From Cristiano Ronaldo to the late Diego Maradona, some of the superstars footballers have been shockingly accused of committing a horrible crime; rape. The act is is usually terrible for the victims and extremely humiliating for the perpetrator. And when top football players are accused of rape, the media pays greater attention.
A professional athlete’s biggest nightmare is being accused of rape or sexual assault. Famous football players have been convicted of violence and sexual assault and sentenced to jail. However, it should be noted that some of these complaints are filed just so that you can brag of smearing the reputation of one global personality like Cristiano Ronaldo and extort money from one of the world’s best football players, in which case no decision is issued.
Here are some of the greats of the game including Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, Neymar and many more who have been accused of rape.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo was accused of raping a young woman in 2010. After a report on the claims was published, Ronaldo’s agency denounced the news as “journalistic fiction.” An American lady, Kathryn Mayorga alleged that the Portuguese star assaulted her in Las Vegas years ago and paid her to be silent.
For the first time, the woman chose to go public in order to submit a complaint against Cristiano Ronaldo. She claimed to be in possession of a document that may be exceedingly hazardous to him. Ronaldo’s attorneys and a mediator met with the young American woman in 2010 to try to reach an out-of-court settlement.
According to court filings, she met the Cristiano Ronaldo in a nightclub in 2009 and went to his suite at the Palms Hotel and Casino with him and other persons, where he reportedly raped her in a bedroom. Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, has consistently disputed Mayorga’s claim that he raped her in a Las Vegas hotel, claiming that the sexual encounter was consensual.
Neymar
A woman submitted a police case accusing Paris Saint-Germain player Neymar of rape in 2019. According to sources, the alleged rape occurred in Paris. The complainant stated that she travelled from Brazil to France with the goal of seeing the worldwide celebrity after exchanging Instagram messages with him. According to reports, the lady claimed that Neymar met her at a hotel and was “drunk” and “aggressive” before having sex with her without her consent.
The woman stated that she returned to Brazil two days later, distraught and afraid to speak out. She did, however, decide to complete the report in Sao Paulo. Neymar, on the other hand, has refuted the claim that he raped the lady in Paris. According to the woman, Neymar gave her with a plane ticket from Brazil to France and even paid for her luxurious accommodations. He then had sexual relations with her against her will.
In an attempt to defend himself, Neymar posted on social media a series of sexually graphic texts he exchanged with Trindade, including seminude photographs of his accuser; his team has claimed that any sexual contact between the two was voluntary.
The Brazilian police official who was investigating the rape allegation against football star Neymar eventually suggested that prosecutors dismiss the investigation. According to the investigator, the police were unable to discover sufficient proof to back up the Brazilian model’s claim. As a result, the footballer’s rape complaint was dismissed due to a lack of proof.
Karim Benzema and Frank Ribery
Frank Ribéry and Karim Benzema, two of France’s finest football stars, were cleared of having sex with an underage prostitute by a Paris court in 2014. Both Ribery and Benzema, however, denied the assault: knowingly paying for sex with Zahia Dehar when she was under the age of 18.
Ribéry, 30, acknowledged to having sex with Dehar but said he did not pay and was unaware she was a prostitute or a juvenile. Benzema, 26, has refuted all of the accusations. Ribéry and Benzema were not present during the trial. If convicted, they may face up to three years in prison.
Dehar told investigators that Ribery flew her to Munich for his birthday in 2009, while she was still 17. Dehar rose to worldwide prominence as a result of the event, but she chose not to sue the two football players. Following the controversy, she became a celebrity and has subsequently established herself as a designer of premium lingerie.
Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona, the controversial great, was in a familiar situation. He was one of the most divisive football players ever accused of rape. In reality, he has been charged with several offences, including one or two rapes. Maradona was accused of rape in two separate incidents. Maradona was accused of raping a journalist, Ekaterina Nadolska, during the 2017 Confederations Cup final in Saint-Petersburg. Nadolska wanted to interview him at first, but she said Maradona raped her and she couldn’t get away from him.
David De Gea
David de Gea, the Manchester United custodian, was charged with sexual assault in Spain in 2016. De Gea has been accused of arranging encounters between athletes and women. A protected witness identified De Gea as the person who organised and paid for a meeting between two Spain Under-21 players and two women in a Madrid hotel in 2012.
A lady said she was forced to have sexual contact with a “new girl” and two players, one of whom is identified as Athletic Bilbao striker Iker Muniain and the other who has not been identified but whom she thought was one of his Spain Under-21 colleagues at the time. The other player was eventually identified as Real Madrid midfielder Isco.