5 of the worst fouls in football history

#1 Ben Thatcher on Pedro Mendes

If you thought Nigel de Jong’s x-rated tackle was the worst to ever receive a yellow card rather than a red one, think again. Sure, de Jong’s flying kick was bad, but it’s got nothing on Ben Thatcher’s shocking assault on Pedro Mendes from a 2006 game between Manchester City and Portsmouth.

Thatcher already had history when it came to the use of his elbows – representing Wimbledon in 2000, he’d knocked out Sunderland midfielder Nicky Summerbee with a violent blow and although the referee missed the incident, he was banned for two games following an investigation.

Worse was to come. Now representing Man City, Thatcher used his elbow brutally again – chasing a loose ball, rather than attempt to control it, he instead slammed his elbow into the side of the head of Portsmouth’s Mendes, sending him sliding unconscious into the advertising hoarding at the side of the pitch.

Mendes was so badly hurt that he suffered a seizure on the pitch, required oxygen, and spent the night in the hospital. And somehow referee Dermot Gallagher didn’t send Thatcher off, instead only awarding a yellow card – prompting Portsmouth’s Matt Taylor to suggest you’d have to commit murder to get a red card from Gallagher.

Thatcher didn’t escape punishment, however. The foul was so brutal that he was banned by his own club for six games and was also fined six weeks’ wages. The FA took it further too, banning Thatcher for eight games, with a further fifteen game suspended ban for two years.

It was one of the hardest sanctions ever delivered to a player but in this instance, it was fully deserved, as the foul remains one of the most shocking in Premier League history over a decade later.