World Football Power Rankings: The 11 Most Notorious Players in Soccer History

Some footballers are world renowned for their skill, and some for their childish, obscene and often completely unbelievable actions.

Fortunately, most the of the footballers on this list are both.

Notoriety comes from talent, fame and infamy, and these 11 guys have all of that and so much more. 

Chime in with who you think is misplaced or who you think deserves a mention.

Note: Jose Mourinho currently occupies spots 1 through 11 on the most notorious managers list, so we're going to think on that one for a while. 

11. Sergio Busquets

Sergio Busquets may be relatively new to the world of football, but he's already locked down a starting spot in both Barcelona and World Champions Spain.

That, and the fact that when any football fan hears the word "diving," this is who we think of are the reasons why he starts this list. 

Busquets has tons of talent and plays with some of the best players in the world for both club and country, yet he spends most of the game on the ground.

It's downright infuriating, and he's become known for almost nothing else.

(If you'd like to substitute Dani Alves here, I'm OK with that.)

10. Pepe

Pepe is a tough-tackling, hard-nosed defender who will get into it with anyone. 

If he thinks you've taken a dive, he'll let you know. And even if he's brought you down, he'll still kick you across the face. Just ask Javier Casquero.

That particular kind of tackling is gonna stay with him for a long time. 

9. Robbie Fowler

Robbie Fowler was the leader of Liverpool's Spice Boys in 1990s, and he was by far the one who got in the most trouble.

From making accusations about his opponents' sexuality, to mock snorting cocaine as part of a goal celebration to actually getting beaten up outside pubs and of course and the countless sexual escapades, Fowler was never far away from controversy.

At least he scored plenty of goals to go along with all the headlines. 

8. Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is taking over David Beckham's throne as the superstar footballer turned fashion model and celebrity who has also had quite a few controversial moments in his day.

Ronaldo is still the chief of theatrics on the pitch (though at least he really does have world-class talent), and he's used those acting skills to his advantage.

Like in the 2006 World Cup when he argued with the referee to send off Wayne Rooney in the quarterfinals and was then seen winking at the Portugal bench.

Or more recently when he shoved Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola for handing him the ball in Barca's 5-0 El Clasico victory last November.

Ronaldo's full of these stories, and he's full of amazing, world-class goals as well. 

(This picture was just too good to pass up.)

7. El Hadj Diouf

We all know how that El Hadji Diouf is one of the worst footballers on the planet. And his antics are pretty bad as well.

I hate putting him on the list however because he doesn't have anywhere near the level of talent the rest of these guys have. 

Alas, I won't even go into all the spats he's gotten into with fans, teammates, coaches and opponents alike.

6. Roy Keane

Roy Keane has been at the center of a lot of controversies for both Manchester United and Ireland in his career. 

First, his high salary demands in the 1999-00 season apparently caused an increase in ticket prices, according to the club. Then, he criticized the Old Trafford supporters for drinking too much and not being all that intelligent.

As captain, he was sent home from the 2002 World Cup for criticizing the team's training base and the coach.

That's in addition to the numerous harsh tackles, some of which he admitted to being assaults, he made.

But he was one heck of a footballer. 

5. Ronaldo

Ronaldo has four different children from four different women. 

There was also that rather infamous night in April 2008 when he met three lovely prostitutes at a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro only to soon discover that they were all, in fact, men. 

So who would you rather be? Ronaldo, who finds out his hookers are men (and then shake him down for $30,000 or they'll tell the press, which of course they do anyway), or Franck Ribery, who finds out his hookers are underage?

Still, Ronaldo is probably one of the more loved, notorious footballers. 

4. Zinedine Zidane

The head-butt that ended Zinedine Zidane's career wasn't his only one, and it certainly wasn't his first moment of notoriety.

He was sent off in the 1998 World Cup for a stamp on Saudi Arabia's Fuad Anwar, becoming the first French player to receive a red card in the World Cup finals.  

His first head-butt came when he was with Juventus. In 2000, in a Champions League group match, he head-butted Jochen Kientz of Hamburg SV and was sent off as Juventus was dumped out of the tournament.

The most infamous head-butt obviously came in the 2006 World Cup final. Marco Materazzi of Italy insulted his family, so Zidane punished him for it.  

To be fair to Zidane, it really wasn't that hard, and Materazzi was clearly embellishing. 

3. Eric Cantona

If I'm that Leeds fan in 1992, I consider myself lucky all Eric Cantona did was spit on me.

A Crystal Palace fan in 1995 didn't get off so easy. As Cantona was leaving the pitch after being sent off, again, he kicked and punched a fan and was convicted of assault. 

He was banned for eight months afterwards.

Recently, he's criticized the club for putting out boring teams and has also condemned the Glazer family's ownership (though that isn't all that notorious). 

2. Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona has done almost every shocking thing you could imagine. 

He failed a drug test in the 1994 World Cup for ephedrine, but cocaine was his main demon during his time with Napoli in the 1980s, which caused him to frequently miss practice.

He was also linked to an infamous crime ring in Napoli, which isn't surprising given his proclamations of support Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Huge Chavez. 

His blatant hand-ball in the 1986 World Cup is just the tip. 

1. Paul Gascoigne

Where do you even start with Paul Gascoigne? Gazza is probably the craziest, wildest and most notorious footballer who's ever played the game.

He's battled drinking problems since a very young age, and they have led to numerous driving incidents.

Discipline was often a problem for Gazza, and when he was left out of the England squad for the 1998 World Cup, he wrecked his manager Glenn Hoodle's hotel room.

He's done the reality TV thing, admitted to beating his ex-wife regularly and his children claim they were beaten as well.

More recently, he has been battling money problems in addition to drinking and is currently in a treatment center.