The 10 worst football dives ever...

Diving, we all know it goes on in modern football. Some see it as fair game, others see it for what it is, cheating.

There's nothing worse than seeing a penalty awarded against your team, then later seeing a replay that shows absolutely no contact was made by the defender.

That's what makes it so satisfying when you see a player caught out for attempting a dive which is quite simply, rubbish!

Here's 10 of the worst ones we could find. Worryingly, some of these players actually succeeded in conning the ref...

10. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Man this is awful. Ronaldo clearly anticipates the challenge and fancies the dive long before the tackle comes in. 

However, it also seems as though Ronaldo doesn't want to risk the chance of his hair getting messed up, so he takes a step back and gleefully leaps into the air like a salmon - cringe!

Frank Lampard must have the patience of a saint to smile after that.

9. Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)

Here's Sergio Busquets with an embarrassingly bad piece of diving. He gets brushed in the face from a player who isn't even facing him and instantly collapses in a heap.

The worst part is, as he's rolling about in "agony" on the floor, he has a little peek through his fingers to see what's going on around him. 

Somehow the referee deemed Thiago Motta deserved a red card for this, but Inter got the last laugh as they went on to put Barca out of the Champion's League and win the final.

8. Alberto Gilardino (AC Milan)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. There's not much you can say about how excruciatingly awful this dive is from former AC Milan player Gilardino.

He bursts past the Celtic defender and even rounds the keeper, then just as you think he's going to roll the ball in (seriously, the angle wasn't even that tight) he inexplicably throws himself to the floor with no other player within a foot of him.

Celtic fans laughed, Milan fans hung their heads in a combination of shame & embarrassment. Surely this was the easiest yellow card decision the ref ever had to make?

7. Adriano (Inter Milan)

Whatever happened to Adriano? One minute he was one of the world's best strikers and the mere mention of his name struck fear into anyone that owned a copy of PES 6 on the Playstation, the next he was gone.

That said, he may have been a lethal striker, but he was a rubbish diver. This pathetic effort somehow won his side a penalty vs Roma, despite zero contact being made.

Fortunately, the Italian FA deemed it so laughably bad that they gave him a retrospective 2 match ban for it, the first punishment of its kind.

6. Morten Gamst Pederson (Blackburn Rovers)

Once viewed as Premiership hot property and linked with Manchester United, Pederson ended up staying with Blackburn for a number of years after a dip in form.

Perhaps he was too embarrassed to go to training after the ridicule his teammates must have given him over this attempt to win a penalty vs Arsenal.

Like Gilardino's attempt, Pederson clearly thinks there is a player directly behind him, even though the closest player is almost 2 yards away.

The most embarrassing thing is that after the game Pederson claimed that not only was it not a dive, but that he wasn't even trying to win a penalty.

5. Gareth Bale

Firstly, we're sorry this footage appears to have been recorded with some kind of potato, however even with the poor quality you can easily tell no contact is made.

Bale has made no secret of his desire to emulate Cristiano Ronaldo, evidently that includes rubbish dives.

4. Luis Suarez (Liverpool)

When he's not busy carving himself a nice slice of Chiellini for dinner, Suarez seemingly likes to practise his diving... that said, this maybe doesn't look like he's been practising that hard.

Unless of course there was a sniper in the stands taking a pot shot at old Luis, this is a pretty rubbish attempt.

While we're delighted that the referee immediately waved away his appeals for a penalty, we do wonder how on Earth he escaped a booking.

3. Kyle Lafferty (Rangers)

Who remembers this one? It's still just as painful to watch today as it was at the time.

Lafferty leans into his opponent, brushes his head against his and then takes a spectacular tumble. 

Bizarrely, the ref sent off the Aberdeen player in this instance, presumably for having the audacity to stand in front of Lafferty. For his part in this cringefest, Lafferty was given a retrospective 2 month ban.

2. Arturo Vidal (Juventus)

This... is... amazing. Technically, we're unsure as to whether we can call this a dive or not, but it is hilarious.

Vidal seems to genuinely think he was fouled as he clearly felt contact, of course it just so happens that contact was from the ground. 

It's embarrassing enough when you completely miss-kick the ball, but it's even worse when you think you deserve a penalty for it.

1. Rivaldo (Brazil)

Oh god make it stop, please. Has there ever been a more cringeworthy moment in football than this? It's made worse by the fact it was during the World Cup, by arguably one of the world's best players at the time, while playing for the eventual tournament winners.

That ball is not even close to hitting his face, yet he rolls about like he's just received a haymaker from a young Mike Tyson. The ref (with absolutely no help from his linesman who was 1 yard away) sent off the Turkish player and Brazil went on to win 2-1.

Before the tournament, FIFA had announced they were going to come down hard on diving in order to stamp it out the game... they fined Rivaldo £5,000 for this, which is the equivalent of about £3.60 to most of us. Rivaldo also received no ban for this and diving is of course still commonplace in the modern game.

Why not take a dive of your own towards our website by clicking here? You'll find the latest shirts, boots, balls, match kits and just about anything else football related your heart could possibly desire.