What is the Dele Alli Hand Celebration?

It's a hand gesture where you make a circle with your thumb and forefinger, hold it to your eye, and press your other three fingers against your forehead. Dele Alli performed it after scoring for Tottenham against Newcastle in August 2018[2].

Where did the Dele Alli Hand Celebration come from?

Alli learned it from Jamie Vardy's children during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, though Jesse Lingard's brand director Louie Scott is credited with originally creating the gesture[6].

What does the Dele Alli Hand Celebration mean?

There's no deep meaning. Alli described it as "just a bit of fun" after watching friends struggle to copy it on holiday[4]. A conspiracy theory linking it to religious symbolism was debunked by Alli himself[6].

How do you use the Dele Alli Hand Celebration?

Make an OK circle with your index finger and thumb, hold it up to your eye, then rest your other three fingers on your forehead. Most people find the hand contortion extremely difficult[7].

Is the Dele Alli Hand Celebration still popular?

The challenge peaked in August 2018 and burned out within weeks. As a meme format, it is no longer actively circulating, though clips from the original challenge still resurface in football nostalgia compilations[1].

Who actually invented the hand gesture?

The origin is disputed. Jesse Lingard said his brand director Louie Scott created it[3]. Alli said Vardy's kids showed him during the World Cup, and that Lingard's brother may have taught the kids[6].

Why was the Dele Alli celebration so hard to copy?

The gesture requires bending the thumb into a tight circle at eye level while curling three fingers against the forehead, a combination of flexibility and coordination most people's hands can't manage[2].

Did Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli fight over the celebration?

Not exactly. Lingard publicly said Alli "pinched" his celebration, but it played out as a friendly rivalry between England teammates rather than a real feud[3].

Which celebrities tried the Dele Challenge?

Olly Murs and Sam Bailey, both former X Factor contestants, posted successful attempts after being taught by Lingard[3]. Teammates Llorente and Nkoudou famously failed on camera[1].

Did Dele Alli do the celebration more than once?

Alli debuted it against Newcastle on the opening day and was expected to use it again, with media speculating he'd bring it out at Tottenham's next home match against Fulham[2].

Dele Alli Hand Celebration

2018Hand gesture / social media challengedead

Published March 31, 2026

Also known as: Dele Challenge · #DeleAlliCelebrationChallenge · #DeleChallenge

The Dele Alli Hand Celebration is a hand gesture meme that took off in August 2018 after Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli scored against Newcastle United and celebrated by holding an OK sign up to his eye. The trick looked simple but turned out to be nearly impossible for most people to replicate, sparking the #DeleChallenge across social media as footballers, celebrities, and fans posted their own failed attempts.

football memes challenge memes hand gesture memes 2018 memes

Overview

The Dele Alli Hand Celebration involves making a circle with your thumb and forefinger, holding it up to your eye like a viewfinder, and resting the remaining three fingers against your forehead. What made it go viral wasn't the gesture itself but the fact that almost nobody could actually do it. The hand contortion required a specific kind of finger dexterity that left even professional athletes looking ridiculous on camera. Videos of people attempting and failing at the gesture flooded Instagram and Twitter within days of Alli's original celebration.

Origin & Background

Platform

Instagram (initial post), Twitter (viral spread)

Key People

Dele Alli, Louie Scott

Date

2018

On August 12, 2018, Tottenham Hotspur beat Newcastle United 2-1 on the opening day of the Premier League season1. After putting his side ahead in the 18th minute, Dele Alli turned to the cameras and performed a hand gesture that nobody quite understood2. He made a circle with his index finger and thumb, held it to his eye, and pressed his other three fingers against his forehead3.

The celebration itself had roots in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Alli later told the Evening Standard that Jamie Vardy's children showed him the trick when families visited the England team hotel6. "One afternoon, Jamie Vardy's kids were around and they asked me if I could do it," Alli said. "I could but then I watched the other boys struggling, it was funny"6. He added that Jesse Lingard's brother may have originally taught the kids the move4.

Jesse Lingard had his own claim to the gesture. The Sun reported that Lingard's brand director Louie Scott originally thought up the hand trick3. Lingard publicly stated that Alli "pinched" the celebration from him3.

How It Spread

The same day as the Newcastle match, Alli posted a photo of himself performing the gesture on his Instagram page, which pulled in more than 458,000 likes within three days5. He also uploaded Instagram Stories videos from the Tottenham dressing room showing teammates Fernando Llorente and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou struggling to copy the move1. The captions read "Meanwhile. Check this..." and "Nah I'm done with this guy. The struggle is real"2. Alli tagged Arsenal's Danny Welbeck and Manchester United's Jesse Lingard in the posts, hinting at a private joke between the England teammates1.

On August 14, 2018, Twitter account @COPA90US published a video compilation of Alli and fans attempting the gesture, which picked up more than 1,500 retweets and 3,900 likes5. Twitter itself created an official Moments page archiving various attempts at the challenge5.

Lingard responded by showing off the gesture with ease and teaching celebrities how to do it. Former X Factor stars Olly Murs and Sam Bailey both shared their successful attempts on social media after Lingard walked them through it3. Lingard also tried to start his own rival craze, the "JLingz Challenge," asking fans to mimic a different potential celebration3.

Major media outlets jumped on the story quickly. The Sun, Yahoo Sports, BBC, the Irish Independent, and Heavy.com all covered the #DeleChallenge within days5. The Irish Independent described the gesture as having "baffled even his teammates"7. Yahoo Sports called it "impossible" based on fan reactions2.

How to Use This Meme

The Dele Alli celebration works like this: make an OK sign by touching your thumb and index finger together in a circle. Bring that circle up to one of your eyes and look through it. Then curl or press your remaining three fingers against your forehead. The hard part is keeping the OK circle tight at your eye while your other fingers bend against your head without the whole hand collapsing. Most people either can't get their thumb into the right position or lose the circle shape when they try to rest their fingers on their forehead7.

In its meme form, people typically filmed themselves trying the gesture and posted the results (usually failures) with the #DeleChallenge or #DeleAlliCelebrationChallenge hashtags. The humor came from watching people's hands twist into awkward shapes while attempting something that looked so effortless when Alli did it.

Cultural Impact

The Dele Alli celebration crossed from football culture into mainstream social media within 48 hours. Twitter's decision to create an official Moments page for the challenge gave it a signal boost beyond the sports community5. The involvement of non-football celebrities like Olly Murs brought the challenge to audiences who might never watch a Premier League match3.

One odd footnote: a conspiracy theory briefly circulated claiming the gesture was a salute to Dajjal, a figure in Islamic eschatology associated with evil. Both the Evening Standard and the Mirror reported on this claim, but Alli shut it down by explaining its actual World Cup origins6. "I didn't think it was going to go as mad as it did. It's just a bit of fun," he told the Mirror4.

The dispute between Alli and Lingard over who originated the gesture added extra fuel to the story. Alli acknowledged that Lingard's brother may have created it but said he picked it up independently from Vardy's kids6. Lingard maintained that his brand director Louie Scott deserved credit3. The friendly rivalry between two England teammates made for easy headlines and kept the meme circulating longer than a simple hand gesture might have otherwise lasted.

Fun Facts

Alli had previously used Fortnite dances as goal celebrations, including moves made famous in football by Antoine Griezmann1.

Fernando Llorente and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou both failed at the gesture with Alli standing right next to them coaching7.

The celebration debuted on literally the first day of the 2018-19 Premier League season2.

Alli tagged rival players from Arsenal and Manchester United in his Instagram posts, turning the celebration into a cross-club challenge1.

Jamie Vardy's children were the ones who first showed Alli the trick, making a group of kids the unlikely origin point of a viral sports moment6.