, Scotland, India and Indonesia.
At international level, he played for Cameroon 34 times and represented his country at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
12. Daley Blind
Blind is a versatile Dutch player who currently plays for Ajax. He is the son of former Ajax defender and former Netherlands national team manager, Danny Blind.
13. Have-A-Look Dube
Have-A-Look was known to have played for the Zimbabwe national team and Njube Sundowns at club level.
Not much is known of him, so to know more about him……… you got to have-a-look by yourself.
14. Robbie Savage
Savage is a former Welsh midfielder who played for the likes of Manchester United, Leicester City, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers and Derby County.
As his name suggests, Savage’s style of play was as an all-action and energetic midfielder.
He regularly collected yellow cards, and at a time; he held the unwanted record of being awarded the most yellow cards in Premier League history.
Furthermore, Robbie Savage was very controversial during his career. Savagery?
Fans of opposition teams regularly accused him of simulation, whether to win a set piece or to get an opponent red carded.
Another famous example of his eccentric behaviour was when he was at Leicester City. In an incident famously known as “Poogate”; Savage bizarrely used the referee’s toilet before a game — claiming he had an upset stomach due to antibiotics he was on at the time!
Robbie Savage is now a football pundit and don’t be surprised when he savages your favourite team or player on TV!
15. Danny Diver
Diver is a former Scottish footballer and manager. He played as a striker and what a name he has for someone playing that role!
Guess what………..
Penalties!!!
16. Roberto Dinamite
Carlos Roberto de Oliveira — known as Roberto Dinamite — is a former Brazilian striker.
He was nicknamed “Dinamite” by journalist, Aparício Pires, of Jornal dos Sports newspaper, after scoring a spectacular goal on his debut in 1971 against International at the Maracanã stadium.
The journalist wrote in the newspaper that “the Dynamite-Boy detonates at Maracanã”.
And the name “Dinamite” stuck.
He is Vasco da Gama’s player with the most appearances and all-time top goalscorer, as well as the overall leading scorer in the Brazilian Série A.
For Brazil, Roberto Dinamite played in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups and the 1972 Olympic Games.
He was the President of Vasco da Gama from 2008 to 2014.
17. Pavel Pogrebynyak
Pavel Viktorovich Pogrebnyak is a Russian striker currently playing for Ural Yekaterinburg.
Pogrebnyak had played for the likes of Spartark Moscow, Zenith St Petersburg, Stuttgart, Fulham and Reading.
His name isn’t easy for an English speaker to pronounce. He is nicknamed The Pog, Pogreb (“The Cellar”) or Velikiy Po (“Po the Great”).
18. Georgie Welcome
Georgie Welcome is a Honduran footballer who plays as a striker.
He once played for Monaco in Ligue 1.
19. Segar Bastard
Segar Bastard was an English amateur footballer who played football on an amateur basis for three clubs as well as for England once.
After his playing career, Bastard became an international referee and was held in high regard throughout English football.
20. Lomana Lua Lua
Trésor Lomana Lua Lua was a Congolese striker who played for clubs like West Ham United, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Olympiacos.
21. John Stones
Stones is an English footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Manchester City and the England national team.
He won the 2021/22 Premier League with Man City.
22. Ebbe Sand
Sand is a former Danish footballer who played as a forward for Brøndby IF in Denmark and FC Schalke 04 in Germany.
He was the Bundesliga top scorer in 2001, and won the DFB-Pokal in 2001 and 2002 with Schalke.
On the international stage, he represented the Denmark national team at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup, as well as the 2000 and 2004 European Championships.
At the 1998 World Cup, Sand
scored the fastest-ever World Cup goal by a substitute against Nigeria — scoring 16 seconds just after entering the match.
23. Danny Drinkwater
Drinkwater is a midfielder who has played for the likes of Manchester United, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Chelsea.
In April 2019, Drinkwater was charged with drink-driving after crashing his Range Rover into a wall.
He pleaded guilty to drink-driving and received a 20-month driving ban.
24. Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Papastathopoulos has played for the likes of AC Milan, Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal so far.
25. Mark Fish
Fish is a retired South African footballer who played as a defender.
26. Johnny Mustache
Mustache was a Seychelles striker. His name is amusing as it refers to the growth of facial hair between the nose and the upper lip.
27. Dmytro Chyhrynskyi
Dmytro Anatoliiovych Chyhrynskyi is a Ukrainian footballer who plays as a centre-back. He became popular when he joined Barcelona in 2009.
28. Mark de Man
Mark de Man was a Belgian defender and what a perfect name he has as centre-back. Strikers beware!!!
29. Danny Invincible
Danny Invincible is a retired Australian footballer who played as an attacker during his career.
Was he VISIBLE to the opposition defenders?
30. Wolfgang Wolf
Wolfgang Wolf is a former German defender. He spent 12 seasons in the Bundesliga with FC Kaiserslautern and Stuttgarter Kickers.
Bearing that name must have scared away opposition attackers.
His son — named Patrick Wolf — also became a professional footballer. In June 2012, Wolf signed his son while working as manager for Hansa Rostock.
Which of the names did you find hilarious? Kindly add yours.
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