5 Excruciating Examples of Dangerous Play in Soccer

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Undoubtedly, all team sports see moments of madness from their participants, but soccer is likely head and shoulders above the majority. The pure profile of the “beautiful game” as the world’s most-watched sporting code means you often see incidents that make the game seem less than beautiful. Some of these excruciating examples of dangerous play in soccer are enough to make you want to switch the TV channel to boxing or professional wrestling instead. Let’s meander through some of the worst incidents ever on a soccer field.

5. Zinedine Zidane (France vs. Italy, FIFA World Cup Final, 2006)

Our journey into on-field soccer violence and dangerous play starts on the biggest stage of them all and involves potentially the world’s best player at the time. Zinedine Zidane was France’s captain and great hope when the night started. The maestro quickly put France in front with a seventh-minute penalty before Italy’s big center-back, Marco Materazzi, equalized 12 minutes later. Ironically, the two goalscorers would supply a more enduring talking point in the final than either of their goals did.

With the scores level as the clock rolled onto the 110th minute in the second period of extra time, Zidane and Materazzi were jogging up the pitch near each other. The pair exchanged words before the Italian grabbed at Zidane’s jersey. This action prompted a reaction from France’s number 10, who turned and delivered a powerful headbutt into the Italian defender’s chest, knocking him onto the Berlin turf. 

The world watched in disbelief as the referee, Horacio Elizondo, consulted with his assistants before delivering the coup de grace to the French captain with a red card. Italy won the World Cup in a penalty shootout shortly afterward, with the headbutt marking Zidane’s last action in a French shirt. He admitted many years later that he wasn’t proud of his violent actions, but they were in the past. It would be 12 years before France next won the FIFA World Cup tournament.

4. Liam Roberts (Crystal Palace vs. Millwall, FA Cup, 2025)

A young Millwall goalkeeper made soccer headlines not long ago in an English FA Cup match against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in London. In the eighth minute, with the game scoreless, Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta took off after a through ball. Millwall’s goalkeeper, Liam Roberts, charged out of his goal area to reach the ball first.

If you’re a soccer fan, you might recall the incident. With his leg raised above shoulder height, Roberts missed the ball completely with his leg raised, with his boot instead connecting with the oncoming forward’s head and ear, leaving Mateta spreadeagled on the turf, unconscious and bleeding from a gaping head wound. After initially allowing play to continue, referee Michael Oliver received a message from the video assistant referee (VAR) to consult his pitch-side monitor. 

Roberts immediately received a straight red card, which the Crystal Palace chairman later described as the most reckless he had ever seen. With Millwall down to 10 men, Palace won the match 3-1 as Mateta spent the night in hospital. He received 25 stitches to a gashed ear before returning to action less than a month later wearing a special protective mask. Liam Roberts received a six-match ban for his excruciatingly dangerous play.

3. Axel Witsel (Standard Liège vs. Anderlecht, Belgian First Division, 2009)

Axel Witsel has made 132 appearances for Belgium over a stellar career. Early on in that career, while playing for Belgian club Standard Liège, the fledgling midfielder broke rival Marcin Wasilewski’s leg with a horror stamp tackle on the Polish player’s ankle. The incident happened quickly, with Witzel’s right boot missing the ball completely and coming down onto the Pole’s ankle. 

Although the Belgian youngster protested afterward, saying the tackle was unintentional, he was given an immediate red card and suspended for eight matches. He received death threats from Anderlecht and Polish fans following the incident. You never want to see bad injuries on the soccer field — this time, the tackle resulted in Wasilewski experiencing open leg fractures to his tibia and fibula and missing 10 months of playing time. 

2. Paul Gascoigne (Tottenham Hotspur vs. Nottingham Forest, FA Cup Final, 1991)

You’ll remember Paul Gascoigne as one of his generation’s most gifted soccer players. Despite his obvious talent, his exuberance often took him from the sublime to the ridiculous. One of those occasions was during the 1991 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium when Gascoigne lunged into Forest’s Gary Charles early on, kicking out with his right boot at knee height and bringing his opponent down. 

Had the tackle caught Charles squarely, it may have resulted in a bad injury to the Forest defender. Instead, ironically, it was Gascoigne who felt the brunt of the challenge. The England star ruptured the cruciate ligaments in his right knee and, despite not being sent off, had to leave the field on a stretcher. You’ve heard of karma, haven’t you?

1. Roy Keane (Man. Utd vs. Man. City, EPL, 2001)  

It’s no surprise that Roy Keane makes this list. You know what a volatile, hard man he was on the soccer pitch, and he’s followed that up by not mincing his words behind the pundit’s desk, either. The prickly Irishman’s tackle on Norway’s Alf Inge Haaland, father of current City star Erling, appeared to be coming for three and a half years before it finally happened. 

In 1997, almost four seasons earlier, with the Norwegian playing for Leeds Utd, a clash between the pair left Keane with an anterior cruciate ligament injury that left him for nearly a year on the sidelines. To add insult to injury, Haaland had leaned over the United player, telling him to get up. It’s clear Roy Keane is no elephant, but if you adapt the adage to read “Irishmen never forget,” it makes perfect sense in context. 

Roll on to 2001 — Keane’s Man. Utd. hosted local rivals, Man. City, before it became one of the world’s best clubs, in an EPL derby match. When Roy Keane saw his chance for retribution, he raised his studs and connected Haaland just below the knee. Referee David Ellery immediately produced a red card for the Irishman, but the effects of the incident were worse on the Norwegian. 

Haaland’s injury forced his retirement from professional soccer within two years, with Keane later admitting in his biography that he intended to “hurt” Haaland following their 1997 encounter. Roy Keane received a £150,000 fine following his admission. You’ll agree that this excruciating example of dangerous play in soccer was made even worse by the long-standing intent behind it.

Dangerous Play in Soccer Happens, But Should It?

As a physical sport, soccer will always have incidents of dangerous play that often result in long-term injuries to the victims or, on the odd occasion, to the aggressors. While some excruciating and horrific tackles don’t carry the intent of others, you’ll find some clear examples where soccer players commit fouls that border on assault.

While VAR now offers added protection in the modern game, do you feel that some transgressors deserve harsher punishments for their actions to restore soccer to its recognized place as the “beautiful game?”