Footballers at the top of their career enjoy millions of guaranteed money from their club week in week out, enjoy the thrills and cheers of fans, and perhaps the immortality of their names been crested in the history of their respective clubs.
Albeit all of this fame and luxury, some of these football players threw it all away due to the terrible lifestyle they lived during their professional career with drugs, alcohol, or gambling which has in one way or the other drained them financially and also affected them on and off the pitch.
In the world of football, it is not all about the smiles alone, and what they enjoyed, it is about how they handle their career but unfortunately, some of these football stars do take it for granted.
The talent is meant for greatness but they ruined it because they were overly confident, prone to night parties, or being lazy in putting extra work into their career.
5 Black Football Stars Whose Vices Ruined Their Careers
Mario Balotelli – Italy
Balotelli was once touted as the next big thing in Italian football, not because of anything but due to the impressive display he showed when he first came into the limelight, playing with the likes of Christian Vieri, Samuel Eto’o, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic whilst at Inter Milan.
The Brecesia forward also got to work with great coaches like Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho, who must have tried to help him live a good life, but unfortunately, all of that was all wasted because he couldn’t accept their tutoring to become a better player.
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Balotelli may not have ruined his career just yet to some extent. However, he sure has ruined his reputation in many ways after ridiculous stories circulated about him in the Italian dailies.
Frustrating both Milan, City, and Liverpool fans, more so letting off fireworks in his bathroom, throwing darts at youth players, smoking in public, night parties and dating porn stars.
All these are just some of the incidents that have trailed him around which in one way or the other makes his career nosedive with the big clubs not wanting to associate themselves with a player living that kind of lifestyle.
Nile Ranger – England
Ranger’s talent and arrogance are synonyms with the likes of Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo which they made use of in achieving success and performed better. However, Ranger never makes use of his own arrogance wisely as the quest for fame becloud his talent and ruined his career.
The former Newcastle man was once tipped as the next Magpies goal poacher but didn’t turn out to be one. Although Ranger went from smashing goals in for fun in the youth teams and also winning awards. The dilemma about him is how he got arrested on every occasion with the kind of lifestyle he lives.
Ranger left Newcastle in 2013, he went on to play for several clubs with his spells at all the clubs being hindered by disciplinary issues, assault, and drinking behavior, which even led him to post a picture of himself with a gun on social media.
Talking about football stars who ruined their career, rangers will always come in on any list.
He was incarcerated for his involvement in an armed robbery case as a teenager, served a prison sentence for fraud in 2017, his terrible lifestyle did continue to hunt him when playing for Southend United, as his contract was terminated due to reoccurring disciplinary issues.
Jermaine Pennant – England
Much was expected of the little young lad when he came to limelight, most especially when he signed for Arsenal, but things do not go the way many envisaged as loans were the order of the day for Pennant.
His terrible lifestyle behavior came to the fore when he was arrested and claimed to be Ashley Cole his teammates when caught driving on the wrong side of the road. This led to his struggles and never made an impact with the North London side and he was loaned to Watford, Leeds United, and Birmingham City.
In 2005, he gained notoriety when he had to play a match while on probation, wearing an electronic tag following his drink driving.
However his unpalatable lifestyle never stopped there, his off-field problems continued to affect him and consequently led him being left out of the team even when he signed for Zaragoza in 2009, his time with the team was marred by disciplinary problems.
Etim Esin – Nigeria
Etim was nicknamed the Maradona of Nigeria due to his breathtaking talent and how he dazzled with the ball when he was very much in his peak. Etim toed the line of youthful exuberant when he was at an early age which made him fell into hand-crafted mistakes.
As a young footballer going to Europe without no agent or manager, Etim was on his own with nobody to look after him as a young man, which made him derailed and he succumbed, which comes with a lot of mistakes that hampered his career.
According to Etim, “ I made a lot of mistakes, I went through a lot, I have been through gunshot, rape case, a drug case, and earthquake.
Etim almost died in all of this period which made him hung his boot saying he needed to rest before dying.
