he is in danger: One of the top players of Everton was keednaped by…

There are many people who believe that professional footballers live above the law. When they get into trouble with the law, they seem to get away without barely a slap on the wrist.

Steven Gerrard, the captain of Liverpool, is currently facing assault charges following an altercation at a nightclub. If convicted, Gerrard could have been looking at time in prison, which would put his glory days at Anfield behind him. However, as many people expected Gerrard got off unscathed, with many people citing that he is a professional footballer as one of the reasons why.

However, as footballers are punished on the field with yellow and red cards, they are not actually above the law off the field either. There have been a few who have been caught breaking the law, and have been made to pay the punishment.

Here are 15 footballers who have spent some time of their life in jail, in no particular order.

In 2009 Chapman pleaded guilty to causing the death of another man because of reckless driving. He was sentenced to 30 months in a Youth Offenders Institute.

The young Irishman has just been released from prison earlier this month and is set to resume his career with Oxford United. He has scored five goals in his Oxford United career.

In a twist to what’s usual Cotterill was jailed for something that happened ON the pitch. In a 2006 FA Cup match, while playing for Barrow, Cotterill punched Sean Rigg of Bristol Rovers. The shot left Rigg with a double fracture of the jaw, forcing him to eat with a teaspoon and drink through a straw.

After the incident was seen on Match of the Day that night in England, Cotterill was banned from all football by the English FA until March of 2007.

In January of 2007 Cotterill was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm.

He would be released just a few weeks later in February, however he was put on house arrest, forcing him to wear an ankle bracelet around his home.

The former Arsenal and Crystal Palace star simply thought he could get away with something totally avoidable.

At one point in time Wright owned two cars but decided not to pay his insurance or his taxes on the two automobiles. While this probably worked out dandy for a while, eventually the government found him out, and he was sentenced to 14 days in prison for his actions, or lack there of.

After a successful career in Germany the Danish footballer moved his career to the Premier League’s Bolton Wanderers where he would run into trouble.

In a celebration with his Danish teammates following the 2002 World Cup, Tofting head-butted the owner of a restaurant in Copenhagen. After trial, Tofting was convicted for assault and sentenced to four months in prison.

Following his conviction, his contract at Bolton was reduced until of the end of 2003 and he finished the 2003 campaign serving his prison sentence.

Peter Swan was one of the greatest players to ever play for Sheffield Wednesday. He will not be remembered for that though. Though he was a potential world class player, Swan had eight of his best years stolen from him as he was banned from Football by the FA.

In 1962 Swan and two other Wednesday teammates bet on Wednesday to lose their final match of the season to Ipswich Town F.C. Ipswich won the match 2-0, and while Swan says they won the match fairly, he also said he does not know what he would have done had Wednesday been winning.

When the gambling ring had been found out, Swan was banned from football and was later sentenced to four months in prison.

Trabelsi spent one season in Germany with club Fortuna Dusseldorf, and boy what a cover that was. He made just one league appearance for the club, scoring a goal, a pretty big accomplishment for someone that will not be remembered as a professional footballer.

Just after his first match, Trabelsi was arrested for having connections to Al-Qa’ida. Trabelsi was convicted of plotting an attack against American soldiers stationed at a Belgian airbase. He was also suspected of plotting the Paris Embassy Terrorist Plot, and was allegedly supposed to be the suicide bomber who would carry out the attack.

In 2003 Trabelsi was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The West Bromwich Albion striker’s life took a turn for the worse in 2004. One night Hughes was behind the wheel when he crashed his Mercedes with another car, killing a passenger in the other car.

To make matters worse Hughes and his passenger fled the scene, amid reports that Hughes had been driving drunk. The following day Hughes turned himself in and was released on police bail.

In 2004 Hughes was convicted of death by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Hughes was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from driving for 10 years.

It’s no shock that a man who plays the way Joey Barton plays would get himself into off the field trouble as well as on the field trouble.

Barton has twice been convicted for violent charges. The first incident came when he drove his car into a pedestrian at 2 a.m. in the Liverpool City Centre. Barton was convicted of assault and served 77 days in prison.

Barton was released from prison on July 28, 2008. However, during his sentence, on July 1, 2008, Barton received a four month suspended sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual body harm against his former Manchester City teammate Ousame Dobo.

Violence seems to run in the Barton family as well. Joey’s half-brother, Michael, was given a life term in prison for his involvement in the racial murder of Anthony Walker in 2005.

The Welsh footballer seemed to have quite a thing going for him at Wrexham, until he was found out.

In 1993 Thomas was arrested and convicted of counterfeiting and money laundering, where he laundered the money through Wrexham’s trainees. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.