20 World Football Clubs with the Craziest Fans

Football has a way of bringing out the worst in fans.

From hooligans to racists, badly behaved fans are nothing new in world football. They come from every country and they support just about every club on the planet.

With that in mind, it's difficult to nominate 20 clubs with the craziest fans. But that's exactly what we tried to do here (not in any order).

Did we get it right? Let us know in the comments.

Incidents of hooliganism at Chelsea have declined since the 1990s, but the London club's fans still get themselves into trouble now and then.

Back in the 1980s, hooligan gangs like the Headhunters brought Chelsea notoriety of the negative sort. Things got so bad that in 1985, club chairman Ken Bates lobbied for an electric fence to be placed around the pitch at Stamford Bridge (the idea was rejected).

More recently, crazed Chelsea fans forced Swedish referee Anders Frisk into retirement. And earlier this year, traveling Chelsea fans brought the John Terry-Anton Ferdinand racism row with them to Belgium.

The Old Firm rivalry, between Glasgow-based clubs Celtic and Rangers, is one of the most intense in the world.

Unlike most rivalries, though, this one goes beyond football and into the realms of religion and politics. Fans of Rangers tend to be Protestants and Loyalists. Fans of Celtic tend to be Roman Catholics and Republicans.

The distinctions are no laughing matter. Rangers fans have long been associated with a song called "Billy's Boys," which is filled with violent imagery. Celtic's hooligan firms, for their part, also are alive and well.

Earlier this year, police warned players and officials from both clubs that they would face arrest if further violence broke out at future matches.

Their stadium is known popularly as "hell," and it's not hard to see why.

Fans of Turkish club Galatasaray killed two Leeds United fans when the clubs met in a 2000 UEFA Cup match.

It wasn't the first time Galatasaray's fans had clashed with English fans: A similar incident occurred in 1993 with Manchester United supporters. And in 2001, Galatasaray fans clashed with PSG supporters.

Galatasaray escaped punishment from UEFA and went on to win the 2000 UEFA Cup, beating Arsenal in the final.

Led by notorious paramilitary strongman Zelijko "Arkan" Raznatovic, Red Star fans instigated a real, live battle at a football match in 1990.

It doesn't get any crazier than that.

Arkan died in 2000, but the club's craziest fans, known as "Delije," are still around. They have a long history of violence, mixing Serbian nationalism with football.

Not to be outdone, crosstown rivals Partizan Belgrade have—as their name would suggest—fiercely loyal fans.

Their loyalty boiled over into the realm of murder in 2009, when some fans attacked a supporter of a rival club at a bar. Fourteen hooligans received jail time for the attack.

Feyenoord fans aren't deterred by silly things like bolted-down stadium seats. They're medieval like that.

Back in 2006, a bunch of Feyenoord supporters pillaged parts of Nancy, France, then threw stadium seats at stewards after their side fell behind the home team in a UEFA Cup match.

Slask Wroclaw and Arka Gdynia, two Polish clubs, had a 2003 match halted after violence broke out between both sets of fans.

One man died and three people were injured after a riot, which started in the city of Wroclaw and spilled out into the streets. Police arrested 120 people while dodging stones thrown by the rioters.

Arka won the match 5-0.

For whatever reason, AS Roma fans can't stand Liverpool. The clubs' supporters were involved in not one but two stabbing incidents in the same calendar year.

In February 2001, five Liverpool fans were stabbed before Liverpool beat AS Roma 2-0 in the UEFA Cup. Before kickoff, groups of Roma fans also had a run-in with police.

In December of the same year, four more Liverpool fans were stabbed after traveling to Italy for their team's scoreless draw with AS Roma. Italian police dispersed the mob by using tear gas.

We don't understand all the violence in Italy. How can you be so violent with such a beautiful country surrounding you?

Anyway, Sicilian clubs Catania and Palermo had a 2007 game called off after a policeman was killed during a violent confrontation between fans. Here's what the BBC report said:

According to reports, 38-year-old Raciti was struck in the face by a small explosive while attempting to deal with fighting outside the stadium.

Yikes. And that happened even after the match was moved up a few hours to discourage violence.

It didn't work, clearly. Police tried to clear out the mob with tear gas, but it only affected the players (Palermo pictured).

Earlier this year, a match between Turkish clubs Bursaspor and Besiktas was called off because of violence between the two sets of fans.

At issue? Bursaspor fans didn't want Besiktas fans to enter their stadium.

Turkish police arrested more than 100 Bursaspor fans.

We've seen a couple of stabbings involving English clubs on this list. But don't think the English are above that sort of behavior.

In 2009, a riot between supporters of London clubs West Ham United and Millwall left a 44-year-old man in the hospital with a stab wound. The fighting began around 6 p.m. local time and went on for five hours.

Not content to fight just each other, the fans also clashed with police outside West Ham's Upton Park stadium.

Later, it was revealed that the riot had been planned online.

West Ham fans, by the way, also managed to pick a fight with supporters of the Columbus Crew, an MLS club. How is that even possible?

Hibernian, a Scottish club, made headlines in 1994 when some fans were involved in a street fight with supporters of Dundee United.

The fans damaged private property around the stadium before taking the craziness into the stadium with them. During the match (Hibs won 5-0), three fans were ejected.

In June 2003, CF Monterrey won the Mexican league for the first time since 1986. Their fans celebrated by starting a riot.

After the Rayados clinched the title with a draw against Morelia, Monterrey fans erupted into drunken violence, killing at least two.

More than 200 people were arrested.

Crazy fans aren't limited to the traditional football-playing countries.

A little over 10 years ago, fans of Bangladeshi clubs Mohammedan and Rahmatganj started a riot that injured more than 100 people. They clashed with each other and police, moving from Bangabandhu National Stadium (pictured) into the surrounding streets.

Fans set fire to cars and buses. Police responded with tear gas.