The fifth annual Bellen d’Or awards sees 13 candidates fight it out as Daily Star Sport nominates the sportsmen and women who made fools of themselves in 2025
The award that no sportsman or woman wants to win is back as we name the nominees for Daily Star Sport’s annual Bellen d’Or ceremony.
Over the last 12 months, we’ve celebrated the great and good of sport. But for every hero there is a villain and 2025 has given us plenty of prize plonkers to write about. There’s a host of horrors who could win our not-so-prestigious annual award, which shines a light on the year’s biggest mishaps and misdemeanours – and the times when stars just put their foot in their mouth.
But when it comes to the biggest idiot in sport, there can only be one. So let’s look at the candidates vying to follow in the footsteps of inaugural champion Matt Le Tissier, 2022 pick Gianni Infantino, 2023’s Luis Rubiales and 2024 victor Sir Jim Ratcliffe by etching their name in our Hall of Shame and becoming the 2025 Bellen d’Or winner, when the award is announced on January 1.
Jake Paul
Jake Paul, and his brother Logan, are no strangers to the Bellen d’Or shortlist, it’s almost their home away from home at this point. However, neither brother has managed to get their hands on the not-so-envious prize.
The Problem Child has given it his best to try and win this year, however, Paul has turned boxing in a circus show with his antics, somehow dragging Anthony Joshua and Mike Tyson down to his level.
He wagged his tongue at the British former World Champion… only to have his jaw broken in two places… what a plonker!
And in a whirlwind year for Jake and stunning better half Jutta Leerdam its almost been forgotten he claimed Tyson had Parkinson’s.
Paul later backtracked on the comments, claiming he misspoke…
Joey Barton
Could this be the year Joey Barton finally sheds his reputation as the Mikel Arteta of the Bellen d’Or – always the bridesmaid but never the bride? After narrowly missing out on the prize prat award two years in a row, he, somehow, plunged to new depths in 2025.
Barton was trigger happy on social media, saying anything and everything without much rhyme or reason – which got him into a spot of bother.
The former footballer was slapped with a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after comparing Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko to serial killers Fred and Rose West, and calling Jeremy Vine a “bike nonce”.
And that wasn’t the only time he was in court this year, back in May, Barton was found guilty of assault by beating after pushing his wife to the floor and kicking her in the head.
This could be a full 10,000 word article about Barton – and each every post he makes on X deserves a place on this list. It’s almost like a come-and-get-me-plea for the Bellen d’Or…
Alejandro Garnacho
Alejandro Garnacho might have netted the biggest own goal in 2025 – and let’s be honest, he’s not scoring many at the right end these days – when he posed in an Aston Villa shirt while still being a Manchester United player, not that he was much longer.
Garnacho was showing support for his fellow United outcast Marcus Rashford, but unlike the Englishman, he was still at the club.
After being dumped from the Red Devils, he moved onto Chelsea. United fans have taken the move well, a current social media trend has seen them blur him out of famous goals.
Thankfully for Garnacho, Chelsea fans won’t be doing that anytime soon with his three goal involvements in 11 Premier League games so far this season…
Andy Jenkins
Its almost been two decades since Andy Jenkins was beaten by Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship – fast forward to 2025 and Barney is still going while Jenkins is serving an 11-year ban.
Jenkins was booted out of the sport in disgrace earlier this year after being found guilty of fixing 12 matches in the MODUS Super Series between February 2022 and July 2023, following an investigation into suspicious betting activity.
While he rejected match-fixing allegations, Jenkins admitted to placing 88 bets on matches between March 2022 and May 2023, for which he received an additional 12-month suspension, which runs concurrently with his other sanctions.
The 11-year ban, which was backdated to November 2023, will prevent him from playing in or being involved in any way with any Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) event until November 15, 2034… ouch.
Alexander Isak
It’s takes a genuine Bellen d’Or talent to go from hero to zero at two separate clubs in the space of 12 months – but that’s exactly what Alexander Isak has managed to do.
After striking from Newcastle training to force a move to Anfield, Isak has been, well, woeful. The once super Swede is struggling to hit a barn door as patience was wearing thin before his potentially season-ending leg break.
Isak cost Liverpool £150million, they’ll have to hope they can invest a similar amount on their treatment room.
Gianni Infantino
Not content with securing the Bellen d’Or title in 2022, Gianni Infantino is looking to become the first two-time winner. You almost have to admire such commitment to being a bad egg.
Infantino has pulled in the big guns to make Bellen d’Or history, employing the help of his deviant partner in crime Donaldo Trump as they try and make every aspect of football about them. Daily Star Sport would mention the shambles of a World Cup draw if we hadn’t had fallen asleep within the first few minutes.
Orange-faced Captain America can count himself lucky he’s not made this list as positioning himself front and centre for Chelsea’s Club World Cup list before escaping with the trophy and Noni Madueke’s winners medal.
Keegan Bradley
Golf’s tag of being a gentleman’s sport was tarnished at the Ryder Cup as the fans on Bethpage Black turning on the European team with commander-in-chief Keegan Bradley seemingly orchestrating the ruckus.
Rory McIlroy was the main target of the abuse, even yelling at one to “f*** off”, while his wife Erica was hit by a drinks cup thrown from the stands. Fans were ejected as golfers believed they’d “crossed the line”… just not Bradley.
He simply said the fans were “passionate”. “I thought the fans were passionate. I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. You know, they are passionate fans.
“I wasn’t at Rome, but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well,” Bradley said – hinting at his side’s poor play for the disgraceful scenes
But when asked directly if the US players were to blame, Bradley hit back: “I did not say that. That’s not what I said. I said the fans are probably upset that their home team is losing. I did not say that. What words were those?
“Ryder Cups are wild. I don’t appreciate those words that you just said. I know what you’re trying to do.”
Eni Aluko
Eni Aluko decided to attack one of football’s most loved pundits back in Spring, suggesting Ian Wright was blocking the pathway for female pundits.
“I don’t know about wrong, but I think we need to be conscious and we need to make sure that women are not being blocked from having a pathway into broadcasting in the women’s game.
“It’s still new, it’s still growing. There’s a finite amount of opportunities and I think that men need to be aware of that.”
Aluko had decided to pick a fight with a man who has long been a champion of the women’s game – and after, deserved, backlash she apologised to the Arsenal icon.
However, Wright admitted he “cannot accept”, but forever the classy operator said he wanted to move on from the ordeal.
Cristiano Ronaldo
It’s appropriate we’ve used an image of Cristiano Ronaldo pretending to cry – because it seems that’s all he’s done after Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup in Qatar.
Ronaldo has, somehow, avoided being banned for FIFA’s showcase after the perennial crybaby was sent off for swinging an elbow at defender Dara O’Shea in an off-the-ball incident during Portugal’s penultimate World Cup qualifier with Ireland.
FIFA’s regulations state that any suspensions in qualification matches would carry over to the final competition You think that ban would see him out for Portugal’s World Cup opener – well, you’d be wrong.
For reasons that remain unclear Ronaldo’s suspension has been suspended for two seasons. Yeah, we don’t know either…
Ronaldo has also wined and dined with President Trump in the lead up to the World Cup, there’s nothing wrong with expanding social circles, but come on Cris, really?
Ben Proud
Imagine grafting to get the top of your chosen field, just to throw it away for what can only be described as the Lance Armstrong career path. And like the brutish Texan, Ben Proud is unashamed about his choices.
Back in September, Proud, a Team GB swimmer, became the first British athlete to sign up for the controversial Enhanced Games – a drug fueled Olympics of sorts – saying it would take “13 years of winning a World Championship title” for athletes to earn the same amount of prize money on offer for winning a single race at the Enhanced Games.
That tends to be because one isn’t cheating (but inside the rules for the drug games) Mr Proud.
Mary Earps
If a picture could speak 1000 words then the image of Mary Earps stood next to Hannah Hampton as she’s presented with the Yachine Trophy could pen a series akin to Game of Thrones.
Mary, Queen of Strops, has insisted there’s no bad blood between the pair, but if looks could kill the former shot-stopper might have gone on a spree that’s more likely to be seen in a John Wick movie.
And then there’s the book.
Remember when we said Earps insisted there’s no bad blood between her and Hampton, well in her book she called the Chelsea keeper “disruptive and unreliable” – hmmm. Earps also accused Sarina Wiegman of rewarding “bad behaviour”.
And after all that, Earps had the nerve to say the reaction had been “distorted”…
Salford rugby league owners
152 years of history – and a group of wallies almost brought it all to an end.
Raging fans held a mock funeral after the rugby league side’s owners Isiosaia ‘Sire’ Kailahi and Curtiz Brown wound up with hundreds of thousands of unpaid tax. After taking over in January there’s been wage dramas, pay packets covered by WeDo Finance and, of course, the funeral.
Their reign of terror ended when Judge Mark Mullen finally brought the axe down on their regime by winding up holding company Salford City Reds.
Mo Salah
Perhaps the least likely Bellen d’Or nominee at the start of the year and certainly in May, after his incredible 29 goals and 18 assists last season had fired Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th top flight title and earned him a lucrative new contract at Anfield.
But this campaign has been a nightmare for the Egyptian King – and it only got worse with his petulant strop and rant to the press.
Salah speaks for himself and himself only. Liverpool were in crisis, needed their shining star and he decided to turn his back.
Well, Mo, you’ve just made the list.