#3 Diego Maradona – 15 months (twice)
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Diego Maradona is widely recognised as perhaps the greatest player to ever lace a pair of boots, and in his career, he led Argentina to a victory in the 1986 World Cup and Napoli to the Serie A title twice. Unfortunately, he also grappled with many demons and ended up facing two of the longest suspensions in football history – both following positive drug tests.
The first came in 1991 and ended his career at Napoli – he was banned by FIFA for 15 months following a positive test for cocaine. While the drug isn’t a performance enhancer per say, it’s considered a stimulant by sporting bodies and thus El Diego was sidelined. Popular legend suggests he’d been using cocaine since the mid-1980s during his time at Barcelona and was a full-blown addict by the time of his ban.
Maradona’s career was winding down by the time of the 1994 World Cup – he was 33 years old and had barely played in the previous season for Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys. Still, he came back into his national side and an inspirational performance in a 4-0 win over Greece suggested he still had the old magic.
His wild-eyed goal celebration raised some concern though and days later he tested positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine. FIFA again hit him with a 15-month ban and this time his career was essentially ended in disgrace.
