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The Worst Soccer Dives in History

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Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but it still has its flaws. Number one: Diving. Here are the ten most pathetic (and somewhat funny) dives we managed to find.

Emerson Acuña, Atletico Junior

This Colombian striker isn’t the most subtle of cheaters. He fell while about 3-4 feet away from a defender. Still, the ref bough the act and awarded his team with the penalty despite this sad excuse for a foul.

Eduardo da Silva, Arsenal

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Eduardo da Silva, the Brazilian turned Croatian striker, now playing for Shakhtar Donetsk, is known for two incidents – getting his leg broken by Martin Taylor back in 2008, and his disgraceful dive against Celtic in the Champions League last season. He, like Acuña, was also awarded with the penalty. A huge outcry burst after the match and UEFA suspended Eduardo for two matches. An appeal and a lot of Arsene Wenger whining in the media overturned the ruling and suspension. Karma made sure Eduardo would score only one more goal as an Arsenal player.

Milos Krasic, Juventus

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We actually covered this one on a seperate post a few months ago, but it’s always nice to remember. Milos Krasic, Juve’s fantastic Serbian winger, made an obvious dive in a league match against Bologna. He also was awarded with a penalty. Karma was watching and managed to fix things, as Juve missed the penalty and Krasic getting a two match ban after the match.

Alberto Gilardino, AC Milan

The Italian striker just might get the worst dive of all time for this one. Also against Celtic (pattern?), Gilardino slipped away from the defender, but when he realized he wouldn’t be able to chase down the ball, decided to suddenly drop, 5-6 steps after getting by the keeper and the defender. The referee didn’t fall for this one, awarding the striker with a well deserved yellow card.

Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal

Arsenal again. Well they do have quite a reputation regarding their diving. Here’s Fabregas kicking himself while trying to clear a ball, falling down, and somehow an Everton player gets called for the foul. Arteta is so confused with the call he doesn’t even argue with the referee.

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Rivaldo, Brazil

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This one isn’t exactly a dive, more like faking injury, but still, it’s so pathetic and the acting is so bad we had to put it on our list. Rivaldo, one of the best in the world at the time, was waiting at the corner flag for the ball. Turkey’s Hakan Unsal kicked it at him, hitting the Brazilian on the thigh. Rivaldo immediately clutched his face and fell to the grass like a deer who has just been shot. Turkey had their player sent off and Rivaldo was later fined. He still managed to win the 2002 World Cup. Whoever runs the Karma department was sleeping on this one.

Morten Gamst Pedersen, Blackburn

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The Norwegian lefty shows his terrible diving skills against Arsenal – chased by Sagna, Pedersen actually looks over his shoulder to see where the defender is and despite (probably) acknowledging he is nowhere near him, drops disgracefully to the ground and is somewhat stunned he didn’t get the call.

Jurgen Klinsmann, West Germany

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Jurgen Klinsmann, besides being an awesome striker and one of the greatest scorers in World Cup History was also known for his dives Maybe his most infamous one was at the 1990 World Cup Final against Argentina. He absolutely flew over Pedro Monzon and rolled on the ground for a few seconds, causing Monzon’s red card, the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United

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Another infamous diver, Cristiano Ronaldo, who’s generally a very easy player and person to dislike. It was hard to choose from a rather impressive portfolio of dives and faking, but this one against Arsenal is my favorite, especially due to the rage he seems to be in after not fooling the referee.

Fernando Torres, Liverpool

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First I’ll say that Fernando Torres is one of my favorite players in the world today. I really hope he’ll do well at Chelsea, not because I’m a Chelsea fan or anything but it’s a delight to watch him when he’s in his zone. Anyways, favorite player or not, ‘Nando is quite of an actor himself, like in this clip from a Liverpool game vs Manchester United.

Victor Summers

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23 responses to “The Worst Soccer Dives in History”

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    • These are quite a disgrace, but soccer and everything that surrounds it, starting with tremendous passion it creats among the fans is still worth watching and following. It just needs some tune ups to become better.

      Reply

  13. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why. A bunch of guys running up and down a field with seemingly no strategy other than to kick the ball to the first open teammate, and then once or twice in a couple hours of play you get a goal. I’d rather watch paint peel.

    Then on top of that, you’ve got players throwing themselves on the ground and flapping about like fish in order to draw a penalty. It’s really pathetic.

    Now, take a look at American Football. The action explodes every time the ball hits the quarterback’s hands, and the strategy behind it is sophisticated.

    Reply

  16. The refs have gotten better about yellow carding divers, so the incidence has gone down considerably. Still, if people complaint about divers in UK football, then what about quarterbacks that dive feet first and not headfirst when their team needs a first down?

    And I love Swan Lake FYI

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  18. the only way to eradicate this from the game is refs to be consistant,at the end of the day its cheating,yellow or red cards,plus linesman need glassess in a alot of cases

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    • @alfie65 I think retroactive punishments by the FA’s are a must. Refs make mistakes, and if there’s no TV intervention during games, as FIFA oppose the idea, at least justice will be done after the game.

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  20. in the fabregas video.. see the knee of the other player, it touches fabregas foot just enough to affect the movement trajectory, it wasnt a foul but it wasnt a dive as well

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