Football nicknames are rarely accidental.
Behind each one sits a story, sometimes heroic, sometimes ridiculous, and occasionally both at once.
The fifteen that follow are among the most interesting in the game, the ones that reward the effort of understanding where they actually came from.
Newell's Old Boys: La Lepra
Newell's Old Boys are one of Argentina's most famous clubs, known globally as the boyhood club of Lionel Messi. Their name derives from Isaac Newell, an English teacher from Kent who emigrated to Argentina in the late nineteenth century and founded a school in Rosario where football became central to daily life. When former students formed a team, they named it after him.
Their nickname, La Lepra (The Lepers), sounds considerably harsher than its origin warrants. In the 1920s, local organisers attempted to put together a charity match to raise funds for a leprosy clinic in Rosario. Newell's agreed to participate. Their city rivals, Rosario Central, declined. Newell's supporters subsequently adopted the association as a point of pride, transforming what others might have considered an awkward label into a symbol of the club's willingness to do what was right rather than what was convenient.
Villarreal: The Yellow Submarine
Villarreal are a club based several miles inland in the Valencia region of Spain, which makes their nautical nickname a geographical curiosity as much as anything else.
The story begins in 1967, the year after the Beatles released Revolver, which featured Yellow Submarine as one of its most popular tracks. Villarreal were pushing for promotion to Spain's third division at the time, and during one home match a group of supporters behind the goal produced a record player and began playing the song. Looking out at their team's bright yellow shirts, they started adapting the lyrics into a chant celebrating the club's colours. The song spread through the ground, the nickname followed, and neither has left since.
Arsenal: The Gunners
Arsenal's nickname is famous enough that many supporters have never questioned where it came from. The answer is more literal than the metaphorical connotations of firepower and attacking intent might suggest.
In 1886, fifteen workers at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich, south-east London, founded a football club. They called it Dial Square initially, then Royal Arsenal, and the connection to their workplace produced a nickname that has endured across more than a century. The first official club crest, introduced in 1905, featured three cannons as its central image. The symbol and the nickname remain in place today.
Nimes Olympique: Les Crocodiles
The crocodile is not a creature one naturally associates with the south of France. Nimes Olympique's nickname requires some historical context to make sense.
Nimes was one of the most significant Roman settlements in what is now France, and the city's remarkably well-preserved ancient buildings remain visible evidence of that heritage. The crocodile symbol dates to 31 BCE, when soldiers from Nimes played a decisive role in the Battle of Actium, helping Augustus defeat Cleopatra and Mark Antony and completing Rome's conquest of Egypt. To commemorate the campaign, coins were struck bearing the image of a crocodile chained to a palm tree. The symbol was adopted by the city and has remained part of its identity ever since. The football club inherited it.
Atletico Madrid: Los Colchoneros
The Mattress Makers is an unlikely nickname for one of Spanish football's most decorated clubs, and it began as a straightforward insult.
During the mid-twentieth century, Atletico's iconic red-and-white striped shirts reminded opposing supporters of the cheap fabric used to upholster old Spanish mattresses. The comparison was intended to diminish. Atletico's supporters took a different view. Rather than rejecting the label, they absorbed it and turned it into an expression of identity. Los Colchoneros became shorthand for a club built on hard work, stubbornness, and a determination to compete against wealthier rivals without the benefit of comparable resources or glamour.
Heart of Midlothian: The Jam Tarts
Heart of Midlothian are one of Scottish football's most celebrated clubs, which makes their secondary nickname, The Jam Tarts, an initially surprising thing to encounter.
The explanation lies in Cockney rhyming slang. Hearts rhymes with Jam Tarts. The nickname migrated northward, was adopted by Scottish supporters with no apparent irony, and has been in regular use ever since.
Reading: From Biscuitmen to The Royals
Reading's original nickname was The Biscuitmen, and it came directly from Huntley and Palmers, the biscuit manufacturer that was at one point the largest of its kind anywhere in the world and had its main operation based in the town.
When the factory eventually relocated, the grip of the nickname loosened. The club subsequently moved toward The Royals as a preferred alternative, drawing on Berkshire's designation as a Royal County. The transition has not been universally welcomed by long-standing supporters, many of whom continue to use The Ding, a simple local shortening of Reading, as their preferred term.
Everton: The Toffees
Everton's nickname traces back to a confectionery rivalry in 1890s Liverpool. Two sweet shops competed for dominance in the area near the club's grounds. Both claimed the right to call themselves Everton's official sweet makers, and their striped toffees became closely associated with matchdays.
The tradition of the Everton Toffee Lady, a figure in period dress who throws sweets to supporters before kick-off, developed from this rivalry and continues at Goodison to this day.
Asante Kotoko: The Porcupine Warriors
Asante Kotoko are Ghana's most decorated club. Their nickname, The Porcupine Warriors, is the product of a formal arrangement that has no real equivalent elsewhere in football.
The word Kotoko means porcupine in the local language, and the porcupine is the official symbol of the Ashanti Kingdom. When the club sought to adopt the name Asante Kotoko, they were required to obtain permission from the Asantehene, the King of the Ashanti people. The King not only granted permission but became the club's official patron. Today, Asante Kotoko remains owned by the Ashanti King.
Bolton Wanderers: The Wanderers and The Trotters
Bolton were founded in 1874 under the name Christ Church FC. Three years later, having moved between several different grounds in quick succession, they chose the name Bolton Wanderers.
Their secondary nickname, The Trotters, emerged during the Burnden Park era. Its origin is genuinely unclear, with theories ranging from the club’s wandering early years to local slang, or even a nearby piggery.
Juventus: The Old Lady
Juventus means youth in Latin, which makes La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady) one of football's more deliberately ironic nicknames.
The label emerged in the 1930s. One explanation holds that the club's key players at the time were aging veterans. Another connects it to the Agnelli family, known locally as the vecchi signori (old gentlemen). Either way, the combination of youthful name and elderly nickname has given Juventus one of the more distinctive identities in world football.
Ipswich Town: The Tractor Boys
Ipswich Town’s nickname The Tractor Boys began as an insult from larger urban clubs mocking Suffolk’s farming heritage. Ipswich supporters found the label amusing and reclaimed it as an expression of regional pride.
Jamaica: The Reggae Boyz
Most national teams choose aggressive nicknames. Jamaica took a different approach. The name Reggae Boyz first appeared during a 1995 friendly when supporters chanted it in tribute to the country’s famous music. The coach embraced it immediately as a genuine expression of Jamaican cultural identity.
Hartlepool United: The Monkey Hangers
Hartlepool United share their nickname with the town itself. During the Napoleonic Wars, according to legend, a French ship wrecked off the coast and the only survivor was a monkey dressed in a military uniform. Locals, never having seen a monkey or a Frenchman, put it on trial as a spy and hanged it.
The town has since leaned into the story. The club’s mascot is H’Angus the Monkey, and the man who spent years inside the costume even became Mayor of Hartlepool — twice.
Dunfermline Athletic: The Pars
The Pars is one of Scottish football’s more enduring mysteries. The nickname has been attached to Dunfermline Athletic since at least the early 1900s, but its precise origin has never been definitively established. Competing theories include a banner from Plymouth Argyle supporters, a shortening of “Paralytics,” the parr fish matching the club’s colours, or simply not being “on par” with other teams.