Top 15 worst defenders in football history: who are they?

Defence is one of the most important and impactful positions in football. Its performance is reflective of the whole team's performance. In a make-or-break situation, a good defence can be a team's source of strength, while a bad or poor defence can hugely affect a team. Much attention is given to the best defenders, but today, we will look at some of the worst defenders in football and why they are given these titles that no one wants.

Defending remains a top priority for a lot of managers. From consistently putting up poor gameplay and failing to meet their hype and worth to being kept down by frequent injuries. Who are the worst defenders in soccer right now? This article will list the top 15 worst defenders in football and much more, so read along.

Worst defenders in football history

Below is a list of the top 15 worst defenders in football in 2022. They are listed in no particular order.

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15. Laurent Charvet - Retired

• Full name: Laurent Jean Charvet
• Date of birth: 8 May 1973
• Age: 49 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Béziers, France

Laurent Charvet first appeared in the Premier League during a loan spell at Chelsea, where he displayed his silky skills, preferably at right back.

Newcastle United was persuaded enough to sign him permanently after that, but things went differently than planned after two seasons. Nonetheless, he signed a contract with Manchester City in 2000. He eventually left the team, leaving a legacy as one of the worst defenders in Premier League.

14. Frank Sinclair - Retired

• Full name: Frank Mohammed Sinclair
• Date of birth: 3 December 1971
• Age: 50 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Lambeth, England
• Current coach: Doncaster Rovers

Sinclair's defending abilities were lacking, as he was one of the defenders who scored his own goals. After firing backwards, he scored a 40-yard goal on his team. This resulted in Leicester City losing 1-0, solidifying his worst-defender reputation.

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13. Marco Materazzi - Retired

• Full name: Marco Materazzi
• Date of birth: 19 August 1973
• Age: 49 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Lecce, Italy

Materazzi was regarded as one of the best central defenders in Inter Milan's history. But, before joining Inter Milan, Materazzi played for Everton during the 1998 season, and he was so bad that he was sent off four times in 27 games. He played for the team for only ten months.

12. Oleg Luzhny - Retired

• Full name: Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi
• Date of birth: 5 August 1968
• Age: 54 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Lviv, Ukraine

Luzhny only made 75 appearances for Arsenal during his four years at the club. In 2003, the former Ukrainian international moved to promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers, which seemed like a better fit. However, his flaws as a footballer were exposed, and he was powerless to prevent the club's relegation from the Premier League.

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11. Calum Davenport - Tavistock FC

• Full name: Calum Ray Paul Davenport
• Date of birth: 1 January 1983
• Age: 39 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Bedford, United Kingdom
• Nationality: English

Calum Davenport had so much potential, but he has now become another forgotten footballer. Spurs signed Davenport as a highly-rated young footballer in 2004 but failed to make the grade in his three seasons at the club. Nonetheless, in 2007 West Ham signed him, and he was equally unimpressive.

10. Danny Fox - Retired

• Full name: Danny Fox
• Date of birth: 29 May 1986
• Age: 36 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Winsford, England

Danny Fox, currently retired, had an unsuccessful career with English clubs spanning nearly a decade and a half, which was merged with poor performances and injuries. He played for the Indian Super League club SC East Bengali, and his performances earned him a disciplinary case.

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9. Bebe - Rayo Vallecano

• Full name: Tiago Manuel Dias Correia
• Date of birth: 12 July 1990
• Age: 32 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Sintra, Portugal
• Current club: Rayo Vallecano

Despite his rags-to-riches story, this Portuguese player with Cape Verdean roots failed to meet the hype when he signed with Manchester United. He only made seven appearances in his four years with the club, and his legacy with the club supersedes him to this day.

Alex Ferguson wrote in his autobiography that he signed Bebe without seeing him in action in 2010.

8. Emerson Palmieri - West Ham

• Full name: Emerson Palmieri dos Santos
• Date of birth: 3 August 1994
• Age: 27 (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Sao Paulo, Brazil

This Brazilian national playing for the Italian National Team was in poor game form at Chelsea, followed by injuries when he moved to his current club Lyon. While at Chelsea, he only made 33 appearances in two years, a testament to his poor defensive skills.

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7. Marcos Alonso - Barcelona

• Full name: Marcos Alonso Mendoza
• Date of birth: 28 December 1990
• Age: 31 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Madrid, Spain

Marcos is considered one of the most overrated defenders in football. The Spaniard has been criticised for having poor defensive skills. In addition, some of the harsh criticism he faces stems from an incident in his personal life. In 2011 Marcos was involved in a car accident while under the influence of alcohol. The driver of the other car sadly passed away.

6. John Stones - Manchester City

• Full name: John Stone
• Date of birth: 28 May 1994
• Age: 28 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Barnsley, England

In 2016 Man City paid $52.2 million for Stones, making him the second most expensive defender in the world at the time, second to David Luiz. However, the English player failed to meet the hype and has been criticised for his poor defensive skills.

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5. Eder Militao - Real Madrid

• Full name: Eder Gabriel Militao
• Date of birth: 18 January 1998
• Age: 24 (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Sao Paulo, Brazil

There is a lot of mixed criticism regarding this 24-year-old's defensive skills. While others say he is a promising player with room for improvement, others downright disagree and say he is a weak defender, which made Liverpool and Manchester United pass on him in 2019. All agree that the $54 million paid for the defender by Real Madrid was a hefty one.

4. Victor Lindelöf - Manchester United

• Full name: Victor Jörgen Nilsson Lindelöf
• Date of birth: 17 July 1994
• Age: 28 (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Vasteras, Sweden

Who is the most criticised player in football? Victor Lindelöf was voted the worst defender of 2018 by the Spanish publication Marca. Ever since he joined Manchester United in 2017, this Swedish play has been full of poor game form, which even his teammates have admitted before. However, despite his hard work ethic, he has constantly failed to get positive criticism.

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3. Samuel Umtiti - Barcelona

• Full name: Samuel Yves Um Titi
• Date of birth: 14 November 1993
• Age: 28 (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Yaoundé, Cameroon

Once a contender for the best defender in La Liga, this French star's fall from grace was rather a sad one. When he arrived in Barcelona from Lyon, he was in excellent physical form in his first season with the club. He suffered a knee injury and could not show a sustainable physical fitness record. This saw him lose a place in the starting team of his National team France and his club, Barcelona.

As of 2022, Sam is still with Barcelona but has taken a significant pay cut to enable the team to hire new talents.

2. Shkodran Mustafi - Levante

• Full name: Shkodran Mustafi
• Date of birth: 17 April 1992
• Age: 30 (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Hessen, Germany

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Mustafi was off to a great start and had an upward career trajectory. With so much buzz around him, eventually, the big teams took notice of him, and in 2016 he signed with Arsenal from Valencia. However, once at Arsenal, the German national failed to shine, and his games were constantly error-prone.

The situation did not improve, for he complained and blamed his poor performances on online criticism. At the beginning of 2021, Arsenal eventually failed to renew his contract, dropping him from the team. The criticism got so bad that he was labelled one of the worst Arsenal defenders.

He then went on to sign a contract with the German outfit Schalke. He was also dropped for bad conduct after making only 13 appearances because he led a revolt against the team manager.

1. Phil Jones - Manchester United

• Full name: Phillip Anthony Jones
• Date of birth: 21 February 2022
• Age: 30 years (as of 2022)
• Place of birth: Preston, England

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When Phil signed with Manchester United in 2011, he was in excellent shape and form and was even touted as one of the greatest players the club had ever seen by former coach Alex Ferguson.

However, two seasons later, problems started. Constant injuries saw a tremendous reduction in his physical form over the year. Unfortunately, this also saw him go from somewhat of a great defender to a poor one for the club.

To the surprise of many, having been away from the pitch for over two years, in January 2022, he was named in the first eleven in the game of Man United against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Who are the worst premier league defenders in 2022?

Some of the worst Premier League defenders are Wout Faes, Thiago Silva, Diogo Dalot, Joao Cancelo and Lisandro Martinez.

Who is the No 1 defender in football?

Who is the strongest defender in football? According to Sports Bible, Paolo Maldini is considered one of the best defenders in football. He is an Italian former professional footballer who played for AC Milan and the Italy national team.

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Who is the highest-rated defender?

Virgil Van Dijk is one of the highest-rated and best defenders. He was also the best-rated defender in FIFA 21 and retained his spot at the top.

With the case of the worst defenders in football above, you must have learned a thing or two about why the players are regarded as some of the worst.

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