Most Unlucky Players in Football History [Ranked]
Football is a game full of thrills and spills, with the best of the best providing world-class moments of brilliance consistently. However, one thing separating the top players in the world from those who never quite reached those heights is luck.
A player can have all the technical abilities in the world, but without Lady Luck on their side, there's no saying they will be able to reach their potential. For example, Reece James is one of the most talented right-backs on the planet, but the Englishman has hardly been able to showcase this wonderous ability due to his rotten luck with persistent injury issues.
From Steven Gerrard's unfortunate slip against Chelsea to Ronaldo Nazario's horrific career-altering injuries, below are the 10 most unfortunate players to have graced a football pitch professionally. The following factors have been taken into consideration to conclude these rankings.
Ranking Factors
Injury history
How close they came to winning trophies
Number of unfortunate errors
Capable of achieving more than they did
10 Harry Kane
Notable clubs: Tottenham, Bayern Munich
Poor old Harry Kane. The England international has spent his entire career being reminded that he has yet to lift a major trophy despite being one of the best forwards in world football. Spending the majority of his career with Tottenham - who famously haven't won silverware since 2008 - has contributed massively to the 31-year-old's drought.
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Fans across the globe thought Kane would finally break his trophyless run when he made the leap of faith from Spurs to German juggernaut Bayern Munich. However, he happened to join just as Xabi Alonso decided to turn Bayer Leverkusen into an unbeatable machine and Kane once again failed to get his hands on a major prize in his debut Bundesliga campaign.
9 Marco Reus
Notable clubs: Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, LA Galaxy
Marco Reus has spent the majority of his playing career as one of the biggest nearly-men in football history. The German was once viewed as one of the most exciting wingers in Europe and was set to take centre stage at the 2014 World Cup. However, the attacker was struck down with a devastating ankle injury in Die Mannschaft's final warm-up friendly before the tournament.
Germany went on to lift the iconic trophy, with Reus forced to watch from the sidelines. History repeated itself just two years later as the Borussia Dortmund ace was left out of the Euro 2016 squad due to persisting injury issues. Until winning the Western Conference for LA Galaxy in 2024, it looked like the bleach-haired hero would go his entire career without lifting a league title after going close several times with Dortmund.
8 Gianluigi Buffon
Notable clubs: Parma, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain
One of the greatest players to never win the Champions League. Gianluigi Buffon is among the finest goalkeepers world football has ever seen, yet he never once got his hands on the biggest European prize.
Collage featuring Gianluigi Buffon, Manuel Neuer and Petr Cech.
The Italian was a serial winner throughout his career, lifting 10 Serie A titles and a whole host of domestic silverware with Juventus and Parma. He was also vital in Italy being crowned world champions in 2006. Unfortunately for the iconic shot-stopper, he failed to come out on the winning side in any of the three Champions League finals he featured in. Despite his own brilliance, luck just wasn't on his side.
7 Hermann Hreidarsson
Notable clubs: Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Charlton Athletic, Portsmouth
Hermann Hreidarsson is a name many Premier League supporters won't have heard for well over a decade now. But the Icelandic stalwart will be fondly remembered as a versatile and reliable asset for any of the teams he represented - be it Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town or Portsmouth.
Despite being a more than serviceable player at his best, Hreidarsson holds an extremely unfortunate record. Along with Nathan Blake, the ex-Pompey defender has been relegated from the Premier League more times than any other player (5). Maybe his choice of clubs could've been better as the retired left-back dropped out of the English top-flight with every side he turned out for - Crystal Palace, Wimbledon, Ipswich Town, Charlton and Portsmouth.
6 Michael Ballack
Notable clubs: Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Chelsea
On the face of it, Michael Ballack had a very successful career, picking up major trophies in both Germany and England. However, the truth behind the box-to-box midfielder's cursed career tells a completely different story.
All the way back in the 2001/02 season, Ballack's Bayer Leverkusen side came remarkably close to winning three trophies but somehow managed to lose out on them all. Finishing runners-up in the Bundesliga and being beaten in the Champions League and German Cup finals, it's safe to say luck wasn't with the German. He also narrowly missed out on World Cup glory that year as his nation were beaten 2-0 by Brazil in the final.
Arsenal's Mesut Ozil, Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan, and Chelsea's Michael Ballack.
That year in itself would be enough for a player to feel the world is against them. But during his time at Chelsea, Ballack suffered an eerily similar fate. The Blues were pipped to the post in the Premier League on the final day, defeated in the League Cup by London rivals Tottenham and beaten on penalties by Manchester United in the Champions League final. Oh, and Germany lost to Spain in the Euro 2008 final.
5 Steven Gerrard
Notable clubs: Liverpool, LA Galaxy
Steven Gerrard is undoubtedly one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, but the Whiston-born icon may also have a strong case for being the most unfortunate player to have graced the division. Having carried mediocre Liverpool teams on his back for years and narrowly missing out on the title in 2008/09, it looked like the England international would finally lift the silverware that had evaded him.
Reinventing himself into a deep-lying midfielder in the 2013/14 campaign, Gerrard looked set to play an integral role in the Merseysiders' first-ever Premier League triumph until an infamous clash against Chelsea. The usually reliable midfielder slipped on the Anfield surface and allowed Demba Ba to score for the Blues. His side's title race never recovered, and he would hang up his boots without ever touching the biggest trophy in England. Harsh.
4 Hakan Calhanoglu
Notable clubs: Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan, Inter Milan
Hakan Calhanoglu was forced to sit and watch local rivals Inter Milan achieve Serie A glory in the 2020/21 season while representing AC Milan. How did the Turkish international respond? By becoming one of the very few players to have played for both Milan sides by making the switch from red and black to blue and black in the summer.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and James Ward-Prowse taking free-kicks
Despite thinking he was taking a step up at the time, the Italian top-flight title remained in San Siro, but instead, his old club AC Milan emerged victorious. The transfer looked like the most unfortunate move in recent times. He has now secured a top-flight triumph for Inter, but this unique scenario can still be put down as serious misfortune.
3 Ronaldo
Notable clubs: PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan
Ronaldo Nazario - better known as R9 - was one of the most feared forwards of his generation. The Brazilian hero was one of the most elegant players in possession while having incredible speed. Unfortunately for the original Ronaldo, horrific injury troubles would rob him of the latter years of his career and kick-start an early decline that was frankly sad to see.
In a clash against Lazio during Ronaldo's tenure at Inter Milan, the trajectory of his glistening career would take a permanent new direction. Having just returned from a knee problem, the Brazil international managed just six minutes before collapsing to the turf in agony. It transpired that the tendons in his kneecap had ruptured. Fleeting moments of brilliance - such as in the 2002 World Cup final - suggested R9 could get back to his best, but he truly never reached the same heights again. Tragic.
2 Alessandro Nesta
Notable clubs: Lazio, AC Milan
When it comes to injuries, there may not have been a man more unlucky than Alessandro Nesta. While the legendary defender wasn't an injury-prone player in the typical use of that phrase, he had a knack for picking up issues at the wrong time.
EPL-Greatest European Defenders
Notably, Nesta sustained injury setbacks in all three World Cup campaigns he took part in for Italy. First, he missed the 1998 quarter-final through a serious injury before also being absent in the 2002 defeat against South Korea. The biggest blow of his playing career came in 2006, however, as Nesta lost his long battle to be fit for the final showdown with France. The AC Milan icon was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Azzurri lifted the biggest international trophy on offer.
1 Jimmy Greaves
Notable clubs: Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham, West Ham
Another man to have saved all his good luck for club football was Jimmy Greaves. One of the best English forwards in history could've been the hero in the Three Lions' only World Cup triumph in 1966. Greavsie was the nation's leading attacker heading into the tournament and started the first three matches.
Injury caused the Tottenham and Chelsea legend to miss out on the quarter-final and Sir Alf Ramsey stuck with his replacement - Geoff Hurst - for the remainder of the competition. England may have never lifted the trophy if Greaves stepped back into the line-up for the final as Hurst famously netted a historic hat-trick. Only the 11 players on the pitch at the end of the final were awarded medals initially and Greaves had to wait until 2009 to receive his medal.
Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt. Correct as of 11-12-24.