Football is known to be a beautiful game but there have been some footballers who have made it ugly by getting into trouble with the law over the years.
Let’s take a look at five footballers that were arrested for committing a crime during their playing careers.
Karim Benzema (Active)
The France international and Real Madrid forward was found guilty of conspiracy to blackmail in a French court along with five other people. Benzema was charged for blackmailing his ex-France teammate Mathieu Valbuena using a sex tape and was suspended for a year as well as fined €75,000 by the judge.
Quincy Promes (Active)
The Spartak Moscow and Dutch winger was charged with attempted murder and assault. Promes allegedly attacked a relative with a knife and has been on hiatus for the national team until his case gets resolved. However, he continues to play for Spartak Moscow these days.
Mason Greenwood (Suspended)
On January 30 earlier this year, Mason Greenwood was arrested by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of rape and assault of a woman. Two days later, the English winger was arrested once again on suspicion of sexual assault and threats to kill.
Manchester United, Nike and EA Sports have all suspended and cut ties with the youngster. Greenwood was released on bail pending further investigation on February 2, 2022.
Adam Johnson (Suspended)
Durham Police arrested Johnson on 2 March 2015 on suspicion of having sexual activity with an underage girl, who was 15 at the time. The English footballer’s case went to trial later and on 2 March 2016, he was found guilty on a majority verdict (10–2) of one count of sexual activity with a child. Later that month, Johnson got a sentence of six years in prison for his crimes. However, the English winger was released on 22 March 2019 after only serving half of his sentence.
Benjamin Mendy (Suspended)
Mendy went into custody at Chesire Constabulary on 26 August last year after being charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. His appeal for bail was immediately refused due to prior violations as Manchester City decided to suspend him pending a trial.
The trial started on 10 August 2022 at Chester Crown Court with Mendy being charged with eight rapes, one attempted rape and a sexual assault.
Both Karim Benzema and Quincy Promes are still active as footballers despite their previous misdeeds while Mason Greenwood, Adam Johnson and Benjamin Mendy are still suspended from playing football due to their recent crimes.
