There exists a great tradition of honouring some of the top tier stars of the game of football by building a beautiful statue in their name with a particular club that they played for or the country they belong to. Some of them turn out to be brilliant and depict the true spirit of the person and the player that they were, but more often than not, they end up looking nothing like what they were perceived to be.

10. Cristiano Ronaldo (Bulge)

Cristiano Ronaldo has had numerous statues built in his name throughout his career. Some were made by his worshippers, others he got made because he can. 

To be fair, the 11-foot-tall statue which was unveiled in Ronaldo's native Portugal in 2014, was relatively decent when compared to some of the other âsculpturesâ in the list, except for the artistâs need to give the Juventus star a massive boner for some reason.

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For better or worse (mostly worse) the statue became a tourist attraction and people couldnât stop themselves from⦠rubbing it.

9. David Beckham (Prank)

Regardless of how ghastly looking this statue for former Manchester United star, David Beckham is, the fact that it was made as a means to prank him, rates it so low in the list.

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When James Corden welcomed Beckham to the United States of America following his decision to play in Major League Soccer, he did so with this debacle of a statue for the English phenom. His reaction, as expected, was worth going that extra mile and getting the effigy made.

8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Remember that horror video game that got all the hype in the world despite being absolutely non-scary, Slenderman? It is safe to say that the artist responsible for honouring Zlatan Ibrahimovic with this sculpture was inspired by that game.

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Top marks for the face that was spot on but the rest of the 8â9ââ tall statue was terrifyingly long!

7. Gareth Bale

Not everything in life has been going the way Real Madrid Forward Gareth Bale would have imagined five years ago and this statue of his surely didnât help make things better. 

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Be it the eyes starting in two different directions, his ears awfully set apart from the rest of the face or just the perpetually âpissed-offâ expression, nothing about this 40kg bust which apparently costs approximately Rs. 20 lakh, feels right.

6. Luis Suarez

The sculptor tried his best to provide as many hints as he could have to show that this statue was of nobody else by Uruguay Forward, Luis Suarez. Even then, had it not been for Suarezâs image in the background, nobody could have guessed who it was.

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5. David Beckham (Not A Prank This Time)

David Beckham makes another entry, this time around having wished that it was a prank, but it wasnât. In fact, the figure of the football star in nothing but his undies was erected in the middle of New York as a part of an advertising campaign. 

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While it was supposed to be a clever move on the part of the brand to showcase the glamour that the former England captain brought to the game, it ended up becoming a laughing stock more than anything else.

4. Diego Maradona

One to understand the feelings behind immortalising the legend of someone like Diego Maradona by building a glorious statue in their name but to make his face look like it got sucked from the inside is probably not the right way to go. 

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This 12-foot-high statue of the Argentine superstar holding the 1986 World Cup highlighted the moment correctly but failed to be as eye-pleasing as it was meant to be.

3. Mohamed Salah

Remember Marv Merchants from the Home Alone series, the wet bandit who stuck his head into the dog door flap only to get shot in the head with a nerf gun? Apparently, the Egyptians felt that their national hero and Liverpool star, Mohamed Salah looked just like him, when they planned to honour him with this statue: 

What is it with footballers and statues?

Ronaldoâs head looked more like Niall Quinn. And now the Mo Salah statue to be installed in Sharm El Sheikh looks more like Marv from Home Alone than Salah.#Salah #LFC pic.twitter.com/Y5Wxv6m3Vi

2. Lionel Messi

Oh, this is simply terrifying. Weâd like to thank the âartistâ for writing âMessi 10â on the jersey of whatever this creature is, but thatâs about it. Damn.

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1. Cristiano Rolando (Bust)

When you do a job so bad that it is considered to be the standard unit against which all the other bad jobs are compared. Sculptor Emanuel Santos, the man who was also responsible for the Gareth Bale debacle which you saw up in the list, said that his work was just "a matter of tasteâ but there is nobody, literally nobody we have heard from who said that they liked it.

The statue was so bad that Ronaldoâs family had to make a formal appeal to get it removed from the Madeira airport and get it replaced. Thankfully, the replacement turned out to be a genuine upgrade.

Looks like they finally made Ronaldo a new statue https://t.co/IUAo52WiVk pic.twitter.com/oMYnVjWom9

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