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Worst Soccer Players of All Time: Ranking the Top 15
Jul 1, 2025
In soccer, players usually become unforgettable in one of two ways.
The first—and certainly the preferred method—is by being great at the sport. Think Lionel Messi dancing through defences, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring goals for fun, or Zlatan Ibrahimović defying physics with a scissor kick.
The second, and far less flattering way, to go down in history, is by being really bad.
Whether making huge defensive errors, constantly missing open goals, or falling spectacularly short of expectations after a big-money transfer—any of these can make a player a legend for all the wrong reasons.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled our definitive ranking of the 15 worst soccer players of all time. These are the names that stand out not for brilliance, but for blunders, busts, and baffling performances that fans won’t soon forget.
"I am not [Cristiano] Ronaldo's successor," stated Gabriel Obertan after joining Manchester United in 2009.
He certainly lived up to that fact—but not in the way United fans might have hoped.
Obertan arrived with promise from Bordeaux, touted as a quick, technical winger who could develop under Sir Alex Ferguson. But what followed was underwhelming at best. In 29 appearances, he scored just once—against Bursaspor in the Champions League—and made almost no lasting impact.
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