For professional footballers, it is hard not to be tempted by the many opportunities that come along during their career. There are the ones that might get them on the front page of celebrity magazines, and the other ones that might send them off to play elsewhere, and not necessarily just for the love of the jersey. Here are the top 10 footballers who have never been afraid of changing clubs during their career.
Marcus Bent: 15 Clubs
Crystal Palace, Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Everton, Charlton, Wigan, Wolverhampton are some of the clubs Marcus Bent played in the 90s-2000 in the Premier League with the majority of the English mid-table teams. Altogether, the 42-year-old striker has played for 15 different clubs, and half of the time in the lower English divisions. However, his worst downfall came later, once his playing career was behind him. A cocaine addict, he was declared personally bankrupt in 2019.
Luca Toni: 15 Clubs
The Italian striker, who stands at 1.93 meters tall, has reached many heights in his career. First of all at Palermo where he scored 31 goals in the 2004-2005 season. Then with Fiorentina, where he scored 71 goals in two seasons, a performance which was tarnished by the match-fixing scandal that earned the Viola 15 penalty points. And for three seasons at Bayern, alongside his attacking alter-ego Miroslav Klose. All in all, Luca Toni has played in 15 different clubs, including 13 Italian ones.
Rivaldo: 15 Clubs
While his name is most often linked to FC Barcelona, where he excelled for five seasons and won the 2002 Ballon d’Or, the Brazilian is among the only three players in the world to have played for clubs on four different continents and in as many confederations (UEFA, CONMEBOL, CAF and AFC). Of the 15 clubs that have welcomed him, one is from Uzbekistan (contract worth 20 million euros) and another is from Angola!
Xavier Gravelaine: 16 Clubs
Transferred eighteen times in seventeen years of career, in sixteen different clubs, the former French striker who was trained in Nantes and revealed in Caen, has gained the nickname of “mercenary” at a time when lots of the current European football was not even born!
Sasa Bjelanovic: 16 Clubs
In order to find the trace of the former Croatian striker, you will have to go on… Linkedin and find out that he is open to new opportunities. One more because Sasa Bjelanovic has played for 16 different clubs in his career, most of them in Serie A (Genoa, Torino, Atalanta …) and in the Croatian league.
Alex Dias: 20 Clubs
The followers of the French football know that the Ligue 1 owes him a lot. First of all, his famous celebration that earned him the nickname of “the panther”, which was later continued by Bafétimbi Gomis. In particular, Alex has managed to make players such as Jean-Guy Wallemme, Lionel Potillon and Julien Sabre seem like footballing greats. His name was also associated with the affair of false passports that sent AS Saint-Étienne to the second division and sent the player to the bench of PSG…
Also at his side, names such as Ronaldinho, Okocha, Arteta or a certain Mauricio Pochettino… who will outshine his time in the capital club and send him back to the Forez the following season. The only foreign clubs in his career were Paris, St Etienne and Boavista, with Alex playing for a total of 20 different clubs, 18 of which were in Brazil.
Steve Claridge: 21 Clubs
The English people know more about his match analysis on the BBC than his footballing exploits. Yet, although most of the 21 professional clubs he played for in his career were in the lower divisions, he also excelled in the Premier League from 1996 to 1998, also winning the English League Cup.
Sebastian Abreu: 26 Clubs
This tall Uruguayan striker (1.93m) had his moment of glory at the 2010 World Cup by scoring a masterful Panenka, the decisive shot on goal against Ghana that sent the Celeste to the semi-finals. Faithful to the national team with 70 selections during his career, he was more frivolous with his clubs of heart, with 26 clubs in seven different South American countries and rare experiences in Spain (Real Sociedad, La Coruña) and Israel (Beitar Jerusalem).
Darko Cordas: 27 Clubs
If the name sounds more like a boss at the end of the level in an obscure beat them all, it’s maybe because he has never made it to the end of the level, playing in minor exotic leagues. China, South Korea, Croatia, in total Darko Cordas played in 27 different clubs during his career. An impressive list of achievements which at least enabled him to have his own wikipedia page, and even a video on youtube!
John Burridge: 29 Clubs
A career spanning 28 years and 29 clubs! John Burridge experienced the elite with his gloves during his spells in the Newcastle and Aston Villa cages. Later on, at the age of 40, he declined to hang up his boots and started to play for a number of smaller clubs, most of the time as a back-up goalkeeper. He changed clubs 14 times between 1993 and 1997, with a record of 6 different clubs in the same season in 1996!
Do you know any other players who have changed their clubs frequently and deserve a place in our list? Let us know in the comments section below.
