10 Footballers Who Refused To Play

4. The Whole Lille Team

Lille paid a huge price for architectural tardiness during their Champions League Last-16 tie with Manchester United in 2007, when their failure to erect a wall in time allowed Ryan Giggs to cheekily curl a free kick past a perplexed Tony Sylva. The Welshman's late strike handed the Red Devil's a vital away goal to take back to Old Trafford.

Except the French side's manager - future Leicester City dullard Claude Puel - wasn't prepared to accept it. Outraged less at his team's inattentiveness, and more at the referee's correct application of the rules, Puel sensationally ordered his entire team to leave the field. Les Dogues' had already been embittered earlier in the game by a Peter Odemwingie header ruled out - incorrectly, they obviously felt - so they decided, since all the balls were theirs, they weren't going to play anymore.

For about two minutes, anyhow. It must have twigged that a 0-3 walkover forfeit is three times worse than a contentious 0-1 defeat, and Lille finally returned to the field to complete the match. The strop ultimately landed the club with a somewhat embarrassing fine from UEFA.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.