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We all know that athletes, especially the pros, are a superstitious lot. They’ll do anything imaginable if they think it will help them perform better or give them an edge over the opposition. Most of the world’s best athletes have some sort of routine they follow to help bring success even though most of it is all in their head. Still, superstitions are better than using performance-enhancing drugs to get an edge on an opponent.

Over in England, superstitious soccer goaltenders may want to start wearing black jerseys as a recent study noted that goalies who wear black have had more success in the current 2015/16 Premier League season. The survey also found that grey jerseys have had a positive effect on the way netminders have been playing when compared to other colours such as green, orange, and purple etc. But as well as helping goalies play better, black is also a much better fashion statement when compared to orange and purple.

Of course, this latest news isn’t based on any scientific data and it all seems to be a bit off the wall. For example, Arsenal goaltender Petr Cech wears black at home and he reportedly has a goals-against average of just 0.77. He also leads the English Premier League in all-time clean sheets with over 300. However, he’s also had injury problems and now wears a protective skull cap due to a previous serious head injury. But he was wearing a light coloured jersey when he was hurt, so perhaps that’s also a reason he changed to black. It didn’t help him recently though as Cech’s been out of action for the past few weeks because of another setback, which happened while wearing black.

Cech has changed his tune though since he said a few years ago while playing with Chelsea that he believed orange was the best colour to wear to distract opposing players. West Ham goaltender Adrian may agree with Cech as he was wearing a multi-coloured shirt earlier this season when he was beaten for four goals in a 4-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in November. Chelsea’s Belgian international goaltender Thibaut Courtois has reportedly worn black just once this season and he earned a clean sheet in it. In his first 25 matches his side gave up 38 goals against and Chelsea has struggled all season long.

The worst colours to wear appear to be purple and cyan. The goals-against average in the league is 1.06 per game, but keepers who wear cyan or purple have a goals-against average of 1.08. The difference is quite negligible, but those who are superstitious still point to the fact that goalies who don’t wear black are letting in more goals. For example, Chelsea has allowed 1.58 goals against each game the keeper wasn’t wearing black.

There’s obviously nothing to this theory, but if a player believes he’ll play better in a certain colour then he probably will because his confidence is higher. In fact, many NHL teams started wearing black as their third jerseys since they believe it makes them appear more intimidating.