{"id":656078,"date":"2025-06-24T13:19:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T17:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=656078"},"modified":"2025-06-24T13:19:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T17:19:43","slug":"the-dirtiest-players-in-the-game-ever-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/06\/24\/the-dirtiest-players-in-the-game-ever-xi\/","title":{"rendered":"Football History: The Dirtiest Players in the Game Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the history of football, many players have been given the label \u201cdirty player\u201d. Some have lived up to the label, while some have been unfairly tarnished. Last Word on Football has looked back and come up with a first team and substitutes of the dirtiest players to have ever played the game. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Players with a long list of red and yellow cards. Players, in some cases, despite maybe not being a hardman, could wind up the opposition with ease, and those players who would, without hesitation (often behind the referee\u2019s back), take the law into their own hands.<\/p>\n

Whatever your opinion is of them, one thing is for certain: a game involving these players is always going to be interesting.<\/p>\n

Read More: The Greatest Footballers in History: Part One, Pre World War One<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dirtiest Players in the Game Ever: First Eleven and Substitutes<\/h2>\n

GK – Volkan Demirel<\/h3>\n

The Turkish shot-stopper was a player who liked to be heard, seen, and ideally in the thick of the action. Once kneed a Galatasaray player between the legs and was sent off at the World Cup for chasing Germany\u2019s Jurgen Kohler and pushing him.<\/p>\n

FB – Ben Thatcher<\/h3>\n

A tough-tackling defender who, on occasion, reverted to using his elbow instead of his feet. In a match against Sunderland, Thatcher, who was playing for Wimbledon at the time, chased a loose ball with winger Nicky Summerbee and proceeded to launch an unprovoked elbow into Summerbee\u2019s face, knocking him out cold. The referee failed to see the incident but he was later banned.<\/p>\n

A few years later, he was at it again, this time elbowing Portsmouth\u2019s Pedro Mendes in the face, giving him a broken jaw. He was banned again.<\/p>\n

He has also given David Beckham a couple of broken ribs, stamped on a Polish player while playing for Wales, and gave an opponent a punctured lung during a \u201cfriendly\u201d in China<\/p>\n

FB – Mark Dennis<\/h3>\n

To say Mark Dennis was a no-nonsense fullback would be an understatement. His tough tackling earned him 12 red cards during the late 1970s and the 1980s, a period in the game when tough tackling was a part of the game referees were much more lenient. One red card resulted in an eight-game ban for elbowing Tottenham\u2019s Ossie Ardiles.<\/p>\n

He also amassed a further 64 yellow cards during his 12-year career. It is of little surprise that Dennis was known as the original \u201cPsycho\u201d before it was passed on to Stuart Pearce.<\/p>\n

CD – Sergio Ramos<\/h3>\n

It cannot be argued that Sergio Ramos is one of the greatest centre-backs ever. However, no player has ever received more cards in La Liga or the Champions League, or in El Cl\u00e1sico for\u00a0Real Madrid\u00a0or for Spain. The Real legend racked up 26 red cards in 657 appearances while there and added a further four after he left.<\/p>\n

In total, Ramos played for four clubs and also for his country, and he received 30 red cards and 268 yellows. An exceptional player, but one prone to being overly aggressive and reckless in the tackle.<\/p>\n

CD – Kevin Muscat<\/h3>\n

12 red cards may not be as bad as some on this list, but Kevin Muscat\u2019s tackling is legendary, and not in a good way. Named the \u201cdirtiest player in football history\u201d by Spanish website El Gol Digital<\/a>, Muscat was a player who genuinely scared opposition players.<\/p>\n

Even if you weren\u2019t scared of him, there was a chance he could end your career. Muscat made one horrible challenge on Matty Holmes, which resulted in a broken tibia that required skin grafts and a metal bolt inserted into his ankle. It ended his career, and later he won damages in court.<\/p>\n

According to Talksport<\/a>, Muscat also stood on an opponent’s head, elbowed another, and threatened to break a youngster\u2019s legs.<\/p>\n

Read More: It Almost Happened: Brian Clough Becomes England Manager<\/a><\/p>\n

DM – Gerardo Bedoya<\/h3>\n

The player who holds the record for the most red cards in football history. The Colombian was sent off 45 times in 316 appearances. One straight red card was for an elbow followed by a kick to the head of a rival player. He was given a 15-game ban. It\u2019s little wonder why Bedoya played just 316 games in 20 years.<\/p>\n

CM – Joey Barton<\/h3>\n

Joey Barton is as dirty off the field as he was on it. Off the field, amongst others, he was given a six-month prison sentence, a further four-month suspended sentence for a training ground bust-up with a teammate, and also received a fine of six weeks\u2019 wages after stubbing a lit cigar out in a youth player\u2019s eye. On the field, he was charged three times with violent conduct by the Football Association.<\/p>\n

He was sent off for punching Blackburn\u2019s Morten Gamst Pedersen and given a 12-game ban following his red card at Manchester City, where he elbowed and kneed Carlos Tevez and attempted to headbutt Vincent Kompany.<\/p>\n

CM – Gareth Barry<\/h3>\n

The Premier League\u2019s record appearance maker, with 653, is an inclusion that may come as a surprise to many. However, he also holds the record for the most yellow cards with 123 and most fouls with 633. Six red cards can also be added to a player who, according to the statistics, wasn\u2019t as clean in the tackle as some will believe.<\/p>\n

ST – Duncan Ferguson<\/h3>\n

A tough, no-nonsense striker, big Dunc holds the Premier League red card record for a striker with eight. Sent to prison for assault in the mid-90s after headbutting an opposition player, and also banned for 12 games. Several other on-field incidents cost him a substantial amount in fines.<\/p>\n

Regarded as a legend at Everton, it\u2019s a case of what might have been if he had remained on the field longer than he did.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ST – Luis Suarez<\/h3>\n

Some strikers enjoy the physical side of the game, some a little too much, but former Liverpool and Barcelona striker Suarez led the line for club and country slightly differently. Capable of scoring great goals, but also capable of sinking his teeth into the opposition.<\/p>\n

There was a four-month ban for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup, a ten-match ban for doing the same to Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League game, and also a seven-game ban while playing for Ajax for, again, biting an opposition player.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ST – Diego Costa<\/h3>\n

An eye for goal, but his dedication to winding up opponents and getting himself into trouble was second to none. He had a reputation for biting, stamping, lashing out, and causing many arguments between the opposition and his teammates as he could.<\/p>\n

Many times, he would get away with a hit when the referee\u2019s back was turned. Sent off and banned many times during his career, but those are the times he was spotted; countless others he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Substitutes<\/h3>\n

Harold Schumacher
\nVinny Jones
\nEric Cantona
\nRoy Keane
\nRon Harris
\nWayne Rooney
\nPablo Alfaro
\nFelipe Melo
\nGraeme Souness<\/p>\n

Read More: Five Things You May Not Know About Sunderland’s Old Ground Roker Park<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the history of football, many players have been given the label \u201cdirty player\u201d. Some have lived up to the label, while some have been unfairly tarnished. Last Word on Football has looked back and come up with a first team and substitutes of the dirtiest players to have ever played the game. \u00a0 Players […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":656079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[378,33,32,1829,6,34,3],"tags":[564,4428,4710,301,3598,430,511,753],"class_list":["post-656078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-champions-league","category-championship","category-league-football","category-history","category-la-liga","category-league12","category-premier-league","tag-diego-costa","tag-duncan-ferguson","tag-football-history","tag-gareth-barry","tag-history","tag-joey-barton","tag-luis-suarez","tag-sergio-ramos"],"modified_by":"Barry Dixon, LWOF Site Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656121,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656078\/revisions\/656121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}