Soccer’s not really known for its violence. Sure there are some hard tackles and wild collisions on occasion, but the modern era of the sport now has better safety protocols and much more contained animosity. Then there were the good ol’ days, when dirty players could pull off the nastiest tricks in the book to get the upper hand.
Read on below as we countdown the ten of the most feared and battle-hardened players to ever step foot on the pitch. We’ve got a gritty mixture of contemporary clashers and historical heavy-hitters; players not afraid to deal or take damage on their way to their fame or infamy.
On the lighter side of Soccer, the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup is about to take off. Head on over here for our picks, predictions and preview of the highly-anticipated tournament.
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The Top 10 Toughest Soccer Players of All Time
10. Ramona Bachmann
Kicking off our list is Ramona Bachmann — a Swiss player who looks to dominate the upcoming 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Though there might not be any jaw-dropping or gruesome tales to her credit yet, Bachmann is built like a tank compared to most of the other women on the field. Heck, even Grantland did an entire piece dedicated to her awesomeness.
When the term “bulldoze” is thrown around in this year’s Women’s World Cup, it’s best to keep Ramona Bachmann in mind.
9. Vinnie Jones
Before he became known as a movie actor in movies like Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Vinnie Jones once played as a defender for the Wimbledon soccer team from the late 80’s to early 90’s. Jones’ team was then dubbed the “Wimbledon Crazy Gang”, and they would go on to win an FA Cup title in 1988 over Liverpool.
Perhaps Jones’ most notorious incident is pictured above, where he was caught grabbing Paul Gascoigne by the balls. With his hands on the family jewels, Vinnie must have asked Gascoigne the question: “what is your purpose in life… without your testicles?”
8. Roy Keane
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson struck badass gold when he got Roy Keane to sign with the storied football club. Who could forget Keane’s 2007 revenge hit on Leeds United’s Alf-Inge Haaland that caused the latter to suffer a crucial ligament tear in his right knee?
[sc:Other240banner ]The foul-mouthed Irishman’s excerpt from his autobiography about the incident still reeks of total vitriol for his fallen foe: “I’d waited long enough. I f***ing hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c**t. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.”
7. Stuart Pearce
Stuart “Psycho” Pearce was a truly a madman who never cried uncle during his playing career. In 1999 and at 37 years and 137 days old, Pearce was the third-oldest outfielder to appear for England’s national team.
Pearce even tried to walk off a broken leg at that age while playing for West Ham United, recovered from it, returned to playing football before breaking that same limb again in the same season, and recovered well once more before finally calling it quits. Now that’s Psycho.
6. Bert Trautmann
The only goalie on this list, Manchester City’s Bert Trautmann would forever be known for his involvement at the 1956 FA Cup final. The former WWII German paratrooper dove at an attempted kick from the opposing team’s forward, and sustained a vicious blow to his back. Trautmann would continue playing game with a broken back, or crushed vertebrae to be exact. Yikes.
Speaking of memorable moments, who could forget Andoni Goikoetxea’s career-ending tackle on Diego Maradona back in 1983? “The Butcher of Bilbao” is remorseless: he made no play on the ball during the hit, ended Maradona’s playing career, and he even kept the boot he used to tackle Maradona — which now rests in his home’s mantel piece. Relive the infamous event with the video shown above.
4. Abby Wambach
Broken nose, bloody head, a black eye… Anything that you throw at Abby Wambach, she can take it. It’s no wonder then how she became a six-time U.S. Soccer Player of the Year. And not only does she take hits, she also serves them. Wambach “inadvertently” clocked English captain Faye White with an elbow to the face at the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Abby is one of those girls that you wanna hang out with, but certainly do not want to mess with.
3. Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness was the complete player for Liverpool back in the 80s. He could pass, shoot, and most of all, tackle hard. Souness also has a mean streak of flipping a switch and seeing red in matches that cranks up his aggression to 11. Just take a look this video clip of him with a flying kick of a takedown. And of course, rocking that wicked moustache above will sure strike fear into the hearts of his opponents.
Now that he’s retired, Souness continues to share his no-nonsense passion for the sport by appearing as a football analyst for Sky Sports and Ireland’s public broadcast programs on RTÉ Sport. Now if only he could still don that wild ‘stache…
2. Terry Butcher
Speaking of seeing red, there’s no other sight in soccer like seeing Terry Butcher’s head dripping with blood. He received a massive cut on his forehead early in the game at the 1989 World Cup qualifying match between England and Sweden. Butcher (an appropriate surname) would go on to play the rest of the game with his head bandaged up as his white home uniform would slowly turn into Liverpool’s away jersey.
1. Duncan Ferguson
Our top spot belongs to none other than Duncan Ferguson. The short-fused striker amassed nine red cards in his playing career, spent three months in jail and a 12-game ban for head-butting Raith Rover’s John McStay, and was convicted with assault on four separate occasions.
And if that wasn’t enough for him to make the top of our list, Duncan Disorderly got a rather ironic twist of fate when he caught two burglars in his own home. One burglar would escape and eventually be caught, but the other thief had a rougher outing as Duncan managed to detain him. The poor sap spent three days in the hospital thanks to Big Dunc.
