Today in the newsroom, we’ve celebrated head lecturer Andy Ford’s 59th birthday by bringing in a variety of party foods for Andy to indulge in today (Some are healthier than others).
With this in mind, here are the five best football parties of recent memory!
1. ‘Jamie Vardy’s having a party!’ – Leicester City title celebrations in 2016
There’s no other place to start a list about the best parties in football than the evening of May the 2nd 2016, where Jamie Vardy’s Leicestershire home was the setting for a moment of sports history!
The Foxes gathered at the striker’s house that Monday night to watch Tottenham Hotspur, the closest challengers to Leicester, travelled to Stamford Bridge to take on bitter London rivals Chelsea, needing nothing less than a win to stay in the hunt for the Premier League title.
Spurs would collapse in the second half of what is now known as the ‘Battle of the Bridge’, and drew the game 2-2 to give Leicester City an improbable title. In fact, the odds for the side to win the league at the start of the season were 5,000 – 1
As the squad watched the events in West London unfold, they would go on to celebrate late into Monday night, with Vardy gaining a nickname that has stuck with him for the entirety of his distinguished career.
2. Naples turns Blue – Napoli 2025 Scudetto victory
On the 23rd of May this year, Napoli, thanks to goals from new signings that season Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku secured a 2-0 win against Caligiari and a slender one point title victory over Inter Milan for a 2nd title in three seasons.
Antonio Conte had masterminded another first-season at a club title win, just as he had done with Chelsea in 2017, by beating out 2024 champions Inter in what was the closest of title fights in recent Italian history
Three days later, the squad would arrive by boat from the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Italian Scudetto and arrive on the Naples coast for their seaside parade. Over half a million people lined the coastal main roads to celebrate their side’s success.
3. Number 20 on Merseyside – Liverpool’s 2025 celebrations
As Liverpool won their first title in 30 years in 2020, fans were unable to experience a title celebration due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Liverpool’s millions of fans across the globe knew that the next title victory would be special.
And it was, with Arne Slot’s side winning the 2024-25 edition of the Premier League to equal the record 20 league titles with Manchester United, and send the city into total hysteria.
The next day, 1.5 million fans would line the streets of Liverpool on the ‘May Day’ bank holiday to watch their heroes with the Premier League trophy, the biggest the country has ever seen.
However, Celebrations turned to panic as a motorist ran through the busy Water Street, injuring around 130 people, casting a dark shadow over what was a special day for Liverpool fans to celebrate a league title with their favourite squad for the first time in 35 years.
4. Bedlem in Buenos Aires – 2022 Argentina World Cup parade
Lionel Messi achieved the ultimate goal in Qatar in 2022, as he would lead Argentina to World Cup glory on December 18th against holders France for the nation’s first World Cup win since Mexico ’86, led by another Argentine legend Diego Maradona.
But the squad had no idea what was waiting for them back in Buenos Aires. Around five million fans lined the capitals streets with a chance to see their Hero, Messi and his accomplices.
The Bus parade would eventually be postponed thanks to the large amount of fans in the city’s centre, opting instead for a helicopter ride to see the millions that had come to see them from an aerial view.
A day of national pride in Argentina, celebrating an icon completing the trophy that had eluded him his whole career, and state his case as the greatest of all time.
