Former Birmingham City striker Marlon King has been refused the chance to have an 18-month jail term for dangerous driving suspended.
The 34-year-old was sentenced back in May after causing a crash in Nottinghamshire.
King was hoping to have his jail term suspended so that he could visit his family in Zambia, but three judges have turned down his request.
"It was an unusually bad offence of its kind with episodes of extremely aggressive driving and sudden changes of lane and speed on a busy road culminating with him stopping, blocking the path of a vehicle and causing the collisions which followed," said Mr Justice Lindblom.
"It was, in truth, deliberately dangerous driving, which may have resulted in far more serious injuries or worse."
King was released by Sheffield United in December 2013.
