19681- GEORGE BEST The new magician of the sport had his breakthrough season. Surely one of the most individually talented footballers of all time, his dazzling skills captivated the audiences that were fascinated by the Fifth Beetle. His 28 goals (in 41 games) made him the top scorer in England and helped Manchester United finish a close league runner-up, being chosen English Footballer of the Year. He was also key for the team to win the European Cup scoring in both the semifinal and the final against Eusébio's Benfica. Best was the winner of the 1968 Ballon d'Or. His issues outside the field and his quick fading are an absolute shame. 2- BOBBY CHARLTON Key in the midfield of Manchester United, he contributed 15 league goals to help his team finish in second place in the English league and a couple more goals in their successful European campaign, both of them in the final against Eusébio's Benfica nonetheless. Charlton also led England to the third place in the 1968 UEFA EURO, scoring goals in quarterfinals and against Soviet Union for the bronze. Sir Bobby is easily one of the two or three most symbolic English footballers of all time alongside Stanley Matthews and Bobby Moore. 3- EUSEBIO His 1967-68 season was remarkable and the most prolific of his career. With a scoring average of almost 2 goals per game (scored 43 times in 24 matches) he led Benfica to their sixth league title of the decade being the tournamente's top scorer for the fifth consecutive time as well as the winner of the first ever European Golden Boot award. He was also the top scorer of the European Cup, the final of which Benfica lost against Manchester United. The game had to be decided in extra time, but Eusébio had had an insuperable opportunity to give Benfica the win during regular time, only to be beaten in the one-on-one by the English keeper. There are a few other guys that were probably as deserving of mention: Dragan Dzajic. Though often overlooked, Dzajic was one of the most notable footballers of his generation. An outstanding winger with fantastic skill in his left foot he is regarded as one of the most important players in the history of Red Star Belgrade and Yugoslavian football in general. In 1968 he led his Red Star to win both the Yugoslavian league and the cup. It was also his most prolific year with the national team scoring 6 times in 11 appearances, including a goal against England (nice lob over Banks) in the UEFA EURO that put his side in the final, and another one in the final itself though ultimately hosts Italy won. Nevertheless, Dzajic's great performance earned him a mention in the Team of the Tournament. He was third for Ballon d'Or that year. His wonderful goal against the English incited Pelé to declare "Dzajic is the Balkan miracle – a real wizard. I'm just sorry he's not Brazilian because I've never seen such a natural footballer." Pelé. The Brazilian legend led his Santos to another Paulista title (though it has to be said that Palmeiras gave priority to the Libertadores Cup, of which they were finalists, and ended up playing eleven Paulista games in a month toward the end of the competition), but also to the team's last national trophy within the Pelé era, the Taça de Prata, winning all 3 games of its final stage. Pelé totaled 28 goals in 38 games that year. They also enjoyed international success to certain extent, as they were the winners of the 1968 Intercontinental Supercup after outdoing Peñarol and Racing Club to win the South American zone to then defeat Internazionale in the final. It has to be said, though, that Inter was no longer the force it had been a few years before and that it reached the final against Santos because Real Madrid (the clear dominator of the Spanish league at the time and semifinalist of the 1967-68 European Cup where it was narrowly bested by eventual winner Manchester United) refused to participate. In fact, Inter also refused to play the second leg of the final after having lost the first game, thus abandoning the competition and making Santos its champion. In 1968 Pelé returned to activity in the Brazilian national team. And why not, Gianni Rivera. In 1968 the great Italian fantasist collected titles at all levels. He first led Milan to be far and away the winner of Serie A while being among the top scorers of the league despite his midfielder role. With another 3 goals in 5 games he helped Milan have a very good Italian Cup campaign, althouth the team was narrowly outdone by Torino in the end. Rivera also helped the team win the Cup Winners' Cup defeating Beckenbauer's Bayern Munich in semis and Seeler's Hamburger in the final. At country level, Rivera was a member of the Italian squad that won the UEFA EURO, though he did not have a relevant role. Perhaps for that reason he only made the top 10 in the 1968 Ballon d'Or voting.
One thing these lists do not capture is that some 'legends' had a fairly constant level over a number of years, IMO.
I think Muller finished way to low in the Ballon D'or in 1967 after the season he had, I know it was his breakthrough year so maybe he would have finished higher if he was already an established name. In fact I think he possibly should have won it that year, don't get me wrong, Albert was a great player but did he have a better season than Muller that year or just benefit from the Eastern block votes ? Same in 1963, I think Greaves or Rivera had a better season than Yashin in my view and I think Greaves edged it.
I totally agree, when the likes of England did not enter the World Cup and there was no European Championships, "friendlies" unlike today were massively important and treated like say a Rugby test today if say the All Blacks, Australia or South Africa visit. The friendlies of 30s, 40s, and 50s were huge games, Englands "friendlies" vs Italy in 1934 and 1948 plus the games versus Hungary in 1953 and 1954 were fully competitive games.
!! Club "friendlies" were often fully competitive matches as well. Such as the famous Wolves victory over Honved in '54 (a match that I was lucky enough to cover in person @ Molineux): http://www.britishpathe.com/video/wolves-beat-honved
No sorry mate, I wouldn't say I've updated or amended that list much - there are some alterations I acknowledged I'd make though in this thread - I don't think Garrincha was a good choice for 1964 and I think Sandor Kocsis would most likely make the top 3 in 1954 for examples. I haven't thought about adding 2010-2013 really as those years have been well discussed on the forum and are more 'current' than historic I suppose (although at the time 2009 was also pretty much current). I also extended my ideas for 1991 and 1994 in the thread IIRC, but generally my 'best guess' would still be something like I originally posted (which was and is pretty uncertain for the earliest years of course).
It's always a big task to 'rate or rank' players - especially for those old timers ... but very well done and I wish you can write more about each success (not for me but for others as a good summary)
Ok. I'll give it another try. 1969 I find particularly difficult to figure out. I would say the following 4 guys are the top contenders, but it is hard to rank them: - Gianni Rivera He received the Ballon d'Or narrowly besting fellow countryman Riva in the voting to became the very first Italian to win the award, but I assume that was mainly due to his successful masterminding of his Milan towards international success (and the obvious notoriety that bring along). At domestic level it was one of his least prolific seasons as he captained Milan to the third place in Serie A (same points as runner-up Cagliari but worse goal difference in their individual matchups and in general as well). It has to be said, however, that the side was not the most remarkable offensively, which was Rivera's area of action, but rather relied in a very proficient defense. Then again he did lead them to win the European Cup where they beat previous champs Celtic (1967) and Manchester United (1968) before their sound victory over Cruyff's Ajax in the final, where Rivera showed remarkable form and outperformed the Dutch legend. The team was Intercontinental champion as well, beating Libertadores winner Estudiantes with Rivera scoring a goal in the second leg of the match. Rivera is considered by many still today as the greatest Italian footballer of all time. But I am not convinced he is the firmest option at the top spot given the simingly lackluster league campaign. Of course, I was not there to see it. Perhaps he was at a very good level in Serie A too even if the stats and results do not necessarily suggest it. - Pelé Pelé led Santos to a third consecutive Paulista title (the second time Santos had won three consecutive Paulista titles after the 60-61-62 wins) scoring 26 goals in 25 games. He also managed a dozen more goals in equal amount of games in the Brazilian national level competition of that time (Taça de Prata), though with Santos being far from having a chance at the title. He scored 7 times in 9 matches with the Seleçao, and though perhaps overshadowed by Tostao's 10 goals, 6 of them counted for Brazil's World Cup qualification. It was a special year because that is when Pelé scored his one thousandth goal. With regard to that the great José Sanfilippo once told a funny anecdote that took place just before a game against Santos: "I was playing for Bahia at the time. It all started when our president asked us to let Pelé score (he had 999 goals at the time) so the entire world would hear about Bahia. I took my shirt off, said that I was not gonna play like that and everybody else followed my lead. Soon after that Carlos Alberto came in and told us that when Pelé scored his 1000 goal we should all leave the pitch so he could enjoy the international press. Listen to me - I yelled at him - Pelé will not score shit and I will damn certainly not leave the field. If they want to leave, they can, but Im staying, get the heck out of here!. In the end Pelé barely touched the ball at all." Not sure Pelé is the firmest option for the top spot either. I understand that at the time Pelé was not at his best and Tostao was sort of rising (and even overshadowing him) as the new Brazilian star. So much so that a couple of months inside 1970 there was that mess with Joao Saldanha being sacked and replaced with Mario Zagallo as he was not so much into Pelé, so to say. - Tostao At only 22 years of age, the new Brazilian sensation led his Cruzeiro (he is the top scorer in the history of the club and surely its greatest player ever) to a fifth consecutive Campeonato Mineiro scoring 16 times in no more than 22 matches. Not only he was an absolute starter in the national team, Tostao played all of the nine official country level matches that year and managed an impressive dozen goals, 10 of which made him the top scorer and arguably the most remarkable player (even perhaps outshining Pelé) of the South American 1970 World Cup qualifiers. Tostao helped Cruzeiro to a successful start of the Taça de Prata, scoring 4 times during the first 4 matches of the tournament. Unfortunately, during the fifth game of the competition in late September he was hit in the face by a ball that caused him to suffer a detached retina that put an end to his season (Cruzeiro went on to finish the tournament in the second position, trailing only Palmeiras). At the time, his return to football was a doubt, but Seleçao manager Joao Saldanha showed the confidence he had in his jewel arguing that even with one eye Tostao could command the attack with mastery. Indeed, the player returned to football, to the national team, and was a key member of the legendary squad that won the World Cup the following year. Nevertheless, some say he never fully recovered his form/level again. This injury ultimately forced his retirement at the age of 26 in 1973. If not for that injury that prevented him from playing most of the national level tournament, I believe he would have probably been the firmest contender for the top pick IMO. - Johan Cruyff After already three outstanding seasons at local level, Cruyff led his Ajax to the European Cup final finally gaining serious international recognition (just my guess). He scored 6 goals in that competition, being surpassed only by the top scorer Denis Law. Managing 24 goals in 29 league games he was Eredivisie runner-up with Ajax after three consecutive titles. He was the 1969 Dutch Player of the Year and finished fourth in the race for the Ballon d'Or. Unfortunately, Holland did not qualify for the 1970 World Cup. On the other hand, Cruyff only played in two of the qualifying games. Seemingly among the very best players in the world already, but the lack of titles with Ajax (plus going from Eredivisie champion last season to runner-up this season) and the fact that he was unable (though for reasons outside his reach, I understand) makes it hard to argue for him as the most deserving candidate for the top spot. But I am not sure it is entirely fair to scratch him off either, since his individual level seemed to have been very high. Then, I would say there is also two other guys worth mentioning. Must mention Luigi Riva, whom right after being a key player in Italy's 1968 European Nations' Cup win, his 21 goals in the 1968-69 season made him Serie A top scorer and were a big reason why Cagliari finished runner-up behind only Fiorentina and ahead (though only on goal difference) of European and Intercontinental champion Milan. He also managed 8 more goals during Cagliari's Italian Cup campaign that saw them finish as runners-up to the title as well and made Riva top scorer too. He was an unmovable starter with his national team at the time and was rather prolific there as well. Riva was second for the 1969 Ballon d'Or, only behind countryman Rivera, who obviously had the extra push of the titles Milan was able to collect. And also Gerd Müller. Der Bomber had a fantastic season scoring 30 goals in 30 league games and 7 more in 5 German Cup games. His Bayern Munich won both competitions. He scored with similar frequency with his national team of which he now became a pillar. Müller was elected German Footballer of the Year and finished third in the Ballon d'Or voting of 1969. I am just not so sure these two are comparable to the first four in terms of averall football skills. I dont want to be unfair. All these six guys are up there for 1969 IMO, and can be shuffled however you want almost if you want to rank them. I just think that the number one should come out of any of the four players up there. Wont bother to rank them myself.
For the 1969 year, El Grafico awarded Hector Chumpitaz as the best south american player. The sucessfull peruvian campaign in the qualies was a strong factor (he was a monster) there, being the MotM at least in half of the matches. But also Chumpitaz was in his absolute prime, leading Universitario to winning domestic league.
Where is the 16 goals in 22 games figures of Tostao taken from? If so, then it is not better as the 1966-1968 years of him. Is there reason to believe that he increased his level in comparison with previous years? I know that he was a special type of forward so it is possible that his level increased despite scoring fewer goals.
Sadly no, I saw in the magazine, the photos of the "1969 annual event " and the winners for each category. For SA player, won Chumpitaz And for argentine player, won Cejas (keeper). https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nkings-of-argentinean-football.1862688/page-2 (posts #40-42)
From the internet, nothing too reliable. Made a mistake anyways. It was 18 goals in no more than 29 games. The Mineirao had 30 games, I know for sure he missed the last one for he scored a goal with Brasil that very same day. But I dont know if he played every one of those other 29 games. With the NT he seems to have been even better than before. He seems to have gained an importance for the Selecao that he did not necessarily had before. He was chosen South American Player of the Year in 1971, although some say he was never quite as good as before the injury. Well, this is before the injury, it is not far fetched to assume he was at his very best at this point in time. As I said, it is a hard year to figure out (they all are, but this one among the hardest for me), which is why I did not attempt to rank them. First I thought Rivera was the obvious choice, but then I realised his Serie A season does not seem to have been so great. That made me look in Pelé's direction, but then I learned (from you for instance, if I remembered correctly) that there were versions that he was no longer that great, plus his place in the NT was starting to be in doubt. Tostao was the new Brazilian (thus South American) sensation who was arguably as good as he ever got to be. But he missed the most important domestic competition due to injury, even if his start had been promising. Cruyff was young, like Tostao, and was arguably at great individual level. But he won no titles, was unable to qualify to the WC (not really his fault I understand) and was outdone by several players for the Ballon d'Or. None is a lock.
Then comes 1970. Another tough year to rank. The mythical WC performance of Brazil means its players gotta dominate the top spots. But its tricky because many of them had less than great season at home. The obvious first impulse for everybody would probably be Pelé. O Rei had a notable World Cup performance (although in my personal opinion somewhat overrated) surrounded by a stellar cast of offensive minded footballers, each and all of them the reference and main man of their respective teams. Though author of some fondly remembered actions, like the dummy against Uruguay, Pelé was not the main orchestrator nor the main scorer of that legendary Brazilian side (for some, the greatest team ever put together). Nevertheless, he was outstanding and was retroactively awarded the Golden Ball. With Santos, however, he seems to have had a forgettable season, falling to the fourth place in the Paulista and being nowhere near close to fighting for the national level title in the Taça de Prata. He scored 11 times in 28 overall games with Santos that year. He is certainly not my choice for top pick this year. Then there is Jairzinho. Taking Tostao's place as the main scorer of the NT, he managed a total of 11 goals in a dozen appearances during 1970. Of those goals, 7 he scored during the World Cup which earned Jairzinho Silver Boot honors. With his physical power, speed and dribbling skill he terrorized everyone of the rival defenses. He scored in every single game (all of them Brazilian victories) and was key for Brazil to win the tournament. That is a feat never before or since achieved (meaning scoring in every game en route to the World Cup title). Had I had a vote he would have been my pick as the most outstanding player of the 1970 World Cup (Golden Ball award). On the other hand, his club season does not seem to have been as impressive since his Botafogo only reached the third place in the Carioca tournament (although Jairzinho was third among its top scorers with 9 goals in the 12 matches he player of the 18 in the tournament). After the World Cup Botafogo managed a decent Taça de Prata campaign narrowly missing the final phase but, like Gérson, Jairzinho played only in half of the games and score just twice. Not too impressive domestic season either. One could argue also for Gérson. A master playmaker with an incredible left foot, Gérson was the natural successor of Didí as the brains of the Seleçao. Much like Didí in 1958, Gérson commanded the team from midfield in their legendary 1970 World Cup campaign. From his highly accurate long passes originated many goals his forward line scored. He showcased them in the final against Italy too, where he also scored a great goal and was selected man of the match. His outstanding performance earned him the Silver Ball mention when they were given years later in retrospect. As Gérson left Botafogo for Sao Paulo the former no longer was able to hold its dominant Carioca position while the latter rose to the Paulista throne again after well over a decade. With Sao Paulo his contribution was key for the tricolor to break the three state chamionship streak of Santos and become the Paulista champion with the further satisfaction of having defeated Pelé's side both times they met (a 3-2 win for Sao Paulo each time, with both Pelé and Gérson leading their respective teams in both games). It has to be said though, that he missed 6 out of 18 games. Unfortunately, the team would not be able to extend its good form to the Taça de Prata, of which Gérson did not play much anyways (played in 10 out of 16 games). So, seemingly better than the first two, but not quite that air-tight either IMO. Rivelino had a very good WC too, but at home his Corinthians did very bad in all competitions. I dont see how he could contend for the top spots, unless his individual level had been outstanding despite the bad results. At the very least I know that in the Robertao it was not the case (not among the best players in his position according to Placar as shown in that other thread containing the ratings). Lastly, there is Tostao. After his eye injury suffered in September 24 of 1969 that would eventually force his retirement at the young age of 26, Tostao had to join the Seleçao later than anybody else. A starter during the entire World Cup and despite playing somewhat outside his usual role, he had a brilliant tournament and was key for the success of the team with his great work rate and solidarity to open spaces for teammates, but also for his remarkable vision and touch. I think his contribution is often underrated or simply overlooked. Back home he scored 4 goals in his come-back game (returning after his eye injury) with Cruzeiro for the Mineirao. The team could not count with Tostao for more than half the tournament and perhaps that had to do with them being unable to sustain the dominance of the previous few years, falling to a rather distant second place. The outstanding forward, however, showed good form after his return managing 9 goals in 10 games. Tostao finished the season as the top scorer of the Taça de Prata (the only competition in Brazil of national reach at the time) with 12 goals in 18 games played (he missed only one game), leading his Cruzeiro (the team with the best attack in the entire competition) to finish at the top of its group in the first phase. Despite scoring in 2 of the 3 games of the final stage, Cruzeiro could not hold its ground and took the fourth place behind Fluminense (champion), Palmeiras and Atlético. He was included in the Brazilian best team of that year (Bola de Prata award), the only member of that fantastic attacking line of the 1970 Brazil to receive such mention. The following year he would be selected South American Player of the Year in what was the inaugural season for the award. Among the Brazilians, my vote is for him. All in all I would say: 1- Tostao (very good WC, IMO often overlooked, outstanding in both domestic competitions, especially in the most relevant one) 2- Gérson (outstanding WC, including final MotM, retrospectively awarded Silver Ball, Paulista champion but missing a third of the games and awful Robertao campaign for Sao Paulo, where he also missed many matches and the team had very bad results) 3- Jairzinho (IMO the most outstanding player of the WC, prolific in the Carioca but missing a third of it and apparently unimpressive at national level) 4- Pelé (great WC but IMO blown out of proportion, lackluster club season with Santos) 5- Rivelino (great WC too but without being the most remarkable performer himself, and Corinthians did bad in all competitions) Looking outside Brazil I propose: 1- Luigi Riva. The Boninsegna-to-Inter / Domenghini-to-Cagliari swap seemed to have worked better for the latter, at least at first. With the support of talented Domenghini and a solid keeper in Albertosi, Riva led Cagliari to the only Serie A title in their history while collecting (for the third and last time in his career) top scorer honors with 21 goals in 28 games. For second season in a row, they were close to achieving the league/cup double as Cagliari also finished in third place for the cup with Riva contributing another 5 goals. At the time, he was a pillar of the Italian national team and by far its main scorer (he ended up being the top scorer in the history of the Italian national team). Between November 1969 and May 1970 he managed 7 goals in 4 games with the Azzurri (4 of them for the World Cup qualifiers). He helped Italy reach the World Cup final scoring 3 times during the competition, all of them in the knockout stage including a very nice goal against West Germany in the Game of the Century semifinal. He did not manage to score in the final against Brazil, but no other Italian put the Brazilian keeper to the test like Riva did. He finished in a rather close third place for the 1970 Ballon d'Or. 2- Gerd Müller. Though close to enjoying success at both club and country level, Der Bomber did not win any collective trophy that season. But individually his form was superb, unstoppably scoring in all fronts, and earned him the 1970 Ballon d'Or award. His Bayern Munich finished in the second place of Bundesliga, but Müller was the competition's top scorer with 38 goals in 33 games, in what was his second most prolific season ever in the Bundesliga. Not only was Müller the European Golden Shoe that season, but that tally made him seasonwise world top scorer as well. He had a remarkable performance in the World Cup as well, scoring in every game except that for the third place against Uruguay that West Germany won anyways, netting the winner against England in quarterfinals and two goals against Italy in the legendary semifinal known as the Game of the Century. He was the tournament's Golden Boot with a total of 10 goals. Such tally was never reached again and had been surpassed only during the pre catenaccio times of the 50s (Kocsis in 1954 and Fontaine in 1958). Clearly one of the best performers of the competition he was years later given retrospectively the Bronze Ball award. It can be argued (like anything in football) that Gerd Müller might not have had the class or flair that others had before, during and after him, but as a pure goalscorer it is hard to find another player as proficient and consistent as he was at all levels and for such a prolonged period of time.
Here's what Saldanha had to say about him in December of 1969: http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD01/HEM/1969/12/31/MD19691231-007.pdf El Grafico also had his WC performance at the top.
Here are France Footballs average ratings for Gerson, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Tostao and Pele for 1970 WC: http://www.everyfourthyear.com/worldcup1970/ Click on Matchfacts and then left click on the team sheets.... Gerson - 6, 4, 4, 5 = avg of 4.75 Rivelino - 5, 4, 5, 5, 4 = avg of 4.6 Jairzinho - 5, 6, 5, 4, 5, 4 = avg of 4.83 Tostao - 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5 = avg of 4.67 Pele - 6, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5 = avg of 4.67 Re: Pele and Tostao in 1969 these highlights are a good (but brief of course) insight:
I know it is difficult, but I don't understand why Cruijff is for 1969 a potential number one (among three others) and in 1970 not among the top names at all.