Football clubs are just like any other workplace; some colleagues just aren’t going to get along. Only instead of stealing lunches out of the communal fridge or leaving needlessly passive-aggressive Post-it notes, they refuse to pass the ball, and in Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer’s case, have a scrap in the middle of the pitch.
Some spats are more of a quiet seethe, while club rivalries sometimes boil over when players meet each other at their respective national teams.
Football FanCast takes a look at 10 sets of teammates who couldn’t stand each other. For this list, we’ve ordered each pair by the level of animosity between them.
10 Gerard Pique & Alvaro Arbeloa Spain
You know things are pretty bad when Sergio Ramos has to step in and be the mediator. One thing that the Spanish national team did very well during their spell of winning two European Championships and the World Cup was make sure club rivalries didn’t have an impact on the pitch.
Gerard Pique is Barcelona through and through, and he’s even considered as a leading candidate to be club President one day, and since Alvaro Arbeloa was a Blanco, there was inevitably going to be some bad blood. It went further than that, though.
These two have traded blows in real life and on social media, most commonly when El Clasico is on. Pique even went as far as saying Arbeloa has never really been a teammate, never mind a friend – he even compared him to a cone. It got so bad, that Ramos had to step in and demand Pique at least be civil.
It would seem Pique listened to Ramos, and things have since been a little calmer. The ex-Barcelona defender even wished Arbeloa luck after he played his final game for Real Madrid.
9 Neymar & Kylian Mbappe Paris Saint-Germain
When Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in 2017 for a reported £200m, he expected to be top dog. This would be how he moved out of Lionel Messi’s shadow and finally established himself as the best player in the world. Then, PSG signed Kylian Mbappe, and things went a little downhill for the Brazilian.
They were signed within a month of each other; Neymar joined on August 3rd, and Mbappe on August 31st. They also both prefer to play on the left, so there were always going to be times when one had to be chosen over the other.
On the pitch, they were prolific, winning a domestic treble in their first season together, but off it, there were constant rumours of a falling-out. As time went on, egos continued to clash, and upon the arrival of Lionel Messi, a good friend of Neymar, Mbappe grew more frustrated with his lot in life.
With Neymar and Messi departing the club – something that Mbappe apparently had a hand in – he became PSG’s undisputed main man, although even that was not enough to keep him in France for much longer.
8 Matthieu Valbuena & Karim Benzema France
This one is really quite serious. The Mathieu Valbuena/Karim Benzema blackmail scandal unfolded in 2015, shaking the world of French football. The incident revolved around an alleged attempt to extort money from Valbuena using a compromising video.
They were both playing for France when Benzema was implicated in the scandal. It began when Valbuena discovered a sex tape featuring himself and his partner. Soon after, he received a call from an unknown person demanding a substantial sum of money to prevent the video’s public release.
Benzema, a teammate of Valbuena on the French national team, became embroiled in the controversy when he was accused of acting as an intermediary between Valbuena and the blackmailers. The scandal had significant repercussions, leading to Benzema’s exclusion from the French national team for several years.
The rift strained team dynamics, especially during crucial international competitions. Legal proceedings ensued, and both players faced serious legal consequences. The France national team is no stranger to controversy, but this one might be the worst of the lot.
7 Andy Cole & Teddy Sheringham Manchester United and England
Hate is a strong word, but it’s not strong enough for Andy Cole, who openly said he “loathes” Teddy Sheringham and has done for years. “I would rather sit down and have a cuppa with Neil Ruddock who broke my leg in two places in 1996, than with Teddy Sheringham,” Cole said
It all started when Cole made his England debut against Uruguay in 1995. He was due to come on for Sheringham, and expected a handshake and perhaps some words of encouragement, but the veteran striker snubbed him.
They may not like each other off the pitch, but on it, they were fantastic together. They won everything there was to win during their four years together at Manchester United. As a strike partnership, they managed a goal every 84.6 minutes, a truly ridiculous statistic.
They may not be sharing a cup of tea anytime soon, but Manchester United fans won’t care – they shared plenty of silverware.
6 Wayne Bridge & John Terry Chelsea
The first love triangle-instigated feud of this list is perhaps the most high-profile. The controversy stemmed from John Terry’s alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, who happened to be the former partner of Wayne Bridge, his England and ex-Chelsea teammate.
When it came out, Bridge was at Manchester City, and the two players famously played each other right after. As the teams lined up on the pitch, all eyes were on Terry and Bridge with the players due to shake hands, a standard pre-match show of respect. Bridge shook the hands of all his ex-teammates except for Terry, who looked thoroughly embarrassed.
Bridge later withdrew from the England team, citing his discomfort in sharing a dressing room with Terry. At the time, it was a major Premier League narrative, but since both players have retired, it’s no longer spoken about. It’s unlikely you’ll find them in their local sharing a pint, though.
5 Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Rafael van der Vaart Ajax
Zlatan isn’t shy, so it’s miraculous he only appears on this list once. His enmity towards Rafael van der Vaart started during a friendly between Sweden and the Netherlands, with the Dutch midfielder accusing the charismatic Swede of injuring him on purpose.
The legendary forward was having none of it, and when they got back to Amsterdam, he reportedly threatened to break both of Van der Vaart’s legs. Considering Ibrahimovic is a taekwondo black belt, he could have probably done it.
Van der Vaart later played down the feud, saying it was simply two egos colliding. “I did not have really big problems with him. It was just two egos converging in one place. I think I was a bigger problem for him than he was for me,” he told Football.ua.
4 Mauro Icardi & Maxi Lopez Sampdoria
The Mauro Icardi and Maxi Lopez feud is a sensational and controversial chapter in football. The saga began when Icardi, an emerging talent at the time, joined Sampdoria, where Maxi Lopez was a teammate. The plot thickened when Icardi reportedly became romantically entangled with Lopez’s wife, Wanda Nara, leading to a highly publicised love triangle.
The affair obviously strained the relationship between Icardi and Lopez, escalating into a bitter feud on and off the pitch. Icardi not only married Nara, but got a tattoo of her and Lopez’s children. Talk about kicking a man when he’s down. The drama reached its peak when Icardi transferred to Inter, and the tension manifested in confrontations during matches between Inter and Lopez’s teams.
The fallout from this personal saga had lasting implications, with Icardi facing criticism for his role in the affair, and Lopez expressing deep-seated resentment.
3 Thibaut Courtois & Kevin De Bruyne Genk, Chelsea and Belgium
Will footballers ever stop sleeping with their teammates’ wives and partners? Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne are yet another love-induced footballing altercation, with the goalkeeper reportedly stealing his Belgium teammate’s girl back in 2012.
Courtois spent a night with De Bruyne’s then-girlfriend Caroline Lijnen and the Manchester City midfielder has understandably despised him ever since. While the two have managed to keep things civil in public, the eagle-eyed fan will have noticed that De Bruyne celebrated extra hard when he scored against Courtois and Real Madrid in the 2022/23 Champions League semi-final.
Time heals all wounds, however, and De Bruyne has since married Michele Lacroix and had three children. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side.
2 Jens Lehmann & Oliver Kahn Germany
Goalkeepers are a temperamental bunch, and when you have two who are equally talented vying for the one position, sparks will inevitably fly. Both Jens Lehmann and Oliver Kahn were undisputed No 1s for their clubs, but it got a little tricky when they joined up with the German national side. Their rivalry, which saw taunts and jibes exchanged throughout, reached its zenith during the early 2000s. Kahn, the established No 1 for Die Mannschaft, led Germany to the 2002 World Cup final but faced formidable competition from Lehmann.
The feud continued going into Euro 2004, with Kahn once again being chosen over Lehmann as the starting goalkeeper. Germany were unable to make any real impact at the tournament and were knocked out in the group stage. While Kahn wasn’t entirely at fault, Lehmann must have relished in his failure.
The mutual respect and acknowledgement of each other’s abilities eventually tempered the feud, leaving an indelible mark on German football history and showcasing the competitive spirit that drives excellence at football’s highest level.
1 Igor Stimac & Sinisa Mihajlovic Yugoslavia
Igor Stimac and Sinisa Mihajlovic, former teammates for Yugoslavia, had a falling-out that transcends football. Hailing from neighbouring regions in Croatia, they often faced each other in club matches despite their friendship.
However, the outbreak of war amid the breakup of Yugoslavia altered their relationship dramatically. After a deadly gunfight near Mihajlovic’s hometown, the atmosphere became charged.
In a poignant moment during the Yugoslavian Cup final featuring Red Star Belgrade and Hajduk Split, both Stimac and Mihajlovic captained their respective teams. The game, played in Belgrade, took a dark turn when Stimac reportedly whispered a horrifying message to Mihajlovic during the kick-off, expressing a wish for Mihajlovic’s family in Borovo, a town heavily affected by the conflict, to die.
The brutality escalated throughout the match, with Mihajlovic seeking out Stimac at every possible opportunity. Despite Hajduk winning 1-0 and Stimac lifting the cup, the incident left a bitter legacy, symbolising the deep-seated animosities born out of the tragic backdrop of a war that forever changed the landscape of Yugoslavian football.
There you have it: ten sets of teammates who couldn’t stand each other. As English poet Alexander Pope said, “To err is to be human, to forgive is divine.” It turns out footballers are human after all.
