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People love giving out thoughtful gifts; after all, it’s such a wonderful way to show you care (and you technically don’t even need to go broke doing it either). However, sometimes shopping for gifts is just way too hard, right? Actually, shopping for a football fan when you don’t know a free kick from a corner can feel like stepping onto the pitch without a clue.
They’ve got their team, their rituals, and their encyclopedic knowledge of players you’ve never heard of while you’re just trying not to gift them something painfully wrong. Well, you don’t need to know anything about the offside rule to absolutely nail this.
Start with Their Team
Football fans are loyal to their team in a way that’s borderline obsessive, whether it’s Chelsea, Arsenal, or a local team nobody’s ever heard of. Their squad is practically family, so the key to winning the gift-giving game is focusing on what matters most: their team. For starters, you need to actually know what team they support, but that’s usually not hard to figure out since they’ll usually try to put them into any conversation that they can.
If they’re a Chelsea supporter, for example, you can’t go wrong with Chelsea gifts like decor, paperweights, scarves, mugs, or anything with that iconic blue crest. Basically, most sports-related gifts tend to be a mix of personal and practical, so you really can’t mess up when you do this either, and thankfully, prices for these sorts of gifts aren’t high either.
Enhance Matchday for Them
So, you really have to keep in mind that match days are sacred. For a lot of them, no matter the weather, they’re in the stands singing their heart out or glued to the TV with snacks in hand; those 90 minutes are everything. So, the best gifts elevate the whole experience. Not, it goes back to what was said above; you don’t need to understand sports in order to buy something sports-related.
As long as you know the team they love and the colors of that team, that’s more than enough. To a degree, you might not be able to buy anything sports-related. For example, a standard seat cushion or an outdoor blanket wouldn’t really need anything with a logo/ brand. The same can be said for gloves or little hand warmers.
Wow Them with Memorabilia
Football fans are all about history, great matches, legendary players, and iconic moments that give them goosebumps. So, again, if you know what they might already own, and your budget is flexible, and you know some basics about their team, then you might be able to pull this one off. Now, anything signed is your best bet, but that’s just way too expensive. Usually, something vintage/ retro could be major, too.
Add Some Fun to the Mix
Not every gift has to be steeped in tradition or history. Sometimes, quirky or lighthearted gifts are exactly what’s needed. For example, you could look into football-themed socks (can you usually buy them online, or could you literally just buy generic ones with a football on them), funny calendars (like the football players modeling in the calendar), or a trivia game that puts their knowledge to the test can be brilliant options (granted, this one is mostly geared towards major teams).