Good news. I had the forethought to make notes on things of particular interest in past WS issues, so I managed to find the list I was talking about. It's from the Apr 61 issue of WS, and has two other poll results to go with the 1960 Ballon. I have to say the Il Calcio results look to be solid stuff for something made by two guys. It gets points for including SA and having players from every position. From the previous month's issue, here's a breakdown by position: 8 GKs 8 FBs 8 CBs 13 WHs 25 FWs Il Calcio's best team: Yashin; Durkovic, Martinez; Szymaniak, Sipos, Benitez; Hamrin, Suarez, Seeler, Pele, Charlton Miroir were the rivals of France football. Their list is more over the place, typical French list. Jeffery actually does criticize the Ballon for having too much emphasis on forwards. He also makes note how a player that travels more, and thus is seen by more voters, has an advantage over a stay-at-home guy. Bonus: Kenneth Wolstenholme on Ballon 1960: "From an English viewpoint the results of the poll might shock some people". Haha, good ol' England.
So this should be the remainder then. It's not a perfect list, but it is informative. As said above, no NET players and no players with three full sentences, or less. Manfred Kaltz (West Germany - b. 1953) Jacek Kazimierski (Poland - b. 1959) Ludwig Kogl (West Germany - b. 1966) Kostadin Kostadinov (Bulgaria - b. 1959) Dariusz Kubicki (Poland - b. 1963) Oleg Kuznetsov (Soviet Union - b. 1963) Raoul Lambert (Belgium - b. 1944) Michael Laudrup (Denmark - b. 1964) John Lauridsen (Denmark - b. 1959) José Leandro (Brazil - b. 1959) Jim Leighton (Scotland - b. 1958) Soren Lerby (Denmark - b. 1958) Lima Pereira (Portugal - b. 1952) Gary Lineker (England - b. 1960) Gennady Litovtschenko (Soviet Union - b. 1963) Pierre Littbarski (West Germany - b. 1960) Wlodzimierz Lubanski (Poland - b. 1947) Antonio Maceda (Spain - b. 1957) Rabah Madjer (Algeria - b. 1954) Felix Magath (West Germany - b. 1953) Maurice Malpas (Scotland - b. 1962) Diego Maradona (Argentina - b. 1960) Paul Mariner (England - b. 1953) Martin Alvin (England - b. 1958) Lothar Matthaus (West Germany - b. 1961) Waldemar Matysik (Poland - b. 1961) Frank McAvennie (Scotland - b. 1959) David McGreery (Northern Ireland - b. 1957) Alan McDonald (Northern Ireland - b. 1963) Danny McGrain (Scotland - b. 1950) Sammy McIlroy (Northern Ireland - b. 1954) Alex McLeish (Scotland - b. 1959) Paul McStay (Scotland - b. 1964) Walter Meeuws (Belgium - b. 1951) Hugo Meisl (Austria - b. 1881) Migueli (Spain - b. 1951) Borislav Mihailov (Bulgaria - b. 1963) Willie Miller (Scotland - b. 1955) Stoicho Mladenov (Bulgaria - b. 1957) Wilfried van Moer (Belgium - b. 1945) Dieter Muller (West Germany - b. 1954) Phil Neal (England - b. 1951) Zdenek Nehoda (Czechoslovakia - b. 1952) Nene (Portugal - b. 1949) Charlie Nicholas (Scotland - b. 1961) Jimmy Nicholl (Northern Ireland - b. 1956) Steve Nicol (Scotland - b. 1961) Ivan Nielsen (Denmark - b. 1956) Bjorn Nordqvist (Sweden - b. 1942) Tibor Nylasi (Hungary - b. 1955) Jesper Olsen (Denmark - b. 1961) Morten Olsen (Denmark - b. 1949) John O'Neill (Northern Ireland - b. 1958) Jaime Pacheco (Portugal - b. 1958) Pedro Pasculli (Argentina - b. 1960) Daniel Passarella (Argentina - b. 1953) Pele (Brazil - b. 1940) Bruno Pezzey (Austria - b. 1955) Jean-Marie Pfaff (Belgium - b. 1953) Michel Platini (France - b. 1955) Herbert Prohaska (Austria - b. 1955) Oleg Protasov (Soviet Union - b. 1962) Wilfried Puis (Belgium - b. 1943) Quini (Spain - b. 1949) Ole Qvist (Denmark - b. 1950) Uwe Rahn (West Germany - b. 1962) Peter Reid (England - b. 1956) Renato Gaucho (Brazil - b. 1957) Michel Renquin (Belgium - b. 1955) Bryan Robson (England - b. 1957) Dominique Rocheteau (France - b. 1955) Ivon le Roux (France - b. 1960) Oscar Ruggeri (Argentina - b. 1961) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany - b. 1955) Hugo Sanchez (Mexico - b. 1958) Kenny Sansom (England - b. 1958) Carlos Santillana (Spain - b. 1952) Willi Schulz (West Germany - b. 1938) Toni Schumacher (West Germany - b. 1954) Enzo Scifo (Belgium - b. 1966) Gaetano Scirea (Italy - b. 1953) Leon Semmeling (Belgium - b. 1940) Juan Antonio Senor (Spain - b. 1958) Graeme Sharp (Scotland - b. 1960) Peter Shilton (England - b. 1949) Allan Simonsen (Denmark - b. 1952) John Sivebaek (Denmark - b. 1961) Socrates (Brazil - b. 1954) Graeme Souness (Scotland - b. 1953) Uli Stein (West Germany - b. 1954) Trevor Steven (England - b. 1963) Gary Stevens (England - b. 1963) Uli Stielike (West Germany - b. 1954) Gordon Strachan (Scotland - b. 1957) Tengis Sulakvelidse (Soviet Union - b. 1956) Safet Susic (Yugoslavia - b. 1955) Franco Tancredi (Italy - b. 1955) Marco Tardelli (Italy - b. 1954) Jan Tomaszewski (Poland - b. 1948) Olaf Thon (West Germany - b. 1966) Hallvar Thoresen (Norway - b. 1957) Jean Tigana (France - b. 1955) Toninho Cerezo (Brazil - b. 1955) Jose Toure (France - b. 1961) Jean Trappeniers (Belgium - b. 1942) Fedor Tscherenkov (Soviet Union - b. 1958) Aleksander Chivadze (Soviet Union - b. 1955) Thierry Tusseau (France - b. 1958) Jorge Valdano (Argentina - b. 1955) Carl Valentine (Canada - b. 1958) Erwin Vandenbergh (Belgium - b. 1959) Rene Vandereycken (Belgium - b. 1953) Velibor Vasovic (Yugoslavia - b. 1939) Frank Vercauteren (Belgium - b. 1956) Pietro Vierchowod (Italy - b. 1959) Rudi Voller (West Germany - b. 1960) Eddy Voordeckers (Belgium - b. 1960) Zlatko Vujovic (Yugoslavia - b. 1958) Chris Waddle (England - b. 1960) John Wark (Scotland - b. 1957) Norman Whiteside (Northern Ireland - b. 1966) Ray Wilkins (England - b. 1956) Steven Williams (England - b. 1958) Michel de Wolf (Belgium - b. 1958) Tony Woodcock (England - b. 1955) Mark Wright (England - b. 1963) Aleksandr Zavarov (Soviet Union - b. 1961) Radoslav Zdravkov (Bulgaria - b. 1956) Zico (Brazil - b. 1953) Wladislaw Zmuda (Poland - b. 1954)
Back to King Football. The next few chapters focus on the spread of football to continental Europe, before reviewing the Olympic soccer tournaments. The 12-1 defeat of Sweden by England in 1908 could have been 30-1 without the goalie, who stopped an impressive 60% of the shots that came his way. Well, the French teams did even worse. It wasn't all bad, as the Swedes did well for 5 minutes. Quote from a magazine: "Normally, when playing against foreign teams, the English keeper has spent his time discussing 'daily gossip' with acquaintances, but on this occasion his peace was disturbed by the Swedes on several occasions". Next comes the most glorious moment in Finnish soccer history, the Olympic semi-final in 1912. It was considered a bit of an upset, as before the tournament the officials weren't sure whether they should send a team. A heartfelt letter by Finnish "football general" Kaarlo Soinio (author's brother and another international) and a successful tour in Russia conviced the committee it would be worth the investment. Finland beat Italy and Russia to reach the semis. Right-winger Filippov is mentioned as the best Russian player, too bad it doesn't say which of the two. The never-say-die 4-0 loss to Great Britain is mentioned as one of the finest performances of the NT (Hey, I'd take that result today!). In the third place match Finland lost 9-0 due to "exhaustion, injuries and other reasons, which shall be omitted on this occasion". I can guess. The final featured the expected England and Denmark. Pretty much every player is mentioned by name, with Woodward being the top guy for the British. Sophus "Krölleben" Nielsen gets the most mentions of the Danes, and Middleboe is named as the best centre-half in Europe. The Danish goal in the final was a legendary 35 meter giant-shot by Anton Olsen. Denmark and Holland played a English/Scottish short passing game, while the others were kick and rush (this was before Jimmy Hogan). Sweden played a mixture. To be continued...
Guerin Sportivo had 21-27 June 1995 (issue 25) these listed as the "grandi bomber". This was part 2; I think part 1 contained contemporary strikers but to be sure I ordered that too now. Gerd Muller (West Germany - b. 1945) Uwe Seeler (West Germany - b. 1936) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany - b. 1955) Marco van Basten (Netherlands - b. 1964) Ruud Geels (Netherlands - b. 1948) Willy van der Kuylen (Netherlands - b. 1946) Eusebio (Portugal - b. 1942) Fernando Gomes (Portugal - b. 1956) Fernando Peyroteo (Portugal - b. 1918) Hugo Sanchez (Mexico - b. 1958) Quini (Spain - b. 1949) Mario Kempes (Argentina - b. 1954) Alfredo di Stefano (Argentina - b. 1926) Isidro Langara (Spain - b. 1912) Telmo Zarra (Spain - b. 1921) Ferenc Puskas (Hungary - b. 1927) Sandor Kocsis (Hungary - b. 1929) Gyula Zsengeller (Hungary - b. 1915) Gunnar Nordahl (Sweden - b. 1921) Jimmy Greaves (England - b. 1940) Ian Rush (Wales - b. 1961) Gary Lineker (England - b. 1960) Dixie Dean (England - b. 1903) Steve Bloomer (England - b. 1874) Jimmy McGrory (Scotland - b. 1903) Ally McCoist (Scotland - b. 1962) Carlos Bianchi (Argentina - b. 1949) Jean Pierre Papin (France - b. 1963) Just Fontaine (France - b. 1933) Delio Onnis (Argentina - b. 1948) Hans Krankl (Austria - b. 1953) Franz Binder (Austria - b. 1911) Josef Bican (Austria - b. 1913) Paul van Himst (Belgium - b. 1943) Erwin Vandenbergh (Belgium - b. 1959) Nikita Simonian (Soviet Union - b. 1926) Oleg Blokhin (Soviet Union - b. 1952) Josip Skoblar (Yugoslavia - b. 1941) Dudu Georgescu (Romania - b. 1950) Wlodzimierz Lubanski (Poland - b. 1947) Sotoris Kajafas (Cyprus - b. 1949) Others If you put this in google translate it says (no time/willingness right now to translate better): "The history of football is full of cannoniers able to score every year, caverns of goals. And also of less likely-to-played players to the opposite goalkeeper (so to speak), but they still left indelible traces of the heaviness of their prowess. One for everybody, Johan Cruijff: he has not been able to touch the numeric peaks of those who have been cited, but the goals of the Dutch "papero d'oro" [golden paper/gosling] have often decided the outcome of fundamental matches." Followed by a number of true center forwards and 'half' center forwards (John Charles, Sarosi etc.). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/papero
Olympics in the 20s The 1920 Olympics are dismissed as a complete fiasco. Poorly arranged, officiated, and with a poor quality of soccer. The Nordic Countries had expected to perform well against war-worn nations, but the results were disappointing. Denmark arrogantly rested their best players, including their best striker Carl Hansen, in the preliminary against outsiders Spain. Zamora was "the most renowned football hero of the Olympics, and later the entire footballing world". This was the beginning of Denmark's great tradition of being eliminated by Spain. Norway's best player was Gunnar Andersen. The standard of European football exploded from 1921 on. Czechoslovakia, Austria, Switzerland and especially Hungary are mentioned as the strongest nations. Germany was expected to become the new England, but didn't rise higher than they did at the time due to too rigorous and discplined training methods. Hugo Meisl was a big Finland-fan, so in 1923 the NT went on a succesful tour in Central Europe, Beating Germany and losing narrowly to Austria and Hungary. "Would our current team be capable of such heroic feats with such good results? I have reason to doubt..." This book could have been written in 2017! Best players on the tour: Germany: Hans Sutor Austria: Kuthan and Wieser Onto 1924, and the outsiders Uruguay, who ended up showing some "greatest football of all time". The Uruguayan forward line and Mazzali get a mention. Besides them, it was said Andrade could even dribble with his ears, and Nasazzi was the finest defender the world had seen until then. Orth also gets a mention as a major star. The 1928 tournament didn't reach the same standards as the previous one, partly due to the many withdrawals. The review gets a lot more interesting with the addition of all the "more or less sun-scorched" countries. The Uruguayan amateurs, who enjoyed "minister wages", were no "helpless baby partridges". In the game against Germany, they used "insidious and discreet minor impudences", which resulted in more uncouth German payback. The Egyptian referee ended up sending off Germany's best player Hans Kalb, whose "powerful and crushing playing style was not to the taste of the effetely fastidious Egyptian nobleman". Grand-shooter Richard Hofmann also gets a mention. Argentina walked their way to the final, where they played a boring, possibly fixed, draw. The rematch, though, was played for real! "Rarely has such a fireworks display of fully rounded footballing finesse and growth of creative power been seen". The Argentinians were superior tactically, but "significantly behind the Uruguayans in acrobatic playing skills". Paternoster, Monti, Tarasconi and Orsi are described as true world-class. TBC...
In the meantime; The number one issue of 1995 by Guerin Sportivo had an appendix called "Il grande libro degli stranieri - tutti i giocatore esteri del calcio italiano dal 1929 a oggi", which was primarily for individual statistics. Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina - b. 1969) Claudio Caniggia (Argentina - b. 1967) Diego Maradona (Argentina - b. 1960) José Altafini (Brazil - b. 1938) Antonio Careca (Brazil - b. 1960) Paulo Roberto Falcao (Brazil - b. 1953) Zico (Brazil - b. 1953) Michel Platini (France - b. 1955) Gunnar Nordahl (Sweden - b. 1921) Ruben Sosa (Uruguay - b. 1966) In the main magazine "the emblematic Maradona stands for all the vibrancy, the colors, the shades of grey - and the subsequent collapse - of the 1980s." Although arguably a (typical) Italian viewpoint is discernible, these above players got highlighted in a cadre in the appendix. On the other hand, there were two extra pieces: Platini was designated as "perhaps the best and most consistent" creative foreigner in "Italian football" since the borders opened in 1980; and then there was another peculiar piece revolving around early import Krol ("an all-around defensive eye opener" and "together with Kohler some years later one of the very few foreign defenders to be actually the best in their job") and in the same piece the "not to be underestimated and necessary" role and tactical influence the "opinionated" Gullit and Van Basten had in establishing the Italian league as the foremost force in European football. Gullit ("one of the most charismatic figures of recent times") is praised for his time in Sampdoria, his completeness, as well as the idea he was the first black European to be "arguably" best in the world and the first black European to lift a major international trophy as captain. "Milan is still missing the often broken and battered 'swan of Utrecht' to this very day." I found this in a library, but in the meantime I try to search for something better and I think I'll receive something from 1987 later (on the first 60 years of the league with foreigners, by GS).
For completeness (not necessarily relevant for this thread, unlike part 2): Part 1 were indeed contemporary strikers. Alan Shearer (England - b. 1970) Ivan Zamorano (Chile - b. 1967) Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany - b. 1964) Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina - b. 1969) Romario (Brazil - b. 1966) Ronaldo (Brazil - b. 1976) Then further highlighted honorable mentions for: Abel Balbo (Argentina and AS Roma - b. 1966), Mario Basler (Germany and Werder Bremen - b. 1968), Bentinho (Brazil and Sao Paolo - b. 1971), Stan Collymore (England and Nottingham Forest - 1971), Andy Cole (England and Manchester United - b. 1971), Martin Dahlin (Sweden and Borussia MG - b. 1968), Giles de Bilde (Belgium and Eendracht Aalst - b. 1971), Jose Oscar Flores (Argentina and Velez Sarsfield - b. 1971), Robbie Fowler (England and Liverpool - b. 1975), Marco Grassi (Switzerland and Rennes - b. 1968), Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands and Ajax - b. 1976), Meho Kodro (Bosnia and Real Sociedad - b. 1967), Darko Kovacevic (Yugoslavia and Red Star Belgrade - b. 1973). Needless to say that the likes of Savicevic just weren't seen as 'bomber'.
So this was the 1995 Four Four Two list, as posted previously by @peterhrt It is similar to the 1989 Super Ballon d'Or by France Football (although the SBdO was also decided by journalists, the readers and the television viewers), the 1999 player of the century by France Football, the 2004 Champions Magazine poll (maybe in terms of method the best attempt of the lot), the 50 years Ballon d'Or survey (2005) and 50 years World Soccer survey (2010) in the sense that peers were asked, instead of the public or journalists. Managers, chairmen as Ken Bates and officials like Blatter and Havelange voted as well. (click to enlarge) They rightly mock the selection of Micky Droy by Neil Ruddock. Pelé finishes first, surprise, despite one third not having him in their top five. About some shortened careers (except George Best, effectively done at 27) like MvB they remark "But for a spate of nagging injuries, the songs of praise for Van Basten [by peers] would doubtless have been greater." The next one to receive a similar comment is Gascoigne. 1 Pele 2 Cruyff 3 Best 4 Maradona 5 Beckenbauer 6 Di Stefano 7 Platini 8 Dalglish 9 Charlton 10 Moore 11 Matthews 12 Finney 13 Van Basten 14 Hoddle 15 Zico 16 John Charles 17 Eusebio 18 Gullit 19 Puskas 20 Gascoigne 21 Muller 22 Edwards 23 Banks 24 Romario 25 Bryan Robson 26 Gerson 27 Rivelino 28 Yashin 29 Keegan 30 Giggs 31 Brady 32 Garrincha 33 Baresi 34 Dave Mackay 35 Kempes 36 Souness 37 Baggio 38 Klinsmann 39 Blanchflower 40 Baxter 41 Lineker 42 Alan Hudson 43 Frank Worthington 44 Jennings 45 Rivera 46 Waddle 47 Beardsley 48 Shilton 49 Quixall 50 Strachan 51 Bowles 52 Shearer 53 Doherty 54 Lawrenson 55 Bobby Murdoch 56 Mannion 57 Billy Wright 58 Stoichkov 59 Trevor Francis 60 McFarland 61 Todd 62 Tommy Langley 63 John Robertson 64 John Mitchell 65 Hagi 66 Jesper Olsen 67 Law 68 Micky Droy 69 Mark Hughes 70 Passarella 71 Rocheteau 72 Billy Bonds 73 Michael Laudrup 74 Alan Hansen 75 Krol 76 Maldini 77 Brooking 78= Sheringham 78= Dennis Wise 80 Beattie 81 Frank Soo 82 Bloomer 83 Gary Shaw 84 Greaves 85 Stubbins 86 Trautmann 87= Sandro Mazzola 87= Haller 89 McAllister 90 Rossi 91 Elkjaer 92 Cantona 93 Riva 94 Brian Clough 95 Rodney Marsh 96 Arnold Muhren 97= Kanckelskis 97= Ian Wright 99 Jairzinho 100 Milla December 2002 was the 100th issue of Four Four Two. Although it is doubtful they placed them in order (besides, the likes of Rush, Netzer and Rummenigge receiving more 'speaking time' as Pelé and as much as Maradona) it is nevertheless interesting to compare who is included in both. Beckham is #2 despite having only 1/4th or 1/5th of the space of Rush for instance, and about 1/3rd or 1/4th of Maradona. The shortest answers are given by Cruijff, Gullit, Dalglish and Romario while defining Premiership stars Cantona (#92 in 1995) and Bergkamp declined to be interviewed. 1. Pelé (1) 2. Beckham 3. Puskas (19) 4. Platini (7) 5. Weah 6. Cruyff (2) 7. Billy McNeill 8. Lineker (41) 9. Jairzinho (99) 10. Rummenigge 11. Baggio (37) 12. Lofthouse 13. Bryan Robson (25) 14. Matthaus 15. Fontaine 16. Liam Brady (31) 17. Ardiles 18. Stan Bowles (51) 19. Alex McLeish 20. Sandro Mazzola (87) 21. Rivaldo 22. Paolo Rossi (90) 23. Nobby Stiles 24. Rijkaard 25. Archie Gemmill 26. Alfredo di Stefano (6) 27. Stoichkov (58) 28. George Best (3) 29. Neville Southall 30. Tom Finney (11) 31. Batistuta 32. Zico (15) 33. Gullit (18) 34. Voller 35. Eusebio (17) 36. Shearer (52) 37. Johnny Giles 38. Dalglish (8) 39. Neeskens 40. Tony Adams 41. Rivera (45) 42. Roberto Carlos 43. Klinsmann (38) 44. Cubillas 45. Zidane 46. Rivelino (27) 47. Souness (36) 48. Alan Hansen (74) 49. Jennings (44) 50. Baresi (33) 51. Michael Owen 52. Facchetti 53. Trautmann (86) 54. Valderrama 55. Figo 56. Hurst 57. Belanov 58. Francescoli 59. Ronaldo 60. Boniek 61. Hoddle (14) 62. Netzer 63. Jack Charlton 64. Stuart Pearce 65. Johnstone 66. Milla (100) 67. Hugo Sanchez 68. Beckenbauer (5) 69. Gascoigne (20) 70. Dragan Stojkovic 71. Carlos Alberto 72. Johnny Haynes 73. Hagi (65) 74. Riva (93) 75. Raul 76. Brian Clough (94) 77. Romario (24) 78. Schmeichel 79. John Barnes 80. Bobby Charlton (9) 81. John Charles (16) 82. Hierro 83. Zoff 84. Socrates 85. Shilton (48) 86. Van Basten (13) 87. Varallo 88. Paolo Maldini (76) 89. Ian Rush 90. Kempes (35) 91. Banks (23) 92. Gento 93. Butragueno 94. McCoist 95. Bobby Robson 96. Blokhin 97. Higuita 98. Norman Hunter 99. Ryan Giggs (30) 100. Maradona (4) The foreword by the editor says "we asked 100 living legends in the game" - they're all numbered but I may hope this was not in order. Nevertheless with the earlier 1995 list in mind (albeit by peers, and not only 'living') it becomes somewhat more informative.
This is a list of greats from the 1988-89 Annuario del Calcio Mondiale. There are brief profiles of all named: Ademir Albert Altafini Amancio Amarildo Andrade Asparukhov Baloncieri Banks Beara Beckenbauer Ben Barek Bernadini Best Bettega Bican Binder Blanchflower Bobek Boniperti Bozsik Breitner Causio Charles Charlton Coluna Combi Corso Cruyff Czibor Dalglish Dean De Vecchi Deyna Didi Di Stefano Drake Dzajic Eusebio Facchetti Ferrari Finney Fontaine Friedenreich Garrincha Gento Gilmar Walter Gomez Graziani Gren Grosics Haller Hamrin Happel Hidegkuti Hiden Ferenc Hirzer Emlyn Hughes Yashin Jennings Julinho Keegan Kopa Krol Kubala Labruna Law Leonidas Libonatti Liedholm Maier Maroso Masopust Maspoli Matthews Sandro Mazzola Valentino Mazzola Meazza Meredith Monti Moore Muller Neeskens Netto Netzer Nordahl Bjorn Nordquist Oscwirk Orsi Overath Parola Pedernera Pele Pesek-Kada Petrone Piola Planicka Platini Praest Puc Puskas Riva Rivelino Rivera Rosetta Rossi Samitier Dino Sani Djalma Santos Nilton Santos Sarosi Schiaffino Schiavio Schlosser Schnellinger Scirea Seeler Simonsen Sindelar Sivori Skoblar Skoglund Stabile Suarez Swift Szepan Geza Toldi Tardelli Tostao Tresor Van Himst Vogts Vukas Walter Wilkes Wright Zagalo Zamora Zebec Zeman Zizinho Zoff
This is not too old - maybe therefore not previously posted - but this was the prominent L'Equipe publication in 1999. It is also published in the book "100 rois pour un siècle". The good thing is that they were aware of the breakdown per birth period, breakdown by nation, how many midfielders and defenders were included (10 defenders), and that for example Ballon d'Or laureates Belanov and Baggio (as well as Sammer) are left out of their top 100. They are aware of what they did. Of course also clearly a French perspective - also with respect to someone as Weah, Francescoli - but nevertheless interesting to share and it isn't made up by one or two persons (at times showing the discussion, esp. with respect to world cup wonders). 1 - Pelé 2 - Johan Cruijff 3 - Michel Platini 4 - Diego Maradona 5 - Alfredo di Stefano 6 - Franz Beckenbauer 7 - Ferenc Puskas 8 - Gerd Muller 9 - Bobby Charlton 10 - Garrincha 11 - Marco van Basten 12 - Omar Sivori 13 - Eusebio 14 - Leonidas 15 - Zico 16 - Zinedine Zidane 17 - Matthias Sindelar 18 - Stanley Matthews 19 - Luis Suarez 20 - Romario 21 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 22 - Ronaldo 23 - Uwe Seeler 24 - Franco Baresi 25 - Johan Neeskens 26 - Raymond Kopa 27 - Kevin Keegan 28 - Lothar Matthaus 29 - George Best 30 - Francisco Gento 31 - Just Fontaine 32 - Gunther Netzer 33 - Jose Leandro Andrade 34 - Luigi Riva 35 - Gianni Rivera 36 - Paul Breitner 37 - Roberto Bettega 38 - Sandor Kocsis 39 - Jozsef Bozsik 40 - Florian Albert 41 - Didi 42 - Silvio Piola 43 - Ruud Gullit 44 - Kenny Dalglish 45 - Jean-Pierre Papin 46 - Jimmy Greaves 47 - Allan Simonsen 48 - Fritz Walter 49 - Oleg Blokhin 50 - Zbigniew Boniek 51 - Paulo Roberto Falcao 52 - Gabriel Batistuta 53 - Bobby Moore 54 - Ademir 55 - Paul van Himst 56 - Wolfgang Overath 57 - Mario Kempes 58 - Denis Law 59 - Socrates 60 - Giuseppe Meazza 61 - Gerson 62 - Tostao 63 - George Weah 64 - Paolo Maldini 65 - Jairzinho 66 - Laszlo Kubala 67 - Dragoslav Sekularac 68 - Juan Alberto Schiaffino 69 - Josef Masopust 70 - Rainer Bonhof 71 - Dennis Bergkamp 72 - Giacinto Facchetti 73 - Teofilo Cubillas 74 - Sandro Mazzola 75 - Kazimierz Deyna 76 - Lilian Thuram 77 - Marcel Desailly 78 - Dixie Dean 79 - Gheorghe Hagi 80 - Salif Keita 81 - José Cea 82 - Nilton Santos 83 - Frank Rijkaard 84 - Grzegorz Lato 85 - Adolfo Pedernera 86 - Michael Laudrup 87 - Jurgen Klinsmann 88 - Hristo Stoichkov 89 - Johann Krankl 90 - Rabah Madjer 91 - Paolo Rossi 92 - Dragan Dzajic 93 - Roger Milla 94 - Ruud Krol 95 - Enzo Francescoli 96 - Larbi Ben Barek 97 - Nils Liedholm 98 - Uli Hoeness 99 - José Altafini 100 - Alain Giresse Goalkeepers: 1 - Lev Yashin 2 - Dino Zoff 3 - Gordon Banks 4 - Sepp Maier 5 - Fabien Barthez 6 - Peter Shilton 7 - Ricardo Zamora 8 - Peter Schmeichel 9 - Julien Da Rui 10 - Rinat Dasaev 11 - Ladislao Mazurkiewicz Despite some odd names thrown in there, some of the things behind the numerical order are quite good and well done. I do find Baggio being thrown out of this a mistake.
If Baggio doesn't make it then Romario shouldn't either. I always felt Romario was crowned the world's best by default to some extent. It was more Baggio's crown to lose. Romario didn't exactly take the mantle away from Baggio, it was Baggio who relinquished it in the final of USA '94. The interesting part is that this time Zico and Rummenigge are quite close and in accordance with how it was back in their day. Pedernera, Sivori, Kempes and Batistuta are listed but no Moreno or Antonio Sastre.
I sort of like that they presented them in alphabetical order but ranked them too somehow! Nice that they made profiles in a book rather than only a list too.
@PDG1978 @comme Received this a 1.5 months ago but hadn't the time back then and then forgot it. In October 2010 Guerin Sportivo had a special issue about the first 30 years the borders of the Serie A had opened. It is called "Trent'anni di frontiere riaperte - I Grandi Stranieri". The issue has no adverts and is 160 pages long (on ~A4 format). They started with the three players that made (in their view) the most impact. In order of appearance: Marco van Basten (final editor of the piece was the chief of Corriere dello Sport) Diego Maradona (final editor was the chief of Tuttosport) Ronaldo (final editor was the chief of Guerin Sportivo) They aren't ranked, but qualitative and quantitative arguments are given about their impact. Then amidst pictures and comments other notable players (Prohaska, Leo Junior, Elkjaer, Gullit, Seedorf, Ibrahimovic to name a few), and other aspect of the game, these got each a lengthy profile on top: Paulo Roberto Falcao Michel Platini Zico Diego Maradona Marco van Basten Lothar Matthaus Gabriel Batistuta Zinedine Zidane Ronaldo Andriy Shevchenko Pavel Nedved Kaká Javier Zanetti Those are not ranked either. Apart from possibly Zanetti (this was published after the Inter treble, but before the loss in the Club World Cup and such), this selection is actually not too bad. They mention and specify Nedved's consistency. The title of Zidane's piece is "the timid champion", which is meant as multi-faceted. Contexts are given too, some interesting sub-cadres, and overall it is not too bad and even contemplative at times (or: 'at many occasions').
Nice find. Perhaps Platini missing the 'podium' so to speak the most interesting/surprising(?) call? How many players are mentioned in total (in the same way as Elkjaer, Gullit...)?
Yes I think so too. In the 15 years review (from 1995) they were very positive on Platini. See post #106. There is of course a distinction between "best" and "most impact" although I'm sure Platini deserves to be considered for impact too. The 2010 pieces really revolve the most around the impact/influence. I can post scans if you like. Hope I don't overlook any but; These are individually pictured with the comments leaning towards this: Success: Prohaska Leo Junior Daniel Passarella Preben Elkjaer Ruud Gullit Thomas Skuhravy Andreas Brehme Paul Gascoigne George Weah Rui Costa Clarence Seedorf Zlatan Ibrahimovic Neutral?: Trevor Francis (Francis was often injured; ratings and production are indeed sound) Not a success: Socrates Luis Silvio Eneas Here a comparison: http://www.eurosoccerfans.com/top-50-foreign-soccer-players-in-italy/
Thanks. A couple of links I noticed (there was also a Football Italia Channel 4 top 100, picked from players who starred during the period they broadcast games, chosen by the editorial team maybe, albeit possibly not labelled 'best/greatest' but half-way towards favourite/most noted or something, but I can't find reference to it - it wasn't only for foreigners and I think Baggio and Maldini were right towards or at the top, Batistuta was quite close, Savicevic was indeed in the 20 something range, like Rui Costa and also Shevchenko though I'm pretty sure it was selected mid-way through his Serie A career or earlier...Gascoigne was in but near the bottom of the list): https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...25-best-goals-serie-a-seasons-football-italia https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/...-the-outsider-still-fighting-for-recognition/ (Hope you forgive/look past the dubious reference to Cruyff regarding the 1994 match; to be honest I just couldn't overlook Savicevic's omission from that list of 50 lol so wanted to find something to post regarding him, but I assume place 23 is indeed given to Stankovic and it's not a typo!).
Another name I'm surprised not to see, perhaps moreso than Savicevic, in that top 50 foreign Serie A players list, is Juan Sebastian Veron. Savicevic's case might be more prime form based (and for me also prime season/s overall I'd feel - 94/95 and to an extent 95/96) and European competition performances are not considered so that feasibly reduces his case (but to be clear, and I saw a lot of Serie A in his time, I'd easily include him even if trying to make the list more about consistency/longevity). Veron though, for a foreign player, had several good to very good seasons surely.
Yes I'd say so too. For one of the 50 names or the 'honorable mention' (like Ibrahimovic etc.) type of thing he would be a proper fit. Personally I'm more convinced about his capabilities than Riquelme (in particular when doing it reliably for and against the best teams) - but that conversation doesn't fit here. In skill he might belong there although on e.g. Youtube one can find several wonderful passes by the likes of Prohaska, Nedved and Seedorf too. Maybe his 'flop' spell at Manchester United and - more so - Chelsea when he was 26 to 29 years old did not help. His very best season is 1999-00 I think. His grade is the best, scored more goals than in other years, had more appearances than in other years and had double digits assists in the league (in other seasons not more than 5 or 6). A good candidate for second best Serie A season is actually 2004-05, at a real top team. There he had 3 (or 4) assists and 3 goals across all 39 games, but that was not his main job and strength. His job was to run the show and run the team. In that department he belonged among the world elite, and he could do it against the better teams too. Quite a bit has been said and written about the differences between Serie A and Premier League, but I also wonder whether people hadn't a wrong picture of him. They thought he would make a wonder assist every other game (which almost no player at the time was able to do). But the 1999-00 season aside, and some campaigns here and there (the 2001-02 and 2002-03 Champions League seasons; the 1998 World Cup), he wasn't a consistent assist machine. Not for the league at least. He was there, as said, to run the show if lined up with a good shuttler (Stankovic at Inter) and/or a good defensive midfielder. But for running midfield Manchester United had already Roy Keane and at Chelsea (in a different way) Frank Lampard. Playing Veron higher up on the pitch did not work well either, and negated what he could do best. I'd say Veron had about four very good (or better) Serie A seasons, with 1999-00 as his zenith. That very well might be more than adequate to merit a place in the top 50 or the broader circle.
Yeah, I'd say at Sampdoria (perhaps 96/97 is in the mix among best seasons? I guess his Parma one is boosted a bit by games outside Serie A which might not be considered?) he was playing in a manner/role closer to a Vieira than a Zidane probably. I suppose Man Utd were never looking to replace Keane, or drop Scholes. Ferguson wanted to develop a team with a 5 man midfield which he thought would help to do well in Europe I think didn't he? Despite mixed form, Veron was making some nice passes and producing some assists I recall, early-ish in his Man Utd career.
http://www.dbscalcio.it/sn-schedaCa...nomePlayer=Veron&dataNascitaPlayer=09-03-1975 I think 1998-99 and 2004-05 are the main candidates for his 2nd best season (1999-00 being his best) - overall and in Serie A. The 1998 World Cup and (to a lesser degree) the preceding 1997-98 season made that he was picked up by ambitious Parma (nicknamed 'FC Pharma' in Holland, LOL). Sampdoria finished 6th and 9th when he played there, and logically he was under the radar. His ratings are solid but not as good as team mates Mihajlovic, Montella, Mancini (in 1996-97) and Bohossian and Montella (in 1997-98). The 1998 World Cup to November 2000 was his zenith I'd say (rest of 2000-01 troubled by injuries), while playing for/against competitive teams. His Sampdoria seasons might be over-appreciated in memory, the 2004-05 season unfairly overlooked I'd say.
'Calcio 2000' had January 2000 also a list with 150 players, which are not ranked. It leans heavily on players who once played in Italy, or were a major success there. Thus no Michael Laudrup in there, while others get in. It has some inclusions born in the 19th century. The two youngest to get in were Ronaldo (b. 1976) and Maldini (b. 1968). In terms of Ballon d'Or winners Kevin Keegan was the main omission, and as double winner apparently not good enough for the 150 born between 1890 and 1968. The next in line to get in - or added - were maybe/probably Batistuta and Bergkamp (both born 1969), with both getting high praise by the magazine. Either way, I'll post those 150 later. I'm busy with ordering them by birthyear and also signalling with an asterisk whether they played in Italy (= many of them). Although those 150 are not ranked (for a reason), the chief editor had his own answer on page 5. (I think his answers are evident without needing rudimentary translation)
I think it is especially interesting for players who were active in Italy, so I marked those with an asterisk. It are 150 players. Friedenreich (b. 1892) De Vecchi (b. 1894) * Baloncieri (b. 1897) * Scarone (b. 1898) * Andrade (b. 1901) James (b. 1901) Libonatti (b. 1901) * Monti (b. 1901) * Nasazzi (b. 1901) Orsi (b. 1901) * Gyorgy Orth (b. 1901) * Zamora (b. 1901) Combi (b. 1902) * Rosetta (b. 1902) * Sindelar (b. 1903) Petrone (b. 1905) * Schiavio (b. 1905) * Stabile (b. 1905) * Cesarini (b. 1906) * Monzeglio (b. 1906) * Dean (b. 1907) Ferrari (b. 1907) * Hapgood (b. 1908) Ferreyra (b. 1909) Meazza (b. 1910) * Olivieri (b. 1910) * Binder (b. 1911) Andreolo (b. 1912) * Domingos da Guia (b. 1912) Leonidas (b. 1913) Piola (b. 1913) * Biavati (b. 1915) * Erico (b. 1915) Matthews (b. 1915) Moreno (b. 1916) Varela (b. 1917) Labruna (b. 1918) Pedernera (b. 1918) Loik (b. 1919) * Valentino Mazzola (b. 1919) * Gren (b. 1920) * Walter (b. 1920) Castigliano (b. 1921) * Mortenson (b. 1921) Nordahl (b. 1921) * Ademir (b. 1922) Hidegkuti (b. 1922) Liedholm (b. 1922) * Loustau (b. 1922) Zizinho (b. 1922) Wright (b. 1924) Bozsik (b. 1925) Maroso (b. 1925) * Nilton Santos (b. 1925) Schiaffino (b. 1925) * Di Stefano (b. 1926) Ghiggia (b. 1926) * Kubala (b. 1927) Puskas (b. 1927) Beara (b. 1928) Boniperti (b. 1928) * Didi (b. 1928) Czibor (b. 1929) Julinho (b. 1929) * Yashin (b. 1929) Kocsis (b. 1929) Djalma Santos (b. 1929) Skoglund (b. 1929) * Gilmar (b. 1930) Charles (b. 1931) * Kopa (b. 1931) Zagallo (b. 1931) Fontaine (b. 1933) Garrincha (b. 1933) Gento (b. 1933) Hamrin (b. 1934) * Coluna (b. 1935) Sivori (b. 1935) * Suarez (b. 1935) * Seeler (b. 1936) Banks (b. 1937) B. Charlton (b. 1937) Altafini (b. 1938) * Albertosi (b. 1939) * Burgnich (b. 1939) * Haller (b. 1939) * Schnellinger (b. 1939) * Cubilla (b. 1940) Greaves (b. 1940) * Law (b. 1940) * Pelé (b. 1940) Boninsegna (b. 1941) * Gerson (b. 1941) Hurst (b. 1941) Moore (b. 1941) Eusebio (b. 1942) Facchetti (b. 1942) * Sandro Mazzola (b. 1942) * Zoff (b. 1942) * Chumpitaz (b. 1943) Overath (b. 1943) Rivera (b. 1943) * Van Himst (b. 1943) Carlos Alberto (b. 1944) Maier (b. 1944) Riva (b. 1944) * Beckenbauer (b. 1945) Mazurkiewicz (b. 1945) Muller (b. 1945) Best (b. 1946) Rivelino (b. 1946) Cruijff (b. 1947) Deyna (b. 1947) Tostao (b. 1947) Causio (b. 1949) * Cubillas (b. 1949) Krol (b. 1949) * Shilton (b. 1949) Bettega (b. 1950) * Breitner (b. 1951) Neeskens (b. 1951) Ardiles (b. 1952) Blokhin (b. 1952) Morena (b. 1952) Falcao (b. 1953) * Gentile (b. 1953) * Passarella (b. 1953) * Scirea (b. 1953) * Zico (b. 1953) * Antognoni (b. 1954) * Leo Junior (b. 1954) * Kempes (b. 1954) Tardelli (b. 1954) * Conti (b. 1955) * Platini (b. 1955) * Rummenigge (b. 1955) * Rossi (b. 1956) * Cabrini (b. 1957) * Baresi (b. 1960) * Lineker (b. 1960) Maradona (b. 1960) * Matthaus (b. 1961) * Gullit (b. 1962) * Bergomi (b. 1963) * Van Basten (b. 1964) * Romario (b. 1966) Stoichkov (b. 1966) * Baggio (b. 1967) * Maldini (b. 1968) * Ronaldo (b. 1976) * Some of the issues of this magazine can be found on soccernostalgia.blogspot too.
To give an idea, here is an example of a profile. All profiles are about equally long. All about half a page.
Excellent info by Gregoriak, about best players until early 1940s. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/all-time-greatest-players-kicker-july-1941.2080788/