Background: Like Pablo, who I already enshrined, I love me somes Clint Mathis. How could you not love Clint, or “Cletus” as many fans call him due to his bad attitude and foolish demeanor. I love the man as a player, but most MLS fans hate him. After all he has broken their team’s hearts with thrilling goals and their players knees with ugly tackles.

Career: Clint has been just about everywhere in his long MLS career. He’s played for LA, New York, RSL, Colorado, New York (again), (sort of) LA (again), and now RSL (again). He moves around a lot because he has a historically poor attitude and a classic dislike for authority. Hence, he had the league’s most famous mohawk and the ‘tude to go with it.

Dishonors: Mathis makes this list for many reasons, but the main one is his MLS all-time record for red cards (8). Clint isn’t a player who can control his emotions and get the better of his rivals on the field. If you wrong him, he will straight up cleat (or “cleatus” you, if you will) in the face. His violent outbursts have landed him in my Hall of Shame.

Legacy: Mathis is having somewhat of a career revival with RSL this year, and I hope the best for him. But, he has made many MLS players weep from his ugly tackles, and even more fans of his own squad weep due to his send-offs. I like Cleatus a ton, but he may be the most hated MLS player ever, so he belongs in my MLS Hall of Shame.

The Scandal: Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Swedish football manager, is no stranger to controversy. In fact, he has courted scandals his entire career. But, in 2004 he suffered through his most humiliating scandal after it was exposed that he was having an affair with his secretary at the FA, who just so happened to also be sleeping with the FA CEO.

The Participants: Eriksson was widely reputed to be a real “ladies man”, and his tenure as England’s National Team manager had probably only helped him with the ladies. One such lady was Faria Alam, a secretary with the FA. Insanely, Alam was sleeping with Mark Palios, the top FA official, at the same time. As scandals go, this one was juicy.

The Investigation: Eriksson did not deny the allegations and seemed to feel no remorse for his actions. Palios felt he had embarassed his family, so he resigned from his position. The entire English football world was shocked at the two powerful men and their indiscretions with one of their subordinates, but Eriksson was not fired for his actions.

The Legacy: Eriksson was fired for being a bad coach though. Palios’ reputation has been forever tarnished by the affair. In fact, the only person who made out good on the incident was Alam herself, who went on to appear on celebrity reality shows and write a book. Such is the strange nature of modern scandals. While not as deplorable as many other scandals on this list, the incident was very shocking, so it is included here at #2.

The Scandal: You knew Diego Maradona would be somewhere on this list, didn’t you? The only real question was which of his scandals would land him here. I am not going to go with the controversial “Hand of God” goal, because it really wasn’t a scandal, or his 15 month ban for cocaine. No, I am citing the scandal occurring at the ‘94 World Cup.

The Participants: Maradona had been reputed to be the best player in the world for a long time prior to the 1994 World Cup in the USA, but he had lost his form after his suspension in the early 1990s. Amazingly, Maradona showed up svelte and fit for the 1994 Cup and many wondered how he had done it. Well, it was his use of Ephedrine. 

The Investigation: Ephedrine was outlawed by FIFA due to its negative side effects. Maradona played in two games at the 1994 Cup and scored a goal against Greece. But, scandal broke out when it was proven he was taking Ephedrine during the tournament. Maradona claimed he had no idea he had taken the drug and blamed his trainer.

The Legacy: FIFA expelled Maradona from the Cup, and he would never again play for Argentina. It was yet another blemish on the Argentine’s remarkable record. Though he has recently rejuvenated his image and restored some of the public trust, for many folks it was simply the last straw. The scandal hurt him greatly, and that’s why it’s here at #3.

The Scandal: The same year Brazil’s top flight was entangled in a match-fixing scandal, Germany’s second division was as well. Referee Robert Hoyzer allegedly bet on matches he called and then fixed the results. The scandal rocked Germany just before it hosted the 2006 World Cup and badly tarnished the German league, its players and coaches.

The Participants: Hoyzer was not alone in perpetrating the match-fixing, German players and coaches engaged in the fraudulent activity as well. Apparently, Hoyzer had regular meetings with members of a Croatian crime sydicate who paid him to fix the results in their favor. Some players also were accused of throwing games for money.

The Investigation: It appears no first division game was ever fixed, but several second and third division matches were altered by the scheme. Hoyzer, seeing that he was in hot water, eventually helped the police with their case and implicated other officials, players and members of the crime syndicate. The scandal was sadly a pervasive force. 

The Legacy: Hoyzer was, of course, banned from calling another soccer match at any level forever. He also did nearly three years in jail. Many other participants were arrested and did jail time. Moreover, German officials have kept a closer eye on cheating since then. The scandal tarnished the game, but also made us more vigilant against future invidious activities.

The Scandal: The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) was embroiled in one of soccer’s most memorable scandals in 2008 when its CEO, Henrietta Rushwaya, was accused of sexual misconduct with some of the country’s star players. Rushwaya allegedly forced the coach to bench players who would not submit to her sexual needs.

The Participants: Rushwaya was reputed to have sex with three star players: Benjani Mwaruwari, Harrington Shereni and Cephas Chimedza. Known as the “Iron Lady”, Rushwaya apparently had an insatiable sexual appetite and she would demand players have sex with her and threaten to expel them from the team if they did not please her.

The Investigation: Strangely, Rushwaya was never punished for her indiscretions. In fact, she continues to serve ZIFA today, and has recently become embroiled in another scandal over her alleged use of ZIFA money to buy personal items, such as furniture and jewelry, for herself. The players were mocked, but also never punished.

The Legacy: The actions of ZIFA’s CEO brought shame upon the national team and raised eyebrows over the political and social structure of Zimbabwe. While it was unusual for a woman to allegedly use men as sex toys (rather than vice versa), it showed that absolute power could corrupt either sex, so I think it belongs on this list.

The Scandal: I told you Justin Fashanu (John’s brother) would appear on this list (making their family the most scandalous in world football history), and I wasn’t lying. Fashanu was a a good player who served as an able forward for teams all over the globe, but allegations of sexual assault against him would lead to his suicide and a worldwide scandal.

The Participants: Fashanu was the first openly gay player in soccer history and the first black British player to ever be transferred for more than 1 million pounds. After he was embroiled in the same match-fixing scandal as Grobbelaar, he eventually ended up in America where he was accused of sexual assault by a 17 year old male.

The Investigation: Fashanu was already back in England when the allegations were made against him, and the media attention drove him into seclusion. Eventually, the American police dropped their investigation due to lack of evidence. But, Fashanu hung himself prior to being cleared due to the shame he felt he had brought on his family.

The Legacy: Fashanu was a trailblazer and brave man to declare his homosexuality at a time when he knew it would expose him to hatred and result in his loss of endorsements. The allegations that led to his death were proven to be false, so it is a shame he decided to kill himself. All in all, the Fashanu scandal was a sad incident in soccer history.

The Scandal: In 2005, Brazil’s First Division became embroiled in a scandal that became known as Mafia do Apito (”Whistle’s Mafia”). The incident arose when rich bettors decided to fix some matches by paying two referees a hefty sum of cash. The scandal rocked Brazilian soccer and drew into question the results of several high profile matches.

The Participants: The two referees, Edilson Pereira de Carvalho and Paulo Jose Danelon, were allegedly approached by Nagib Fayad, a rich entrepeneur, and asked to fix the results of several Brazilian National Championship Games. Together, the two referees made tens of thousands of dollars through their actions.

The Investigation: The Brazilian magazine Veja broke the story, and public opinion against the referees was nasty and criminal charges soon followed. Eleven National Championship Games had their results nullified due to Carvalho’s questionable calls. Several other games were suspected to have been fixed by the two referees.

The Legacy: Brazilian soccer has been cleaned up a great deal due to this deplorable scandal. Unfortunately, Carvalho wasn’t just a Brazilian soccer referee, but he was also a member of the FIFA referee staff, bringing into question the results of some international matches. All in all, it was a very dark day for soccer and the public’s trust.

The Scandal: Brazil’s Ronaldo is one of the greatest players to kick a soccer ball in history, but in 2008 he was caught playing with a different type of balls when he became embroiled in a sex scandal involving two transvestite prostitutes (pictured left). Though he will always be remembered for his soccer feats, the scandal has damaged his public image.

The Participants: Ronaldo was recovering from knee surgery in Rio de Janeiro when he decided to go out and get some prostitutes (which isn’t illegal in Brazil). But, the “ladies” of the night Ronaldo picked up turned out to be men and tried to blackmail the star. He alerted the authorities and tried to keep it quiet, but the media was all over it.

The Investigation: One of the prostitutes said that Ronaldo had done drugs with them (which is illegal) before he realized they were men. The police looked into the affair, but eventually determined Ronaldo had not done anything illegal (just immoral). Though no charges were filed against the star, his reputation was badly tarnished.

The Legacy: Ronaldo lost many endorsement deals as a result of the incident, and the three-time FIFA World Player of the Year and two-time World Cup winner was humiliated by the world media. The scandal’s most lasting legacy for me is that it has provided me with an endless supply of jokes about Ronaldo playing with balls. Thank you ladies… er, guys.

The Scandal: Bruce Grobbelaar went from legend to louse in 1994 when The Sun accused him of match-fixing. Prior to the allegations, he had established himself as one of the most beloved Liverpool players in history. Even though he was caught on video arranging to fix a match for money, he fought the scandalous charges against him tooth and nail.

The Participants: Grobbelaar, who was born in South Africa, had a long career that took him all over the globe. He is best remembered though for his fourteen years with Liverpool, which saw him amass an amazing 440 caps for that side. In ‘94, he was charged with match-fixing along with Hans Seger and John Fashanu (whose brother will be on this list).

The Investigation: Grobbelaar vehemently denied the charges even though The Sun had videotape of him arranging the match-fixing with Malaysian businessman Heng Suam Lim. Grobbelaar claimed he was simply “gathering evidence” against the cheating scheme and he sued The Sun for sullying his otherwise good reputation.

The Legacy: Grobbelaar actually was initially acquitted of the match-fixing charges, but the House of Lords later found him guilty of some dishonesty and his reputation would remain marred by the entire affair. As a result of the verdict, he was forced into bankruptcy. He continued to play well into his 40s, but he couldn’t escape the scandal.

A “scandal” is defined as “a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it”. The word’s origin arises from a Latin term that meant “stumbling block”. Soccer, like all sports, has not been immune from shocking scandals throughout its history. In fact, they occur quite often.

In fact, in the last twenty years, soccer scandals have been as regular as the waxing and waning of the tides. They wash in every year and drag some players, coaches and executives out into an ocean of public indignation. Some scandals are simply the result of malicious gossip. Most though are brought on by human weakness or greed.

I have decided to rank the top ten soccer scandals of the last two decades, and over the next two weeks I will be telling you about the major incidents that evoked moral outrage, damaged some folks’ reputations and (in some cases) threatened the game of soccer itself. How did I come up with this ridiculous ranking of scandalous affairs?

Well, first I asked myself, “what makes a great scandal?” After doing so, I came up with the following list of criteria on which I assessed all the major soccer scandals of the last twenty years:

1. The incident had to be shocking (highly publicized and outrageous)
2. The incident had to be significant (no mere false allegations)
3. The incident had to leave a legacy (influence beyond its bounds)

With these three factors in mind, I have come up with a list of the ten most shocking scandals in the last two decades of world soccer. Now, I specifically avoided anything “controversial” that happened on the pitch (well, except match-fixing, of course). Whether or not a penalty should have been awarded in some game is a controversy, not a scandal.

No, a scandal is something that goes far deeper. It must be an absolute disgrace to the participants’ reputation and a threat to the game. It does not have to feature illegal activity, but it usually does. Most of all though, it must evoke moral outrage. People who hear about the scandal must feel physically sick. It must be a massive stumbling block.

So, please come back to PLTO over the next two weeks to learn about the scandals that shook soccer during the last twenty years. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, and almost all of them should make you very angry. If I omitted one of your favorites, let me hear about it in the comments. Until then, sit back, relax, and get ready to be shocked.