Football as a sport has gained enormous popularity for quite some time. The game has managed to bring together scores of people in anticipation for excitement during 90 minutes of end-to-end action. Among these billions of fans, probability states that there exists a few who are extraordinarily weird.
Recent reports have suggested that Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s controversial supreme leader is a Manchester United fan. He joins a list of other such eccentric characters who support famous football clubs.
Let’s take a look at some of them.
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Adolf Hitler – FC Schalke
One of the largest mass murderers of the world, Adolf Hitler is known to have been affectionate towards FC Schalke. In this case, we could write Hitler off as a ‘glory-hunter’, as reports claimed his support for the German club was due to their successful reign which coincided with his time as Fuhrer. It’s strange to think how policymakers and dictators find time from their schedules to show support for their football clubs. It’s fair to say, that’s an association FC Schalke won’t be proud of.
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Colonel Gaddafi – Liverpool FC
Another dictator on this list. Gaddaffi was Libya’s last dictator before being admonished and removed by the United States for his denial to trade in Petro Dollars and start a currency of his own, known as the Gold Dinar. Anyways, his love for Liverpool was confirmed after his house was raided and the items inventoried, a Liverpool Cup being one of them. There have also been numerous reports of Gaddafi’s interest in taking over Liverpool’s cross-town rivals, Everton FC.
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Osama Bin Laden – Arsenal FC
The once Most Wanted person on Earth, Osama Bin Laden, kingpin of Al Qaeda and chief instigator of the 9/11 attacks has a long history with Arsenal FC. After his death in 2011, amongst all the bizarre revelations, it emerged that he was a die-hard fan of the Gunners. During a recruitment trip in London, Osama grew fond of Arsenal and visited Highbury on several occasions to cheer on for the home team.
Talk about a more ironic choice of a football club, one with a cannon on its crest.
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Barack Obama – West Ham
Another strange one indeed. One of the most influential leaders of the modern era, Barack Obama surprised everyone when it emerged from his advisor that the ex-President was a Hammers fan. It seems he fell in love with the club after his visit to Kent in 2002, to meet his half-sister who lived there. He visited a game and immediately fell in love with the fans and the atmosphere in the stadium. To this day, he keeps a check on the Hammers to see how they’re performing in the top flight.
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Vladimir Putin – Zenit St. Petersburg
Possibly one of the most influential leaders of the 21st century, Vladimir Putin is a fervent Zenit fan. The ex-KGB operative has braved the icy-cold winter of St. Petersburg on quite a lot of occasions to watch his beloved team play.
It doesn’t really qualify as a shocking revelation, as Vladimir spent most of his years growing up as an adolescent fugitive in St. Petersburg.
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Robert Mugabe – Chelsea FC
A tyrant in all aspects, Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe recently admitted his love for the Blues from London. He could be classified as a ‘glory-hunter’ as his revelation came soon after Chelsea were crowned as winners of the Champions League in 2012. In an intimate chat with former Zimbabwean footballer, Benjamin Mwaruwari, he revealed his love for Chelsea FC and how he demanded extreme silence during the telecast of their games.
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General Franco – Real Madrid
In case some of you didn’t know, the ‘Real’ in the clubs’ name stands for ‘Royal’, and there is a story behind it. It turns out, that the right-wing dictator General Franco, who ruled Spain from 1936 to 1975, was an ardent Real Madrid fan. Being the dictator that he is, football in Spain at the time was favoured to suit his needs. He had a massive hand in the transfer of Di Stefano to Real Madrid, sabotaging Barcelona’s attempt to sign the talented striker. During his reign as dictator, Real Madrid received preferential treatment in most matters.
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Benito Mussolini – Bologna FC
Benito Mussolini, much like General Franco exercised supremacy in Italy. The Italian fascist was a supporter of Bologna FC. He was Italy’s leader during one of their most successful times as a footballing nation, as they won back to back World-Cup in the 1930’s. His support of Bologna contributed massively in their successful run of titles in 1925, 1929, 1936, 1939 and 1941 as many dubious decisions helped the side to various Scudettos.
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Nicolae Ceausescu – Steaua Bucharest
Nicolae was a Roman dictator who exercised his power from 1965 to 1989. His allegiances lied in Bucharest based football club, Steaua Bucharest. His reign saw the club go unbeaten in 104 games, putting the Arsenal’s Invincibles to shame. Steaua won six league titles in a row in the 1980’s and triumphed in the 1986 European Cup, as Ceausescu orchestrated the signings of Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popescu forcefully.
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Josef Stalin – Dynamo Moscow
Dynamo Moscow was a club formed by the ex-KGB kingpin Lavrentiy Beria and had fans from all around Russia, including the notorious communist, Josef Stalin. Calling him a fan would be a bit harsh, as his hatred for cross-town rivals CSKA Moscow was much more intense as he called for the scrapping of the entire team due to USSR’s poor performance in the 1952 Olympic games. Once again, favouritism and preferential treatment ensured Dynamo endured a successful time whilst Stalin remained in power.
