10 Most Notoriously Gruesome Football Injuries

Not for the faint-hearted.

Skull Xray
Wikimedia Commons
Despite claims that the sport has become non-contact in recent years, injuries are part and parcel of football. If you play the game, at any level, you will sustain a few niggles here and there at the very least, and most top level footballers will find themselves sidelined with some pretty serious issues throughout their career. If you're Jamie Redknapp, that meant pretty much every week. But then that's why clubs now invest heavily in conditioning specialists, physios and medical teams; it's inevitable that the worst will happen, so preparation to deal with it is clearly the right answer. There's also something perversely appealing to fans about seeing gruesome injuries - the equivalent of rubber-necking - and some have notoriously happened during live broadcasts of games that instantly should have made them post-watershed viewing. These injuries have gone down in folklore and some of the players that suffered them never came back the same, while fans irresistibly watched them replayed over and over, wincing all the way through. Prepare to cringe yourself at 10 of the worst injuries in football's history...

10. Alf-Inge Håland

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Phil Noble/PA Archive

Roy Keane got his revenge on the former Leeds United man. The Manchester United captain injured his anterior cruciate ligament trying to foul Håland a few years before this horror tackle. The Norwegian would criticise a prone Keane for feigning injury. Keane would miss almost a year of football.

During a Manchester derby in 2001, Keane went in studs first on Håland's knee. This effectively ended the defender's career.

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Video & written Content Producer for WhatCulture Wrestling. NCTJ trained journalist. BA Hons, Sports Journalism.