The 15 worst debuts in football history | OneFootball

Highlights

GIVEMESPORT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Pause

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 4:54

Loaded: 1.15%

Football debuts come in all shapes and sizes, don’t they? While it's the dream is to score the match-winner and produce a player of the match performance, some just don’t go to plan.

And especially in the modern game – where £50 million+ fees are commonplace – the need to perform in your inaugural game at your new employers is as high as ever.

Chelsea's Moises Caicedo is the latest culprit seeing as his trip to West Ham’s gleaming London Stadium on Sunday is one to file away in the ‘games to forget about’ cabinet. After tearing it up for Brighton & Hove Albion, Caicedo’s move to Stamford Bridge seemed fail proof, but the highlights – or in this instance, lowlights – paint an entirely different picture.

Still, Caicedo’s forgettable bow for the west London outfit doesn’t come close to some of those in the list of worst ever debutants in the history of football.

The top 15 worst football debuts of all time

15 Moises Caicedo – Chelsea

It’s currently the talk of the town. Signing for a British record fee of £115m, all eyes were on the Ecuadorian when he made his Chelsea bow with just half an hour left on the clock. He had Robert Sanchez’s alertness to thank as Caicedo’s loose ball gave Pablo Fornals a chance to hit the target. A let off to say the least, though it was about to get worse.

With Chelsea 2-1 down and chasing a goal for the share of the spoils, he then upended Emerson in the box to give away a penalty. Lucas Paqueta dispatched and that was that.

14 Saul Niguez – Chelsea

Getting hooked at the half-time interval is a debutant’s worst nightmare, but that is the unfortunate case of Saul Niguez.

The Spain international arrived as one of the best European midfielders despite becoming second or third fiddle under Diego Simeone at Atlético Madrid. Niguez’s Premier League debut came against Aston Villa, but the likes of John McGinn gave him a firm introduction to England by – basically – running rings around him.

Two wayward passes almost led to Ollie Watkins inflicting damage and his overall showing was lackadaisical, which meant he only plundered a further four league games following his Hall of Shame debut.

13 Garry Flitcroft – Blackburn Rovers

Suffice to say that his career at Blackburn Rovers didn’t end on a sour note as he made over 250 appearances and became the club captain, but it certainly started on one.

Three minutes – the average length of some of your favourite songs - is all it took for Garry Flitcroft to see red and then be shown it shortly after. Everton’s notorious hard-man Duncan Ferguson, of all people, was the receiver of Flitty’s swung elbow.

His teammates admitted it was out of character, but rules are rules unfortunately and a moment of madness darkened what is typically a day to cherish.

12 Warren Barton – England

The first international bow of the list, Warren Barton attempted to make his mark during a ‘friendly’ against the Republic of Ireland. So-called fans threw missiles on the pitch and the referee deemed it too dangerous to continue and abandoned the match just 27 minutes in.

Granted, it wasn’t his fault but his 20 family members who had made the trip to Dublin to watch their pride and joy play out his dream would have been more than disappointed, especially as his Euro 96 hopes also went down the drain.

11 Gervinho – Arsenal

Gervinho’s non-competitive debut saw him score two goals in the first 15 minutes, but that is obviously not remembered considering the Ivorian endured a difficult start to competitive life in north London.

His Premier League bow ended following an altercation with Joey Barton, a player who was enthused by a tussle. A red card and a three-match ban for violent conduct was his final act on his debut.

10 Emmanuel Frimpong – Barnsley

Moving to Barnsley from Arsenal is enough to make any footballer behave badly on their debut, and it’s safe to say that Emmanuel Frimpong was unimpressed with the transfer in January 2014.

The Ghanaian targeted the same player twice and found himself subject to a yellow card offence on both occasions which, in turn, saw him leave the field of play.

Frimpong seemingly had a knack for doing this, though, seeing as the former Arsenal midfielder was also sent off on his Premier League debut for the Gunners when he picked up two yellow cards. Old habits die hard, you could say.

9 Marcos Antonio – FC Nurnberg

Antonio’s first game in a FC Nurnberg shirt had already been and gone, but his first showing in the Bundesliga is the headline-stealer. Inside the first 30 seconds against Stuttgart, the centre-back passed the ball to Vedad Ibisevic who opened the affair with a goal.

Amazingly, the defender repeated his questionable action just minutes later, though a goal was not the final outcome that time around. Still, it was enough to see him hooked after just 16 minutes. At least he didn’t get sent off… right?

8 Jason Crowe – Arsenal

It took Jason Crowe long enough to make his debut given that Lee Dixon was Arsenal’s optimal choice, so when the time came, he had to make his mark.

Make his mark he did as he came off the bench to last just 33 seconds – yes, you have read that correctly – before being shown a red card from a needless challenge of Martin O’Conner.

7 Glenn Keeley – Everton

A loan spell in Merseyside was seen by his employers Blackburn as a way of sprucing up his career, though any chance of signing permanently were dead in the water 33 minutes into his stint. The centre-back flew into a challenge with Kenny Dalglish and was given his marching orders.

6 Stanley Milton – Halifax Town

The oldest debut on this list belongs to the shot-stopping Stanley Milton, who began his Halifax Town career in 1934.

Milton had two goals enter his net in the first half, but that was just the start of a memorable day, though the 11 goals conceded in the second stage meant that his debut has been brandished as one of the worst debuts of all time. And it’s easy to understand why! One of those etched in football folklore, which will prevail the test of time.

“It wasn’t the way I dreamed it would be.” the Argentine magician said. And he’d be right.

Lionel Messi’s exploits since have understandably overshadowed his debut to forget, which ended after just 40 seconds. Albeit a legend of the game now, the 18-year-old substitute was sent off for an alleged elbow on Hungary's Vilmos Vanczak. Even the greatest are subject to a bad day at the office, it seems.

4 Tomas Repka – West Ham United

Some players’ approach to the game just makes them much more vulnerable to making a howling debut. And Repka’s reputation of being physical and reckless is one of those cases.

The Czech defender, who cost West Ham United a then-club record fee of £5.5m, made his league debut against Middlesbrough but ended the special occasion walking off hanging his head in shame after picking up two yellow cards.

Upon his return to the pitch, you’d assume it would be an opportunity to put his horror show debut to bed. But not for Repka, he earned another red card in his third match for the Hammers.

3 Hermann Rulander – Werder Bremen

Put yourself in Hermann Rulander’s shoes. You’re a 21-year-old goalkeeper making your debut as Werder Bremen’s first-choice Dieter Burdenski was stricken with injury. The idea? Concede as few goals as humanly possible.

In the case of Rulander, he conceded a grand total of seven. With one of these being an own goal, the manager had seen enough and the day that he had yearned for was cut short. And it’s probably for the best.

“I need more time and experience. Maybe next time,” Rulander exclaimed. Well, there was never a ‘next time’. Following his iconic (for all the wrong reasons) debut, he was given a cheque of 50,000 Deutschmarks – worth around £11,000 then and £37,000 now) and asked not to return

2 Jonathan Woodgate – Real Madrid

Oh, Jonathan. Admittedly, moving from Middlesbrough to Real Madrid seems like one of those transfers that happen once in a blue moon, but Woodgate was given that chance and, well, you know the rest.

Injuries woes delayed his debut for the European giants for 17 months and Woodgate ensured to not disappoint when his chance first came. A comical own goal followed by two bookable offences saw the Englishman granted an early shower after 66 minutes of dreaded playing time.

1 Ali Dia – Southampton

Described as “very embarrassing to watch” by Matt Le Tissier, Ali Dia’s first and final game for the south-coast side tops the list.

Quite possibly the biggest hoodwink in football, Dia was claimed – to Graeme Souness – to be a relative of George Weah, who was killing it for PSG at the time. Instead, he was a university student with no experience in professional football.

With no background check, the former Scottish boss threw him in the deep end as he replaced Le Tissier, though it took 21 minutes for him to be hooked. Hang it in The Louvre.