Injuries in any sport are commonplace and football is no different. A hamstring injury here, a twisted ankle there or those crunching challenges that do some serious damage – we have seen it all in the game.
However, there have been some players who have injured themselves in some of the most embarrassing ways possible. We list 10 players who had injuries to forget.
1) Rio Ferdinand: Injured while watching TV
“It was a freak accident, and typical of this season. It wasn't even on the training ground, he was watching television.” – Leeds manager David O'Leary
How do you injure yourself while watching TV? Just ask Rio Ferdinand.
In 2001, Ferdinand was making a name for himself at Leeds United following his transfer from West Ham and the defender though propping his foot up on the coffee table and watching television was a good idea.
Yes, it’s something we all do when we have a bit of free time to relax. But what we don’t do is sit in the same position for hours on end and that’s exactly what Ferdinand did. The result? An injured tendon in the back of his knee.
2) Darren Barnard: Slipped on his dog’s urine
Not many fans will remember Darren Barnard. A German-born Welsh wing-back, his glory days saw him play for Chelsea and Barnsley in the Premier League. However, five months of his career in 1999 is a period he would like to forget.
A dog is a man’s best friend but, in this case, it turned out to be his worst enemy. But how can you blame a puppy that hasn’t been trained yet?
“We had just bought a new puppy and because he was so young he left a mess in the kitchen. I walked in just after my wife had cleared it up, slipped on the wet surface and went head over heels.” – Barnard
Poor Barnard required a surgery to fix the damage to his knee ligaments and even Wales sorely missed his services.
3) Ever Banega: Run over by his own car
When Ever Banega was a star at Valencia, he made news for the wrong reasons when he broke his ankle that ruled him out of action for six months. It wasn’t a rash tackle, it wasn’t an injury sustained after landing awkwardly – it was courtesy of his own car.
The Argentine playmaker had driven his car to a petrol station to refuel and had forgotten to set the handbrake when he got out of his car. The vehicle promptly rolled back and his foot was trapped under the car, leading to a broken leg.
“The player Ever Banega has suffered an accident with his own car after training on Sunday when he received a trauma to his left leg that caused a fracture to his tibia and the perone bones.” – Valencia’s official statement.
The club confirmed that it wasn’t a clean break but Banega required surgery and it effectively ended his season.
4) Steve Morrow: Fell off a teammate’s shoulders
With the 1993 League Cup final between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday evenly poised at 1-1, it was Steve Morrow who scored the winner in the 68th minute to give the Gunners the trophy – then called the Coca-Cola Cup.
Following the full-time whistle, Arsenal skipper Tony Adams attempted to lift Morrow on to his shoulders and parade him around the ground but the club legend lost his balance. Morrow fell to the ground and broke his collarbone in the process.
And do remember; Adams is 6’3”! Poor Morrow had to be stretchered out of the stadium while his teammates celebrated with the trophy.
“It was just a freak. You can't tell players not to celebrate. It's what playing football is all about. You enjoy it. It's very sad, but there you are.” – Arsenal boss George Graham
Of course, the injury ruled him out for the rest of the season and back then the League Cup final was played in April. Morrow also missed the FA Cup final and he was quite bitter about it.
“No disrespect to the Coca-Cola Cup but the FA Cup final is something special.”
5) Santiago Canizares: Aftershave is injurious to health
Spanish goalkeeper Santiago Canizares is a Valencia legend and was a key player in Los Che’s La Liga triumphs in 2001/02 and 2003/04. One image that will remain in our memories is that 2001 Champions League final when Oliver Kahn consoled him after Bayern won on penalties.
But one incident Canizares would not want anyone to remember was one that caused him to miss out on the 2002 World Cup. At the training base in Jerez prior to the quadrennial competition, Canizares accidentally smashed a bottle of aftershave resulting in a shard of glass penetrating his flesh and severing a tendon in his right foot.
It ruled him out of the World Cup and it allowed Iker Casillas to play in goal. Reflecting on the incident, Canizares said: “I do not consider myself to be unlucky by any means. From the start of my career, I have had several strokes of good luck. But, just like everyone else, I have also had difficult times which I have had to cope with.”
“I still believe that the best moments of my career are yet to come and, health permitting, I will be aiming to be successful in the next World Cup.” – Canizares
Canizares did make it to the 2006 World Cup squad – his last as an international player.
6) Charlie George: Lost his finger to a lawnmower
It’s safe to say that Charlie George was a bonafide Arsenal legend. But he, too, was a victim of the... The Rise of the Machines. The man was from the old school of football players and wasn’t one to hire people to tend to his garden. But he may have reconsidered that decision when he lost his index finger.
“I lifted the mower up to clear some grass from the blades when it moved and chopped off my finger. I suppose I'm lucky that I didn't lose my hand.” – George
The 29-year-old saw the lighter side of it, though, and joked that he would not be able to take a throw-in and also paid no heed to those who said his career was over.
“I won't be able to take a throw-in. Or put two fingers up at people,” he joked.
7) Jerome Boateng: Hit by an airplane drinks trolley
Before Jerome Boateng became a world class defender, before he established himself at Bayern Munich and just when he had started playing for the Germany national team, he was signed by Manchester City. At the time, City were still building a squad after spending huge amounts of money and they had paid approximately £10.5m to Hamburger SV for young Boateng’s services.
However, fate had other plans for him. He had injured a tendon in his knee on international duty with Germany and was flying home when disaster struck. As luck would have it, he was involved in a collision with a drinks trolley on the flight and it aggravated his injury even further.
The injury ruled him out for a month and he couldn’t start his season until the end of September.
“I imagined my start at City to be quite different, of course,” Boateng said. Of course, he only lasted a year at City as he wished to move to Bayern to improve his chances of playing for the national team.
8) Thibaut Courtois: Shooting an NBA commercial
Just as Chelsea hoped to seal the Premier League title with a win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, manager Antonio Conte was given the bad news that his first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois would not be available for the Super Sunday clash.
The Belgian goalkeeper had injured his ankle prior to the game and he didn’t exactly injure his ankle in a training session. In fact, he wasn’t even playing football!
Chelsea have a commercial deal with the NBA (National Basketball Association) – America’s premier basketball league – and they were filming a video which involved Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Nemanja Matic, Marcos Alonso and Nathan Ake. Courtois had reportedly twisted his ankle when he landed awkwardly while trying to catch the basketball.
The Blues promptly lost 2-0 with Begovic in goal and the result saw their lead at the top of the table reduced to just four points. Here’s a video of Courtois playing basketball and he does use his height to his advantage – to beat a woman more than a foot shorter than him.
9) Kevin-Prince Boateng: Too much sex
The Ghana international is a controversial character and has made the news for issues ranging from racism to his regrets over how much money he spent. But he did make the news this one time when he suffered a thigh injury.
“Boateng has sustained a muscular lesion in his left thigh and the estimated time of recovery is around four weeks, unless there are complications.” – AC Milan statement
At the time, fans thought the injury was a result of his exertions in the Derby della Madonnina where Milan lost to Inter. But the truth soon came out from an unlikely source – his then girlfriend and Italian model Melissa Satta.
“The reason why he is always injured is because we have sex 7-10 times a week,” she said matter-of-factly. Safe to say he was advised against it during the recovery period.
10) Alex Stepney: While shouting instructions to his teammates
Have you ever yelled at someone when you were in an agitated state and then dislocated your jaw? That’s what happened to Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney in 1975.
But it may not have been entirely his fault. Earlier in the match against Birmingham, Stepney had been involved in a collision when Birmingham centre-forward Bob Hatton had charged into him. It wasn’t as serious as he thought and he continued playing. However, the injury was clearly felt in the second half as he shouted instructions to his defensive line and dislocated his jaw.
“I just shouted for the ball when my jaw clicked and left me in agony. It was ridiculous. The damage must have been done when Bob Hatton flattened me very early in the game.” – Stepney
Centre-back Brian Greenhoff had to keep in goal for the rest of the game and they managed to keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win.
