We look for the strangest prohibitions and conditions in the history of football when it comes to signing on the market.
in full transfer market the teams seek to reinforce themselves in the best possible way and the clauses are the order of the day (not only the economic ones). At Betfair we review the seven rarest in history… and they are not wasted.
The clause ‘antimordiscos’ of Luis Suárez
The Barcelona signed Luis Suarez in 2014 and the Uruguayan came from biting the Italian Chiellini in the world of Brazil of that same year. For this reason, the Catalans wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen again: according to the English newspaper ‘Daily Mirror’ assured that the soccer player’s contract included an ‘anti-bite’ clause. Yes Suarez bit another rival again, the Uruguayan player would have to pay compensation to the Barca.
Stefan Schwarz could not be an astronaut
The Sunderland signed this footballer in 1999 coming from Valencia and found out that a friend of theirs had a ticket for a space flight in 2002. They didn’t want there to be any chance of it being carried out. Black with him and that’s why they put an anti-space travel clause on him.
Van der Vaart and his red boots
football leaks uncovered one of the strangest bans in recent years. The Betis signed the midfielder in 2015 and established by contract that he could not play with red boots, his favorites, due to the rivalry between the Verdiblancos and the Seville.
Balotelli could not ‘liarla’
Everyone knows the wayward and ‘hooligan’ character of Mario Balotelli. When the Italian signed for AC Milan, the Italians wanted to make sure the striker behaved and included an anti-scandal clause in his contract. Banned eccentric hairstyles, banned controversial messages… Balotelli had to withdraw.
And it has not been the only strange clause carried out by the Italian. In Liverpool also rewarded him by contract with a million pounds if the striker was not sent off more than three times for unsportsmanlike conduct in the same season.
Castelen did not want to charge per season
The normal thing in the world of football is to charge per month or per year, but the Dutch Romeo Castellen He did not want to charge like this when he signed for the Russian club Volga Nishny. In fact, he is the only player in history, at least as far as is known, who was paid for every minute he was on the pitch.