World Football's 10 Biggest Scandals of All Time

In an ideal world, football would only provide us with drama and controversy on the field. In reality, there are too many people involved in the beautiful game who make poor choices or who try to gain an illegal advantage from their position.  

Here's are 10 of the biggest scandals to rock world football, with topics including match fixing, bribery, racism, sexism and infidelity...

10. Ron Atkinson's Racism

Former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson's punditry career came to an abrupt end in April 2004 after he was caught making an idiotic racist observation about Marcel Desailly during a broadcast of a Champions League match between Monaco and Chelsea.

Big Ron made headlines for the wrong reasons again earlier this summer, when he made a flippant remark about Muslim women while participating in the TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

9. Calciopoli 2006

Italian football has been tainted by a number of corruption scandals over the years, but the biggest was uncovered by police in May 2006 and informally named "Calciopoli." 

Between 2005 and 2006, a number of telephone calls were intercepted that led officials to believe that teams including Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina were rigging games by selecting favourable referees.

Juventus had their tainted 2004/05 and 2005/06 titles taken away from them, along with their Champions League spot. The Old Lady was also sent down to Serie B. Milan, meanwhile, were handed a 30-point deduction for 2005/06, while the other teams were given fines and forced to play a few games behind closed doors.  

8. Scommessopoli

The dust had barely settled on Calciopoli when another scandal rocked Italy in 2011/12. 

A betting ring which has been dubbed "Scommessopoli" emerged in June 2011 and implicated a number of high-profile Serie A, lower-league and national team players. Dozens of arrests were made, most notably Domenico Criscito, who was sent home from Italy's Euro 2012 training camp to deal with the allegations.

Bans of various lengths have been handed out, and the appeals process is still continuing today. 

7. Diego Maradona's Cocaine Bust

Diego Maradona has been the subject of numerous scandals—tax evasion, anti-Americanism, an illegitimate son, involvement with the mafia—but the legendary Argentinean's biggest controversy revolved around his recreational drug use.

Maradona was thought to have been using cocaine since his Barcelona days, but it finally caught up with him in 1991, when he failed a drugs test and was given a 15-month ban from which his career never really recovered.

Prior to USA '94, Saint Diego was given the same ban for testing positive for five variants of the banned stimulant ephedrine.

6. Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema's Prostitute Allegations

There have been countless extra-marital affair-based scandals in the beautiful game. Ashley Cole, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Oliver Kahn and Franz Beckenbauer are all alleged to have taken a slice of infidelity pie. 

The most troubling football sex scandal from a legal and moral perspective was undoubtedly that of Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, who are both on trial for soliciting underage prostitute Zahia Dehar.

Ribery is accused of sleeping with her at his 26th birthday party in Munich, while Benzema is alleged to have solicited her as a 16-year-old in May 2008. Both men deny the charges and the case continues. 

Dehar, now 21, has become something of a celebrity who runs her own flourishing lingerie company. 

5. Richard Keys and Andy Gray's Sexist Slurs

Richard Keys and Andy Gray were integral parts of Sky Sports' football broadcasts from the inception of the Premier League up until January 2011, when some off-air sexist comments about lineswoman Sian Massey were made public.

For their outdated views, Keys and Gray were immediately relieved of their duties. The maligned duo stayed off TV screens until this season, when they reemerged on Al Jazeera.  

4. FIFA's Bribery Scandal

Former FIFA president Joao Havelange quit his honorary role at the organisation earlier this year when an ethics committee found that he had accepted bribes. Current president Sepp Blatter has dodged the corruption bullet on a number of occasions, but vice president and president of CONCACAF Jack Warner was suspended from duty in 2011 when he was embroiled in a bribery scandal.

The Trinidad and Tobago executive, along with fellow FIFA suit Mohamed Bin Hammam, were accused by a FIFA ethics committee of offering £600,000 bribes to Caribbean associations who could allegedly help unseat Blatter from his presidency. 

"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained," said a FIFA statement at the time.  

Warner has since escaped punishment in his home country. 

3. Liverpool and Manchester Utd's Bad Good Friday

British football has faced a few betting scandals—notably in the '90s when goalkeepers Hans Segers and Bruce Grobbelaar were charged with match fixing—but the biggest snafu erupted on Good Friday of 1915.

A match between Manchester Utd and Liverpool was fixed in the Red Devils' favour, with players on both sides benefiting from the result. Liverpool were not chasing any titles and Manchester Utd needed points to avoid relegation, and the 2-0 scoreline helped Chelsea get relegated instead.

When betting slips were discovered, all seven players who were thought to be involved were handed lifetime bans from the game. 

2. The Murder of Andres Escobar

On June 26 1994, Colombian defender Andres Escobar was unfortunate enough to score an own goal for the USA that eliminated his nation from the World Cup.

Upon his return to his hometown of Medellín, the 27-year-old was shot and killed in what is believed to be the action of a powerful drug lord who lost money thanks to the error.

Escobar, nicknamed "The Gentleman of Football," was one month away from his wedding date at the time of the incident. 

Europol's Match-Fixing Investigation

All previous football match-fixing scandals were blown out of the water in February 2013, when European crime intelligence agency Europol announced that it was investigating 380 matches in 15 countries for foul play. 

The investigation, conducted independently of UEFA and FIFA, includes a Champions League match played in England "three or four years ago," according to Europol director Rob Wainwright. In a statement reprinted by the Guardian, he added:

"

A total of 425 match officials, club officials, players and serious criminals, from more than 15 countries, are suspected of being involved in attempts to fix … professional football matches. The activities formed part of a sophisticated organised crime operation, which generated over €8m in betting profits and involved over €2m in corrupt payments to those involved in the matches.

"

The investigation has remained vague, but it has the potential to send shock waves through the game when it gets more specific.

Follow Ryan Bailey on Twitter