Skip to content

The Diego Costa Awards: Football's biggest villains of 2015

Tony O'Brien / Reuters

In the world of football, there is no villain greater than Chelsea forward Diego Costa. He's the kind of player you love to hate, and the kind of player who loves being hated, too. But he's not the only villain around. Here are the top five most villainous figures from the world of football in 2015:

5th place: Saido Berahino

Some players hand in transfer requests when they want out at a club. Others sadden fans with surprise moves away, without a word. But for West Brom forward Saido Berahino, throwing a tantrum and acting petulant was the order of the day.

Amid interest from Tottenham, and four denied bids, Berahino took to Twitter and began a public tirade demanding to depart the club, leaving West Brom manager Tony Pulis shaking his head.

(Courtesy: BBC)

Pulis has since forgiven Berahino, saying "They (the fans) have embraced him and brought him back into the fold - that naughty child!"

4th place: Jamie Vardy

Before Jamie Vardy was scoring goals, breaking records, and having chips named after him, the Leicester City forward made headlines for being filmed in a casino uttering racial slurs.

Vardy apologised for reportedly telling a fellow gambler: "Jap. Yo Jap. Walk on ... oi, walk on. Yeah you ... Jap. Walk on." And while he quickly began establishing himself as a Premier League scoring threat, his villainy won't soon be forgotten.

2nd runner-up: Karim Benzema

French striker Karim Benzema has found himself mixed up in some scandalous business that involves a sex tape, blackmail, and his fellow international teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

Benzema had allegedly played middleman to an extortionist and was charged with complicity in an attempt to blackmail Valbuena and participation in a criminal conspiracy. Although he came out and said it was all just a misunderstanding, Benzema was suspended from the French national team for his role in this entire affair.

Did he do it? It's not yet clear. But the whole story is shady at best from day one.

1st runner-up: Gonzalo Jara

Chilean defender Gonzalo Jara did something purely despicable during the 2015 Copa America, sexually assaulting Uruguay's Edinson Cavani on the field with a finger to Cavani's back side.

The incident sparked massive backlash and Jara was banned from the remainder of the tournament. Jara had supposedly taunted Cavani by making fun of his father, who was facing a potential prison sentence.

Chile ended up winning the Copa America but Jara faced the fires when he returned to his club team, Mainz, as club director Christian Heide said he does not tolerate that sort of behaviour and affirmed he would sell Jara once he received an offer.

And the Diego Costa award goes to ... Sepp Blatter

Oh boy ... where do we even start with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, UEFA president Michel Platini, and the rest of FIFA's executives embattled throughout the year in ongoing corruption charges and scandal?

Blatter first won re-election, and was pretty pleased. Then, Swiss authorities raided a hotel and arrested 16 FIFA executives to be extradited to the U.S. under charges of corruption from the U.S. Department of Justice. Blatter resigned as president, new elections were called, internal investigations were ordered, FIFA was laughed at, new charges and arrests were dolled out in waves, and Platini then decided to run for the presidency himself.

Here's the full rundown of events, a timeline of Blatter's career at FIFA, and quotes from almost every important figure involved.

Most recently, Blatter said his work in football was "finished" as he and Platini serve eight-year suspensions from the FIFA ethics committee. Another FIFA presidential election will be held next February. In the meantime, the U.S. DOJ continues investigating and extraditing officials.

Villainy, folks. Villainy at FIFA came to light in 2015.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox