It's very common to see players gather round to pray for a win before a match begins. Also, it's very common to see players looking up to the sky and raising their hands or forefingers upwards in a gesture of gratitude to a deity when they score.
Same goes for Muslim footballers, who normally bow down during goal celebration. A Player like Mohamed Salah and a host of others normally raise his hands up to the stay as a gesture to a deity for scoring a goal
This is very common on football as well as other sports, and if you look at the state of African football, one of the things affecting its growth is because we believe so much in prayers and superstitions. We apply little effort in something and expect prayers to do the magic
I've always wondered why Super Eagles and their supporters spend a whole lot of time on intense prayers to win a match but at the end of the tournament, we still get eliminated by those who didn't even pray at all.
This is not a religion or something, the question is, do you think prayer is a secret ace card for player to perform well in football matches.