8 football stars who have been in prison (for drugs, fighting and rape)

The legend of the Moscow Torpedo Streltsov began his career at the age of 16. Two years later, he became the best scorer of the USSR championship, at the age of 19 – the Olympic champion. And the next year, Eduard Streltsov went to prison on charges of raping 20-year-old Marina Lebedev. The girl wrote a statement to the football player after a May night spent in his company at a friends cottage. Evidence of Streltsov’s guilt was not enough. All the guys and girls at the party were very drunk and could not say what exactly happened, but the examination confirmed the connection between Lebedev and Streltsov. The athlete was sentenced to 12 years – there are versions that the reason for the punishment was political persecution of the athlete. As a result, Streltsov spent 5 years behind bars, was paroled and returned to big sport.

Despite numerous problems with the law (drugs, fights, accidents, tax problems), the famous football brawler had no real conditions, yet he visited Maradona’s prison. In 1991, the athlete was arrested for possession of cocaine, but spent only 4 days in pre-trial detention, after being released on high bail. Later, Diego Maradona received a suspended sentence. 4 years later, the football player was brought to court again – for assaulting people. Maradona decided to disperse the paparazzi in his house using … an air gun. The prosecution demanded 4 years in prison for the footballer, but he got away with a suspended sentence again.

In 1979, Rossi spent several months in prison for aiding bookmakers. The footballer agreed to a draw in a fixed match between his team Perugia and the club Avellino.

Higuita is a star not only in sports, but also in the criminal world. The footballer worked as an intermediary between Pablo Escobar and Carlos Molina, the main Colombian drug lords. In 1993, Higuita was responsible for the release of Molina’s kidnapped daughter. The athlete handed over the ransom and delivered the child to the boss, breaking the law: a deal with kidnappers means aiding and abetting the kidnapping. René spent 7 months in prison awaiting trial but was never charged and released.

Best battled alcoholism throughout his independent life, but rarely emerged victorious. In 1984, Best was arrested for drunken driving and assaulting a police officer. The footballer spent three months in prison, including the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, this story did not sober up Best. In 2002, Best underwent a liver transplant, but continued to drink after the operation. Three years later, the player was gone.

Another drunk driving article is from England’s Tony Adams. In 1991 he was sentenced to 4 months. After 7 years, the football player managed to defeat alcoholism.

The football player played dozens of fights in his life, but only changed the term to one. In 2008, Barton served 2.5 months for a drunken brawl with a passer-by in Liverpool city centre.

In 1993, the footballer cooperated with counterfeiters and escaped his coaches and colleagues with small counterfeit banknotes. However, he didn’t really manage to make money – Mickey was tied up almost immediately. The footballer spent 1.5 years in prison. Thomas failed to return to the big sport. He played for amateur teams until the age of 40, after which he began to comment on matches on radio and television.