The Top 9 dirtiest players in football today

Throughout its history, football has seen its share of shady players. The game has occasionally been associated with aggressive play and hard tackles. Even while this view has partially changed, especially in the twenty-first century, there are still many of football players who take pleasure in the chaos. Which football players are the dirtiest in the world and are still active today?

Sergio Ramos.

Imago

This list centers mostly on cards, yellow and red, to determine which entries made the list. In football, the term "dirty" is highly subjective. Players can be classified as such for reasons other than discipline, which has been put into the rating; nonetheless, discipline has been weighted more heavily than anything else.

9. Joao Palhinha

Perhaps no current midfielder more represents the widely remembered toughness of the past than Joao Palhinha. The Portuguese international, who now plays for German powerhouse Bayern Munich, spent two years at Fulham before making the switch, where he fully proved himself on the global scene.

While a strong technical player, he is noted for his aggressive tackling style. Palhinha tied the record for the most yellow cards received by a single player in a campaign with 14 in the 2022-23 season, and he added 13 more the following year. At the time of writing, the Portuguese have committed 398 fouls, a figure that will undoubtedly increase in the following years.

8. Sergio Busquets

Sergio Busquets is one of the most underappreciated midfielders of his era. Busquets, who spent more than a decade in the Barcelona ranks, possessed smooth ball handling that he made appear impossibly effortless. His talent was almost to his detriment, as he made the game look so simple that some mistook it for the fact that he could do very little with the ball, when in reality the reverse was true.

His talent did not detract from his proclivity for fouling. He was still a defensive midfielder, a position that frequently results in fouls, as Busquets has done 608 times in his career. Furthermore, the 36-year-old former Spanish international, who now plays for Inter Miami in America, has received three consecutive red cards and 139 yellow cards.

7. Ashley Young

Ashley Young is a true veteran of the game, having been active for 21 years and showing no signs of slowing down. Aside from a season-long stay with Inter Milan, Young has spent his whole career in his native England. He began his career as a winger, with pace and flare, before transitioning to full-back in his later years, where he currently plays for Everton.

The number of warnings Young has gotten has undoubtedly increased since transitioning to a defensive role, but his total of 579 fouls is truly remarkable, as is the fact that he has 99 yellow cards in his career thus far, averaging just under five per season. Amidst all of this, Young has received five consecutive red cards.

6. Djene

Djene has spent his whole career in Spain, with the exception of one season in Belgium. He joined Getafe in 2017 and has made well over 200 appearances for the club over the last seven years. The defender has established himself as a reliable defender, although he is not immune to fouling.

Djene has accumulated 103 yellow cards in his 15-year career, 14 of which came in the 2023-24 season. Furthermore, the defender has been sent off 12 times in his career, demonstrating that, while he is an excellent player, he does have some minor disciplinary difficulties.

5. Cristian Romero

Over the previous season or two, Romero seemed to have mellowed from the player he was when he initially joined Tottenham Hotspur. He has always been a great centre-back, but during his time with the North London club, he has shown a reckless side to his game.

Romero was one of two Spurs players sent off for a dangerous tackle in Tottenham's infamous 4-1 loss to Chelsea, which is remembered for manager Ange Postecoglou's commitment to maintaining their high-line defensive system despite being down to nine men, just one of many examples provided by the Argentinian.

In his career, he has committed just shy of 300 fouls (292 in total), with 69 of those fouls ending in a yellow card. He has also been sent off on five separate occasions.

4. Arturo Vidal

Arturo Vidal has had more than his fair share of success in his career, which he is presently continuing with Colo-Colo, the team where he made his senior debut. The Chilean international played 15 years in Europe, representing Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in Germany, Juventus and Inter Milan in Italy, and Barcelona in Spain. Vidal earned nine league titles between 2011 and 2021, contributing to each one.

However, his achievement has resulted in a notoriety. Vidal has always been a competitive midfielder, a relentless ball winner who enjoys tackling. It is not something he has always mastered, as the Chilean has accumulated 847 fouls in his career. Surprisingly, despite receiving several warnings, Vidal has only been issued marching orders five times.

3. Diego Costa

Diego Costa will be remembered as one of the most frustrating players in Premier League history. The former Atletico Madrid striker was a master of the dark arts, routinely winding up whoever had the misfortune of marking him during his time at Chelsea, a practice that made him appeal to fans of the team he played for just as effectively as it made supporters of opposing teams despise him.

Costa's vicious streak may have been best known to the world with the Blues, but that does not mean he just played foul at Stamford Bridge. Costa, who is still playing and now plays for Gremio in his home Brazil, has 509 fouls in an 18-year career and has received 124 yellow cards during that period.

2. Sergio Ramos

Sergio Ramos, the most booked player in football history, will be remembered just as much for his fouling as for his ability. Ramos was a truly remarkable defender who spent over a decade on the books at Real Madrid after beginning his career with local club Sevilla. He established himself as one of the world's best defenders with performances that were as consistent as they were brilliant, with a keen eye for goal regardless of his position.

However, there was also Ramos' lack of discipline. The centre-back, who is now a free agent, has picked up an eye-watering 1,020 fouls over the course of his two-decade career. He has got the most warnings of any player in history, with 244. Furthermore, Ramos has been dismissed 29 times, a record that has yet to be broken.

1. Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez is one of the finest attackers in football history, but it doesn't change the fact that he is also one of the dirtiest. Suarez, who currently plays with Lionel Messi for Inter Miami in the MLS, has 578 fouls in his professional career, having previously played for Ajax, Liverpool, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid before leaving Europe.

Suarez is considered a nasty player for reasons other than his cards. In 2010, he made a spectacular save for Uruguay in the World Cup, tipping Asamoah Gyan's effort over the crossbar. This was troublesome since Suarez was the striker, not the goalie. The attacker received a straight red card before being spotted celebrating Gyan's penalty, which hit the woodwork and went over.

Nevertheless, the biting occurrences are far more serious. One would have been terrible enough, and it occurred during his tenure at Ajax. Suarez was found to have bitten rival player Otman Bakkal during a 2010 game against PSV Eindhoven and was initially suspended for two games, but his penalty was later increased to seven games.

Suarez joined Liverpool three years later and began a game against Chelsea, in which he bit Branislav Ivanovic for the second time. His actions remained unnoticed and unpunished during the game, with Suarez eventually equalising for Liverpool in injury time. He received a 10-game suspension, which lasted into his first few weeks at Barcelona.

Just over a year later, during the 2014 World Cup, Suarez was fined for biting an opponent for the third time. This time, the unlucky target was Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini, on whom bite marks were quickly visible. Suarez was immediately suspended for nine international matches, thereby terminating his participation in that campaign.