Have you ever heard of remarks made by American football players about so-called “soccer” being a girly game? It may or may not be so, depending on which game aspects you focus on.
But if we have to think about feigning, that’s definitely one of the elements for which football players are infamous. As much as I know that flopping is a common thing in this game, my desire was to know about the biggest football divers ever. After all, I wasn’t disappointed with the results.
Mohamed Salah
One of the best Premier League players, Mohamed Salah, has earned his spot on this list after various football dives. More specifically, many fans accuse him of being a very bad flopper.
Be it as it may, Salah made a few funny dives that we all remember. For example, in the Liverpool vs Leicester game, the Egyptian had a stage fall in the penalty area. The referee was not sure about his decision, so VAR got into the game.
After consulting with the VAR room, the referee decided not to award a penalty. In contrast to this, we could also see some examples of Salah’s dives, which ended in a penalty or free kick and even a goal scored.
Harry Kane
The Harry Kane curse regarding trophies may not be the only peculiar thing about this player. Back when he was part of Tottenham, lots of people criticised him for being one of the frequent divers in football.
The top all-time scorer for England made referees call a few suspicious fouls this way. One of the most notable ones happened during the game between Tottenham and Brighton.
Namely, Lallana and Kane were chasing the ball when Kane bent over instead of going for the ball. This made Lallana push Kane a little bit, after which he dove forward and fell. The referee pointed towards the white spot, and Kane scored for Tottenham, bringing them victory.
David Luiz
David Luiz is more of an aggressive player than one of the football divers. Yet, there were instances of him feigning here and there. The one many fans talked about for weeks took place in the Man Utd vs Chelsea game in 2013.
It was almost the end of the game, and Chelsea had a one-to-nil lead. Luiz was protecting the ball from Raphael, and the United’s right-back and midfielder went for the ball and scratched Luiz’s ankle.
The Chelsea defender immediately fell to the ground, acting like he was injured. Moments later, the camera caught him smiling. After this match, the Chelsea coach said that Luiz was laughing at United fans because they bullied him. Sir Alex Ferguson, on the other hand, said that this was a clear sign of flopping.
Neymar
Neymar must be one of the football divers featured in most internet videos and articles. Besides being an outstanding player, the Brazilian also made so many football dives that he became a meme, and sometimes the laughing stock of the Internet.
While it would be too hard to find his best dive ever, I did find interviews where Neymar speaks about this. In general, he said that he flops to avoid injuries. If he would play it rough, then the other players would make even worse fouls on him. Some legends, like Pele, told interviews that such a way of playing couldn’t go unnoticed or criticised.
Sergio Busquets
Plenty of football enthusiasts remember the Spaniard for his dirty play. His playing style and acting on the pitch made two different fan groups: the adoring fans and the despising fans. In addition to his rough play, Busquets made his way to the list of divers in football.
Although not that often, the Spaniard has tried to trick referees and their opponents a few times. In a very important match in the Champions League against Inter, Busquests fell down, pretending to be fouled and then peeked out to see what the referees would call. Unfortunately for him, the cameras recorded everything.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably one of the best footballers of all time. He’s known for his hard work and training. Putting all his football skills aside, Ronaldo also practises his diving skills.
The Portuguese legend can be stubborn at times and do the things he shouldn’t in order to win. But unlike football skills, his diving skills are much worse. So, Ronaldo received a lot of criticism for his behaviour, especially because of diving in the penalty area.
Dani Alves
This Brazilian player’s football dives are less common than other players’ floppers. Still, Alves does know how to act well and fool the officials. There may be a couple of cases, but I know one that takes the cake.
In 2011, in El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, Pepe went for the ball that was in Alves’ possession. The Brazilian immediately fell to the ground. Not only that, but he also started spinning to make things worse.
The referee didn’t wait much before he showed Pepe a red card. Of course, the cameras recorded everything. So, everyone knew that Pepe actually made no contact with Alves then. This made the Brazilian one of the most well-known football divers.
Joel Campbell
The Costa Rican isn’t one of the divers in football who does this a lot. On the other hand, Campbell isn’t someone who never dives either. Though not a worldwide event, the World Cup qualifiers do not lack fame.
In one of the matches against the USA, with the ball far away from him at that moment, Campbell approached Besler and suddenly dropped down in front of him.
The officials gave Besler the yellow card because of stepping on Campbell, which was clearly accidental. This caused the Americans to miss the following match in the qualifiers, which was very important for the US.
Dele Alli
Unlike those who feign occasionally, Dele Alli is one of the football divers who does this regularly. In fact, he used to flop so often that even his coach criticised him. If I were to pick his biggest dive, that’d definitely be the one in the match against Huddersfield in 2017.
Alli made a great chance and found himself in front of Huddersfield’s goalkeeper. The keeper stepped forward and tried to come closer to the ball. Alli then jumped and pretended that he stumbled upon the keeper’s foot. Besides Pochettino, many other experts criticised the way Dele Alli acts in these moments.
Didier Drogba
The legendary player from the Ivory Coast, Didier Drogba, earned his high status with the amazing skills he used to show during his career. I’m not sure how many of you know this, but Drogba was also a player who used to go down a little too easily.
Fans who followed him throughout his entire career know that this was one of his regularities. So, we could see him flop so many times in the Premier League. After Drogba joined MLS, he continued to do the same.
Gareth Bale
I can compare Bale to Drogba here, not necessarily for football skills, but for his “essential qualities” to feign and get away with it. After I did some digging, I realised that Bale couldn’t run away from the punishment.
More precisely, the Welshman collected as many as six cards during the period in which he played in the Premier League (before and after joining Real Madrid). If you thought that Bale took a break from his routine while playing for Los Blancos, you were wrong.
Ashley Young
A player, aged 39, who is still active deserves much respect. Apart from this, Young deserved utter scorn many times as well. Firstly, the officials recorded many instances of the Englishman’s rough play.
Just when you thought he reached his highest levels, Young surprised everyone with his feigning. We all saw him do that as an Aston Villa player, but things got worse in Man Utd. Players like Wayne Rooney and van Persie can thank him for simulating and making officials award penalties that they scored.
Arjen Robben
The Dutchman is no exception to performing dives. Football lovers may not have noticed many of them, but the dives like the ones he made when the Netherlands played versus Mexico in the World Cup 2014 remained in everyone’s memory.
Robben was an excellent winger. In the game against Mexico, the defence did a very good job locking him up. The Dutchman realised this and decided to use different techniques to score a goal.
On his third attempt, he got into the penalty area and made a dive. The referee awarded a penalty, where even one of the Dutch players apologised for Robben’s flopping.
Luis Suarez
Yet another player that deserves a special spot among football divers is Suarez. He may be known for his fouls and suspensions, but one thing that adds fire to the fuel of his controversies is surely flopping.
During his stay at Liverpool, Suarez made so many attempts to feign that some fans started to call him a drama queen. Even more, Uruguayan national television made an advertisement in which he acted childishly with his other colleagues.
