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Footballers are human beings like the rest of us, and while we shouldn’t expect them to never make mistakes on or off the pitch… they do.
But the following went above and beyond in their courting of trouble. Here are the most controversial footballers of all time.
32. Toni Schumacher
Schumacher was responsible for one of the most notorious fouls of all time. At the 1982 World Cup, the Germany goalkeeper came charging out of his box and crashed into France striker Patrick Battison mid-air.
Battison was knocked out and left with cracked ribs and broken teeth. Schumacher was unrepentant, insisting he was just going for the ball.
31. Dennis Wise
Wise made his name at Wimbledon as a member of the infamous ‘Crazy Gang’. The diminutive midfielder once broke a Leicester team-mate’s nose in training, while at Chelsea he was stripped of the captaincy after assaulting a taxi driver.
The midfielder also had bust-ups with Patrick Vieira, Nicky Butt and Muzzy Izzet during his playing days.
30. Norman Hunter
Anyone nicknamed ‘Bites Yer Legs’ is bound to rub a few opponents up the wrong way. Hunter was a pillar of Don Revie’s ‘dirty Leeds’ side, where he was known for his robust approach to opposition strikers.
Hunter and Derby’s Franny Lee once had an on-field boxing match, while on another occasion the centre-back traded blows with Chelsea’s Ian Hutchinson.
29. Gerardo Bedoya
Bedoya is a record-holder: no player in world football has been shown more red cards. The Colombian, known as ‘the Beast’ back home, was sent off 46 times between 1995 and 2015.
His most infamous dismissal came in 2012 when he elbowed Jhonny Ramirez and then kicked him in the head for good measure. Bedoya was suspended for 15 games.
28. Antonio Cassano
A tempestuous talent, Cassano did naughty things all the way throughout his career. The attacker regularly fell out with managers, locking horns with Fabio Capello, Luigi Delneri and Andrea Stramaccioni among others.
At Real Madrid Cassano was criticised for his poor diet, but the Italian blamed his weight gain on the club’s sponsorship deal with Nutella.
27. Duncan Ferguson
While playing for Rangers in 1994, Ferguson headbutted John McStay of Raith Rovers. The striker was charged with assault and, because of prior convictions, was sentenced to three months in prison.
During his time south of the border with Everton, Ferguson was sent off eight times. No one in Premier League history has been shown more red cards.
26. Pepe
A wind-up merchant of the highest order, Pepe seemed incapable of minding his own business on the football field.
He had a temper too. The Portuguese was dismissed at the 2014 World Cup for headbutting Thomas Muller. He once stamped on Lionel Messi’s hand and kicked Getafe’s Javier Casquero in the back before pushing his head to the ground. Brutal.
25. Billy Bremner
A brilliant midfielder for Don Revie’s side, Bremner was key to putting the ‘dirty’ in ‘dirty Leeds’. The Scot scrapped with Kevin Keegan in the 1974 Community Shield, leading to an 11-game suspension.
In 1975 the Scottish Football Association banned Bremner from the national team for life after an alleged nightclub fight.
24. Lee Bowyer
Along with Leeds team-mate Jonathan Woodgate, Bowyer was arrested after a student was left with severe injuries at a nightclub. On another occasion, the midfielder was convicted of affray after throwing chairs at and racially abusing a McDonald’s worker.
At Newcastle, Bowyer got into an extraordinary on-pitch fight with his team-mate Kieron Dyer vs Aston Villa with both players asked to leave the pitch.
23. Vinnie Jones
More of a pantomime villain at times – witness his grabbing of Paul Gascoigne’s testicles – Jones could be downright nasty when he wanted to be. The leader of Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’, he was sent off 12 times during his career.
In 1992, Jones was fined £20,000 for presenting a Soccer’s Hard Men video which purportedly encouraged violent on-field acts.
22. Ben Thatcher
A Premier League player for Wimbledon, Tottenham, Leicester and Manchester City, Thatcher had a violent streak. In 2000 he was banned for two games for deliberately elbowing Sunderland’s Nicky Summerbee.
His most despicable act came six years later, when the left-back knocked out Portsmouth’s Pedro Mendes with a brutal, intentional elbow charge. He was banned for eight matches.
21. Kevin Muscat
Muscat played football with little regard for the laws of the game or the limbs of his opponents. During his time at Rangers, the Australian was never picked for an Old Firm game as he was deemed too much of a danger to opponents.
He ended his career following a horrendous tackle on Adrian Zahra earned him an eight-match ban.
20. Ashley Cole
One of the greatest English defenders ever, Cole courted controversy when he joined Chelsea from Arsenal in 2006. Both he and the Blues were fined for a tapping-up meeting, as was the club’s manager Jose Mourinho.
Reflecting upon an offer of £55,000 per week to stay at Arsenal, Cole said that the proposal left him “trembling with anger”.
19. Craig Bellamy
A difficult character throughout his career, there is not enough space here to list all the people Bellamy fell out with.
His most memorable bust-up came during his time at Liverpool, when he struck his sleeping team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club following a training-ground dispute earlier that day. Bellamy celebrated his next goal with a golf swing.
18. Marco Materazzi
In one sense Materazzi was the victim when he clashed with Zinedine Zidane at the 2006 World Cup. But few had sympathy for the headbutted Italian, who allegedly insulted the Frenchman’s sister.
His aggressive style of defending brought Materazzi many other enemies, he once busted the lip of Siena’s Bruno Cirillo after punching him in the dressing room.
17. Romario
In 1994 Romario was hit with a five-game ban after punching Diego Simeone – a very brave but ultimately foolish act. The following year he walked out on Barcelona after one argument too many with Johan Cruyff.
After falling out with Edmundo, Romario stuck a cartoon of his ex-team-mate above the men’s toilets at a bar he owned.
16. Diego Costa
The Brazil-born Costa was hardly the toast of the town when he appeared at a World Cup in his home country… playing for Spain.
In the Premier League, the former Chelsea striker stamped on Emre Can, slapped Laurent Koscielny, and was accused of biting Gareth Barry. “My challenges are strong but noble,” he said, somewhat unconvincingly.
15. Sergio Ramos
Liverpool fans were irate when Mohamed Salah got injured in the 2018 Champions League final, accusing Sergio Ramos of deliberately injuring their star man.
That was one of many scrapes Ramos has been involved in. He was sent off 28 times at Real Madrid and PSG, and once got a two-game ban for deliberately getting booked in the Champions League.
14. Andoni Goikoetxea
As you can guess from his moniker, the ‘Butcher of Bilbao’ was not afraid to get stuck in. Goikoetxea’s most controversial moment came in 1983, when a brutal tackle on Barcelona’s Diego Maradona left the Argentine with a broken ankle.
The following year, Goikoetxea kicked Maradona in the chest during a mass brawl. Another time, he seriously injured Bernd Schuster.
13. Carlos Tevez
Manchester United fans were up in arms when Tevez joined their rivals Manchester City in 2009 – and even more so when he later held up a ‘RIP Fergie’ sign.
In 2011, the City striker allegedly refused to come on as a substitute against Bayern Munich. Tevez was placed on gardening leave and spent his time off playing golf in Argentina.
12. El Hadji Diouf
At times Diouf just could not keep his mouth shut. He was embroiled in multiple spitting incidents in England, most notoriously when he expectorated in the face of Portsmouth defender Arjan de Zeeuw.
Diouf was later accused of taunting Jamie Mackie as he lay stricken with a broken leg, leading to Neil Warnock branding him “lower than a sewer rat”.
11. Rene Higuita
The scorpion kick against England was in keeping with Higuita’s eccentric character. This was a goalkeeper who regularly dribbled the ball out of his box (Cameroon striker Roga Milla robbed him at the 1990 World Cup) and sometimes into the opposition half.
In 1993 the Colombian was locked up for seven months for his role in a Pablo Escobar-linked kidnapping.
10. Edmundo
A 39-time Brazil international, Edmundo enjoyed himself off the pitch as well as on it. In the middle of 1998/99, he left table-topping Fiorentina to attend the Rio Carnaval. The club’s form dipped and they missed out on the title.
At another Carnaval, a drunk Edmundo crashed his car and caused the deaths of three people. He was nicknamed ‘O Animal’.
9. John Terry
A Chelsea legend, Terry enjoyed a hugely successful career – but it was not without its contentious episodes. Foremost among them was being found guilty by the Football Association of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.
In 2009 Terry allegedly had a fourth-month affair with Vanessa Perroncel, an ex-girlfriend of his former team-mate Wayne Bridge.
8. Roy Keane
Keane was one to hold a grudge. Four years after a run-in with Alf-Inge Haaland, the Manchester United captain crashed his studs into his opponent’s knee in a premeditated assault.
Keane famously left the Ireland camp before the 2002 World Cup, while other on-field misdemeanours include stamping on Gareth Southgate and elbowing Jason McAteer. Shearer got off lightly.
7. Nicolas Anelka
Nicknamed ‘Le Sulk’ by the English media, Anelka did not have the sunniest demeanour. The striker was sent home from the 2010 World Cup after launching into a foul-mouthed tirade against France manager Raymond Domenech.
In 2013 Anelka celebrated a goal for West Brom by doing the quenelle, a gesture which has been labelled an inverted Nazi salute.
6. Mario Balotelli
Why always you, Mario? Well, you did wear an AC Milan shirt while playing for Inter; you did let off fireworks inside your own house; and you did throw darts at a Manchester City youth-teamer at the club’s training ground.
A colourful character and all-round cult figure, Balotelli was also an immensely talented prospect who never fulfilled his true potential.
5. Joey Barton
Controversy dogged Barton’s career from start to finish. He once stubbed a cigar out in a young player’s eye, while a training-ground fight with Ousmane Dabo left the latter unconscious and landed Barton with a suspended prison sentence.
In April 2017 he was banned for 18 months after being found guilty of breaching betting rules. It effectively ended his playing career.
4. Paolo Di Canio
A self-professed fascist, Di Canio has Benito Mussolini-inspired tattoos and was pictured on more than one occasion giving a straight-arm salute to Lazio fans. He attended the funeral of Paolo Signorelli, a far-right figure involved in a deadly terrorist attack in 1980.
In 1998 the Sheffield Wednesday striker was banned for 11 games for pushing over referee Paul Alcock.
3. Luis Suarez
When it comes to footballing controversy, Suarez was often guilty of biting off more than he could chew. The Uruguayan sunk his teeth into three opponents during his career, earning a cumulative ban of 26 games.
More seriously, Suarez was suspended for eight matches after being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra in 2011.
2. Eric Cantona
Cantona had disciplinary problems throughout his career. He once punched an Auxerre team-mate in the face and dismissed international colleague Didier Deschamps as a “water-carrier”.
In 1996 Cantona kung-fu kicked a Crystal Palace supporter who had abused him. The mercurial Manchester United man was hit with an eight-month suspension and a 120-hour community service order.
1. Diego Maradona
One of the greatest players ever, Maradona had his demons. A positive cocaine test brought a 15-month ban, while he also had alleged links to Neopolitan criminals.
At the 1986 World Cup, the Argentine punched the ball into the England net. “[It was] a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God,” he famously grinned.
