The next generation is a transition team headlined by a slightly older Rummenigge and a young Matthäus. This group was peaking in the two World Cup runners up in the 80s. It overlaps the generations before and after significantly. The Rummenigge/Matthäus generation is from 1954 to 1962 Finisher Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Rudi Völler Klaus Allofs Dieter Muller Stefan Kuntz Creator Bernd Schuster Pierre Littbarski Hansi Müller Karl Allgöwer Controller Lothar Matthäus Uli Stielike Andreas Brehme Hans-Peter Briegel Uwe Bein Wolfgang Dremmler Wolfgang Rolff Defender Karl-Heinz Forster Guido Buchwald Klaus Augenthaler Matthias Herget Wilfried Hannes Holger Hieronymus Goalkeeper Harald Schumacher Uli Stein Ike Immel René Müller The finisher group stayed similar in quality and composition to the previous group, losing Streich and Hrubesch but gaining a slightly superior player in Rudi Völler. The creators received an upgrade in my opinion trading Magath and Hoeness for Schuster and Littbarski. The controllers are once again excellent. Breitner, Kaltz, and Bonhof were lost but replaced by similar players in Matthaus, Brehme, and Bein. I think this group is slightly ahead of the previous. The defenders have taken a step back losing some of their depth. The goalkeepers are once again excellent adding another solid player.
The final generation of the three overlapping groups focuses on the players who won the 1990 World Cup, many of which had excellent longevity and were vital to the 1996 Euro win as well. The Matthäus/Klinsmann generation is from 1960 to 1967 Finisher Jurgen Klinsmann Rudi Völler Ulf Kirsten Karl-Heinz Riedle Olaf Marschall Stefan Kuntz Roland Wohlfarth Creator Pierre Littbarski Thomas Hassler Andreas Möller Controller Lothar Matthäus Matthias Sammer Andreas Brehme Uwe Bein Olaf Thon Ralf Fakenmayer Dieter Eilts Stefan Reuter Defender Jurgen Kohler Guido Buchwald Thomas Helmer Manfred Binz Thomas Berthold Goalkeeper Andreas Köpke Bodo Illgner Ike Immel Raimond Aumann The finishers have good depth but past the top three the depth is of questionable quality. The chance creators lack depth but the three players present are excellent. The controllers are probably Germany's best ever with Matthaus and Brehme joined by Sammer and great depth behind. The defenders are solid again with Forster lost but replaced in kind by Kohler. It is of similar quality to the last generation a step behind the previous two. The goalkeepers again have excellent depth but do not have a player of Schumacher's quality to replace him.
I decided not to make a generation between the 1990 generation and the 2014 winning generation. The quality declined considerably and and quality present was to spread out to make one strong group. For example Effenberg and Kahn cannot be joined together with Ballack and Klose. The final generation is based on the 2014 World Cup champions. Some of the players listed may seem somewhat speculative at this point as much of their careers is still to come, but this should give a relatively good idea of the players available for this group. The Muller/Schweinsteiger generation is from 1983 to 1990 Finisher Thomas Müller Mario Gomez Lukas Podolski André Schürrle Stefan Kießling Creator Toni Kroos Mesut Özil Marco Reus Piotr Trochowski Max Kruse Controller Bastian Schweinsteiger Phillip Lahm Sami Khedira İlkay Gündoğan Lars Bender Marcell Jansen Defender Mats Hummels Jérôme Boateng Per Mertesacker Benedikt Höwedes Holger Badstuber Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer The finishers are solid but not spectacular led by Muller, as Gomez's career flamed out. The chance creators are led by three very talented players who still could achieve much more in their careers. The controllers are also excellent led by the two most proven commodities of this group. The defenders are decent but Hummels and Boateng need to keep improving to make the group stand up to past groups a German defenders. Neuer is an all time great already and will continue to add to his legacy, but many of his competitors in his early days (Alder etc) have fallen off and do not seem worthy of listing.
I left Schweinsteiger/Muller out of the ranking because so much is left unfinished for some of the players. Finisher 1) Beckenbauer/Müller 2) Breitner/Rummenigge 3) Rummenigge/Matthäus 4) Seeler/Schnellinger 5) Matthäus/Klinsmann 6) Szepan/Janes 7) Walter/Schafer Creator 1) Beckenbauer/Müller 2) Walter/Schafer 3) Rummenigge/Matthäus 4) Matthäus/Klinsmann 5) Seeler/Schnellinger 6) Szepan/Janes 7) Breitner/Rummenigge Controller 1) Matthäus/Klinsmann 2) Rummenigge/Matthäus 3) Breitner/Rummenigge 4) Szepan/Janes 5) Beckenbauer/Müller 6) Seeler/Schnellinger 7) Walter/Schafer Defender 1) Beckenbauer/Müller 2) Breitner/Rummenigge 3) Seeler/Schnellinger 4) Matthäus/Klinsmann 5) Rummenigge/Matthäus 6) Szepan/Janes 7) Walter/Schafer Goalkeeper 1) Beckenbauer/Müller 2) Rummenigge/Matthäus 3) Breitner/Rummenigge 4) Matthäus/Klinsmann 5) Walter/Schafer 6) Seeler/Schnellinger 7) Szepan/Janes Overall 1) Beckenbauer/Müller 2) Rummenigge/Matthäus 3) Breitner/Rummenigge 4) Matthäus/Klinsmann 5) Seeler/Schnellinger 6) Walter/Schafer 7) Szepan/Janes Overall Beckenbauer/Müller was the clear winner with the three 80/90s generations all close followed by the three older groups.
Born in 1992, he cannot be in the same generation as Lahm and Schweinsteiger unfortunately and is therefore left out.
If you're focusing a Maradona's generation. He's related to WCs 86 & 90. And Caniggia was fundamental to one of the WCs and also some CAs. Whereas Diaz and Barbas weren't, imho.
On to Hungary. The first generation played throughout the late 20 and early 30s and although the national team failed to have any major successes, this group of players was highly thought of and very successful in the early days of the Mitropa Cup. The Orth/Takas generation is from 1901 to 1908. Finisher Jozsef Takacs István Avar Ferenc Hirzer Vilmos Kohut Pal Javor Laszlo Horvath Creator Gyorgi Orth József Braun József Turay Pál Titkos Jenő Vincze György Molnár Gábor Szabó Imre Markos Elemér Berkessy Controller Francis Borsányi Gabor Kléber Rudolf Jeny Defender Lajos Korányi Márton Bukovi László Sternberg The finishers are excellent led by the Takacs, Avar, Hirzer trio that all had great club and international careers. The chance creators are very deep in top quality. Orth was one of the best players of his time and was difficult to assign a single role as he played multiple positions in his career. Braun was one of Hungary's greatest wings ever before injuries shortened his career. Turay was an excellent creative inside forward who amassed 48 caps with the national team. Titkos, Vincze, and Molnar were all excellent player as well. The controllers were adequate led by Berkessy. The defenders are solid but that is it. There were no quality goalkeepers I could find.
The next generation centers on the group that were peaking pre WWII and made the 1938 World Cup final, many had their careers interrupted to varying degrees by the war. The Sarosi/Zsengeller generation is from 1908-1915 Finisher Gyorgy Sarosi Géza Toldi László Cseh Gyorgy Kalmar Jeno Jenofi Creator Gyula Zsengellér Ferenc Sas Pál Titkos Jenő Vincze Imre Markos Controller Antal Szalay Gyula Lázár György Szűcs János Dudás Defender Sándor Bíró Gyula Polgár Marton Bukovi Goalkeeper Antal Szabó Jozsef Hada There were a number of attacking players that I was unsure of their roles including Sarosi, Cseh, and Zsengeller. The finishers are very strong led by Sarosi one of the top players in the world at the time. Toldi and Cseh were both excellent players in the Hungarian league and had solid national team careers. The chance creators are also excellent with all 5 players having very good careers. Zsengellér led the way as one of the top attackers in the world both pre and post war. The controllers were much improved with all four players listed having good resumes. The defenders are solid led by Biro, who was Hungary's best but I do no think he was thought of as a top international defender. Both the goalkeepers had good careers.
The Golden Team is next with additions of slightly older players and some greats playing abroad. The Puskas/Kubala generation is from 1922 to 1929. Finisher Ferenc Puskas Sandor Kocsis Ferenc Deak Ferenc Szusza Istvan Nyers Peter Palotas Joseph Ujlaki Creator Ladislao Kubala Nandor Hidegkuti Zoltán Czibor Károly Sándor László Budai Mihály Tóth Béla Egresi Controller József Bozsik József Zakariás Antal Kotász Defender Mihály Lantos Jenő Buzánszky Gyula Lóránt Goalkeeper Gyula Grosics Henni Géza The finishers may be the best generation in football history. This group of players had outrageous goal scoring records with the national team, had multiple European golden boots on the domestic level in Hungary, and had great goalscoring records in league all over Europe. The creators are nearly equally excellent. Kubala was an all time great who was not even a part of the best national team in the world at the time. Hidegkuti and Czibor are considered all time greats at their positions, while Sandor and Budai both had excellent careers. The total attacking talent between the finishers and creators is amazing for such a short time period and such a small country. This combined group challenges the greatest groups of attacking players from massive countries like Brazil (60s) and Argentina (40s). The controllers are led by an all time great in Bozsik but are not deep. The defenders have solid records but were not considered top players in Europe the way the forwards of the team were. This generation barely missed out on some top defenders with Sándor Szűcs and Rudas Ferenc born in 1921, and Ferenc Sipos born in 1932. Some of the very knowledgeable Hungarian posters on xtratime rate Rudas Ferenc as one of Hungary's best defenders ever and labelled him as a sure started for the Golden Team if injury had not halted his career in 1951. The goalkeepers are excellent behind one of Hungary's best in Grosics. One of the most shocking things about this group is that their resumes could be even better if the national team had not disintegrated in 1956, they still would have had a great team in 1958.
The next two generations split the post Golden Team Hungary into two groups. The Tichy/Gorocs generation is from 1932 to 1939 Finisher Lajos Tichy Ferenc Machos Creator János Göröcs Máté Fenyvesi Gyula Rákosi József Bencsics Controller Imre Mathesz Dezső Bundzsák Pál Berendi Defender Ferenc Sipos Sandor Matri László Sárosi Dezső Novák Zoltán Kereki Jenő Dalnoki Goalkeeper Antal Szentmihályi Machos and Tichy are excellent finishers but the group has no depth behind them. The creators are solid in Gorocs and Fenyvesi but not spectacular. Mathesz is a good controller but depth is again lacking. The defenders are excellent, Hungary's best group ever with Sipos, Matri, Sarosi, and Novak all having great careers. Szentmihályi was a solid goalkeeper Although there is some overlap the next generation trades out most of the excellent defensive group for a major upgrade in attack. The Albert/Bene generation is from 1937 to 1944 Finisher Ferenc Bene Janos Farkas Antal Dunai Creator Florian Albert János Göröcs Gyula Rákosi Sándor Zámbó Controller Kálmán Mészöly Imre Mathesz József Szabó Lajos Szűcs Dezső Bundzsák Ernő Solymosi Defender Dezső Novák Zoltán Kereki Benő Káposzta Miklós Páncsics Goalkeeper Antal Szentmihályi The three finishers are all solid especially Bene and Farkas. Albert was one of the best players in the world who is supported by Gorocs and Rakosi who had very good careers. The controller group is Hungary's best with great depth and excellent top talent in Mészöly, Mathesz, Szabó and Szűcs. The defenders take a big step back after losing Sipos, Matri, and Sarosi.
Rankings Finisher 1) Puskas/Kubala 2) Orth/Takacs 3) Sarosi/Zsengellér 4) Albert/Bene 5) Tichy/Göröcs Creator 1) Puskas/Kubala 2) Orth/Takacs 3) Sarosi/Zsengellér 4) Albert/Bene 5) Tichy/Göröcs Controller 1) Albert/Bene 2) Puskas/Kubala 3) Sarosi/Zsengellér 4) Orth/Takacs 5) Tichy/Göröcs Defender 1) Tichy/Göröcs 2) Puskas/Kubala 3) Sarosi/Zsengellér 4) Albert/Bene 5) Orth/Takacs Goalkeeper 1) Puskas/Kubala 2) Sarosi/Zsengellér 3) Orth/Takacs 4) Tichy/Göröcs and Albert/Bene Overall 1) Puskas/Kubala 2) Sarosi/Zsengellér 3) Orth/Takacs 4) Albert/Bene 5) Tichy/Göröcs Puskas/Kubala clear number 1 with the next two basically even followed closely by Albert/Bene and clearly last is Tichy/Gorocs.
Why do you think Hungary is the only great NT to have fallen into irrelevance later on? I feel the 6-0 thrashing that the USSR gave them at WC86 marks the start of a descent into obscurity.
Here's a list of hungarian international players http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Yufrepj/Hungary-caps Some keepers born in this generation had 9 or 10 caps (not bad for the era)
It is pretty shocking when you look at the number of world class players they produced in the inter war year and the 50s and 60s compared to the last 20 years. The last player they had who was at least somewhat close to world class was Lajos Detari in the 80s. I would love to know some theories from anyone who has some type of more well developed idea than me just shooting in the dark.
The next country region I will be doing is the Soviet Union/Former Soviet Union. There will be one generation after the break up that I will keep players from Ukraine, Russia, etc together for the purposes of this thread. The first generation I was able to make a decent generation out of was the group who was in there primes for the Soviet's first big foray on to the national stage at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. The Yashin/Netto generation is from 1924 to 1931 Finisher Nikita Simonyan Anatoli Ilyin Zaur Kaloev Vladimir Ilyin Creator Sergei Salnikov Vladimir Ryzhkin Controller Igor Netto Yuri Voinov Aleksei Paramonov Viktor Tsaryov Defender Anatoli Bashashkin Anatoli Maslyonkin Konstantin Krizhevsky Boris Kuznetsov Nikolay Tishchenko Vladimir Kesarev Goalkeeper Lev Yashin The finishers are led by Simonyan, a Soviet all time great and Ilyin who had an excellent international career. I am unsure of the quality of Zaur Kaloev and Vladimir Ilyin but they add some depth. The creators lack depth, which is not the case for most Soviet generation. Salnikov leads they way who was an excellent creative inside forward and one of the top players of his time. The controllers are strong led by Igor Netto, an all time great player world wide. He is supported by Yuriy Voynov, an all time Soviet great and Aleksei Paramonov and Viktor Tsaryov two excellent poly functional players who had strong careers and reputations. The defenders have good depth and quality. Yashin is one of the greatest keepers ever.
Not only players Hungary was feeder of great coaches in the prewar and inmediate postwar era. So, I guess it related to the downfall of the system developing talents and the circunstances around the 60s (political, economic status, etc.)
USSR has Yashin, Blokhin, Dasaev, Shevchenko, Arshavin but otherwise is not so strong in all-time greats. Wish you had gone with Yugoslavia pre- and post- breakup instead, far more depth in my opinion. Indeed, many Hungarian coaches developed Brazilian football in the 40s and 50s. A great legacy obviously.
Yugoslavia is definitely going to come up. I would also put USSR equal to them in total number of quality players. I think you are underrating a fair number of top Soviet players if you are mention Arshavin ahead of guys like Streltsov, Ivanov, Netto, Voronin, Shesternev etc.
The next generation of Soviet footballers has two similar version. Overall it was a very deep generation of players who were prominent in the 60s and teamed with some of the players with better longevity from the earlier generation (Yashin, Netto). It is split in to two slightly different generations, the first going back to 1934 to get Valentin Ivanov, and second moving to 1943 to get Khurtsilava and Rudakov. The Ivanov/Voronin generation is from 1934 to 1941 Finisher Viktor Ponedelnik Gennadi Gusarov Oleg Kopayev Creator Eduard Streltsov Valentin Ivanov Mikheil Meskhi Igor Chislenko Slava Metreveli Galimizjan Khusainov Andriy Biba Controller Valery Voronin Nikolai Manoshin Viktor Serebryanikov Defender Albert Shesternev Vladimir Kaplichny Valentin Afonin Vladimir Ponomaryov Vasiliy Danilov Viktor Anichkin Givi Chokheli Eduard Dubinski Viktor Shustikov Goalkeeper Anzor Kavazashvili Viktor Bannikov Yuri Pshenichnikov The finishers are decent with Ponedelnik having a good career and scoring some very important goals for the national team. Gusarov and Kopayev both had excellent careers in domestic leagues but not big impacts for the national team. The creator group is fantastic. The depth and top talent is great. Streltsov was the most talented Soviet player ever but did not have a full career. Ivanov was fantastic for the national team in a number of major tournaments and was one of the top forward/wings in the world. Meskhi, Chislenko, and Metreveli are three of the greatest Soviet wingers ever. Khusainov and Biba were both excellent players that provided more depth but were limited in caps due to the depth at creative positions. Voronin is an all time great and Manoshin is a solid player but the depth is not great. The depth is excellent at defender backing up Shesternev, one of the best defenders in the world at the time. Kavazashvili and Bannikov are both very good keepers. The Voronin/Khurtsilava generation is from 1936 to 1943 Finisher Viktor Ponedelnik Eduard Malofeyev Gennadi Gusarov Oleg Kopayev Creator Eduard Streltsov Mikheil Meskhi Igor Chislenko Slava Metreveli Galimizjan Khusainov Vladimir Fedotov Andriy Biba Vitaliy Khmelnytskyi Controller Valery Voronin Nikolai Manoshin Viktor Serebryanikov Defender Albert Shesternev Murtaz Khurtsilava Vladimir Kaplichny Valentin Afonin Vladimir Ponomaryov Vasiliy Danilov Viktor Anichkin Givi Chokheli Viktor Shustikov Goalkeeper Yevgheni Rudakov Anzor Kavazashvili Viktor Bannikov Yuri Pshenichnikov The finishers have a solid addition in Malofeyev. The creators, despite adding some depth, lose Ivanov and are overall slightly behind the previous generation. The defenders make a major addition adding a second all time great to the group in Khurtsilava, making this one of the stronger defensive generations ever. The goalkeepers also make a big addition in Rudakov, giving this group excellent goalkeeper depth.
Building a generation are Oleg Blokhin is next, and there are two slightly different way to create it. One generation trades out Vladimir Muntian for Alexander Chivadze. Otherwise they are very similar. The Muntian/Blokhin generation is from 1946 to 1953 Finisher Oleg Blokhin Anatoliy Banishevskiy Anatoliy Byshovets Vitaliy Starukhin Creator David Kipiani Vladimir Muntian Leonid Buryak Viktor Kolotov Volodymyr Onyshchenko Yuri Gavrilov Givi Nodia Controller Anatoliy Konkov Volodymyr Veremeyev Arkady Andreasyan Defender Yevgeny Lovchev Mikhail Fomenko Volodymyr Troshkin Viktor Matviyenko Goalkeeper Yuriy Dehteryov Vladimir Pilguy Vladimir Astapovsky The attacking players are excellent here with Blokhin leading a strong group of finishers and a very deep group of attackers featuring Kipiani and Muntian. Buryak, Kolotov, Onyshchenko, and Gavrilov were all excellent as well. The controllers and defenders are weak by Soviet standards, the one standout from the two groups is Lovchev. The goalkeepers have depth but no great players. The Blokhin/Chivadze is from 1948 to 1955 Finisher Oleg Blokhin Vitaliy Starukhin Creator David Kipiani Leonid Buryak Viktor Kolotov Volodymyr Onyshchenko Yuri Gavrilov Givi Nodia Controller Anatoliy Konkov Volodymyr Veremeyev Arkady Andreasyan Defender Alexander Chivadze Yevgeny Lovchev Mikhail Fomenko Volodymyr Troshkin Viktor Matviyenko Goalkeeper Yuriy Dehteryov Vladimir Pilguy The attacking group takes a major hit losing some good finishers and Muntian, but gains a very needed addition to the defense in Chivadze.
Next is the excellent generation of Soviet players from the 80s that fell just short after some excellent showings in major international tournaments. The Dasaev/Belanov is from 1957 to 1963 Finisher Oleh Protasov Ramaz Shengelia Sergei Rodionov Creator Igor Belanov Fyodor Cherenkov Alexander Zavarov Alexei Mikhailichenko Gennadiy Litovchenko Controller Anatoli Demianenko Vladimir Bessonov Sergei Aleinikov Vasily Rats Pavlo Yakovenko Sergei Gotsmanov Vitaly Daraselia Andriy Bal Ivan Yaremchuk Defender Oleg Kuznetsov Vagiz Khidiyatullin Sergei Baltacha Vyacheslavas Sukristovas Nikolay Larionov Goalkeeper Rinat Dasaev Stanislav Cherchesov Viktor Chanov All three of the finishers are very good led by Protasov. The creators once again have great depth and talent with all five players having great careers. The controllers are also great led by the two great wingbacks and followed by two solid defensive mids in Aleinikov and Rats. The defenders are solid but not spectacular. Dasaev is an all time great keeper with solid depth behind.
The final group gives a taste of the type of team USSR could have had immediately after the break up in the 90s. The Onopko/Shevchenko generation is from 1969 to 1976. Finisher Andriy Shevchenko Vladimir Beschastnykh Oleg Salenko Serhiy Rebrov Viktor Leonenko Creator Andrei Kanchelski Valeri Karpin Dmitri Alenichev Ilya Tsymbalar Yegor Titov Dmitri Loskov Controller Aleksey Smertin Igor Shalimov Andriy Husin Andrey Tikhonov Sergei Semak Defender Victor Onopko Sergei Gurenko Vladyslav Vashchuk Oleksandr Holovko Goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy The strikers are strong with good depth and top talent. The chance creators have good depth but none were the best at their position in the world. Smertin and Shalimov are the standouts at controller. Defenders are solid with one good goalkeeper.
One change I think I should make is to move Jozsef Szabo from the Hungarian group to the Soviet. From what I can see he played all his football in the Soviet Union, none in Hungary. He would be in to both Voronin generations making there controller group even stronger.
Rankings Finisher 1) Muntian/Blokhin 2) Onopko/Shevchenko 3) Dasaev/Belanov 4) Yashin/Netto 5) Voronin/Khurtsilava 6) Blokhin/Chivadze 7) Ivanov/Voronin Creator 1) Ivanov/Voronin 2) Dasaev/Belanov 3) Muntian/Blokhin 4) Voronin/Khurtsilava 5) Blokhin/Chivadze 6) Onopko/Shevchenko 7) Yashin/Netto Controller 1) Yashin/Netto 2) Dasaev/Belanov 3) Ivanov/Voronin and Voronin/Khurtsilava 5) Onopko/Shevchenko 6) Blokhin/Chivadze and Muntian/Blokhin Defender 1) Voronin/Khurtsilava 2) Yashin/Netto 3) Ivanov/Voronin 4) Blokhin/Chivadze 5) Dasaev/Belanov 6) Muntian/Blokhin 7) Onopko/Shevchenko Goalkeeper 1) Yashin/Netto 2) Voronin/Khurtsilava 3) Dasaev/Belanov 4) Ivanov/Voronin 5) Muntian/Blokhin 6) Blokhin/Chivadze 7) Onopko/Shevchenko Overall 1) Voronin/Khurtsilava and Dasaev/Belanov 3) Yashin/Netto 4) Ivanov/Voronin 5) Muntian/Blokhin 6) Onopko/Shevchenko and Blokhin/Chivadze