Raheem Sterling Pleads Guilty to Dangerous Driving
Raheem Sterling has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after crashing a Lamborghini on a series of major roads in the south of England.
The 31-year-old forward admitted at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to driving a Lamborghini Urus dangerously on the M25, the M3, the A327 and Minley Road before a crash on 28 May.
He also admitted possessing six nitrous oxide canisters for wrongful inhalation – a class C drug – and failing to provide a specimen.
Sterling appeared in the Hampshire courtroom dressed in a black suit jacket, black trousers, black shoes and a dark top, a subdued figure for a player long accustomed to the spotlight.
Police from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said the charges followed a single-vehicle collision on the M3 southbound, near the Minley interchange, on 28 May. No other vehicles were involved and no injuries were reported.
The case marks a stark off-field chapter for a player who has been one of England’s defining attacking figures of the past decade. Sterling scored 20 goals in 82 appearances for the national team, playing a central role in Gareth Southgate’s run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the final of Euro 2020.
His club journey has been just as high profile. Raised in the academy at QPR, he broke through at Liverpool, making his senior debut as a teenager before a big-money move to Manchester City in 2015. There, he became a serial winner: four Premier League titles, five League Cups and the 2019 FA Cup underlined his status as one of the most effective forwards in the division.
The move to Chelsea in 2022 was supposed to be the next major chapter. Instead, his influence faded. After falling out of favour at Stamford Bridge, he spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Arsenal, then joined Dutch side Feyenoord on a short-term deal until the end of last season.
He is currently without a club.
Sterling’s off-pitch reputation had long been defined by something very different from courtrooms and collisions. In the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was made an MBE for services to racial equality in sport, recognised for fronting anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns and speaking out forcefully against racism on and off the pitch.
Now, with his future in the game uncertain and a dangerous driving conviction on his record, the question is no longer about his next trophy – but whether any club will choose to build around him again.
