The game of football has given eternal fame to many players in the past. But sometimes this power and influence of the game take a wrong turn and players find themselves in various inescapable scenarios.
This fame comes with an inseparable threat of being dragged into the negative limelight quite very often. Famous players are frequently accused of various criminal charges including the likes of sexual assault. And even super famous people like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have fallen victim to these.
However, most of the time the accusations are false, and the players are never proven guilty. Let us know more about 5 football players who have been accused of sexual assault.
5. Karim Benzema
One of France’s top goalscorers of all time, Karim Benzema is also the second on the list for Real Madrid just below Cristiano Ronaldo. However, this fame and achievements couldn’t save him when he was accused of blackmailing a fellow French footballer by using a sex tape as leverage.
The player was proven guilty in court and fined €75,000 with a suspended 1-year jail term.
4. Neymar
Even the football icon Neymar couldn’t stay away from these dark clouds of controversy. He was accused of a sexual assault by a Nike employee when they met for a logistics purpose.
These allegations resulted in Nike breaking their contract with their model footballer Neymar before 8 years of the completion of the contract. However, there were no further investigations on the case and it never moved forward.
3. David de Gea
In the year 2012, Manchester United star goalkeeper David de Gea was surrounded by a controversy related to a sexual assault. The allegations were that the goalkeeper had arranged a meeting for two U-21 players of Spain and two women.
The women later accused the two players of sexual assault and dragged David by saying that he had arranged and paid for this meeting. However, David never agreed to these accusations and was always seen in denial whenever questioned.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
On the night of 12th June 2009, Manchester United’s starplayer had an encounter with Kathryn Mayorga in a nightclub and both went to Ronaldo’s house later. Where Mayorga accuses of Ronaldo that he had raped her.
These rape allegations were tried to settle out-of-court as a non-disclosure document came to the surface worth $375,000. The case resurfaced in the year 2018. But still, the case was dismissed because the accuser couldn’t prove the accusations to reasonable doubt.
1. Mason Greenwood
At the end of January this year Manchester United’s recent signing from their youth academy Mason Greenwood was arrested on the grounds of allegations made against him on the charges of sexual assault and threats to kill.
There was a video that circulated on social media showing a 20-year-old displaying act of violence and threatening the victim to kill her. After a deep inquiry by the Greater Manchester Police, they arrested the Red Devils player on 31st January 2022.
However, the player was later released from custody after a previous extension on his hold. Greenwood still remains on bail and cannot play or train with the Manchester United first team. EA and Nike also withdrew their contracts with the player and removed any branding on his name.
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