Tattoos and Penalty Success at the FIFA World Cup 2018

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

“…We found similarities between women and men footballers in 2018 regarding the overall prevalence (34%), black tattoos (85% vs 83%), the proportion of tattooed scorers (34.9% vs 40%) and of goals scored by tattooed players (36% vs 37%) [1]. We found no association with discipline, team and personal performance, including penalties success or fail [5].…”

“…We had the impression that women favored smaller and discrete tattoos, compared to male players who displayed more often extensive tattooed sleeves. As for men [1,5], having tattoos did not seem to provide any individual advantage or disadvantage on the field for women footballers at that level of competition. Tables Table 1.…”

Insights into Worldwide Interest in Tattoos Using Google Trends

“…We failed to find large studies about tattooing in general populations in South America [4]. However, Latin American football teams enrolled in the FIFA World Cup 2018 had the highest prevalence of tattooed players [5, 6]. This high prevalence among young players may illustrate the current trend in those countries.…”

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

“…[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.…”