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Robinho's threat to sue sporting deity Pele over a rather odd claim of drug use is just the latest in a great history of football lawsuits.

The Manchester City forward has demanded an apology or else he will go to court over Pele's allegation that Robinho and Ronaldo took drugs at a party in Sao Paulo.

Fooball has become an increasingly beautiful game for lawyers, who have raked in cash from all manner of frivolous nonsense - here is a selection of our favourite lawsuits.

WEST HAM v REST OF THE WORLD

The Carlos Tevez saga has developed from one lawsuit into a veritable festival of litigation.

When West Ham and Sheffield United reached a settlement, that was supposed to be the end of it. Instead, it lauched a host of threats from supposedly injured parties.

Neil Warnock has said he could sue because he should still be a Premier League manager - which is what he was when the Blades picked up one win from their last 11 games in 2006-07 and went down.

Fulham want the extra prize money they would have won if the Hammers had had points deducted. And Leeds want cash from bonus clauses in the contracts of players they sold to United.

It has been speculated that the man who parks his burger van outside Bramall Lane might be next to sue for loss of earnings.

BOCA FAN v TATTOO ARTIST

In 2007 a Boca Juniors fan sued a tattooist who drew a penis on his back instead of his team's badge.

The teenager asked for a tattoo of the Boca logo but the tattoo artist, a supporter of rivals River Plate, had other ideas.

The victim said: "I could not see what he was tattooing because he didn't have a mirror. I only saw it when I got home and showed it to my parents."

An amused police spokesperson added: "The tattooist supports Boca Juniors' rival, River Plate, so he got annoyed when the teenager asked him to tattoo Boca's symbol and decided to tattoo a penis instead. Unbelievable!"

INTERNAZIONALE v BARIS KASKA

Internazionale marked their centenary in 2007 by releasing a new away strip (pictured) featuring a white shirt with a big red cross of St George on it, as the cross is a symbol of the city of Milan.

It also symbolises the crusades, a fact that moved Turkish lawyer Baris Kaska to legal action when Inter played Fenerbahce in the Champions League.

"That cross only brings one thing to mind - the symbol of the Templar Knights," Kaska said. "It made me think immediately of the bloody days of the past. While I was watching the game I felt profound grief in my soul."

Inter's 3-0 victory probably didn't help either.

Despite calling for Inter to be "heavily fined for displaying an offensive symbol", Kaska's campaign failed.

He has yet to launch any action against England, Georgia or even Barcelona, whose club badge features a mini cross of St George.

INTERNAZIONALE v CHRISTIAN VIERI

In the same year, Inter found themselves on the sharp end of a writ from former striker Christian Vieri after it emerged that the club spied on him and tapped his phone between 1999 and 2005.

Rather than taking to the courts, Vieri could instead have followed the example of legendary German hellraiser Mario Basler.

One possibly apocryphal tale describes how Bayern Munich sent agents to trail Basler's nocturnal activities as they suspected him of boozing on school nights.

One evening, realising he was being followed, Basler headed for the nearest strip club where he proceeded to spend the evening sipping nothing but mineral water.

ROMARIO v MARIO ZAGALLO

After Romario was axed from the Brazilian squad for the 1998 World Cup, the prolific striker took revenge by getting the toilet doors at his sports bar painted with a cartoon of coach Mario Zagallo and his assistant Zico sitting on the toilet.

Zagallo did not take it well, and sued on the grounds that "the cartoons are personal revenge for him being dropped from the national team".

Remarkably, Zagallo won, and Romario was ordered to pay damages and remove the offending toilet doors.

Fellow Brazilian striker Edmundo has had legal troubles of his own, but none more entertaining than when animal welfare groups had him prosecuted after he hired a circus to perform in his garden for his son's birthday.

Edmundo took a particular shine to a monkey named Pedrinho, whom he proceeded to get drunk on beer and whisky.

Eurosport