samvelumtiti:

problematic footballers

with many brazil nt players being “exposed” this past month, i thought it would be great to have a list of things that footballers, of any kind, have done in the past that people should know about. below is a list of players who have showcased racist, homophobic, etc behavior in the past. of course, everyone learns, but sometimes it’s good to know what your fave has done before you decide to support them. (also thank you to @blackinfootball and @flamengont for letting me use their text posts as sources for bolsonaro supporters!)

[edit: this was never intended to be a full list, nor did i mean to imply that you can’t stan any of these players anymore. i just made a quick guide, it’s important to read and research topics yourselves too! everyone likes problematic things, and nobody is unproblematic, but these things are important and i wanted to highlight them.] 

luis aragonés, october 2004: called thierry henry a “black shit” as a way to “motivate” josé antonio reyes.

robin van persie, june 2005: was a suspect in a rape case, but was released from custody and the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

cristiano ronaldo, october 2005: was arrested and questioned in a rape case.

roman weidenfeller, august 2007: investigated by the dfb for calling gerald asamoah a “black pig.” he was fined £10,000 and banned for three games.

sergio ramos, january 2009: wore blackface and a turban during a reyes magos eve festival.

cristiano ronaldo, june 2009: accused of rape (for the second time).

luis suarez, november 2010: bit psv eindhoven’s otman bakkal on the shoulder. he was suspended for seven games.

sergio busqets, april 2011: was seen calling marcelo a “monkey” in spanish. was cleared by uefa by all charges.

marcos alonso, may 2011: got into an accident while driving under the influence, which led to the death of a 22 year old woman.

luis suarez, october 2011: accused of racially abusing man united’s patrice evra. he was charged and fined £40,000 and banned for eight matches by the fa.

john terry, december 2011: alleged to have racially abused queens park rangers’ anton ferdinand. he was charged £220,000 and banned for four games by the fa.

colin clark, march 2012: used a gay slur toward a ball boy. he was suspended for thee games and fined.

lionel messi, may 2012: was accused of using a racial slur toward real madrid’s royston drenthe. barcelona denied the claims and the spanish primera liga said it was not planning to take action.

antonio cassano, july 2012: in reference to there apparently being two gay players in the italy squad, he said that he “hope[s] there are none.” he was fined £11,700.

rio ferdinand, august 2012: in response to ashley cole giving evidence in defense of john terry’s abuse toward his brother, he referred to cole as a “choc ice” and was fined £45,000.

marc burch, november 2012: was seen using a homophobic slur during a game against real salt lake. he was suspended for three games.

alan gordon, april 2013: used a homophobic slur toward portland timbers’ will johnson. he was suspended for three games and required to attend a diversity and sensitivity training. 

luis suarez, april 2013: bit chelsea’s branislov ivanovic on the arm. he was suspended for ten games.

franck ribery, january 2014: was accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, not knowing she was under 18 at the time. it occurred between 2008 and 2009, when she was 17. he was cleared of all charges.

karim benzema, january 2014: was accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, not knowing she was under 18 at the time. It occurred between 2008 and 2009, when she was 16. he was cleared of all charges.

luis suarez, june 2014: bit italy’s giorgio chiellini. he was banned for four months.

aleksandar tonev, october 2014: was found guilty of racially abusing aberdeen’s shay logan. he was banned for seven games.

jamie vardy, july 2015: used a racist slur while in a casino. he was fined and ordered to go through diversity awareness training.

david de gea, june 2016: allegedly arranged a meeting between two footballers and two women that led to the women being sexually assaulted. he denied all allegations.

iker munian, june 2016: alleged to be one of the two footballers involved in the sexual assault that was apparently conducted by de gea. denied any involvement.

isco, june 2016: alleged to be one of the two footballers involved in the sexual assault that was apparently conducted by de gea. denied any involvement. 

guillermo ochoa, february 2017: did blackface with his daughter

lionel messi (+ his father), july 2017: found guilty of defrauding spain of €4.1m between 2007 and 2009. the two paid €2m and €1.5m respectively, alongside his father paying a fine of €180,000 to avoid a 15 month sentence.

antoine griezmann, december 2017: posted a photo of him dressed as a nba player in blackface.

iago aspas, january 2018: accused of calling jefferson lerma “black shit.”

ally love, february 2018: accused of making racist remarks toward annan athletic’s rabin omar. he was banned for five games.

sergi roberto, may 2018: married his longtime girlfiend, zionist coral simanovich at a ceremony that took place in israel.

mesut ozil, may 2018: took a photo (alongside gundogan) with controversial turkish president erdogan, which led to backlash, to of which he defended himself and the photo.

ilkay gundogan, may 2018: took a photo (alongside ozil) with controversial turkish president erdogan. claimed to have done so as a “gesture of politeness” and “out of respect,” which led to critics comparing him to emre can, who reportedly declined the invitation.

mo salah, june 2018: was granted (and accepted) honorary citizenship by chechnya leader ramzan kadyrov, who is very controversial, specifically with the lgbt+ community.

cristiano ronaldo, july 2018: found guilty of defrauding spain of £13m between 2011 and 2014. he paid a fine of £17m to avoid a two-year sentence.

croatia nt, july 2018: invited marko perkovic “thompson,” a singer who has used fascist slogans in the past, to party with their homecoming trip after the world cup.

toni kroos, august 2018: after mesut ozil revealed the racism he faced while playing for the germany nt, kroos said, “the way he resigned was not in order” and that “the parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amounts of nonsense. i think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the dfb does not exist.”

thomas muller, august 2018: in response to mesut ozil’s claims of racism, he said, “for us players, the who issue never was as big as it was made out to be, […] we finally should end that debate and concentrate on football, because racism inside the national team never was an issue.”

manuel neuer, august 2018: in response to mesut ozil’s claims of racism, he said, “there has been a lot of back and forth with much written and said about it. of course, it was very stressful for those who read about it. We need to have new players, who are really proud to play for the national team and want to give everything to play for their country.”

luka modric, september 2018: found guilty of defrauding spain of €870,728 between 2013 and 2014. he paid a fine of €60,00 to avoid an eight-month sentence.

hugo lloris, september 2018: arrested for drunk driving. he was fined £50,000 and banned from driving for 20 months.

toni kroos, september 2018: claimed leroy sané didn’t care about the national team, quoted saying, “sometimes you have the feeling with [his] body language that it is all the same whether we win or lose. he has to improve his body language […] you have to tell him he has to perform better.”

arda turan, october 2018: reported to have broken singer berkay’s nose with a headbutt and to have sexually harassed his wife. he entered the hospital of the couple and fired a shot with his pistol. his club has fined him €370,000 and the prosecutor’s office have asked for a jail term of three to twelve years. this past may he was banned for 16 games and fined £5,000 for pushing an assistant referee.

bolsonaro voters, october 2018: several members of the brazil nt showed support in brazilian far-right president jair bolsonaro who is racist, sexist, and homophobic. supporters include: alisson becker, andreas pereira, arthur, cafu, douglas costa, ederson, felipe anderson, felipe melo, gabriel jesus, jadson, kaka, lucas moura, marcelo, marlon santos, marquinhos, neymar, thiago silva, rivaldo, ronaldinho, willian, and zico.

rafinha, october 2018: dressed up as an “arab bomber” for halloween.

marco verratti, november 2018: arrested for drunk driving. had a blood alcohol level 2x the limit.