Tattoos among elite football players during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France

Abstract

Thirty-four percent of the men players harbored visible tattoos, without notable impact on performance or discipline on the field during the 2018 FIFA World Cup (FWC), [1]. In a spirit of gender equality, we performed the same study among elite women footballers enrolled in the 2019 FWC France with the same methodology [1]. Players' visible tattoos (location, colours) were reviewed using the Getty Images website [2]. We collected players and teams' statistics using the official FIFA website [3]. Among the 552 enrolled players (median age 26 years), 164 (29.8%) had visible tattoos (upper limbs, 99%; head and neck, 11%; lower limbs, 7.3%; black/grey tattoos, 85%). There were no significant differences regarding age or player's position (Table 1). Players from Latin America had the highest prevalence of visible tattoos (56.5%). African players displayed significantly more head and neck tattoos than Europeans (28.6% vs 6.3%, p=0.034) (Table 2). The prevalence ranged from 60.9% (Brazil) to 0% (Japan).

Visible tattoos among referees in four European football leagues during the 2021–2022 season

“…According to recent studies, approximately a third of elite football players have visible tattoos on the field. [1][2][3][4] The question whether tattoos on players would reflect dominance, extroversion, aggressiveness and willingness to take risks and thereby translate into notable behaviour patterns and field success is debated. [1][2][3][4][5] Tattoos might be associated with individual performance or discipline, 3,4 but the impact on the overall team outcomes is unclear.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] The question whether tattoos on players would reflect dominance, extroversion, aggressiveness and willingness to take risks and thereby translate into notable behaviour patterns and field success is debated. [1][2][3][4][5] Tattoos might be associated with individual performance or discipline, 3,4 but the impact on the overall team outcomes is unclear. 3,6 The success of a team is the result of a fine combination of personal skills, teamwork, opportunities and chance.…”

“…Referees' visible tattoos (location, colours) were reviewed using the Getty Images website, with the same methodology as in our previous studies. [1][2][3] For the tattoos, only the 'visible' tattoos were accounted for. 'Visible' tattoos were arbitrarily defined as those which could be seen on the field during official games or during trainings.…”