Footballers tend to be passionate people. You can see as much on the pitch when things aren’t going their way. They are also young and very well paid, relatively speaking, and this combination can lead to some poor decision making.
When players get violent, break the rules, or take banned substances, the authorities have to act to maintain the integrity of the sport. The way they do this, is with bans.
Players can be banned for as little as one game for minor infractions, but when the offence is more serious, months if not years can be expected. This is devastating for the player, but also for the club they play for, especially if they are a regular in the first team.
These are the sorts of bans I am looking at today. The longest bans in football. Bans that meant players missed most or all of a season, and sometimes even more.
I should note that I am only dealing with high profile players in this article. There have been numerous players who have received life bans in the lower leagues, such as the 22 players and officials from Laos and Cambodia involved in the match fixing scandal, but no one is interested in them.
Ivan Toney – 8 Months
It was a betting scandal that side-lined Brentford’s Ivan Toney.
In 2023, it came to light that The FA found that he had placed around 200 bets on football matches between 2017 and 2021, and some were even on matches he had played in.
This was obviously in breach of their rules and raised questions regarding Toney’s integrity, so they had to act. No evidence was found of Toney engaging in match fixing or anything like that, but with so many bets placed it was a big issue. They wanted to ban him for 15 months, but this was reduced in light of the fact Toney had a gambling addiction.
He was banned from all footballing activities for 8 months, although, thankfully for Brentford, the ban was set to start at the end of the season. Toney was their star player.
It was a huge blow to Ivan Toney, though. He had been in his best ever form leading up to the ban, as well as contesting for a place in the England squad.
He came back for the second half of the 2023/24 season, but was transferred to Saudi Arabia at the end of the year.
Rio Ferdinand – 8 Months
It is often incorrectly reported that Rio Ferdinand was banned after failing a drugs test. In actuality, he was banned for missing a drugs test, which is a very important distinction.
Rio was supposed to take a random drugs test after training but forgot. He received a phone call asking where he was, he apologised, and went back at the club to complete the test. However, the people running the tests said he had missed his chance, and they would have to report him.
What followed was one of the most absurd overreactions in football disciplinary history.
Two days later, Ferdinand took a voluntary test to prove his innocence, which came back negative. However, the FA said a missed test is the same as a failed test without good reason. He was left out of the England squad, summoned to a hearing, and found guilty of “failure or refusal to submit to a drugs test”. He received an 8 month ban from all footballing activities.
It was a ridiculously harsh sentence whichever way you looked at it. Rio was furious, and has since explained the reason he had his hair in corn rows was to prove his innocence. A hair follicle test shows traces of drugs going back up to 18 months, but the hair needs to be at least 2 inches long. The FA refused to do the test, though, and Rio served his entire ban.
Eric Cantona – 9 Months
The famous Frenchman, ‘King’ Eric Cantona, was as unpredictable off the field as he was on it.
He was always making headlines for bizarre quotes or strange behaviour, but he will be most remembered for kung fu kicking a racist Crystal Palace fan in the face in 1995. Then punching him a few times too, just for good measure.
The media uproar was insane. The FA had to make an example of him, so they gave him an 9 month ban, a £20,000 fine (another £10,000 added later) and he also received a 2 week prison sentence. This was later reduced to 120 hours of community service.
He wasn’t exactly a stranger to controversy, having been banned several times in France in his earlier days, but this one was by far the longest.
It did nothing to dent his popularity with the fans though, in fact, you can get fan art of the incident. Even today, you will hear the odd chant at Old Trafford about King Eric.
Mark Bosnich – 9 Months
Bozza seemed more interested in partying than playing football. He was famous for his antics, and for his super loud, super annoying laugh. And for not being very fit.
Paul Scholes once claimed he “couldn’t kick a football”, was “knackered after three shots” in training, and was generally very unprofessional. It didn’t stop him having a pretty high profile career, though. Well, not at first, anyway.
After his brief stint with Manchester United, Bosnich moved to Chelsea in 2001. However, fitness and injury issues meant he didn’t play for them until the following 2001/02 season. He managed 7 games before picking up another injury, and during recovery, he was tested for drugs.
He had cocaine in his system and was banned from football for 9 months. Chelsea sacked him, and his career was pretty much over. He did play again in Australia 5 years later, but he was 36 by the time he returned to the game, so only had 2 more seasons in him. It was later revealed that Bosnich had a cocaine addiction, and at his worst, he was using up to 10 grams per day.
It’s amazing he’s still alive.
Diego Maradona – 15 Months (twice)
He might be a hero to Argentinians, but Maradona was undeniably a bit of a tool.
Aside from cheating his way to a World Cup victory in 1986, El Pibe de Oro was also a fan of the white stuff. Cocaine. This led to two separate 15 months bans in the later stages of his career.
The tubby Number 10 tested positive in 1991 after a Serie A game while he was playing for Napoli. He had helped them achieve great things during his time there, but left in disgrace after the ban.
He clearly didn’t learn his lesson, either, because in 1994 he was banned for another 15 months, again for drug use. This time it was a stimulant called ephedrine. He scored against Greece during the World Cup and ran screaming wildly in celebration towards the camera. He looked off his head, and FIFA thought so too, and drug tested him.
He failed the test, was immediately sent home disgraced, and never played for his country again. See, I told you he was a tool.
Joey Barton – 18 Months
It will come as no surprise to find Joey Barton on this list. He didn’t break any records for his football, but he still holds the record for the longest Premier League ban.
He was no stranger to bad behaviour on the pitch, receiving 6 red and 78 yellow cards in his career, and even took a brief hiatus from playing due to a 6 month prison sentence for affray.
However, his 18 month ban (reduced to 13 months on appeal) was down to betting misconduct charges. The FA found he placed 1,260 bets on football matches over 10 years, although it must be said that there were no match fixing allegations.
The ban forced Barton, who was 34 at the time, into an early retirement.
Paul Pogba – 18 Months
Once the most expensive player in the world, Paul Pogba’s career ground to a halt when he was banned for 18 months in 2022.
Once again, it was a doping scandal that was behind the ban, but Pogba still maintains his innocence.
After a Serie A game against Udinese, the Juventus midfielder tested positive for testosterone during a random drugs test. He was temporarily suspended pending an investigation.
Pogba was adamant that if there were any banned substances in his system then he had taken them unknowingly. His doctors and defence team suggested that a supplement he took could have contaminated the sample, and denied he had knowingly taken anything performance enhancing.
Nevertheless, he was banned from football for 4 years, before an appeal saw the time reduced to 18 months. Pogba said that if the 4 year ban had stood he would have retired from football altogether.
David Bystron – 2 Years
Bystron’s is a tragic tale.
In 2011 he was enjoying a good spell at Viktoria Plzeň in the Czech First League. However, after a UEFA Champions League match against BATE Borisov, he underwent a random drug test which showed he was positive for methamphetamines. That was in November.
In January 2012 his B sample was also tested to ensure no mistake had been made, and this also came back positive.
Bystron was banned from all professional football for 2 years, and he was already 30 at this point. The centre-back did make a return to professional football after his ban ended, but he only played 9 times in two seasons for Sigma Olomouc (also in the Czech First League), before two very short spells in the fourth tier of Swiss football, playing for what was essentially an amateur team.
David Bystron committed suicide by hanging in 2017, aged 34.
Juanito – 2 Year and 4 Years
Being banned for a total of 6 years of a 19 year career is quite an achievement. Juanito managed it, though.
He was a Spanish international and a legend at Real Madrid, but he had a right old temper on him. In 1978 he was banned from European competitions for 2 years for assaulting the referee during a match against Grasshoppers.
Later, in 1987, he literally stamped on the face of Lothar Matthäus after a bad challenge on a team mate. Juanito wasn’t even involved in the incident, but ran over and kicked Matthäus while he was on the floor, then stamped on his head. He was banned from Europe for 4 years this time, but apologised and, bizarrely, sent a bullfighter’s cape and rapier to the German midfielder.
Juanito was killed in a road traffic accident in 1992, aged 37, not long after retiring.
Rodrigo Rojas – Life
You can’t get a much longer ban than forever.
Rodrigo Rojas was playing in goal for Chile during a 1989 qualifier against Brazil. In the 70th minute and 1-0 down, a Brazilian fan through a smouldering firework onto the pitch, and Rojas went down holding his bloodied face. He was stretchered off and the match was abandoned, with the Chile team refusing to play on due to safety concerns.
At the very least the match would have to be replayed, but there was also a chance Brazil would be penalised by the FA.
Video evidence later revealed that the firework had not gone anywhere near Rojas, and his injury had been self inflicted using a razor blade hidden in his glove. His manager, Orlando Aravena, had instructed him to stay down, and ordered the team doctor to stretcher him off.
Rojas received a lifetime ban, as did Aravena, and Brazil were awarded a 2-0 victory.
The ban was lifted in 2001, technically making it a 12 year ban, but in his mid-forties by then so it was just a gesture really.