Source: The Conversation – UK
Anthony Gordon – one of the stars of England’s football team at the 2026 World Cup – surprised many when he was presented as a new Barcelona player at the end of the 2025-26 domestic football season: he answered a question at the press conference in confident Spanish. Gordon explained that he had been learning the language for years with the hope of one day playing for Barcelona.
I research motivation, particularly when it comes to learning languages. Gordon’s ambition to learn Spanish was fuelled by what motivation researchers would refer to as an intrinsic goal.
Intrinsic goals include skills development (for example wanting to get better at Spanish), the development of positive personal relationships (such as wanting to form close bonds with team-mates) and long-term personal fulfilment. This is where Gordon’s motivation appears to sit.
Learning Spanish was something he was able to sustain because it supported him in achieving a long-term personal goal. This type of goal is generally associated with more positive forms of motivation, because they are better aligned with things we personally value. Extrinsic goals, such as appearing impressive to others, tend to be much less sustainable and less strongly associated with high-quality motivation.
Conceptualising motivation like this is part of a psychological concept called self-determination theory. This tells us that the more an activity is aligned with the things we value and the more free we are to undertake it in ways that suit us, the higher quality our motivation, and the stronger the link with positive outcomes and sustaining the activity over time.
Self-determination theory includes the idea that growth – such as learning a language – is supported by a number of basic psychological needs. One of these is “relatedness”, which means having positive, supportive relationships with those around us.
It seems that this need for relatedness was satisfied for Gordon. An interesting nugget from his Barcelona press conference was the role of the people around him in sustaining his interest and supporting his efforts. Gordon mentioned practising Spanish with a physio at his former club Newcastle. His former manager at Everton, Rafael Benítez, has also said that Gordon would speak Spanish with his coaching team.
Another basic psychological need is autonomy. This means being free to undertake an activity that we can personally endorse in a way that suits us (think of how much keener you are to do weekend activities such as gardening or visiting friends, compared to writing reports for work). There is no suggestion that Gordon was under pressure to learn the language; it seems to have been something he did because it was important to him. This makes it likely that he experienced learning Spanish as autonomy satisfying.
The third basic psychological need is competence: the perception that we are good at the task we are engaged in, or capable of achieving it. Crucially, we don’t actually have to be good at it. You can still perceive yourself as competent even when you are a beginner, if you start to see success.
Ideal conditions
All of this acts as a perfect illustration of the ideal conditions for successful language learning – an activity we might describe as being perceived as need-supporting (in other words, which allows us to feel autonomous and competent, supported by those around us) undertaken by someone who sees its value for them personally, and who has sustainable intrinsic goals.
Although Brits are regularly maligned for their poor language skills, footballers often present us with useful examples to the contrary.
Gordon is not the only player in the England team to have shown willingness to learn the language of the clubs they play for. Jude Bellingham, for instance, took German lessons when playing for Borussia Dortmund and has shown his skills in Spanish since signing for Real Madrid.
My research has shown the value of being, or considering yourself to be, multilingual. Among adolescents, this belief can be held even when the level of language skill obtained is quite low. It may be that this carries forward into adulthood, supporting players’ perceptions of their linguistic competence as they find themselves being able to be understood, and encouraging them to continue learning. Where team mates are supportive, this will also have a positive impact.
Anthony Gordon’s success in meeting his long-term goal to speak Spanish can serve as an example of ways to support our own language learning. Finding a reason to learn that comes from within ourselves – intrinsic motivation – is key.
Seek help from others to support you, and feel proud of your growing competence.
Learning because you want to is likely to be more successful than learning because someone told you that you should.
Abigail Parrish receives funding from University of Alberta Prince Takamado Japan Centre for work on language learning goals.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/07/09/personal-goals-motivated-footballer-anthony-gordon-to-learn-spanish-a-recipe-for-success/