Biggest Football Controversies

In the 2005/06 Serie A season, Juventus raced their way to the title and wrapped up the league, having finished 15 points ahead of Inter Milan but instead of being awarded the Scudetto the Old Lady were relegated to Serie B after a match-fixing scandal dubbed Calciopoli came to light. The scandal was uncovered in May 2006 and it implicated ...

Hooliganism in English football has been deep-rooted. Although incidents of hooliganism have become very rare in modern football, the horrible scenes during the early days of the ongoing European Championship brought it all to focus once again. The English supporters started creating trouble during their stay in Marseille before their team’s opening fixture in the competition. Things took an ugly ...

  The hand of god Diego Maradona was a fierce competitor. He wasn’t one to let go off any opportunity to gain advantage even if it was through illegal means. And England bore the brunt of his conniving ways, when he blatantly scored with his hand in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final to give his team the lead against the ...

Diego Maradona The 1986 World Cup winner is considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time. The way he led Argentina to the pinnacle of world football in 1986 has very few parallels in any sport. Maradona was blessed with superhuman abilities. His intelligence on the pitch, never say die attitude, and most importantly, his close control ...

General Franco stops Spain from participating at the 1960 Euro Back in the day when the continental European competition was first played, the map of Europe looked a whole lot different than it does today. In fact, the European Championship or Euros were then known as the European Nations’ Cup and there used to be only four teams in the ...

Republic of Ireland were making only their third appearance at a World Cup in 2002 in South Korea and Japan. There was a buzz among their fans as the team, who had two Keanes – Roy and Robbie – as their main men were set to take on the world. But then things turned sour. The Football Association of Ireland ...

The 1962 World Cup match between Chile and Italy has gained notoriety for being one of the most violent and lawless football matches ever played. That entire competition was littered with disciplinary infractions, but what happened in the game between the hosts and the Italians took the indiscipline to a whole new level. The stage for the ‘battle’ was set ...

Brazil has always been the land of beautiful football. The nation takes great pride in their team playing an attacking form of the game that values individual expression and goals, plenty of goals, above all else. However, at the 1954 World Cup, it was Hungary that had taken the mantle of being the team that enthralled the world with their ...

If there was one match that summed up Diego Maradona, then Argentina’s quarter-final clash against England at the 1986 World Cup at the Estadio Azetca in Mexico would be it. In the 51st minute of the encounter, Maradona after a typical mazy run from the midfield that saw him go past three English players, played a diagonal pass to Jorge ...

Eduard Streltsov is one of the greatest footballers that the Soviet Union produced. The gifted midfielder, with his ability to dictate play and thread sumptuous passes, was a joy to watch on the field. However, his story went in an unexpected direction in 1958. The handsome footballer was also known for his activities off the pitch. Particularly his womanising ways, ...