Every player named in a 2026 World Cup squad (all 48) is cross-referenced against their English Wikipedia biography and reputable reporting. The 22 below have a documented legal matter — from active criminal charges to cases long since dismissed. Each name and the “Wikipedia” link jump straight to the relevant section of the player's article.
At a 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup training camp, Ochoa was one of five Mexico players to test positive for clenbuterol and was provisionally withdrawn from the squad. The case was formally dropped later in 2011 after the positives were accepted to have resulted from contaminated meat, and no sanction followed.
Convicted in Basel of several counts of threatening behaviour arising from a 2018 altercation in the city centre; given a conditional (suspended) penalty. The conviction was upheld on appeal and finalised in April 2026, and briefly delayed his U.S. entry before World Cup travel clearance was granted. Separately disciplined by Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2021 for attending a party during COVID lockdown.
Tried in Spain over the structure of his 2013 Santos-to-Barcelona transfer; acquitted of fraud and corruption in December 2022, an acquittal later upheld by Spain's Supreme Court. Separately faced a Brazilian administrative tax penalty over image-rights income. In 2019 a woman accused him of rape in Paris; Neymar denied it and Brazilian authorities dismissed the case citing insufficient evidence — the accuser was later charged with extortion. All matters are unproven or resolved in his favour.
Charged by the English Football Association in May 2024 with four counts of deliberately seeking yellow cards to influence betting markets (matches from Nov 2022 to Aug 2023). In 2025 an independent Regulatory Commission found the spot-fixing charges "not proven", and the FA confirmed in September 2025 it would not appeal. He was found in breach of two minor charges relating to cooperation with the investigation.
Placed under formal investigation in Paris in March 2023 over an alleged rape of a 24-year-old woman at his home. He has consistently denied the accusation. In June 2026 a French appeals court confirmed there is sufficient evidence for him to face a criminal trial; he has appealed that ruling to France's Court of Cassation. The allegation is unproven.
During the 2025 Turkish football betting investigation, Elmalı was given a 45-day ban by the Turkish federation's disciplinary committee in November 2025 after acknowledging a bet placed years earlier on a match not involving his club. The ban was upheld on appeal and served, and he was named in Turkey's 2026 World Cup squad.
Balogun scored the opening goal in the 2–0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, matching Landon Donovan for the second-most goals scored by an American in a single FIFA World Cup, with three, trailing only Patenaude's four goals in 1930. …
Arrested by French police in May 2026 in connection with a Marseille prosecutor's spot-fixing investigation, after an unusual volume of bets was placed on him receiving a yellow card in a May 2026 Ligue 1 match. He was questioned and released without charge, and was briefly denied Canadian entry over the investigation before the decision was reversed. No charge or conviction as of July 2026.
In February 2021 the Italian football federation fined Amad about €48,000 through a plea bargain over false family-reunification documents used to bring him into Italy as a minor and register him with Italian clubs. He was a minor at the time of the underlying events; the adults who posed as his parents faced separate proceedings.
In January 2024 two women filed a criminal complaint alleging non-consensual sexual acts at an Osaka hotel in 2023; the Japan FA withdrew him from the 2024 Asian Cup. Itō denied the allegation and filed his own defamation complaint against the women. In August 2024 prosecutors declined to indict him, citing a lack of evidence.
Arrested in Tokyo on 17 July 2024, with two other men, on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman, shortly after joining Bundesliga club Mainz 05. He was released on 29 July, and on 8 August 2024 prosecutors declined to indict him. He was later recalled to Japan's national team.
An August 2024 car crash caused by Fatouh on the Cairo–Alexandria road killed a 55-year-old man, with toxicology reporting he was driving under the influence. In November 2024 a criminal court gave him a one-year prison sentence suspended for three years, a fine and licence revocation, alongside a reported settlement with the victim's family.
Cape Verde's captain is under investigation by New Zealand police over an alleged rape said to have taken place at the team hotel in Auckland in March 2026, following a FIFA Series match; the complainant was a woman working with the delegation. The allegation became public during the 2026 World Cup. No charges have been filed and the allegation is unproven.
After a February 2017 domestic incident in Madrid, Hernández and his partner each received community service and a mutual restraining order; he was arrested in June 2017 for breaching it. A six-month prison sentence was suspended on appeal in October 2021 in favour of a fine, conditional on his not reoffending.
In November 2025 a Copenhagen court convicted Schjelderup after he admitted forwarding a short Snapchat video depicting minors in sexual activity to a group chat; he received a 14-day suspended prison sentence and a year's probation. The offence dated to his time in Danish football.
Charged in Argentina in 2023 with sexual abuse over an alleged 2019 incident, which he denied. In December 2024 the case was dismissed and he was acquitted, with the court citing contradictions in the complainant's account.
Found guilty by a Spanish court in July 2016 of three counts of tax fraud (image-rights income from 2007–2009 routed through offshore companies), with Messi and his father each given a 21-month suspended sentence and a fine. Spain's Supreme Court upheld the conviction in May 2017. As a first offence under two years, the sentence was suspended, so no prison time was served.
A UK court found Fernández guilty in 2025 of failing to identify the driver of his car over two 2023 traffic incidents in Wales, fining him and adding penalty points that triggered a six-month driving ban. Separately, in July 2024 he livestreamed Argentina teammates singing a chant mocking France players' heritage, prompting an FFF complaint and FIFA disciplinary scrutiny; he apologised.
A woman alleged Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas in 2009; Las Vegas prosecutors declined criminal charges in 2019, and her civil lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in 2022 (a dismissal upheld on appeal in 2023) over her lawyer's misconduct. Ronaldo denied the allegation and was never charged or found liable. Separately, he settled a Spanish tax-evasion case in 2019, accepting a fine and a suspended sentence over image-rights income.
Modrić testified as a witness in the tax-evasion and embezzlement case against former Dinamo Zagreb executive Zdravko Mamić and was investigated for allegedly giving false testimony about his transfer. Croatian prosecutors dropped the false-testimony inquiry in 2024 for lack of evidence; he was never charged or convicted.
An independent FA regulatory commission found Toney guilty of 232 breaches of the FA's betting rules in May 2023 and banned him for eight months, plus a £50,000 fine; the panel accepted he had a gambling addiction. The ban was served and expired in January 2024.
Charged in July 2025 with five counts of rape and one of sexual assault involving three women (alleged 2021–2022), with two further rape counts added in February 2026. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts and awaits trial at Southwark Crown Court, listed for late 2026. Canada denied him an entry visa over the charges, and he missed Ghana's opening match. The allegations are unproven.
data/legal_issues.json;
automated findings: data/legal_issues_scan.json from
scripts/scan_legal_wiki.py (run by
.github/workflows/legal.yml). Wikipedia auto-scan of 1248 squad players last run 2026-08-17 06:49 UTC.
Method: the scanner reads the
squad
list, follows each player's article, and flags any section whose heading
names a legal matter. Legal content written as plain prose (no dedicated
heading) can still be missed, so the curated rows backfill known cases.
Not a FIFA publication.