3. David De Gea (Spain, Manchester United)
The young goalkeeper from the Manchester United and Spain’s national team has an affinity for the devil’s music and is very vocal about it. His metal started showing when he posted a picture on his Twitter of Slipknot’s show at the Manchester Arena which came as a surprise to many, considering his girlfriend is popstar Edurne Garcia. He also likes Avenged Sevenfold with a passion and has tried to play them in the dressing room as he explained when their last album Hail To The King broke the charts:
“I’ve always liked them and I was really pleased to see them get a number one album over here,” De Gea told United Uncovered. “They’re coming here on tour soon which I’m excited about and I hope I get to see them play.”
“Given the music I like I’m not sure they would get added [to the playlist]!” he joked. “I’d definitely have something from Avenged Sevenfold on there, and also Slipknot and some Spanish music as well. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be Spanish heavy metal, but a Spanish artist so people could learn a bit more about Spanish music.”
2. Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid)
Another Spaniard that deserves a spot on this list is Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos as he’s a low-key a rock and metal fan. He’s known for liking bands like Motorhead, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses as it was reported when Ramos got to meet Axl Rose during one of the AC/DC gigs this year. But another reason for him to be on the list is because his girlfriend Pilar Rubio is also a fervent metalhead with her own metal clothes line Metalhead Clothing by Pilar Rubio and also has appeared on bloody album covers like Annihilator’s Feast.
1. Dario Dubois (Argentina, Victoriano Arena)
There are many rock and metal heads in this list but none has been as brutal as Dario Dubois. This guy used to apply black metal corpsepaint to himself to intimidate his opponents and surely his own colleagues with his eccentric personality, until he was forbidden from doing it. He would go on the field and defy the authorities when he felt something wasn’t right about their call made.
He also exposed some of the corruption happening in the Argentinean league by openly stating all the injustices him and his team mates were forced to endure. During an open interview in 2003 before a match, he stated:
“The president of the [soccer team] Juventud Unida (Juan José Castro) offered us money to lose, so they could win and he could get re-elected. Filthy Rat, we play for free, we want to win and he offered a bribe: we’re not going to take it…but he’s a politician. What else can you expect from him?”
He also called out his own management after the team wasn’t paid by publicly declaring:
“It turns out the first match we won, we didn’t get paid so I decided to take some tape and cover the sponsoring brands in my shirt. But I had forgotten to bring it with me during that match. But then, as it has rained before, as soon as I got on the field, I pretended to kneel in prayer and grabbed mud to cover the brands. The orange shirt was completely covered in mud. Everyone was scolding me, even my team mates but they didn’t understand it, those sponsors were laughing at us, you know? They weren’t paying us and that’s the money we needed to travel around. After a week, the commission had a meeting to try to suspend me but they never did.“
Dubois even played bass in a prog band called Tribute Rock playing cover songs by an Argentinean band called Vox Dei. Sadly, Dubois was shot down by an unidentified gunman in 2008. He was 37 years old. He may not be alive any more but, he was, undoubtedly, the most metal football player.
