The funniest football moments of 2024: Roy Keane, Haaland, Vardy | OneFootball

We’ve picked out the funniest moments in football from the past year, from Roy Keane’s hilarious question and Chris Wilder’s sandwich rant to Erling Haaland chucking a football and Jamie Vardy just being himself.

Here they are in chronological order.

The funniest football moments of 2024:

Pascal Chimbonda finds a way around the rules

2024 peaked very early with this story. Former Wigan and Spurs right-back Pascal Chimbonda was handed a five-match ban in January for improper conduct. He won an appeal to have it reduced to three. In the meantime the 45-year-old registered as a player so he could take to the field in their next game.

Chris Wilder’s sandwich rant

This past February, Chris Wilder had a go at a match official for eating a sandwich while the Sheffield United manager was speaking to them.

“It’s yet again another ridiculous performance from the referee,” he said at the time.

“Every 50/50 or tight decision goes against us and if that’s what we’re going to have to deal with between now and the end of the season, we’re going to deal with it. But I’m not just going to go under the radar and not say anything. I’ve been to see the referee and I’ve told him that.

“One of his assistants was eating a sandwich at the time, which I thought was a complete lack of respect. Hopefully he enjoyed his sandwich while he was talking to a Premier League manager.”

Those comments cost him a lot of dough; the Football Association fined him £11,500 for his biting remarks.

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Mark Robins celebrates like he means it

One of the most entertaining games of last season was Coventry City‘s dramatic comeback win over Wolves in the FA Cup. The Sky Blues equalised in the 97th minute before grabbing the winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time to spark scenes of jubilation.

Naturally, then-manager Mark Robins was over the moon, but his first thought was to rub it in the face of a Wolves ball boy who had been winding him up during the game. Amazing scenes.

Micky van de Ven takes a tumble

Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven had his Jerome Boateng moment when Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak floored him with his footwork back in April. The Dutchman tumbled so hard he ended up on his head, becoming an instant meme.

The worst penalty of all time

There have been a lot of bad penalty attempts over the years, but probably none as poor as Ante Budimir’s last season. The striker had the opportunity to earn Osasuna a point from the spot with seconds remaining in their La Liga clash with Valencia. Budimir bottled it in comical fashion as his standing foot got stuck in the ground and his pitiful shot bobbled into the hands of future Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

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Anti-Italian discrimination

Before Albania and Italy faced off at Euro 2024, the travelling Albanian fans brilliantly trolled the Italians by committing the worst possible crime in their eyes: snapping spaghetti in half.

Amadou Onana puts reporter in his place

It never feels great getting someone’s name wrong. It must feel even worse doing so when it’s a well-known public figure in a sport you cover and it’s caught on camera. Aston Villa and Belgium midfielder Amadou Onana set a reporter straight after he mistook him for Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana, switching language (and accent) at a moment’s notice. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Gary Lineker bodies Frank Lampard

Every football pundit that appears on the BBC knows that they aren’t immune from a bit of playful mocking from Gary Lineker. It’s just comes with the territory, but Frank Lampard was definitely blindsided when the Match of the Day presenter made a joke about his bald spot during their coverage of Euro 2024. He’s probably still fuming over it.

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Jamie Vardy trolls Spurs

Leicester City managed to grab a point against Spurs at the start of the 2024/25 season thanks to Jamie Vardy’s equaliser. The striker proceeded to remind the opposition fans that he has won a Premier League title, while their club has not. It was deliciously on-brand for the wind-up merchant.

Arsenal mascot disturbs the peace

When Tottenham Hotspur hosted Arsenal in September, this Arsenal mascot took it upon himself to put his Spurs counterparts in their place.

Erling Haaland throws the ball at Gabriel’s head

A week later Arsenal drew 2-2 at Manchester City following a late equaliser. Erling Haaland immediately grabbed the ball and decided to lob it straight at the back of Gabriel Magalhaes’ head. Whatever his reasons for doing so, it was very funny.

The Norwegian followed up at full-time with his now infamous “stay humble” dig at Mikel Arteta. He’s scored three goals in the Premier League since then.

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Cole Palmer takes a break

While Chelsea and Nottingham Forest players were having it out during their Premier League clash in October, Cole Palmer decided he wasn’t bothered getting involved and smartly conserved his energy by parking his bum on the grass.

David James enters his villain era

One of nicest traditions in football is having young children come onto the pitch at halftime to take penalties, sometimes with the club mascot in nets, sometimes an ex-pro. David James was between the sticks during the interval of Liverpool‘s 2-1 win over Chelsea and, contrary to the custom of letting the ball go in, he saved not one, but two spot kicks.

Read – Liverpool top at Christmas but will they win the Premier League?

Carra and Walcott share a moment

During the post-match analysis of Liverpool’s draw with Arsenal, Theo Walcott recreated the infamous moment Thierry Henry put his hand on Jamie Carragher’s leg when the news that Brendan Rodgers had been sacked in 2015. (Skip ahead to 2:10 to watch it in the video below).

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Roy Keane’s hilarious innuendo

We could have picked any number of clips from Roy Keane‘s appearances on The Overlap, but he provided his funniest ever moment on camera last month with one simple question.

Defender caught with his pants down

Getting pantsed in public is absolutely mortifying. Getting pantsed during a football match, leading directly to a goal, would make you want to quit the game altogether and retire to a remote island where there’s no internet so you don’t have to see the moment ever again.

Jordan Turnbull is never going to live this one down.

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