How superstitious are Italian fans?

Let's be honest, the play-offs to go to the World Cup in Qatar 2022, first against North Macedonia and then possibly against the winner of the challenge between Turkey and Portugal, have had the effect of bringing the whole of Italy back to protection mechanisms against bad luck that date back to the dawn of time. Whether they are horns, crossed fingers or superstitious objects, everyone has a ritual they rely on in moments of difficulty and hope to overturn the odds. On the other hand, football compared to other sports is based much more on the episode, on chance, which makes it more exciting and easy to follow even for those who are not so experienced, as often happens during the national team matches. 

Wallapop, a leading platform in the buying and selling of second hand products and that promotes a model of responsible and sustainable consumption, has decided to analyze the behavior of Italians when it comes to get in front of the TV to cheer the national team. Through a survey that has touched a sensitive slice of the population of our country, we now know that 36% of them claim to have superstitious rituals that they perform before the match. Among the most common actions, 10% people always sit in the same place, 8% watch the match always with the same people, 5% turn off technological devices not to be disturbed and even some (1%) wear a particular piece of clothing without ever washing it. 

Surprisingly, among the most superstitious there are more young people, with 17% of Generation Z performing such rituals before games, perhaps because they live with more intensity every experience, including football. While 20% of women have an auspicious object from which they do not separate themselves, and among the most common are: red horns, scarves and t-shirts. The matches of the Italian national team are one of the moments of maximum sharing, capable of uniting and making passionate about the game of soccer even those who normally do not follow the Serie A. Among those interviewed, in fact, only 0.8% said they did not feel a bond with the blue jersey, while 92% felt a sense of belonging. 

This data is not surprising, because the same precautions taken in front of the television or in the stands are the same precautions that the players use before, during or after the match, following Eduardo de Filippo's saying "to be superstitious is ignorant, but not to be so is bad luck". Also in the National team we have seen how small gestures, personal routines or catchphrases chosen by the group can become fundamental to take that step that often in football divides victory from defeat. 

During the extraordinary ride that brought the European Championship to Rome, the Azzurri followed a strict regimen of superstitious rituals that, in the end, proved to be successful. Before the opening match of the tournament with Turkey, Gianluca Vialli, the head of the national team, in fact, was left on the ground by the bus that had left without waiting for him, only to stop and let him get on a few meters later. And since Italy won comfortably 3-0, no one wanted to change anything that had been done on the field but also before they got there, with Vialli chasing the coach in an increasingly artificial staging of match after match. 

But that's not all, after each victory the team would treat themselves to a themed dinner, from the grill to the pizzata, cooked with a Neapolitan oven brought for the occasion by the Neapolitan chef. And how could we not remember the catchphrase "Ma quale dieta" by Luca Il Sole di Notte, which accompanied every celebration in the locker room, becoming the unofficial anthem of the national team as it was "Seven Nation Army" during the 2006 World Cup. So much so that, again according to the survey commissioned by Wallipop, 42.5% of those interviewed admit that they still use the Po-PoPo-PoPo to support the Azzurri. Also in that victorious World Cup, the strangest ritual of all was held by Rino Gattuso, who closed himself on the toilet before every match to read a few pages of Dostoevsky's books.

But as always, superstition is applauded when it works and mocked when it fails. This is the case, for example, of Trapattoni's famous Holy Water, that initially brought good luck with Alex Del Piero's goal against Mexico, but could do nothing against Byron Moreno's refereeing. In the same way, Florenzi's kiss on the ball before the last, desperate corner kick in the play-off against Sweden, only fueled the anger and regrets of a faded qualification. 

Something that Mancini's National Team would like to avoid replicating, next March 24. For the occasion, Wallapop has decided to organize, in collaboration with Twitch, a live streaming with world champion Marco Materazzi on March 24 from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm. Wallapop, which is the biggest supporter in the field of second chances will talk with Materazzi about second chances in the history of soccer, sports in general and, why not, in everyday life, crossing our fingers that the Azzurri will take advantage of theirs to get the ticket to Qatar.