Cheating in Football

Throughout the history of the football game, there has always been instances of cheating. From fixed matches, to players testing positive for drug-use, here is a list of four of the instances of when teams/players were caught red-handed.

Diego Maradona

Although one of history’s finest, if not the greatest, Maradona was involved in several scandals throughout his career. Apart from his infamous “Hand of God” in the 1986 FIFA World Cup match vs England, a goal which he scored using his hands and showed no remorse for, he had also tested positive for cocaine use. Since cocaine is considered as a sporting advantage, Maradona was suspended from football for 15 whole months during 1991 and 1992. Despite his amazing abilities, these acts of cheating had undoubtedly given the Argentinean superstar a very bad reputation.

Juventus (2005)

Back in 2005, Italian giants Juventus were involved in various fixed football matches that had led them to unfairly win the league title. The scandalous actions from Juventus weren’t done through the dark web and rather through telephone conversations which were easily intercepted, thus resulting in them getting exposed for their cheating actions. Consequently, they were stripped off their title and were relegated to the lower division of Italian football, (the Serie B) as a punishment.

Rivaldo

Another amazing football star, the Brazilian national Rivaldo has managed to earn his spot on this list. It dates back to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when Rivaldo was about to take a late corner in their group game vs Turkey, when Turkish national Hakan Unsal shot the ball towards Rivaldo who was delaying the corner. The ball clearly hit the knee of Rivaldo, but he appeared to fall down and hold his face, as if the ball had hit him in his face. His acting skills had gotten the Turkish player sent off the game and Brazil eventually led on to win the match against an opponent with 1 less player. Rivaldo used cheating to Brazil’s advantage, but this was clearly an unsportsmanlike act.

The Whistle Mafia

The Whistle Mafia was the name given by the Brazilian press after there were a series of fixed football matches involving many clubs in the Brazilian National Championship in 2005. The fixed matches occurred after a number of investors had bribed a referee, Edílson Pereira de Carvalho, who had struggled with debts for a long time. The aim for the investors was to win millionaire bets on certain betting sites found on the hidden web. Eventually, Carvalho had admitted to his cheating acts and got himself suspended from refereeing. Everyone else involved were also charged with fraud, conspiracy and crimes against the economy.