Top 10 Craziest Football Fouls Ever

#10: Paul Bosvelt on Denis Irwin

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In 1997, Feyenoord hosted Manchester United in a group game for the Champions League. With United up three-nil in the eightieth minute from an Andy Cole hat trick, Dutch midfielder Bosvelt let his frustrations out in the worst way possible. As Irwin passed the ball, Bosvelt put his studs into the side of the defender’s knee. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was livid on the sidelines. And rightly so. Not only wasn’t Bosvelt sent off, but he didn’t even get a yellow card before being subbed shortly after the horror challenge. Irwin suffered from ruptured medial ligaments, which ruled him out of World Cup qualifiers for the Republic of Ireland. After seeing replays of the tackle, Bosvelt apologized to Irwin, which the Irishman accepted.

When facing the best player in the world, one tactic is to intimidate them. Usually, this would be shirt-pulling or trash talking. Well, Athletic Bilbao center-back, Goikoetxea, took it to the extreme as his side faced a Maradona-led Barcelona side in 1983. With the Argentine getting the ball, Goikoetxea slid in from behind, striking Maradona’s ankle and breaking it. This tackle, which was basically assault, was slammed by the Spanish media. Goikoetxea earned the nickname “the Butcher of Bilbao,” and he was suspended for ten games. In 1984, the animosity between the sides erupted again in the Copa del Rey Final when Maradona fought with Bilbao and Goikoetxea before his teammates joined in, causing a mass brawl.

#8: Ben Thatcher on Pedro Mendes

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Welsh left-back Thatcher would’ve been more at home in the UFC than on a soccer pitch. After already getting in trouble for elbowing Nicky Summerbee in 2000, you’d hope he’d learned from his attack. But no. In 2006, while playing for Manchester City against Portsmouth, he repeated his previous attack. As Portsmouth’s Mendes ran to get to the ball, Thatcher came charging in and elbowed the Portuguese player in the face, knocking him out and sending him crashing into the advertisement boards. Mendes needed oxygen at the pitchside and suffered a seizure. He thankfully recovered. Thatcher was only initially booked for his brutality. But City banned him for six games along with a fine, while the FA later suspended Thatcher for eight matches.

Witsel has been seen as a creative midfielder throughout his career, not for horrifying challenges that left opponents in immense pain. But that was the case in 2009. On that fateful day, Witsel’s Standard Liège took on Anderlecht. With the ball loose, the Belgium player tried to beat Wasilewski to the prize. Instead, with a massive lapse in judgment, Witsel put his weight on the Polish defender’s outstretched leg, visually snapping it in an instant. With Anderlecht players and coaches erupting in anger, the ref unsurprisingly sent off Witsel. Afterward, the Belgium FA, the KNVB, suspended Witsel for eight games after an appeal. While Wasilewski had surgery to repair his fractured tibia and fibula.

#6: Ryan Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey

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In 2010, Welsh international Ramsey was one of the hottest prospects in the sport for Arsenal. But his potential took a battering when his side faced Stoke City in the Premier League. With a fifty-fifty challenge, Shawcross and Ramsey both went for the ball. However, an error in judgment by the Stoke defender caused him to kick into the Welshman’s legs. Immediately, it was obvious some serious damage had been done. Both sets of players looked distraught at what had happened. Shawcross was shown a straight red and left the pitch in tears. Ramsey had broken his tibia and fibula. It took until 2013, after a couple of loan moves to gain match fitness, for him to return fully to the Arsenal first team.

If you’ve ever played the Beautiful Game, sometimes, you might get a bit frustrated as a skillful player makes your team look really bad as they dribble their way through the pitch. But the worst thing to do is let that annoyance consume you. Well, in Group B’s first fixture at the 1990 World Cup, Cameroon had a surprise one-nil lead against defending champions Argentina. As the ball came to winger Caniggia in his half, he ran rings around several Cameroon players as he aimed for their goal. Losing his balance after a seemingly bad challenge, Caniggia was still going. That was until defender Massing booted the Argentine so hard that his boot came off, earning himself a red card.

The World Cup tends to bring out the best -- and worst -- in players. And for the Netherlands's De Jong, it was definitely the latter. Playing in a team dripping in talent, the Dutch faced an iconic Spain squad in the 2010 final. Only 28 minutes into the match, De Jong set the standard of the match since there were fourteen yellow cards and one red. As Alonso headed the ball, the then-Man City midfielder decided to do what can only be described as some kind of karate move. He struck Alonso in the chest with his studs, leaving Spain’s midfield general in pain. Shockingly, the referee, Howard Webb, only gave De Jong a yellow card, a move he later regretted once he saw the reply.

As far as the most graphic injuries in this video go, this one gets the gold prize. In 1981, in Germany’s Bundesliga, Lienen, playing for Arminia Bielefeld, descended towards Werder Bremen’s box. But Siegmann had another idea and lunged in recklessly. Now, we don’t know how sharp ‘80’s studs were, but apparently very. A large ten-inch wound had formed on Lienen’s thigh. Somehow, the midfielder got up and argued with people on the sidelines. With damage like that, Siegmann was sent off, right? No, he only got a yellow card for that horror. It took 23 stitches to repair the damage for Lienen. Amazingly, he was back in training only seventeen days after this tackle.

The semi-final match between West Germany and France at the 1982 World Cup is seen as an action-packed classic bout. But this battle was very nearly tarnished by one idiotic incident. As France’s Battiston was bearing down on the German goal, he saw keeper Schumacher charging at him. And that was probably the last thing he remembered from that game. As Battiston’s shot went wide, Schumacher violently collided with him. The defender was knocked unconscious, had two teeth knocked out, received three cracked ribs, and damaged his vertebrae. He received oxygen on the pitch and slipped into a coma. Battiston’s teammates thought he had perished. Thankfully, he recovered. But even more shockingly, the ref didn’t even give a foul, let alone send off Schumacher.

#1: Roy Keane on Alfie Haaland

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In 1997, a clash between Keane and Haaland while he played for Leeds United resulted in a torn anterior cruciate ligament for the Irishman. Not knowing the severity of the injury, the Norwegian screamed at him. Well, Keane doesn’t let things go. In 2001, Manchester United and Manchester City faced off. During the match, Keane purposely missed the ball and stamped into Haaland’s right leg, which struck his injured left. While Keane was sent off, it was when he released his autobiography a year later that it got more dramatic. In it, he stated he did the brutal tackle on purpose. For that, Keane received a further ban and a fine. Haaland never really recovered from his already injured left knee and retired in 2003.