The fifth annual Bellen d'Or awards sees 13 candidates fight it out for Daily Star Sport's 2025 prize idiot award as we nominates the sportsmen and women who made fools of themselves this year
09:00, 31 Dec 2025Updated 09:19, 31 Dec 2025
Joey Barton
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Is it Joey Barton's time?(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The award that no sportsman or woman wants to win is back as we name the nominees for Daily Star Sport's annual Bellen d'Or ceremony.
Over the last 12 months, we've celebrated the great and good of sport. But for every hero there is a villain and 2025 has given us plenty of prize plonkers to write about. There's a host of horrors who could win our not-so-prestigious annual award, which shines a light on the year's biggest mishaps and misdemeanours - and the times when stars just put their foot in their mouth.
But when it comes to the biggest idiot in sport, there can only be one. So let's look at the candidates vying to follow in the footsteps of inaugural champion Matt Le Tissier, 2022 pick Gianni Infantino, 2023's Luis Rubiales and 2024 victor Sir Jim Ratcliffe by etching their name in our Hall of Shame and becoming the 2025 Bellen d'Or winner, when the award is announced on January 1.
Jake Paul taunted Anthony Joshua before the British boxer broke his jaw
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Jake Paul is the first nominee on our list(Image: JC Ruiz/PA Wire)
Jake Paul
Jake Paul, and his brother Logan, are no strangers to the Bellen d'Or shortlist - it's almost their home away from home at this point. However, neither brother has managed to get their hands on the not-so-envious prize.
The Problem Child has given it his best to try and win this year, however, Paul has turned boxing in a circus show with his antics, somehow dragging Anthony Joshua and Mike Tyson down to his level.
After making his way dressed as WWE's Hulk Hogan to an oversized ring that he demanded so he could try and run away from Joshua like a cartoon character, Paul spent most of their fight diving at the Brit's feet and looking for wrestling holds.
He wagged his tongue and taunted the former world champion... only to have his jaw broken in two places. What a plonker!
And in a whirlwind year for Jake and stunning better half Jutta Leerdam, it's almost been forgotten he disrespectfully claimed Tyson had Parkinson's. Paul later backtracked on the comments, claiming he misspoke...
Joey Barton
Joey Barton's disgraceful behaviour nearly landed him in jail
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Joey Barton's disgraceful behaviour nearly landed him in jail(Image: YOUTUBE)
Could this be the year Joey Barton finally sheds his reputation as the Mikel Arteta of the Bellen d'Or - always the bridesmaid but never the bride? After narrowly missing out on the prize prat award two years in a row, he, somehow, plunged to new depths in 2025.
Barton is trigger happy on social media, saying anything and everything without much rhyme or reason - which again got him into a spot of bother. The former footballer previously compared Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko to serial killers Fred and Rose West, and called Jeremy Vine a "bike nonce" in 2024.
He was found guilty of six counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety after his victims had to give evidence at a trial in July. Earlier this month, he was slapped with a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
And that wasn't the only time he was in court this year. Back in May, Barton was found guilty of assault by beating after pushing his wife to the floor and kicking her in the head in 2021, when she suffered a bleeding nose and lump on her forehead.
Magistrates let the wife beater walk free with a 12-week jail sentence, suspended for two years, after hearing they were still in a "happy relationship" with a young child.
This could be a full 10,000 word article about Barton - and each every post he makes on X deserves a place on this list. It's almost like a come-and-get-me-plea for the Bellen d'Or.
Alejandro Garnacho
Alejandro Garnacho wearing a Marcus Rashford Aston Villa shirt
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Alejandro Garnacho's show of support for Marcus Rashford didn't go down well with Manchester United fans(Image: garnacho7/Instagram)
Alejandro Garnacho might have netted the biggest own goal in 2025 - and let's be honest, he's not scoring many at the right end these days - when he posed in an Aston Villa shirt while still being a Manchester United player, not that he was much longer.
Garnacho was showing support for his fellow United outcast Marcus Rashford, but unlike the Englishman, he was still at the club.
After being dumped from the Red Devils, he moved onto Chelsea. United fans have taken the move well, as a current social media trend has seen them blur him out of famous goals.
Thankfully for Garnacho, Chelsea fans won't be doing that anytime soon with his three goal involvements in 11 Premier League games so far this season...
Andy Jenkins
Andy Jenkins
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Andy Jenkins has been banned for 11 years(Image: Getty Images)
It has almost been two decades since Andy Jenkins was beaten by Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship - fast forward to 2025 and Barney is still going, while Jenkins is serving an 11-year ban.
Jenkins was booted out of the sport in disgrace earlier this year after being found guilty of fixing 12 matches in the MODUS Super Series between February 2022 and July 2023, following an investigation into suspicious betting activity.
While he rejected match-fixing allegations, Jenkins admitted to placing 88 bets on matches between March 2022 and May 2023, for which he received an additional 12-month suspension, which runs concurrently with his other sanctions.
The 11-year ban, which was backdated to November 2023, will prevent him from playing in or being involved in any way with any Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) event until November 15, 2034... ouch.
Alexander Isak
Alexander Isak playing for Newcastle United
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Alexander Isak has been a shambles at Liverpool this season(Image: Getty)
It takes a genuine Bellen d'Or talent to go from hero to zero at two separate clubs in the space of 12 months - but that's exactly what Alexander Isak has managed to do.
He was adored at the Toon, but went on strike in order to force a move to Anfield, eroding the goodwill he had from the Geordie support, many of whom branded him a disgrace.
Since arriving on Merseyside, Isak has been, well, woeful. The once super Swede is struggling to hit a barn door as patience was wearing thin before his potentially season-ending leg break suffered after he scored just his second league goal of the season at Tottenham.
Isak cost Liverpool a British transfer record £125million and by the way things are going, they'll have to hope they can invest a similar amount on their treatment room.
Gianni Infantino
Gianni Infantino and his new bezzie Donald Trump
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Gianni Infantino and his new bezzie Donald Trump(Image: AP)
Not content with securing the Bellen d'Or title in 2022, Gianni Infantino is looking to become the first two-time winner. You almost have to admire such commitment to being a bad egg.
Infantino has pulled in the big guns to make Bellen d'Or history, employing the help of his deviant partner in crime Donaldo Trump as they try and make every aspect of football about them.
Daily Star Sport would detail at length the shambles of a mind-numbingly boring World Cup draw if we hadn't had fallen asleep within the first few minutes.
Suffice to say Infantino presented a made-up peace prize to Trump, then gave him a medal, before taking a selfie with the leaders of the USA, Mexico, and Canada - with BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce remarking that "the man knows no shame".
Orange-faced Captain America Trump can count himself lucky he's not made this list as positioning himself front and centre for Chelsea's Club World Cup list before escaping with the trophy and Noni Madueke's winners medal.
Keegan Bradley
Keegan Bradley speaks during a press conference
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Keegan Bradley clashed with reporters over fans' behavior at the Ryder Cup(Image: Getty Images)
Golf's tag of being a gentleman's sport was tarnished at the Ryder Cup as the fans on Bethpage Black turned on the European team with commander-in-chief Keegan Bradley seemingly orchestrating the ruckus.
Rory McIlroy was the main target of the abuse, even yelling at one to "f*** off", while his wife Erica was hit by a drinks cup thrown from the stands. Fans were ejected as golfers believed they'd "crossed the line"... just not US team captain Bradley.
He simply said the fans were "passionate". Bradley - who saw his losers embarrassed on and off the course - claimed: "I thought the fans were passionate. I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. You know, they are passionate fans.
"I wasn't at Rome, but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well," Bradley said - hinting at his side’s poor play for the disgraceful scenes.
But when asked directly if the US players were to blame, Bradley hit back: "I did not say that. That's not what I said. I said the fans are probably upset that their home team is losing. I did not say that. What words were those? Ryder Cups are wild. I don't appreciate those words that you just said. I know what you're trying to do."
Eni Aluko
ITV pundits Eni Aluko and Ian Wright during the Arnold Clark Cup match between England Lionesses and Spain at Carrow Road on February 20, 2022 in Norwich, England.
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Eni Aluko accused Ian Wright of blocking the way for female football pundits(Image: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Eni Aluko decided to attack one of football's most beloved pundits back in spring, bizarrely suggesting that Ian Wright was blocking the pathway for female football pundits and "should be aware" of the space he occupies in women's football coverage.
The ex-Chelsea forward said: "I don't know about wrong, but I think we need to be conscious and we need to make sure that women are not being blocked from having a pathway into broadcasting in the women's game.
"It's still new, it's still growing. There's a finite amount of opportunities and I think that men need to be aware of that."
Aluko had decided to pick a fight with a man who has long been a champion of the women's game, donating to the Ian Wright Coaching Fund to increase the number of female coaches in grassroots football; paying for Stoke City player Kayleigh McDonald’s rehab from an ACL injury, and advocating for girls to have equal opportunities with boys to play football in school.
After the deserved backlash, Eluko apologised to the Arsenal icon. Wright admitted he "cannot accept" the apology. But forever the classy operator, the ex-England man said he wanted to move on from the ordeal.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo was the one left crying to the authorities after his antics against the Republic of Ireland
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Cristiano Ronaldo was the one left crying to the authorities after his antics against the Republic of Ireland(Image: Lorraine O'Sullivan/Shutterstock)
It's appropriate we've used an image of Cristiano Ronaldo pretending to cry - because it seems that's all he's done after Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup in Qatar.
Ronaldo has, somehow, avoided being banned for FIFA's showcase after the perennial crybaby was sent off for swinging an elbow at defender Dara O’Shea in an off-the-ball incident during Portugal's penultimate World Cup qualifier with the Republic of Ireland.
He mocked Ireland's players with a crying gesture, then after he was giving his marching orders, sarcastically applauded the booing and jeering home fans, many of whom taunted him by chanting the name of his great rival Messi. Oh and Portugal lost 2-0.
FIFA’s regulations state that any suspensions in qualification matches would carry over to the final competition. You think that ban would see him out for Portugal's World Cup opener - well, you'd be wrong.
For reasons that remain unclear Ronaldo's suspension has been suspended for two seasons. Yeah, we don't know either...
Ronaldo has also wined and dined with President Trump in the lead up to the World Cup, there's nothing wrong with expanding social circles, but come on Cris, really?
Ben Proud
Ben Proud at the British Swimming Championships
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Ben Proud made a bold decision in the autumn(Image: PA Wire)
Imagine grafting to get the top of your chosen field, just to throw it away for what can only be described as the Lance Armstrong career path. And like the brutish Texan, Ben Proud is unashamed about his choices.
Back in September, Proud, a Team GB swimmer, became the first British athlete to sign up for the controversial Enhanced Games - a drug fuelled Olympics of sorts - that openly permits athletes to use performance-enhancing substances (PEDs) under medical supervision.
He said it would take "13 years of winning a World Championship title" for athletes to earn the same amount of prize money on offer for winning a single race at the Enhanced Games. Well it's your choice Mr Proud.
Mary Earps
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 30: England goalkeeper Mary Earps reacts after a penalty is revoked after a VAR check during the Women's international friendly between England and the USA at Wembley Stadium on November 30, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
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Mary, Queen of Strops(Image: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
If a picture could speak 1,000 words then the image of Mary Earps stood next to Hannah Hampton as she's presented with the Yachine Trophy could pen a series akin to Game of Thrones.
Mary, Queen of Strops, has insisted there's no bad blood between the pair, but if looks could kill the former shot-stopper might have gone on a spree that's more likely to be seen in a John Wick movie. And then there's the book.
Remember when we said Earps insisted there's no bad blood between her and Hampton? Well in her book she called the Chelsea keeper "disruptive and unreliable" - hmmm. Earps also accused Sarina Wiegman of rewarding "bad behaviour".
And after all that, Earps had the nerve to say the reaction had been "distorted"...
Salford rugby league owners
Salford Red Devils' despised former owners Curtiz Brown (centre) and Isiosaia 'Sire' Kailahi (right)
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Salford Red Devils' despised former owners Curtiz Brown (centre) and Isiosaia 'Sire' Kailahi (right)(Image: X)
152 years of history - and a group of wallies almost brought it all to an end.
Raging fans held a mock funeral after the rugby league side’s owners Isiosaia ‘Sire’ Kailahi and Curtiz Brown wound up with hundreds of thousands of unpaid tax. After taking over in January there's been wage dramas, pay packets covered by WeDo Finance and, of course, the funeral.
Their reign of terror ended when Judge Mark Mullen finally brought the axe down on their regime by winding up holding company Salford City Reds.
Mo Salah
Mohamed Salah has been told he should not have made his Liverpool grievances public
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Mohamed Salah was public enemy No.1 on Merseyside(Image: (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images))
Perhaps the least likely Bellen d'Or nominee at the start of the year and certainly in May, after his incredible 29 goals and 18 assists last season had fired Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th top flight title and earned him a lucrative new contract at Anfield.
But this campaign has been a nightmare for the Egyptian King as the goals have dried up - and it only got worse with his petulant strop and rant to the press after he was an unused sub for the Reds' dramatic 3-3 draw with Leeds, his third game in a row on the bench.
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Salah spoke for himself and himself only. Liverpool were in crisis, needed their shining star and he decided to turn his back, claiming his relationship with manager Arne Slot had broken down - moaning "we don't have any relationship" - and that he had been "thrown under the bus" by someone at the club.
Well, Mo, you just made the list.