FIFA directives to keep their shirt on after scoring might keep many of them under wraps, but the World Cup brings together a swathe of players who don't mind getting the needle -- for the sake of sporting a tattoo.
The beneedled skin of England skipper David Beckham is well documented but he is far from alone among the 735 players taking part at the event.
Drawings, messages of undying love, childrens' names cover arms, backs, legs and necks, as well as other assorted regions.
Beckham famously has the names of sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz as well as that of his wife, Victoria -- in Hindi -- on his forearm, though some linguistic experts say it contains inaccuracies.
Under Victoria's name -- "it would look tacky if I had Victoria just in English," Beckham says -- is the Latin phrase At Amem et Foveam, meaning that which I love and adore.
On one arm he also has his England number seven in Roman numerals -- he wore the same number shirt at Manchester United but has worn 23 at Real Madrid -- and a number of other additions including a winged guardian angel across the back of his neck and a Michelangelo angel on his right arm.
"My dad had three tattoos of his own and so the idea has been with me since I was a kid," the player once explained, commissioning specialist Louis Malloy to do each one.
Luis Gonzalez of Argentina comes close to rivalling "Becks" as he has ten tattoos of his own, including the signature of Diego Maradona and also the name of his wife Pamela in Chinese. Others include the initials of his family, a rose on his left leg and a depiction of Jesus on his right.
Another Argentine, Fabrizio Coloccini, has a tattoo depicting his deceased mother on his chest at heart level.
Spanish defender Sergio Ramos has the names of his parents on his forearm while Spain striker Fernando Torres, in a possible bid to emulate Beckham, has an Indian inscription on one arm.
Italy are also in on the act with "Roman" Francesco Totti having a gladiator tattoo.
Brazil take a religious approach with Adriano opting for a forearm slogan "Jesus lives with me" while Serbian star Mateja Kezman has an image of Christ on his right arm.
And England striker Wayne Rooney has a Celtic cross on his right arm.
On his back the same player has the word "then" as he and a friend had a catchphrase, "okay then."
The friend now sports the "okay."
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds said it felt like an “impossible dream” when fellow Hollywood A-lister Rob McElhenney first floated the idea of buying soccer club Wrexham, along with a pitch for a documentary. The ultimate goal was reaching the Premier League. Four years after they purchased the north Wales outfit, Wrexham are one league away from achieving their lofty goal after a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday saw them promoted for a record third consecutive time. “We were standing there doing a press conference four years ago, and said our goal is to make it to the Premier League, and
RSS