Feces, midnight rituals: Gabadinho spills football’s juju secrets

Football has a dark dressing room story few players dare to tell, but Frank “Gabadinho” Mhango has opened the door.

The Malawian star has made startling claims about bizarre juju rituals he says he witnessed during his football career, including encounters involving human faces, mysterious dark liquids and secretive practices.

From Orlando Pirates to FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and the Malawi national team, Gabadinho says some of the rituals he encountered left him shocked and questioning just how far players go in the name of success.

Speaking on a Malawian podcast hosted by Jaa Kev, the South Africa-based star said he initially believed juju was largely a Malawian phenomenon, only to encounter what he described as even more extensive practices during his time playing in South Africa.

“Juju is worse and mostly used in football. Orlando Pirates is worse,” Mhango said.

The former Orlando Pirates forward recalled an unusual ritual he said players would undergo while staying in a hotel before travelling to the stadium for a match.

According to Mhango, there was a place he described as a church where a woman would appear on match days and perform a ritual on the players.

He said the woman would spray a liquid on the players before they were instructed to pass between her legs.

“There is darkness when we go to the other side. At one point, we were told not to look back or sideways, but to walk straight to the bus and leave for the stadium for a match,” Mhango said.

The ritual left him questioning why the place appeared specifically on match days.

“I wonder why this church appears only match day,” he said.

Mhango said his experiences at Orlando Pirates made him realize that the use of juju was not restricted to Malawi.

“Every team uses juju,” he claimed.

His experiences with traditional practices, however, also date back to his time playing for Big Bullets.

Mhango said that when the Blantyre-based giants were struggling, people would approach the team offering juju which they believed could help the players and improve the club’s fortunes.

According to the footballer, some individuals allegedly went as far as putting human feces on players’ jerseys.

“Some would put human feces on their jerseys so that they would smell bad and opposing players would avoid marking them during games,” he said.

Mhango added that similar practices had also occurred in the Malawi national team at one point.

He further claimed that some players would secretly use juju while in camp.

“I have seen players putting some juju in socks, around their waist,” he said.

His recollections also include an incident in South Africa where he said he saw a teammate pouring a very dark substance into a bathtub before staying inside for several minutes.

“You share a room with another player, then suddenly you see your teammate pouring very dark substances into the bathtub. He stays there for almost 10 minutes,” Mhango said.

The experiences, he said, changed his perception of juju in football.

“At first I thought it is only Malawi that do juju, but it’s also worse outside the country,” Mhango said.

Despite the offers and practices he says he has encountered throughout his career, Mhango said he has chosen not to participate.

He revealed that people continue to contact him, particularly during his injury struggles, offering what they claim are traditional solutions.

“Some people have been offering me juju even until now. I receive calls that your injury, someone has the hand, come, I will help you. I just ignore them,” he said.

Mhango’s account offers a glimpse into a little-discussed side of football, where traditional beliefs and rituals can exist alongside professional training, tactics and modern sports medicine.

His claims also suggest that superstition surrounding football extends beyond Malawi, with the veteran forward saying his experiences in South Africa were enough to change his own perception of how widespread such practices are.