Italian players
GIANFRANCO ZOLA
Born 1966, Italy
Gianfranco Zola – The Magic box
ROBERTO BAGGIO
Born 1967, Italy
Roberto Baggio – The Divine Ponytail
Rest of the world
MATTHIAS SINDELAR
1903-1939, Austria
Mattias Sindelar – The Tragic Hero
LEV YASHIN
1929-1990, Russia
Lev Yashin – The Black Spider
DINO ZOFF
1929-1990, Russia
Dino Zoff – The Golden Glove
ZBIGNIEW BONIEK
Born 1956, Poland
Zbigniew Boniek – Zibì
HUGO SÁNCHEZ
Born 1958, Mexico
Hugo Sánchez – Hugol
ENZO FRANCESCOLI
Born 1961, Uruguay
Enzo Francescoli – El Principe
MICHAEL LAUDRUP
Born 1964, Denmark
Michael Laudrup – Brilliant Danish Player
DRAGAN STOJKOVIC
Born 1965, Serbia
Dragan Stojkovic – Pixie
GHEORGHE HAGI
Born 1965, Romania
Gheorghe Hagi – Comandante
HRISTO STOICHOV
Born 1966, Bulgaria
Hristo Stoichkov – The Dagger
HAKAN ŞÜKÜR
Born 1971, Turkey
Hakan Şükür – The Bull of the Bosphorus
XAVI
Born 1980, Spain
Xavier Hernandez – The Passing Genius
GEORGE WEAH
Born 1966, Liberia
George Weah – King George
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Born 1981, Sweden
Zlatan Ibrahimović – the charismatic football sensation
The criteria
Besides from being regarded as one of the best players in his era, the rule is that the player is no longer active in his career.
More players will be added on following updates.
Records
Most goals in a season
Lionel Messi made a record by scoring 91 goals in 2012, which makes him top scorer in a season in a top league in international football.
Most goals in a FIFA World Cup
The French football player Just Fontaine has the record with 13 goals in one World Cup. This happened in 1958 over six games.
Most FIFA World Cup victories
There are 14 players, all Brazilians or Italians, whose more than once have been members of a team that have won the World Cup. Pelé is holding the record by being a part of the world champions team on three occasions. These twelve players have won the World Cup twice: Giovanni Ferrari, Giuseppe Meazza, Eralod Monzeglio, Gilmar, Djalma Santos, Nilton Santos, Vava, Didi, Zagallo, Garrincha, Zito, Ronaldo and Cafu.
Most goals in a UEFA European Championship
Michel Platini has the record with 9 goals in one European Championship. This happened in 1984 over five games.
Most expensive player
Gareth Bale became the most expensive player in terms of transfer fees then he was bought by Real Madrid from Tottenham for €118 million in 2013.
Most earning player
The figures of salaries are shifting and can vary according to source and if sponsorship money is included or not, but according to most sources Cristiano Ronaldo could be accounted as the player that earn the most money from his occupation.
Most Player of the Year awards
Over the years there have been two different awards: FIFA World Player of the Year award and Ballon d'Or. For some years the awards were merged which affects the total count. If only Ballons d'Or is counted Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten have won the most, three each. If only FIFA World Player is counted Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo has won the most, two each.
Football players ordered after year of birth
The table include the year of birth (and occasionally year of death) of famous ex-players.
| Name | Birth | Death |
|---|
| Ricardo Zamora | 1901 | 1978 |
| Giuseppe Meazza | 1910 | 1979 |
| Stanley Matthews | 1915 | 2000 |
| Gunnar Nordahl | 1921 | 1995 |
| Alfredo Di Stéfano | 1926 | 2014 |
| Ferenc Puskas | 1927 | 2006 |
| Lev Yashin | 1929 | 1990 |
| Josef Masopust | 1931 | 2015 |
| Garrincha | 1933 | 1983 |
| Francisco Gento | 1933 | |
| Gordon Banks | 1937 | |
| Bobby Charlton | 1937 | |
| Pelé | 1940 | |
| Bobby Moore | 1941 | 1993 |
| Franz Beckenbauer | 1945 | |
| Gerd Müller | 1945 | |
| Eusébio | 1945 | 2014 |
| George Best | 1946 | 2005 |
| Johan Cruyff | 1947 | 2016 |
| Kenny Dalglish | 1951 | |
| Kevin Keegan | 1951 | |
| Zico | 1953 | |
| Mario Kempes | 1954 | |
| Michel Platini | 1955 | |
| Zbigniew Boniek | 1956 | |
| Gordon Strachan | 1957 | |
| Hugo Sánchez | 1958 | |
| Franco Baresi | 1960 | |
| Gary Lineker | 1960 | |
| Diego Maradona | 1960 | |
| Lothar Matthäus | 1961 | |
| Ruud Gullit | 1962 | |
| Emilio Butragueño | 1963 | |
| Marco van Basten | 1964 | |
| Jürgen Klinsmann | 1964 | |
| Michael Laudrup | 1964 | |
| Eric Cantona | 1966 | |
| Romário | 1966 | |
| Hristo Stoichkov | 1966 | |
| George Weah | 1966 | |
| Gianfranco Zola | 1966 | |
| Roberto Baggio | 1967 | |
| Fernando Hierro | 1968 | |
| Paolo Maldini | 1968 | |
| Gabriel Batistuta | 1969 | |
| Dennis Bergkamp | 1969 | |
| Tomas Brolin | 1969 | |
| Alan Shearer | 1970 | |
| Roy Keane | 1971 | |
| Luís Figo | 1972 | |
| Rivaldo | 1972 | |
| Zinedine Zidane | 1972 | |
| Ryan Giggs | 1973 | |
| Alessandro Del Piero | 1974 | |
| David Beckham | 1975 | |
| Francesco Totti | 1976 | |
| Thierry Henry | 1977 | |
| Miroslav Klose | 1978 | |
| Ronaldinho | 1980 | |
| Steven Gerrard | 1980 | |
| Kaká | 1982 | |
| Arjen Robben | 1984 | |
