Football Addiction – Am I Addicted to Football?

Most people have a passion. For some, it’s cooking. For others, it’s model trains or collecting vinyl records. And for quite a few of us… it’s football…

This isn’t about judgement. It’s just a reality check. A light-hearted, slightly uncomfortable one.

We’ve put together a list of 20 yes-or-no questions to help you see where you land. Please answer them honestly. Count your “Yes” answers. And if you’re brave, take part in the polls that follow. You might be surprised by how many others are ticking the same boxes.

No shame. No lecture. Just a red card moment – if you need one.

⚠️ Signs of Football Addiction You Might Be Ignoring: The First 10 Questions

• In European Championship and World Cup years you’re on the verge of losing your job because you always heavily insist on four weeks’ holidays not to miss a game, or take fake ‘sick days’ in order to watch games during these periods.
• Every year during the Winter mid-season break or the break between seasons you feel distracted, aggressive or depressed. To avoid withdrawal symptoms, you watch games you have recorded from previous seasons.
• You can state names, (with or without dates of birth!), clubs and the club location of footballers in the German, English, Spanish and Italian leagues by heart, but you have no idea what your neighbour’s names are.
• Now and again perhaps you miss an important personal or work-related appointment, but you never forget football fixture dates.
• You feel restless and disturbed if on football days your partner has invited friends or family to your house who are not interested in the beautiful game and protocol dictates that the TV is switched off.
• You have had numerous arguments with your partner because he/she accused you of spending too much time on football.
• Your best friends are those with whom you can talk on the subject of football. Conversations, no matter how they started, often develop into football related chat.
• You have none or at least very few ‘real’ friends, people you would trust entirely. Your friends are more ‘mates’, but all of them are interested in football.
• It is hard for you to remember your wife’s birthday or your wedding anniversary, and sometimes you also forget other important events in your personal life calendar, but you certainly know all the match results (half-time, full-time, scorers, goal times, et cetera) of your team. Probably of most of the league too, and perhaps in previous years also.
• In your spare time, e.g. weekends, evenings, and in the car, you have radio commentary broadcasts of football matches on in the background, even if it’s not your team playing. You feel disturbed and misunderstood when your partner asks you to put on your headphones, or to change the channel.

🧠 What Does Football Addiction Really Look Like?

The second (and final) set of 10 questions to assess whether football may be taking up more space in your life than it should.

• A holiday is regarded as ‘spoiled’ if the accommodation had no satellite TV, or any other means of interacting with the football.
• You ensure that you are close to a TV, radio or the Internet when your team is playing. If there are any delays, you feel nervous and distracted. If you plan holidays, trips, visits, you also hope and go out of your way to ensure that you will still be able to watch your team play.
• You agree that, for example, the BBC does not spent enough on broadcasting rights, and that the public channels do not show enough football.
• Your bedsheets, pillows, mugs, et cetera, bear the club logo of your favourite team and your alarm clock plays football related tunes or anthems.
• Early in the morning or first thing after you return from work, you read the newspaper or check the Internet for any important football news. You always read the sports pages of every newspaper first, and never miss an opportunity to stay up to date with your sporting soap opera.
• Your health is not the best, you maybe (slightly) overweight, you smoke and/or drink alcohol (perhaps too much). You have promised many times to pay more attention to yourself, but somehow it never happens.
• Dinner should ideally be served during the half-time break.
• If your team loses, you’re often in a bad mood, feel irritated and find it hard to concentrate. You cannot wait until the next game for your team to redeem itself and your spirits.
• Quite often you break promises, such as helping in the garden, in preference to a match you have just found available to watch or listen to.
• You physically attend at least half of the league games your team plays every season, even if your bank account is sometimes empty and you cannot really afford to go.

You are not alone… Please participate in the questionnaire

So… how many “Yes” answers did you count?

If the number made you chuckle – that’s fine. If it made you wince — that’s useful.

No one’s saying you have to change. But if football is quietly running your time, your mood, and your relationships… maybe it’s time to ask:

Who’s really in control – you, or the fixture list?

We’re not handing out diagnoses here. Just red cards.

Football is certainly a beautiful game, embracing the world in spherical shaped harmony, but it is certainly not everything in life!

If you have just self-diagnosed your own football addiction, then your ever-moaning partner may be not so very wrong after all and you may indeed be over-doing what you consider as just a hobby.

The red card you saw? That’s not for a player. It was for you. If football controls your calendar, moods, or weekends… no referee is coming.

About the Author

Soccerwidow

Administrator

Founder of Soccerwidow and teacher of logic-driven football betting. With an MBA in financial management and a mind wired for patterns, I translate complex maths into strategy. What began as a rebellion against my football-addicted hubby became a mission: to help punters think critically, bet smarter, and never confuse luck with logic.

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