The 10 players with the most red cards in football history: Davids, Ramos, Melo…
The likes of Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and Duncan Ferguson were no strangers to receiving red cards in the Premier League, but none of them are anywhere close to the all-time worst disciplinary records in football history.
Iconic footballers from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Tottenham, Inter and Juventus feature in the most notorious footballers dismissed most often.
Here are the 10 players who have been sent off the most times in football history.
=10. Gerardo Torrado — 22 red cards
A relatively lesser-known name outside his native Mexico, the defensive midfielder played almost 150 times for the national team, having represented them at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups.
Alongside more forgettable stints with Tenerife, Sevilla and Racing Santander, Torrado spent the majority of his career with Cruz Azul – for whom he was sent off 14 times in 11 years.
=10. Cyril Rool — 22 red cards
Unfortunately, we don’t imagine that French football crowds were particularly au fait with novelty Tottenham minor hit ‘Nice One Cyril’, which would’ve made for a nice serenade as the midfielder was regularly given his marching orders.
Former Lens, Bordeaux and Nice enforcer Rool was also shown over 150 yellow cards in a career that lasted from 1993 to 2010.
=10. Rafael Marquez — 22 red cards
“My act of frustration would’ve never changed the score if it hadn’t have happened and I don’t regret it,” Marquez reminisced after he was sent off for headbutting the United States’ Cobi Jones in Mexico’s 2002 World Cup exit.
“I learned from it. Not controlling [myself] and not being able to lose is part of my character.”
Can’t fault the honesty.
We’d question if the defender learned all that much from it, though – as he ended up receiving 22 red cards by the time he retired 16 years later, including six for Barcelona during his prime.
=10. Alexis Ruano Delgado — 22 red cards
Something of a Spanish football journeyman, Delgado was accustomed to an early bath across his time representing the likes of Malaga, Getafe, Valencia and Sevilla.
The defender’s finest hour came for Valencia in the 2008 Copa del Rey final, which he won alongside the likes of Raul Albiol, David Silva, Juan Mata and David Villa.
6. Paolo Montero — 23 red cards
If you’re a certain vintage – i.e. old enough to remember James Richardson reading from Gazzetta on Football Italia back in the day – you’ll probably remember the fearsome Uruguayan snapping ankles at Atalanta and Juventus.
As well as claiming the unwanted distinction of appearing in three Champions League finals without winning the thing, Montero is most known for the regularity with which he was shown red cards.
Having recently returned to the headlines in a brief stint as Juventus’ caretaker, Montero holds the record for the most sent off player in Serie A history. Sixteen of his 23 career red cards were in the Italian top flight.
5. Edgar Davids — 25 red cards
The only name on this list that played in the Premier League, the iconic Dutch midfielder only actually received one of his 25 career red cards for Tottenham in the English top flight.
But he was sent off a further five times as he wound down his final years in League Two and the National League with Barnet.
Davids actually talked himself into a second yellow in the final appearance of his professional career, a 2-1 defeat to Salisbury City. Some way to go out for a player that once lifted the Champions League trophy.
QUIZ: Can you name the 20 players with the most red cards in Premier League history?
4. Felipe Melo — 26 red cards
Few players in recent history have as fearsome a reputation as the Brazilian midfielder. And for good reason – a highlight reel of his most infamously violent moments would make Pepe wince.
Melo was responsible for some pure carnage on his day, having represented the likes of Juventus, Inter, Galatasaray, Palmeiras and Fluminense in his time.
He only retired at the age of 41 earlier this year. Opposition players across Brazil breathed a collective sigh of relief when he made the decision to hang up his boots.
3. Pablo Alfaro — 27 red cards
The centre-back briefly represented both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the 1990s, but he’s better remembered for longer stints with Racing Santander and Sevilla.
Alfaro played a peripheral role as John Cruyff’s Barca ‘Dream Team’ won the 1992-93 La Liga title and later on he received a UEFA Cup winner’s medal after Sevilla’s 2005-06 triumph, although he’d left in the January of that campaign.
He actually left Sevilla, having fallen down the pecking order following the emergence of a young academy graduate by the name of…
2. Sergio Ramos — 30 red cards
Perhaps Alfaro taught Ramos everything he know?
A World Cup winner and the legendary figure that delivered Real Madrid’s hallowed La Decima, Ramos’ disciplinary record makes him something of an enigma when you put it up against his list of achievements.
Ramos undoubtedly belongs in the conversation when it comes to the greatest centre-backs of the modern era – Los Blancos’ legendary captain when they won three Champions Leagues in a row under Zinedine Zidane.
But his reckless tendency to get routinely sent off surely has to count for something in the column against. Ramos was shown a red card no fewer than 26 times for Real Madrid, with a further four dismissals for PSG, Sevilla and Monterrey. That’s just silly.
1. Gerardo Bedoya — 46 red cards
“He certainly had an explosive personality,” journalist Carl Worswick told the BBC of Bedoya’s fearsome reputation.
“When he saw red he couldn’t control himself. In the heat of the moment, he wasn’t able to take a breather and get on with it. He always piled in.”
Forty-six career red cards. Forty-six! Even Sergio Ramos can only dream of that number.
The former defensive midfielder was actually a pretty decent footballer on his day. Bedoya played almost 50 times on the international stage for Colombia, with whom he won the 2001 Copa America. He also won silverware with Deportivo Cali and Racing Club in his club career.
But he’ll always be best remembered as a man who was sent off no fewer than 46 times. Fittingly enough, he was also dismissed just 21 minutes into his first-ever match as an assistant coach with Santa Fe back in 2016. Proper dedication to being a hothead.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 30 players with the most yellow cards in Premier League history?