Patron saint of soccer

For most of its history, soccer had no patron saint of its own. Players borrowed one from the wider world of sport, St. Sebastian, or prayed to the saint of their parish or their city. That changed in 2010, when a Friulian priest who never kicked a ball in any record we have was given to the world's most popular game.

St. Luigi Scrosoppi, the patron saint of soccer

Luigi Scrosoppi was born in Udine, in the Friuli region of northern Italy, on August 4, 1804, and ordained a priest in 1827. Friuli then was worn out by famine, war and epidemics, and the young priest gave himself to the poorest girls of the city and the countryside, the orphans and the abandoned. With a group of young women teachers he took them in, fed them and taught them to read, write and sew, and when money ran out he went begging. On February 1, 1837, nine of the women gave up their possessions and began the religious life together. They became the Sisters of Providence, placed under the patronage of St. Cajetan, the saint of trust in Providence.

At forty-two he joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, the saint of joy, and he kept Philip's cheerful gentleness the rest of his life. When the anticlerical laws of the new Italian state suppressed the Oratory in Udine, he fought to save the orphanage and won, though he could not save his own community. He died on April 3, 1884. His last words, as John Paul II recalled when he canonized him on June 10, 2001, were "Charity, charity." The pope added: "Charity was the secret of his long and untiring apostolate."

How a priest of orphans became the patron of football

The idea came from a fan. Manfred Pesek, an Austrian businessman who loved the game, noticed that soccer had no patron saint of its own and that players simply shared St. Sebastian with every other sport. He gathered a small team, including two university professors, and they went through thousands of saints. They were looking for a saint whose life showed the virtues a good player needs and who had worked with children. Their list came down to ten names, and then to Scrosoppi, for his charity, his patience and his joyful spirit.

Bishop Alois Schwarz of Gurk took up the proposal, with the support of the bishop of Udine and the Church and Sport office of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. On August 22, 2010, at Pörtschach on the Wörthersee, Scrosoppi was presented as the patron saint of football and a statue of him holding a ball was blessed. "Finally, all football players, stadiums and football fans around the world now have a patron saint they can call!" the bishop said.

To be clear about its status: this is a popular patronage proposed by a diocesan bishop, not a decree of the Holy See. But Rome has smiled on it. During the Jubilee of 2025, a life-size statue of Scrosoppi, carved in South Tyrol and donated by an Austrian foundation, was unveiled on December 5 at the church of San Valentino, near Rome's Olympic Stadium, with Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who had charge of the Jubilee, presiding. The Jubilee office said the statue was meant to hold up the values of sport: commitment, team spirit, loyalty, solidarity and mutual respect.

The choice makes sense. A soccer team is a little community of the kind Scrosoppi spent his life building: young people, mostly, who need patience, encouragement and someone who believes in them. His feast is April 3.

St. Sebastian, patron of all athletes

Before 2010, and still for many players today, the saint of the locker room was St. Sebastian, the Roman soldier and martyr. His legend says he survived being shot with arrows and went back to face the emperor, and athletes adopted him for that endurance. No decree gave him the title either; it grew from devotion. His feast is January 20. Read more on our patron saint of athletes page.

Other saints for soccer players

• St. John Bosco, the patron of young people, drew the boys of Turin into his oratory with games, and the Salesians he founded have run youth sports clubs ever since.
• St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, the young climber of Turin canonized in 2025, is a model of a faith that is joyful and athletic.
• St. John Paul II loved sport all his life and spoke often to athletes. He entrusted the Pontifical Council for the Laity with the Church's care for the world of sport.

The Church and the beautiful game

The Church's first full document on sport, Giving the best of yourself, came from the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in 2018. Its title came from Pope Francis, a lifelong football fan, who wrote in his message for it that "sports can be an instrument of encounter, formation, mission, and sanctification." That is a fair description of a good team. Players learn to sacrifice for each other, to lose with grace, to win without contempt and to keep going when they are tired.

A prayer before the game

There is no ancient prayer for soccer players; the ones on holy cards are modern. Many teams pray an Our Father or a Hail Mary in the locker room. St. Paul, who loved the athletes of the Greek games, gave us words for the field (1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Douay-Rheims):

Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one.

Let us ask St. Luigi Scrosoppi to pray for every player lacing up cleats this weekend, for coaches and referees, and for the children on muddy fields who are learning the game. St. Luigi Scrosoppi and St. Sebastian, pray for us.

See also the full list of patron saints.