Football is the biggest sport globally, with millions of fans worldwide and countless countries vying to be on the world stage, especially in the FIFA World Cup. However, as big as it is, it’s not immune to controversies, and in fact, there have also been countless controversies regarding football over the years.
And while some of these scandals are small enough to go unnoticed by the public eye, some are huge controversies still being discussed today. This article will discuss some of the most significant controversies in football over recent years. Let’s start.
Andres Escobar Murder
As much as football is fun in and of itself, it’s also a significant source of income for many bettors worldwide. And, of course, it can be of no surprise that many shady organizations are running these bookies and betting on the games themselves. However, as awesome as it is, we know that betting is a dangerous game, but it’s even more dangerous when an influential person is also betting on your team.
This was apparent back when Colombia’s Andres Escobar was shot dead in a parking lot precisely ten days after he hit his own goal, leading to their team’s defeat and disqualification from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
While playing soccer during a FIFA game, Escobar struggled to clear a US pass and accidentally kicked the ball into his net while trying to kick it out into a safe zone for a better play. Of course, Colombian fans were not thrilled and would not hear of any excuses, which led to his unfortunate death.
The cause was unsure, but initially, the cause was believed to be a result of civil struggles in Colombia. However, it all changed when a drug-cartel bodyguard named Humberto Castro Munoz confessed to killing the player due to bets lost during the game.
Calciopoli Scandal
The Calciopoli Scandal is one that no football fan, especially Italian football fans, would ever forget. This scandal entails that many top football clubs in Italy have influenced the appointment of referees to influence the games themselves. But one club was severely hit by these allegations, which was Juventus.
Because of this controversy, Juventus, who won the 2005 and 2006 titles, was stripped of their many titles. They were then delegated to Serie B, where they only stayed for one season before returning to the top rankings. The scandal has had a significant impact on Italian football, and ever since then, extra precautions, especially regarding referees, have been placed. Juventus itself has never gone back to its former glory.
FIFA Corruption Scandal
FIFA, the world’s governing body in football, was brought into infamy in 2015 because the FBI arrested 15 of their current official charges during that time due to racketeering charges. The organization was accused of accepting a bribe of over US $100 million from countries wanting to host the FIFA World Cup. Not only that but they were also accused of selling media rights to major tournaments, which is already bad enough.
Bundesliga Match Fixing Controversy
In 2005, German football was rocked with the news that a division referee, Robert Hoyzer, and several other officials, managers, and players had conspired with a crime group to influence the games. Of course, this is done for profit, which is also distributed to the ones involved.
Brazilian Spending Scandal
This is one of the recent scandals that rocked the FIFA World Cup hard, especially with the Brazilian Fans. Back in 2014, the FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil, and of course, to host the competition, the Brazilian government had to spend a lot of money to accommodate the whole world and the tournament in their country.
That, in and of itself, is not shady, but the talks about the money were. Billions of dollars were spent on the competition, but rumors suggest that most of it came from the politicians themselves in an attempt to influence future election results. Not only that but it was also stated that the massive part of the money that came from the government was supposed to be spent on other projects in the country.
It ended up in a considerable mess politically. Football is one of their favorite sports for Brazil fans, so it’s a massive scandal for them. This is especially true given that football is supposed to be free of political involvement in their country.
Final Words
And here you go. These are some of the biggest scandals in football history. Of course, if you dig deep enough, there is much more to them. Also, some of these controversies are still missing many of their crucial puzzle pieces to ultimately uncover the truth. However, the point is that as much as football is the most popular sport in the world, it also has a lot of controversies in its rear.