Football stars keen on chess boost ancient game's popularity | OneFootball

Antoine Griezmann, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, and Harry Kane are just a few of the football stars ‘hooked’ on chess, a passion that is helping boost the popularity of this ancient game among young people.

At first glance, it is not an obvious association, given that football and chess belong to two very different, even opposing, worlds.

However, a significant number of football stars have a genuine fascination with the game, whose origins date back to 7th-century India.

Haaland, Manchester City’s lethal striker, is among the most passionate enthusiasts. Proof of this is that he recently invested in a new chess circuit launched by a Norwegian group with the support of Magnus Carlsen, the Freestyle Chess world champion, an initiative designed to make the game more appealing.

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“An incredible game”

“Chess is an incredible game. It sharpens the mind and has clear similarities to football,” Haaland says.

“You need to think quickly, trust your instincts, and anticipate several moves ahead. Strategy and planning are essential,” he adds.

With the support of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), this new circuit will feature four tournaments a year in different cities, culminating in the crowning of a world champion in three formats: Fast Classic, Rapid, and Blitz.

Each season will offer a minimum prize fund of £2 million (around R$ 13.8 million at the current exchange rate).

“Seeing a world-class athlete like Erling Haaland join the Total World Chess Championship Tour is a clear sign of the global interest and cultural relevance that chess currently enjoys,” said FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich.

Besides Haaland, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and several members of the England national team, such as captain Harry Kane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Anthony Gordon, are avid players.

“I’m addicted”

Salah, for example, is obsessed with blitz, the fastest version of chess, and regularly plays online using an anonymous profile.

“I’m addicted to chess. I play every day. Literally every day,” the Egyptian admitted.

And he is far from the only one. Some have even reached an excellent level of play, such as Arsenal midfielder Eberechi Eze, who won an amateur tournament in 2025.

Real Madrid defender Alexander-Arnold also frequently plays with his brothers. As a curiosity, he once faced Magnus Carlsen and was beaten in five minutes and 17 moves.

Christian Pulisic, Milan’s winger and a star of the United States national team, has a tattoo of a queen piece on his arm in honor of his grandfather, who taught him to play when he was still a child.

Antoine Griezmann, a world champion with France in 2018, and Real Madrid captain Dani Carvajal are also fans of the game, whose online play surged during the covid-19 pandemic, according to FIDE.

At least 1.5 billion people currently have a chess app on their phones.

The Netflix series ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ and the influence of various personalities have contributed to this enthusiasm, helping revitalize and rejuvenate chess’s once austere image.

For Guardiola, chess and football are similar

Strategy — a crucial component of chess — also appeals to football coaches, who see it as a way to refine their tactics.

In the book ‘Pep Confidential’, Manchester City’s Spanish coach Pep Guardiola explains: “You can’t even imagine how similar they are.”

A die-hard Real Madrid fan, Magnus Carlsen also sees strong parallels between the two disciplines.

“In chess, just like in football, the key is to control the center. If you control the center, you control the field, or the board,” he explains. “In terms of spatial dynamics, the similarity is striking.”

Some, however, do not go that far. “I play chess to switch off,” confesses Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane.

By AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.