10 of possibly most corrupt footballers of all time
Football transcends all barriers; it offers a beacon of hope to many around the world and brings people together like no other sport. Simply watching vociferous crowds bounce around in filled stadia around the globe gives you a glimpse into how tremendous the support everywhere is and how important the beautiful game is to many.
Yet it has a much darker side that rears its ugly head from time to time. Match-fixing, tax-evasions, favouritism, nepotism and many more scandals are prevalent at both the international scene and at the grass-root level.
The recently exposed FIFA scandal exposed corruption at every level in football’s highest governing organisation, with the chief purveyors, Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter, banned for 6 years. Look into any of the South American footballing federations and similar trends crop up to make it abundantly clear that there are some serious issues that need to be tackled.
Quite often, players end up getting caught up in this vicious cycle, engaging in activities that could dent the legacy that they have been working so hard towards on the footballing pitch.
Here is our countdown for top 10 most corrupt footballers;
#10 Giuseppe Signori
Signori was a fairly remarkable striker for all of the clubs he played for; scoring 283 goals in 541 career league appearances and winning the Serie A top scorer award on 3 separate occasions. He also scored 12 goals for the Italian national team and was a part of the squad that finished runners-up in the 1994 World Cup.
His career wouldn’t see the type of honours that a goalscorer of his ability should be able to boast of, and even his national team career was affected by Arrigo Sacchi not trusting him enough to give him his favoured striker role.
Signori entered the shady world of betting after his retirement from football. He was arrested in June 2011 for his part in a match-fixing and betting scandal that was being dubbed as Calcioscommesse, along with 15 other people. The verdict from the case saw him banned from any footballing activity for the next 5 years and another scandal marred the name of Italian football.