Top 15 footballers players suspended for illicit activities

Diego Maradona – Golden Sniffer

Maradona will forever remain the Golden Boy of soccer.

The Argentinian legend was awarded the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award for his diverse skillset combined with natural-born talent and intelligence on the pitch.

But Maradona wasn’t entirely a saint.

Although he seemed to possess a divine vibe, Diego had struggled with cocaine addiction for over 20 years, between 1980 – 2004. His drug problem peaked while at Napoli, but there he was only fined and received a 14-month suspension that he later won over in court.

In 1991, however, he was banned from the field for 15 months for cocaine consumption. Three years later, he was sent home during the FIFA World Cup after testing positive for five variants of illegal ephedrine.

Robinho – The Unrepentant Rapist

The next entry in our list takes us closer to the promised dread and horror. We’re talking about a player who has enough silverware in his trophy room but who was always perceived to be capable of more: Robson de Souza, widely known as Robinho.

He won the national leagues of Brazil, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and China with his club teams. He was also crowned Confederations Cup winner and Copa América champion along with his Brazilian colleagues.

But after some shady performances, in 2017 he eventually felled from grace completely when an Italian court found him guilty of partaking in a gang rape back in 2013 at a club in Milan. He got sentenced to 9 years in prison for this but was never forced to serve his time.

Marlon King – Convicted three times

The former striker Marlon King was hailed as a football revelation in his first years. His dedication led him to win several awards and trophies. Winner of the Golden Boot, he was the top scorer of the Championship and was voted player of the season at Watford, where he was instrumental in their promotion.

However, he got into trouble and went to prison several times. As his career took off, he joined Wigan Athletic in 2008 but was soon to be sentenced to 18 months for sexual assault. Once released, he signed with Coventry City, only to switch to Birmingham City the following year.

René Higuita – Escobar’s Intermediary

Higuita was one of the most spectacular goalkeepers in the game’s history. Peculiar to a keeper, he found the net 41 times in his career but was most notable for his ‘scorpion kick’ saves.

The Columbian goalkeeper had somewhat of a side job as a carrier and was an intermediary for drug lords Pablo Escobar and Carlos Molina. The story of his ties to Colombia’s barons has murky undertones, but what’s certain is that when his team beat Argentina in a whopping 5-0 to qualify for the ‘96 World Cup, he had to watch the game from a prison cell.

Authorities jailed him for his involvement in and profit from the release of Molina’s daughter. While he did not participate actively in the kidnapping, his job was to deliver the ransom money and received $64000 in compensation. That was seemingly reason enough for the Colombian authorities to lock him up, following Colombia’s new kidnapping legislation.

Jhon Viafara – Arrested for Drug Trafficking

Jhon Eduis Viafara Mina is a Colombian midfielder who had a 3-year career in Europe playing for Southampton and Portsmouth, but during which he underperformed and lost the contracts.

He was a key player at Once Caldas in his natal country, winning the 2004 Copa Libertadores. While playing for the Colombia national team, Jhon Viafara participated in the 2004 and 2007 editions of Copa America.

After his professional football career ended in 2015, Viafara started a cocaine side business. Four years later, he was arrested in Cali for smuggling drugs to the United States.

He was extradited to the US in January 2020, where he denied being part of the Clan del Golf. The Texas judges didn’t have it, as Viafara was sentenced to 11 years in prison on April 3, 2021.

Bruno Fernandes de Souza – A First Degree Murderer Who Still Saved

The Brazillian ex-footballer Bruno Fernandes das Dores de Souza, or simply Bruno, is one of the most heinous characters to populate our list of shame.

Between 2007 and 2009, he was a high-valued asset of Flamengo, rumoured to be wanted by AC Milan. A year later, things took a dark twist. His ex-girlfriend and pregnant with his child, model Eliza Samudio, accused the player of kidnapping and beating her.

He publicly denied it, but the forensic examinations had proven the contrary. Months into 2010, de Souza handed himself in. However, he never admitted the gruesome acts already discovered by the investigators.

Eliza Samudio was murdered by a former policeman at his order and fed to the dogs. The court eventually sentenced him to 22 years in jail, but he was released pending an appeal in 2017. A few months later, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered Bruno to be re-arrested.

Nizar Trabelsi – Terrorist wannabe

The former Tunisian pro player Nizar Trabelsi is really the cherry on top. If you thought naughty footballers are all about sex, money, alcohol, and drugs, think again.

Trabelsi played for Fortuna Dusseldorf and other second-tier teams for a few years, but his career ended soon when he was sentenced to 10 years for ties with Al-Qaida. He plotted an attack on the US soldiers based at Kleine Brogle in Belgium.

In 2001, he was arrested in his Brussels apartment together with Briton Badat. The latter was going to blow up two US airlines with shoe bombs.

He was sentenced to 10 years in Belgium in 2003. In 2013, he was extradited to the US. The decision was considered a violation by the European Court of Human Rights, and Belgium had to pay 60,000 euros to Trabelsi for the damages.

As of 2018, he was still in jail in Washington DC, awaiting trial.

Concluding remarks

We hope our list of shame made you reconsider your attitude toward football superstars. Magic on the pitch does not always mean a charming life in all its aspects. Contrary to the rumours, Messi and Ronaldo are still humans, and they make mistakes.

Of course, as a football fan, you may expect the players to be as disciplined in real life as they are on the field. Surprise, they’re not. And for some players mentioned in this article, it’s not even about discipline, but mental health.

Edited by Vishal Subramanian