Top 20 Most Controversial Calls in Sports History



These controversial calls proved costly. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most infamous and egregiously bad calls ever made by sports officials. Our countdown of the most controversial calls in sports history includes Geoff Hurst’s Wembley Goal, Michael Jordan’s Potential Foul, The Jeffrey Maier Incident, The Fail Mary, The Hand of God, and more! Did we miss any outrageous calls? Let us know in the comments!

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30 thoughts on “Top 20 Most Controversial Calls in Sports History”

  1. Next time Detroit hosts some sort of All-Star event, they should bring back that Tigers team plus Jim Joyce plus the baserunner and recreate the whole situation… and then get it right and celebrate together 😊

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  2. I'm surprised that MJ's "Push-off" made the list but none of the 1988 NBA finals made the list like Kareem's Phantom Foul, the NBA fans crowding the court with 2 seconds left, or when Magic purposely kicked Isaiah Thomas in the legs as he went to shoot his final shot. That whole series was a mess

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  3. The next day Jim Joyce and Galaraga exchanged the lineup cards at home plate. As much as the ruling pissed me off, I have great respect for Joyce for not only admitting his mistake but owning it.

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  4. Wanna see bad reffing, watch the videos Detroit vs refs, especially vs Cowboys. I know everyone sick of hearing it, Detroit until recently was that annoying screw up lil brother noones likes, but its rediculous, even for a sport fan. Im just surprised none if it made the list, only one lions made on the list is where they benefitted for once 🤦

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  5. Meldrick Taylor got his ass beat the entire fight even though Chavez landed less punches Taylor was a bloody mess that swallowed about a pint of blood. I could see an argument if he was clean and Chavez only landed one Lucky punch at the end.

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  6. It should really be worst umpire/referee calls in American sports plus soccer I can think of dozens of more terrible calls across multiple sports just not American ones.

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  7. I'd add Mike Rodriguez vs Ed Herman on there. Rodriguez hit a clean body shot that was ruled a low blow and Herman took a 5 minute rest and got a controversial submission in the 3rd round

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  8. The USC Charles White fumble that was ruled a touchdown is a big one. The biggest ever was when the umpire cost the pitcher the perfect game when the batter was so clearly out even in real time.

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  9. Very few Athletes were robbed as badly as Meldrick Taylor.

    He beat the tar out of Chavez for 99.9999999% of that fight, and then the one of the worst (and most heavily scrutinized due to accusations of fight fixing) Refs in all of Boxing History cheated him out of what would have been, SHOULD HAVE BEEN, the greatest Victory of his Career.

    What a shame. To this day it hurts to watch that fight.

    Richard Steele is a joke.

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  10. the volume balance for this video is all messed up. the watchmojo voice over is to quiet and then the sports volume is blasting loud. i expected better editing from a 25 million channel.

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