World Football Stars' 10 Craziest Off-Pitch Incidents This Season
By
Joe Tansey
(Featured Columnist) on April 8, 2013
Photo Courtesy of The Guardian
Photo Courtesy of The Guardian
In today's day and age, the attention paid to the best world footballers and their off-pitch antics is equal to the coverage that they get on the pitch.
With plenty of outspoken stars in the game at the moment, there is no drought of bad behavior across the world on a daily basis.
Some players like Mario Balotelli and Joey Barton are expected to be on this list, and of course they are, but there are also other world football stars who have had their fair share of crazy off-pitch incidents this season as well.
Find out where Super Mario and Barton rank in the 10 craziest off-pitch incidents of the season.

10. Is This Chelsea or the Blue Man Group?
Photo Courtesy of The Sun
Photo Courtesy of The Sun
Just last week, Chelsea found a rather unique way to unveil their uniforms for next season.
Kit-maker Adidas came up with an ad campaign to tease the new uniforms that made players like Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Eden Hazard look like members of the Blue Man Group (Here is a behind the scenes look at how they made the advertisement happen).
Other Chelsea stars to get the smurf-like skin treatment included John Terry, Gary Cahill, Juan Mata and Petr Cech.
The uniforms themselves have not made an appearance in the general public yet.
9. Sorry Carlos, You've Been Suspended
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Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Carlos Tevez has taken the role of Mario Balotelli—at least in the off-pitch incidents category—at Manchester City since the departure of the controversial forward.
Tevez was recently handed 250 hours of community service after he was arrested for driving while disqualified and without proof of insurance (via BBC).
Now, one can only wonder what the Argentinian playmaker will do during his 250 hours of community service, which is quite a hefty fine.

8. Erik Pieters Is Not Invincible
Photo Courtesy of the Daily Mail
Photo Courtesy of the Daily Mail
We all do stupid things when we are angry, but none of us have ever gone as far as PSV defender Erik Pieters did after he was sent off on January 18.
Pieters was playing in his first match since returning from a nine-month recovery, when he decided to make an awful tackle in the 67th minute against PEC Zwolle.
To make matters worse, Pieters decided to take his anger out on a piece of glass in the tunnel and the result was a bloodied, cut-open arm.
Next time he gets sent off, let's all hope that Pieters does not injure himself or another piece of glass.

7. Monsieur Barton Tries to Adapt to French Culture
We have all tried to talk in a funny French accent before and have failed miserably.
Joey Barton, who is on loan at Marseille from Queens Park Rangers this season, tried to talk in his own French accent for an entire press conference after his debut with the Ligue 1 club.
Afterwards, everyone but Barton was laughing at the performance of the 30-year-old, who thankfully has not tried his fake French accent in any press conference since.

6. Bonucci Gives Robber a Beating
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Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images
If there is one thing that we have learned this season, it is to not mess with Leonardo Bonucci.
Back in October, the Juventus defender was approached by a potential robber. The robber did not know what was coming after he threatened Bonucci with a gun.
Bonucci proceeded to punch the robber and the conflict was all but over as the prospective thief fled with an accomplice in a van (via Fox Sports).

5. The Shirt Swap Seen Around the World
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Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Arsenal defender Andre Santos has not had the best year for the Gunners, and his dubious off-pitch moment back in November will be remembered more than his actions on the pitch this season.
At halftime of Arsenal's match with Manchester United in November, Santos asked former teammate Robin van Persie to swap shirts and the United forward obliged to the request of the much-maligned Brazilian.
Afterwards Santos apologized to Arsenal fans, but the negative outcry against Santos was not quelled (via ESPN).
4. Loic Remy Moves to QPR after Beating Owner in FIFA
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Clive Rose/Getty Images
Loic Remy was a hot commodity in the January transfer window with Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle United vying for the signature of the Frenchman.
While some players pick a club because of their location or the manager, Remy chose his new club based on his performance in a FIFA game against QPR owner Tony Fernandes.
According to The Sun, Remy described it as "a special moment" and then he signed on the dotted line to become one of the many January signings at Loftus Road.
Newcastle may have the last laugh though, as the Magpies are set to stay in the EPL for another season while QPR are one of the favorites to be relegated.

3. Mario Being Mario
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Joern Pollex/Getty Images
At this point in his career, if Mario Balotelli does not do something controversial on a monthly basis it shocks the world.
Despite moving from Manchester City to AC Milan in January, the Italian forward continued his antics back in his home country.
Back in February, Balotelli ordered a life-size statue of himself to be built in the pose that he struck after scoring at Euro 2012 against Germany (via The Guardian).
The Mario madness did not end there as just last week, the 22-year-old was caught smoking in the toilet of a train on AC Milan's way to Florence to take on Fiorentina (via Metro).
Oh, and there was also the little dust-up he had with Roberto Mancini at the Manchester City training ground in January before he left the blue half of Manchester (via Daily Mail).

2. Barton's Twitter Tirades
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Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Joey Barton is one of the most active footballers on Twitter, and for the most part, that is a good thing.
However, in a few instances this season, Barton's excessive use of the social media website has come back to haunt him.
First, there were the remarks he made on Brazilian starlet Neymar (via Metro).
Then came the Twitter assault on PSG defender Thiago Silva just a week ago (via The Guardian).
Despite his lack of a filter in 140 characters or less, we are sure to see the continued Twitter rants of Barton as long as he is a relevant footballer.

1. The Deadline Day Deal That Wasn't
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Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Deadline day of the January transfer window was especially dull this season except for the antics of West Brom forward Peter Odemwingie.
The traveling circus that Odemwingie took with him during deadline day started when he said goodbye to his teammates at West Brom's training ground (via ESPN).
The Nigerian forward then left the Midlands on his own accord to drive down to London to supposedly sign with Queens Park Rangers.
Odemwingie's antics confused everyone involved in the deal, but the truth was that West Brom and QPR never agreed on a deal.
After failing to move to London, Odemwingie was forced to make an embarrassing trek back to the Midlands and attempt to save face.
What off-pitch incident do you think is craziest? ---------- bleacher reports