Here are some of the most annoying football players to play against. You might love them if they’re on your team, but if they’re going up against you, you’re almost certain to hate them.
1. Jack Grealish
Surely, Premier League fans know all about what we’re talking about. I mean, they get to go up against Jack Grealish every other week and that guy is an annoying fella. Let’s even put aside what he said about Almiron for a bit, when this guy is on the pitch, it looks like his entire aim is to win fouls and not even to progress the play for his team.
See: Why Does Jack Grealish Keep Getting Into Fights?
The lad really goes down at the slightest contact every time that you might forget that football is a contact sport. We’re sure that sometimes even the City fans get annoyed when Grealish is with the ball. Like, he has options of driving into the box, laying a good pass, or playing a good shot, but almost every time, Grealish seems to prefer to make pointless dribbles and try to win fouls instead of making actual impact.
2. Neymar
If you find Grealish annoying, then you very likely find Neymar annoying, too. Both these players are cut from the same cloth, just that Neymar is obviously more talented.
See: Did Neymar Cheat On His Girlfriend?
Now, Neymar can be annoying in different ways. It could be because of his dives. He’s very famous for that, and if you remember, that appeared to peak in the 2018 World Cup when he became a worldwide meme because of the amount of the time he spent rolling on the floor.
Neymar also likes picking fights here and there. Whether he’s whining at the ref or taunting his opponents, the Brazilian can get really annoying when he talks sometimes.
If he’s not doing either of these things, then he’s probably riling up opponents by showboating. Now, we love the beautiful game and we love when players show off those skills, but when it’s done against your team, especially when you’re on the losing side, you have to admit that it can be very annoying.
3. Bruno Fernandes
Except you’re a Man United fan, you probably do not like Bruno Fernandes. If he’s not trying to fool the referee by diving or over-exaggerating impact, he’s whining about the smallest things done to his player or the most obvious of fouls committed by his teammate.
Most of the yellow cards Bruno receives are for dissent, and that says more than enough about how annoying he is game in, game out.
4. Suarez
But could we even talk about annoying players without mentioning Suarez? If he’s not diving, he’s whining, if he’s not whining, he’s biting. And if he’s not doing any of those things, he’s clearing the ball off the line with his hand to stop a 120th minute winner in the World Cup quarter final to the annoyance of an entire continent.
But even with how annoying he is, Suarez is probably not the most annoying center-forward of his generation. And that’s simply because Diego Costa exists.
5. Diego Costa
Do we even need to begin to list Costa’s crimes through the years? Sometimes, it feels like the striker doesn’t come to the pitch to try and score, but just to try and get under the skin of the opposition.
Whether he was saying something in your ear, cunningly stamping on you, kicking you, or just trying to get you involved in something, Diego Costa was almost always up to something back then.
No wonder L’Equipe named him the most hated footballer in the world back in 2015. That’s how much of a villain Costa was.
He even got on the nerves of his country of birth after ditching them for Spain only a matter of months before the World Cup went to Brazil in 2014. As a striker, it’s almost impossible to reach the levels of shithousery Costa attained.
6. Emi Martinez
Goalkeepers are hardly ever involved in a lot of drama. They’re usually so far from the action for most of the game. But you see Emi Martinez? He was made for drama. He was born in it and was molded by it.
He may not have much to do in a game, but when you call on him – especially during penalties – he makes sure to make it hell for his opponents.
He’ll grab the ball, throw it away, and make the upcoming penalty taker go fetch just to shake them up. Then if he saves your penalty or you dare to put it off target? You’re finished! He’ll dance in your face or mock you with his words. He’s so bad with it that sometimes you’ll just want to punch him in the face.
Or should we talk about the whole thing he did with the doll which had Mbappe’s face? Many of us had never heard of a sore winner until we witnessed Emi Martinez celebrating the World Cup win. Like, how did you just win the biggest prize in world football but you’re still rattled by a 24-year-old who put 3 goals past you in the final?
7. Mbappe
Let’s keep it a buck here, even Mbappe himself is annoying, too. And we’re not saying he deserved any of that treatment from Emi, no not at all. We’re just saying he can be annoying. Especially when his team is up late in the game and he’s trying to waste time.
See: Kylian Mbappé: From Bondy to Football Royalty
He can even be a pain in the ass for his own teammates. We saw how he reacted when he didn’t get a pass from Vitinha earlier in the season. Dropping out of the attack and refusing to help the team because you didn’t get your way? Come on.
Oh, and remember that time when he didn’t get the penalty he wanted so he started giving an attitude and even bumped into Messi on the way. And mind you, he had missed a penalty already in that game. What a guy!
If you notice, we haven’t mentioned any defenders so far. Well, that’s because we were saving them for last. Defenders are probably the most annoying players of all. It’s like it’s in their job description to be annoying. Center-backs particularly.
8. Rudiger
Rudiger is a good defender, no doubt, but his extra showmanship is something that’s not usually very appreciated by opponents. He’s either goading you with something he’s saying or with that very annoying hop of his.
Are you surprised that almost the entire world was so happy that that run later turned around to bite him in the ass in that World Cup game against Japan?
But well, hate him or love him, it seems like Rudiger is only following in the footsteps of the OGs that came before him – Pepe and Ramos.
9. Pepe and Ramos
These two in the same team at the same time were the most annoying combination of players we had ever seen. There was no good cop, bad cop with these two, both of them were unashamedly bad cops.
They would make hard tackles and then try to get away with it by acting like angels in front of the refs. Surely, if nobody in the entire world finds Ramos annoying, Liverpool fans definitely do. They surely haven’t forgiven him for what he did to Salah in the 2018 Champions League final, and we don’t see them forgiving him anytime soon.
Oh, and both these guys were also really good at taunting their opponents. Remember when Pepe pushed a man to the ground and then kicked him when he was down. Or when Ramos acted like he was going to hand the ball to Messi but instead ended up throwing it at him.
We could really go on and on, but you do get it, surely. They’re legends, but they’re some really annoying legends.
10. Eric Cantona
Speaking of legends, Eric Cantona was another proper annoying one. He built an entire reputation off being a bad boy, and that even landed him in jail once after he got arrested for a kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan during a live match. And guess what! Years later, Cantona maintained that he didn’t regret doing that one bit, saying he’d kick the fan even harder if he could do it over again.
Some other really annoying players we’ve seen on the pitch are Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrew Robertson, Richarlison, and we’re sure Barca fans will like this one, Thomas Muller.
But of course, that’s not the end of the list. Are there players who personally get on your nerves?
Let us know who they are in the comments and tell us why you find them annoying.
