Football is a genre of team sport or entertainment in a broader view which involves, as the name suggests, kicking a ball with the foot(foot+ball). It comprises of various forms having different sets of rules and ways of playings in various countries and regions, but share at least to some extent common origins known as the football codes. Globally known types of footballs are, Association football; Gridiron football (American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; Rugby football (rugby union or rugby league); and Gaelic football.
Let's not go deeper into the rules and various types of footballs and focus on the most popular Association football. Again we will not go deeper into the game, instead we will only list out some of the names you should know in the world of football.
Here is the list of some of the many great players you should know when talking about football with your friends or colleagues otherwise they will think you are SHIT. Really, these are the guys who can KICK the SHIT out of your GUTS in the Soccer world:
1. Diego Maradona
Let's start the list with the everlasting legend most people think the greatest footballer in history, Diego Maradona. The whole world got to know him from 1986 FIFA World Cup when he won the cup for his country. Of course football is a team work, but people say this guy had won the cup single handedly with his extraordinary and phenomenal skills and scored two of the most important goals in the history of football, and the move he made... Some country would never forget.
If you ever heard of anyone saying, the Hand of God in football and you have no idea what it's all about, please Google it... I would not link it because it's worth to search and look for yourself.
Awards and Achievements: 90min's Greatest Footballer of All Time, Corriere dello Sport's Best Athlete in History, 1986 FIFA World Cup, 1986 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, 1985 Serie A Footballer of the Year, FIFA World Cup All-Time Team, FIFA Goal of the Century, Argentine Sports Writers' Sportsman of the Century, two-time South American Footballer of the Year, four-time Argentine Football Writers' Footballer of the Year, two Scudetti, one Coppa Italia, one Copa del Rey, one UEFA Cup.
2. Pelé
People often compare this legend with Maradona, well let's leave the comparison part for real time discussion. This Brazillian legend not only scored most goals ever in one's football career, he had scored even more goals after his retirement from the football field which made him in the list of TIME 100 persons of the century, the only one from soccer star.
Pelé is not only the greatest footballer of his time, he is also one of the greatest personality of the century.
Awards and Achievements: Most career goals (of any footballer ever, like ever), FIFA Player of the Century, France Football's greatest FIFA World Cup player, TIME 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century list, Brazil's all-time leading goalscorer, Santos' all-time leading goalscorer, youngest FIFA World Cup winner, most assists in FIFA World Cup history, 1958, 1962 & 1970 FIFA World Cup, top goalscorer in FIFA World Cup finals, two Copa Libertadores titles, six Campeonato Brasilerio Serie A titles, two Intercontinental Cups, 1970 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, 1958 FIFA World Cup Best Young Player, 1970 Bola de Prata.
3. Zinedine Zidane
When we say football is not only a sport in modern world but more like an entertainment with 22 big stars showing their exceptional skills and beautiful in the arena, this french legend is the BIG DUDE who revolutionised the game into more entertaining show. Of course one needs ti have exceptional and phenomenal skills to entertain the audience with his beautiful dance in addition to the mere playing of scoring the goal, you know what I mean..? This guy has it...
Awards and Achievements: 1998 Ballon d'Or, 1998, 2000 & 2003 FIFA World Player of the Year, 2002 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, 2000/01 Serie A Footballer of the Year, UEFA Champions League Best Player of the Past 20 Years, L'Equipe Best French Player of All Time, 2006 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, only player to be named Player of the Year in three of the top five leagues, most goals in FIFA World Cup finals, 1998 FIFA World Cup, 2000 UEFA European Championships, one Champions League, two Scudetti, one La Liga title, one Intercontinental Cup.
4. Lionel Messi
This Argentine's SMALL DUDE has topped this year's football rich list, according to Forbes. Even though Messi did not win the most prestigious FIFA World Cup for his country he was the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year and many audience from all over the world still consider him as better than the legendary Diego Maradona.
Awards and Achievements: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2015 Ballon d'Or, 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year, Barcelona all time top goalscorer, La Liga all time top goalscorer, six-time Pichichi winner, Argentina's all time top goalscorer, most goals scored in a calendar year, 2011 & 2015 UEFA Men's Player of the Year, seven-time La Liga Player of the Year, 2014 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, 2005 Young European Footballer of the Year, five-time European Golden Shoe winner, four Champions Leagues, nine La Liga titles, six Copa del Rey.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
You may say C.Ronaldo, like his rival Messi, never perform extraordinary with his national team in the FIFA World Cup and European Cup. Well, football is not all about national competition which happen very less often than their primary job or business. If you judge them from their primary work which they mostly focus on, you will realise that definitely this portuguese captain cannot be excluded in the list otherwise your spouse will beat you up. He is the first ever football player to earn to earn a Billion dollar in history.
Awards and Achievements: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 & 2017 Ballon d'Or, 2008, 2016 & 2017 FIFA World Player of the Year, 2014, 2016 & 2017 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, four-time European Golden Shoe winner, two-time PFA Players' Player of the Year, UEFA Champions League all time top goalscorer, Real Madrid's all time top goalscorer, five UEFA Champions Leagues, two La Liga titles, three Premier League titles, one Scudetto, two Copa del Rey, one FA Cup, one UEFA European Championship.
6. Neymar
Well, this would be the only player in the list we don't give Awards and Achievements section because he is the ongoing active player spending his peak and noone knows what more he would achieve.
He is the rising star at young age like others, but unfortunately his appearance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2015 Copa America was cut short by injury and suspension. But still he is already the second highest goalscorer for his country and next to only the legendary Pele with the score of 64 goals in 103 games till țhe time of writing this article. That's way more than half of his game appearance you know!
His transfer cost of 222 million Euro to the French giant PSG made him the most expensive player ever at the time.
He is in the list of 100 most influential people in the world by Time. He is ranked the world's third highest-paid athlete by Forbes.
7. Ronaldo
This brazilian striker is definitely one of the greatest footballers and may be the greatest striker ever... He has almost all the talents needed to be a good striker: speed and agility, dribbling, heading, finishing... etc. Unfortunately his many times injury created problems for his road to greatness but nothing can stop him for claiming most of the awards and achievements great players would have got as you can see the list below...
Awards and Achievements: 1997 & 2002 Ballon d'Or, 1996, 1997 & 2002 FIFA World Player of the Year, 1998 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, 2002 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe, 1996/97 European Golden Shoe, 1994 & 2002 FIFA World Cup, 1997 & 1999 Copa America, two-time Pichichi winner, 1998 Serie A Footballer of the Year, two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, one KNVB Cup, one UEFA Cup, one Intercontinental Cup.
8. Ronaldinho
The world started to know him since he scored one of the greatest and incredible goals in the FIFA World Cup history against the most popular football loving country England in the knock out round. Ronaldinho was not only a great player in the field, he was a great entertainer to the audience showing off great skills and beautiful moves while playing a very good game.
His beauty does not lie on his face, so don't look at his face! He is really beautiful inside the football field..!
Awards and Achievements: 2005 Ballon d'Or, 2004 & 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year, 2005/06 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, 2004 & 2005 FIFPro World Player of the Year, one UEFA Champions League, two La Liga titles, one Scudetto.
9. Romário
According to Romario, 'Romario scored 1000 goals..!'
Well thats a big number, right? Many of you may not see Romario playing since he was not in the popular European club. This SMALL but goal scoring machine DUDE got the 1994 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball award winning the cup for his country Brazil. His name would never be left out among the list of the world's greatest football players.
Awards and Achievements: 1994 FIFA World Player of the Year, 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1994 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, 1994 World Cup All-Star Team, 1989 & 1997 Copa America, one La Liga, three time Eredivisie, 1993/94 Pichichi winner.
10. Gianluigi Buffon
If you know football/soccer you would surely know hard it is for a goalkeeper to make it to the top in the list even though the game cannot be played without the goalkeeper, and if you ever want to rank the player in this most inevitable but, like the unsung hero, less appreciated position, this Italian hero should spark up your mind in the first place.
Buffon can be said with no doubt the greatest goalkeeper of all time. With his exceptional record of conceding only two goals in his route to the World Cup triumph, and those too were not blamed on him because one was a freaking own goal from his teammate and the other was the penalty from Zinedine Zidane. Thîs BIG DUDE holds the record for the longest streak without conceding a goal in Serie A history of over 12 league matches. His awards and achievements which no other goalkeeper had or would have ever achieved are down below.
Awards and Achievements: 2006 Ballon d'Or runner-up, 2006 FIFA World Cup, 12-time Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year, 2002/03 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, two-time Pallone Azzurro, 2016/17 Serie A Footballer of the Year, 11 Scudetti, five Coppa Italia titles, one UEFA Cup.
Again, this list is not a comparison of who is better than the other or which one is the greatest. There are many other great players in history and the current active players. If we list out all the great players, there are hundreds of them and we will have to keep going. This is the list of only few of the greatest players the world had ever seen you better know to prove that you are not SHIT in discussing football.
If you want to go a little dept further, here are other great players just to name few: Sir Bobby Charlton, Jürgen Klinsmann, George Best, Gerd Müller, Marco van Basten, Lothar Matthäus, Zico, Michel Platini and many more...
0 Comments