One of the most difficult things for new fans to understand are the nicknames of national football teams.
What? You thought that national teams playing in the World Cup were just called “Nigeria” or “England”? Nope—they have nicknames.
There are some cool ones, some weird ones and some stupid ones!
You'll see a bit of all three in this list.
These national football teams and their nicknames are not all official names, and you’d be surprised to learn that some national teams use more than one nickname.
I have exhaustively tried to find the most commonly used nicknames and included them in this article.
As you’d see, these national soccer team nicknames are commonly derived from the color of their playing strip or country flag, or an animal associated with the country.
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Nicknames Of African Football Teams
African football teams have always had unusual nicknames, and this has become a tradition in the continent. Most of the teams are nicknamed after animals as they represent life, strength, and courage.
Some nicknames were made by the fans which are usually related to the colours of their flags or natural phenomena in the country.
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Nigeria Soccer Team Nickname
I’m not going to go on without mention the Nigeria national team in particular.
Just as the Algeria football team, Senegal national team, Brazil national team – and so on and so forth – all have nicknames, so does Nigeria.
The Nigeria national football team are nicknamed Super Eagles and they are governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Meanwhile, I have this article where I made a list of super eagles coaches – and I mean ALL of them from inception till date.
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National Football Team Nicknames
Let me attempt to examine the nicknaming practice of national football teams.
Each team are known by their nations’ respective official name.
However, it has been observed that in addition to the official name, most if not all national football teams tend to bear a nickname.
In most cases, such nicknames of football teams reveal linguistic creativity; innovation and unlimited imagination on the part of the namers.
This practice of nicknaming in football also exhibits the nature of social interaction between human beings and other animate and inanimate beings alike in the world in which they are found.
For this reason, the interchange between the two above indicates that a nickname, like a proper name, is: “a social statement reflecting the bearer, the namer and the social environment in which the name is found.
Nicknames in football show connotative meanings that reflect deep-rooted social, political and national pride and patriotism of the people for their respective nations.
This in turn appears to foreground a nation's expectations of success in soccer.
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Nickname definition and what it really means
The term nickname has been defined as a name given to an individual [or even a collective entity] by a community which is usually descriptive in form because it tends to sum up that individual [or group] character’s physical shape or idiosyncratic features.
What's more, nicknames act as tokens for establishing an informal relaxed atmosphere”.
Nicknames are evocative and carry particular messages.
Meaning nicknames are not mere empty words but are words that say something about their referents.
Africans have their own naming system that reflects their linguistic diversity and link them to their own cultural and social values and traditions.
In the context of football, national teams bear nicknames that are given purposefully and which reflect the national team’s fighting spirit.
Unlike proper names which are usually given by someone or by an institution and are easily identifiable, nicknames in soccer may be given by either sports journalists as they write their news stories or by football fans through associating what they see to what they expect or what is already known.
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The following is a list of football team nicknames:
[wptb id="94977" not found ]SEE ALSO | Top 5 Ghanaian Players Abroad And Their Salaries
In wrapping up
Every name, be it personal or nickname, of anyone or anything, tells something about its owner (society/individual) or the namer. Thus, the nicknames tell something about people’s identities and what is most treasured about them.
All the nicknames listed in this post clearly convey some (needed or preferred) attributes of the respective teams.
However, these nicknames do not always reflect the performance of the teams in question but rather merely express the desires of the fans.
Also, the nicknames seem to be used in order to bond fans with respective teams which in turn are used to express the pride and patriotism that fans associate with their respective nations.
This is done by identifying one or two national symbolic emblems which are then adapted to nickname a team.
In so doing, fans are not only showing pride in a nation but also identifying a team as a symbol representing the nation.
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If you have any corrections or additions, please do it in the comment box.
This article was most recently revised and updated 5 years ago ago
