DIEGO Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ has been crowned the most notorious football moment, according to a poll of fans.
The diminutive broke English hearts in 1986 when he rose above Peter Shilton and punched the ball into the net.
This was followed by inexplicably biting I at the 2014 World Cup, according to the 2,000 football fans.
Also making the top five were red card for kicking and shockingly disallowed goal against in the 2010 .
The study also revealed many amateur players had experienced their own horrors on the football pitch, with 23 per cent enduring a Ronnie Rosenthal-style open goal blunder.
The research was commissioned by Specsavers as part of its Best Worst Team series - inspired by such football faux pas, from missed goals to not hearing the refs whistle.
The list of infamous moments on the pitch also highlighted blatant handball against in World Cup qualifying in 2009, often cited as a key reason for the introduction of VAR.
Club football was also represented, including the time Carlos Tevez didn’t come off the bench as a substitute for in a match against Bayern Munich 2011.
As was Darren Bent’s famous ‘Beach Ball Goal’ - when the striker’s shot took a huge deflection off a beach ball on the pitch against Liverpool, wrong footing Pepe Reina in goal.
But for those playing in parks and pitches up and down the country, 22 per cent have been left red faced when they wildly celebrated a goal, only to realise it had actually been ruled out.
Whereas 12 per cent of goalies have let in an absolute howler and were left lying on the ground wishing it would open to swallow them.
The research, conducted via OnePoll.com, went on to find 78 per cent believe these unbelievably memorable moments are part of what makes football iconic, even if they can feel unfair.
Over a third (35 per cent) prefer football when it is ‘unpredictable and chaotic’, as opposed to a quarter (25 per cent) who’d rather a ‘fair and structured’ contest.
Tunley Athletic - which previously lost all 26 games, shipping 137 more goals than they scored in the process - took part in the Best Worst Team series.
It went on to have its fortunes turned around by Specsavers with the help of Ella Toone, Gary Neville and Luke Littler.
Charman Craig Doughty said: “Sometimes being rubbish at football really pays off.
“While it sounds funny to say it, being crowned the Best Worst Team is honestly the best thing that ever happened to us.
“We were struggling to get a team together last season and we were on a 17-0 losing run.
“Team morale was at an all-time low, and we were close to folding the club.
“But this money-can’t buy experience surpassed all our expectations - it was on another level.
“It’s given everyone such a boost, and we actually started seeing better performances on the pitch.
“The whole community is still buzzing, and we’ve got loads of new players joined for the new season.”
