Celebrate Halloween and your love of the beautiful game by carving your very own soccer-themed pumpkin! The spookiest night of the year is right around the corner and there’s still time to get crafty by combining your favourite sport with some Halloween decor. From team logos to your favourite players’ faces, there are so many creative ways to turn an ordinary jack-o-lantern into something that will score some appreciation from trick or treaters and teammates this spooky season. Whether you consider yourself an amateur or professional pumpkin carver, here are some fun soccer-themed design ideas that will take your front porch to the next level! 

1.    Classic Soccer Ball Pumpkin

Sometimes keeping it simple and easily recognizable is the best way to go! A traditional soccer ball design is something that will be universally appreciated by any soccer fan. You can trace a classic hexagon and pentagon pattern directly onto your pumpkin using a stencil or use white and black paint if you’re short on time. Now all you need to do is add a candle and you’ve got the perfect glowing soccer ball to light up your porch!

You can find a free printable soccer ball stencil at artsprettyplants.com. 

2.    Team Pride Pumpkin

Show off your team pride and represent your favourite soccer club by designing a jack-o-lantern with your favorite team's logo! Whether you’re a die-hard fan of the big leagues, or want to support your local team, you can print out a logo online and trace it onto your pumpkin for carving. You could even go the extra mile and paint your pumpkin in the team’s colours so it will be even more obvious who you’re rooting for!

3.    Player Face / Silhouette Pumpkin

If you really want to challenge yourself with this year’s soccer-themed pumpkin carving, use a stencil of your favourite players’ face to create the ultimate tribute. If carving a photo of Messi or Ronaldo is too intimidating, you could also try carving a basic silhouette of a player mid-kick or celebrating a goal instead. You can find stencils of your favourite players online or trace any image you want!

You can find some free stencils of Lionel Messi at celebrating-halloween.com. 

4.    Referee Pumpkin

The next idea on our list relies less on your pumpkin carving skills and more on your crafting skills for a fun DIY that's perfect for the whole family! Aside from a traditional black-and-white soccer ball, nothing screams soccer quite like a referee. There’s no carving required here, all you’ll need is some black and white paint for the stripes and a whistle necklace to drape over the pumpkin. You could also add a black cap or a red card to make it even more on theme!

5.    Zombie Soccer Ball Pumpkin

If you want a pumpkin carving idea that’s the perfect blend of spooky and sporty, look no further! You’ll only need a large pumpkin and soccer ball to achieve this zombie soccer ball pumpkin effect. Start off by carving a scary face with a mouth that’s big enough to fit a soccer ball. Now place the ball inside so it’s sticking out of the mouth a bit and it will look like the pumpkin’s eating the ball!

6.    Goalkeeper Pumpkin

Lastly on our list of soccer-themed pumpkin carvings is one that uses both carving and crafting! To complete your goalkeeper holding a soccer ball pumpkin creation, you’ll need three medium-sized pumpkins (they’ll be stacked on top of each other). Start off with a plain pumpkin as the base to act as the legs/feet of the goalkeeper. Next, carve a soccer ball design into the second pumpkin and place on top of the base. This will act as the soccer ball the goalkeeper is holding. For the last pumpkin, carve any face style you like and place it on top of the second pumpkin to complete the stack. Now that you have your goalkeeper, finish off the look by gluing some goalie gloves on the middle pumpkin to look like hands holding the soccer ball!