Dominik Szoboszlai has tattoos on his arm, chest and back: based on publicly available photos and reports in the Hungarian press, we have reliable information about at least three separate pieces. Cristiano Ronaldo’s case is the complete opposite: he has never had a tattoo during his career, and there is a specific reason for this that he has explained himself. Below, we look at what counts as confirmed fact about the two players’ tattoos—or lack of them—which styles footballers generally favour, and how you can try the same lettering-based, word-focused approach without copying anyone’s own design. This article is specifically about players’ own tattoos, not designs built around fans’ national colours and club crests—you can read more about those in this article.
- Szoboszlai got his first tattoo on his left forearm as a teenager, after completing the running test set by his father as a condition at the Salzburg Academy: a Hungarian translation of a Steven Gerrard quote.
- In early 2024, he got a chest tattoo from tattoo artist Dániel Törőcsik: a world map, numbers and three English words—balance, faith, impossible.
- Photos published in the summer of 2026 show a large piece that almost completely covers his back, but its detailed symbolic explanation comes from an interpretation generated by artificial intelligence, not from a statement by Szoboszlai himself.
- Cristiano Ronaldo has never got a tattoo because he wants to donate blood regularly, and after getting a fresh tattoo he would have to wait months before he could do so because of the risk of infection.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s tattoos: what we know for certain
The story behind Szoboszlai’s tattoos is easy to follow, because photos and contemporary press reports exist for all three major pieces. It is worth distinguishing what the images actually show from what others have inferred about them afterwards—that distinction forms the basis of the next three sections.
The left forearm: the story behind the Gerrard quote
Szoboszlai got his first tattoo on his left forearm as a teenager, during his years at the Salzburg Academy. According to Telex’s report, the design is a Hungarian translation of one of Steven Gerrard’s quotes. His father made it conditional on his son first achieving the best result in a running test at the academy. This story is a good starting point because it shows that Szoboszlai’s tattoos are mostly tied to specific personal milestones, rather than being added to his skin purely as decoration. If you’re also drawn to a short lettering design on the forearm, our article about women’s forearm tattoos offers further guidance on placement and sizing.
The chest tattoo: map and lettering
In February 2024, tattoo artist Dániel Törőcsik posted a photo of Szoboszlai’s new piece, which covers his entire chest. According to hvg.hu’s article, the design features a world map, numbers and three English words—balance, faith and impossible. The size and placement of the words suggest that Szoboszlai deliberately chose a lettering style rather than having a larger, more abstract scene tattooed on his chest.
The back tattoo: what is visible, and what is only speculation
Photos published in the summer of 2026 show Szoboszlai’s back almost entirely covered in tattoos: visible elements include a floral rosette around the neck, a stylised face in the middle, two tigers and cross shapes. Nemzeti Sport’s article also offers a detailed symbolic explanation of these elements, while making clear that the interpretation was generated using artificial intelligence based on the photo, and that in reality only Szoboszlai and his tattoo artist know the exact meaning of the design. So it is worth treating this section as speculation: we know for certain what is visible in the photo, but not exactly what it means to the person wearing it.
Cristiano Ronaldo and the tattoos he doesn’t have
Cristiano Ronaldo has never had a tattoo during his career, and the reason is practical, not aesthetic. In a 2012 interview with the Italian channel Diretta, he said that he doesn’t have tattoos so that he can donate blood more often—the GiveMeSport article quotes his statement verbatim. The reason is simple: a fresh tattoo poses a risk of infection, so blood donors have to wait before they can donate again—in Britain and Spain, where Ronaldo spent most of his club career, that would mean waiting around four months after each tattoo. So this is a decision tied to a specific personal habit, not some general rule followed by every footballer: plenty of players get tattoos; Ronaldo simply chose different priorities for himself.
Which styles footballers favour: lettering, quotes and numbers
Szoboszlai’s chest lettering is not unique in the world of football. David Beckham, for example, has more than 40 tattoos, and the vast majority are lettering: his children’s names, his wife Victoria’s name, and texts dedicated to his parents—as BBC Newsbeat’s article also shows. Sergio Ramos chose an even more concise approach: he had numbers tattooed on his knuckles (35, 90+, 32, 19), referring to milestones in his own career—his first shirt numbers at Sevilla (35 and 32), the goal he scored in extra time in the 2014 Champions League final (90+), and the age at which he made his debut for the Spanish national team (19). What these examples have in common is that a short word or number with personal meaning is put on the skin instead of a large, abstract image. This is the style that’s easiest to try with a temporary tattoo, because you can quickly check the effect of its size and placement. If you’re more interested in quote and word tattoos in general, you’ll find more design considerations in this article.
How to try this style without copying anyone
Before getting any word or number permanently tattooed on your skin, it’s worth first trying a temporary version to see how the lettering looks on the chosen part of your body. This doesn’t mean that a temporary or semi-permanent tattoo will show you what a permanent tattoo would look like, how it would heal or how it would feel—it only gives you a guide for trying out the design, size and placement in advance.
As a first step, choose a word or short phrase that has personal meaning to you, just as Szoboszlai or Ramos each condensed a personal milestone into a single word or number—it’s important that it’s your own choice, not a copy of an existing player’s actual design. Then try it on your forearm or chest, since these are the parts of the body where Szoboszlai’s own lettering appears, and compare how easy it is to read up close and from a few metres away before deciding on the final placement.
If you like the lettering, word-focused style, you’ll find several similar short-text designs among the lettering temporary tattoos, which you can try at your own pace. If you’re still unsure where to put your first design, our guide to your first tattoo can help you choose a design and placement, while our article about applying tattoos at home shows you step by step how to apply the design to your skin.
