Footballers and languages⚽

We are in World Cup fever. Have you ever heard your favorite soccer player speaking another language during an interview?

A few days ago, I watched something interesting. During a World Cup interview, moderators didn't allow a reporter to ask questions in Spanish, which caused controversy. A fragment of the situation stated:

"...a Mexican journalist attempted to ask Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi a question in Spanish. The player understood the question perfectly. He speaks fluent Spanish. He was born and raised in Spain. Yet the question was interrupted by a moderator." 

Here is the link where you will find more details about this controversy. The Language FIFA didn't Hear 

Despite this uncomfortable scenario, what caught my attention was the phrase "he speaks fluent Spanish," so this led me to ask myself how many languages the soccer players speak. Doing a bit of research, I found that this particular player is a polyglot; he speaks five languages fluently: Spanish, French, Arabic, English, and Italian. Hakimi's native language is Spanish because he was born and raised in Spain, but French and Arabic were refined through his time playing for Paris-Saint-Germain and the Moroccan national team.

We can see how language immersion influences the acquisition of a foreign language. As footballers, they have constant interaction with others (coaches and teammates) in a target language (local).

Other soccer players who speak multiple languages are: 

Romelu Lukaku (SSC Napoli): Speaks 8 languages, including French, Dutch, Lingala, English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Italian.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter Milan): Fluent in 8 languages, including Armenian, Russian, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Ukrainian.

Miralem Pjanić (retired professional footballer): Speaks 7 languages, including Bosnian, Luxembourgish, German, French, English, Italian, and Spanish.

Zlatan Ibrahimović (AC Milan): Speaks 5 languages, including Swedish, Bosnian, English, Spanish, and Italian

Petr Čech (retired professional footballer): Speaks up to 7 languages, including Czech, Slovak, English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

After knowing these polyglot players, do you feel motivated to learn a language now?

If you are curious about how soccer players learn languages, you should watch the next video:

How many languages does your favorite player know? Google it. You might be surprised.