You bring up a very interesting and valid point, although I am not sure it will change where I have Maradona this year, more on that later. I went back through all the years I have done so far and looking for similar cases, a player making the top three without winning a major trophy or at least being in contention for one (e.g. Kopa in 56 European Cup). I found at least four similar cases. Billy Walker 1924 - Overall one of the weakest top three years in my opinion, but the early 20s were sparse for good candidates. He was seen as probably the top player in the English league, the best league in the world at this time, despite never leading a relatively strong team to the title. Main reasons for his inclusion was cup runners up (bigger competition at the time) and strong international performance. League: Villa 6th place 8 points from winners. Walker played 36 of 42 games and scored 14 goals. Cup: Villa FA Cup runners up. Walker played in 6 games and scored 3 times. Important club international matches/tournaments: None. National Team: Played 3 games scored 4 goals for England. Famous performances vs Scotland and Belgium. Wilf Mannion 1947 - Carried to this position by being a major part of England's great post war national team. The other major candidate I considered for this spot was Lawton who would have a very similar profile with mid table league finish but excellent international performance in friendlies. With no major international competitions it is easier to slip in on the back of performances in friendlies, which obviously were seen as far more important then than now. League: Middlesbrough 11th place 15 points from winners. Mannion played 37 of 42 games and scored 18 goals. Cup: Middlesbrough went out in the 6th round. Important club international matches/tournaments: None. National Team: Played in 8 internationals scoring 2 goals for England. Was the brains of the famed English team immediately post war. Denis Law 1964 - Law does not quite fit the profile as Man U did push for both domestic trophies, but failed to win either. But he is similar to Maradona in that it is uncommon for a player that did not win anything to be in the top three without a major push in a competition like the World Cup (Denya 74) or European Cup (Kopa 56) to support them. Subsequently I, and I believe a number of others think this is one of the weaker Balon d'Or winners and weaker top three candidates. There were not a lot of great seasons this year. League: Man U 2nd place 4 points from winners. Law played 30 of 42 games and scored 30 goals. Cup: Man U went out in the Semifinal round. Law played 6 games and scored 10 goals. Important club international matches/tournaments: Cup Winners Cup QF. Played in 5 games scored 6 goals. National Team: Played in 5 internationals scoring 1 goals for Scotland. No major performances that made him a better candidate. George Best 1971 - Talked about this at length, this was a very sparse year fro top candidates. I would say this is the most similar to Maradona 85 in that no major trophies are challenged for, the player is support by a strong domestic season despite the lack of achievement and good performances with the national team. Also both are the type of player that could receive attention and accolades without lifting trophies due to their eye catching inspiring styles of play. It is impossible not to notice them, they were two of the biggest "human highlight reel/I can't believe he just did that" type of players ever. League: Man U 8th place 22 points from winners. Best played 40 of 42 games and scored 18 goals. Cup: Man U went out in the third round. Law played 2 games and scored 1 goal. Important club international matches/tournaments: None National Team: Played 6 games and scored 4 goals for Northern Ireland. Some of the best international performances of his career were during this year. Diego Maradona 1979 - Interestingly another Maradona season makes the list. League: Metropolitano was one point away from advancing to semifinals 14 games 14 goals. Nacional failed to make the quarterfinals (2 points back) 12 games 12 goals. Important club international matches/tournaments: None National Team: Played in 5 internationals scoring 1 goals for Scotland. No major performances that made him a better candidate. 8 games and three goals for senior matches with Argentina, strong preferences all around. Also the star and champion of youth World Championships. Diego Maradona 1985 - The major difference between this year and others listed is that the players were making the final three almost by default, they were years with a lack of top performances. That is not the case with 85 as I mentioned a large number of players who I liked for the final top three spot behind Platini and Maradona. The reason I still feel this is properly rated is that Maradona was already established as one of the top players in the world. He then moved to a new league and was rated as the best player in the league (unfortunately we lack ratings for most of the years I have tried to make these lists, and if there were not ratings for this year I am not sure if Maradona would be in the top three). He did not move to just any league either, he moved to the Serie A in the mid 80s, possibly the league that had accumulated the highest portion of the worlds footballing talent in one league at one time. League: Napilo 8th place 10 points from winners. Maradona played 30 of 30 games and scored 14 goals. Cup: Napoli lost in the round of 16. Maradona played 6 games and scored 3 goals. Important club international matches/tournaments: None National Team: Played 6 games and scored 4 goals for Northern Ireland. Some of the best international performances of his career were during this year.
@Tom Stevens - National team above I think what you wrote is for George Best. Maradona led Argentina to the WC in tough qualifiers against Peru and Colombia.
Thanks. I will open a thread about those type of seasons tomorrow. Cannot comment about the ones pre Law however.
1986 Amoros, Manuel (Monaco, France) Belanov, Igor (Dynamo Kyiv, Soviet Union) Burruchaga, Jorge (Independiente, Argentina) Butragueño, Emilio (Real Madrid, Spain) Careca (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Ceulemans, Jan (Club Brugge, Belgium) Elkjær Larsen, Preben (Verona, Denmark) Fernández, Luis (Paris Saint Germain, France) Förster, Karlheinz (Stuttgart, Germany) Gullit, Ruud (PSV, Netherlands) Júlio César (Guarani, Brazil) Laudrup, Michael (Juventus, Denmark) Lineker, Gary (Everton, England) Maradona, Diego (Napoli, Argentina) Matthäus, Lothar (Bayern Munich, Germany) Olsen, Morten (Anderlecht, Denmark) Pfaff, Jean-Marie (Bayern Munich, Belgium) Platini, Michel (Juventus, France) Ruggeri, Oscar (River Plate, Argentina) Schumacher, Harald (Köln, Germany) Tigana, Jean (Bordeaux, France) Valdano, Jorge (Real Madrid, Argetnina) Van Basten, Marco (Ajax, Netherlands) Honorable Mention: José Luis Brown, Hans-Peter Briegel, Felix Magath, Rudi Völler, Klaus Allofs, Andreas Brehme, Maxime Bossis, Patrick Battiston, Yannick Stopyra, Dominique Rocheteau, Eric Gerets, Enzo Scifo, Franky Vercauteren, Josimar, Alemão, Edinho, Sócrates, Glen Hoddle, Frank Arnesen, Soren Lerby, Pavlo Yakovenko, Oleksandr Zavarov, Michel, Julio Alberto, Andoni Zubizarreta, Alessandro Altobelli, Victor Piturca, Manuel Fernandes, Hugo Sanchez, Oleg Blokhin, Roberto Donadoni, Safet Susic, Gheorghe Hagi, Frank Rijkaard, Salvatore Bagni, Antonio Carbini, Anatoliy Demyanenko, Daniel Passarella, Mark Lawrenson, Antonio Maceda, Paul McGrath, Helmuth Ducadem, Stefano Tacconi, Antonio Alzamendi, Enzo Francescoli, Julio Cesar Romero, Roberto Cabañas, Americo Gallego, Ricardo Rocha, Dario Pereyra, Miodrag Belodedici, Johnny Ekström Careca and Maradona were the clear players for the top three. Lineker and Belanov were close for the final spot. The 23 was crowded as always in a WC year. Some of the top South American club players were big disappointments at the World Cup so it made them hard to include. Players I was closest to including that I could not find a spot for were Dario Pereyra, Enzo Francescoli, Antonio Alzamendi, Helmuth Ducadem, Daniel Passarella, Safet Susic, Hugo Sanchez, Victor Piturca, Michel, Oleksandr Zavarov, Frank Arnesen, Soren Lerby, Josimar, Dominique Rocheteau, Maxime Bossis, and Hans-Peter Briegel.
First things first, there is no top three for this year, it's just: 1986 Maradona, Diego (Napoli, Argentina) Any other player would be embarrassed to be mentioned alongside him. I would place Socrates in the 23 ahead of Valdano, arguably top five player in Mexico. For HMs, Fernandez and Delgado from Paraguay are worthy of inclusion, same with Zaki, Negrete, Quirarte, Larios, Alonso, Santin, Belloumi, Dasaev and Carnevale.
Even if you think Socrates had a better World Cup than Valdano, Valdano was the best player for Real Madrid who won La Liga and the UEFA Cup and had a legit claim to being the best club team in the world this year.
I thought Sanchez was Real Madrid's best player this season? Also, River Plate was the best club team in the world. Not only because they won the Libertadores and Intercontinental, but for their breathtaking style that left opponents dizzy.
Though Careca won a Bola de Ouro, but he was mediocore in WC, wasn't he? IMO, Belanov and Butragueno are better choice. and Josimar was one of best defender, he should be in top 23. anyway, Romanian keeper Helmuth Ducadem's correct name is Helmuth 'Duckadam'.
5 goals in 5 games for Careca. I thought he was very good indeed. Butragueno's numbers were padded heavily by battering Denmark when they started to bomb forward in attack.
Zico scored 4 goals in 5 games in 82WC, but nobody praises him. I don't think Careca was bad player, but at least 5 forwards played better than Careca in 86WC; Maradona, Belanov, Butragueno, Lineker, Elkjaer, Altobelli, Valdano. surely Bola de Ouro is big achievement, but Belanov and Butragueno also led their teams to European double. I was wondering Careca had a clear advantage.
First of all, congratulations to Tom on continuing an excellent thread, with in-depth research, original insights and a notable lack of repetition. With every year featured there has been something new to learn. In 1947 there is a good case for an English presence in the Top 3. Between 1943 and 1948 England probably had her strongest-ever national team. 18 official internationals between September 1946 and December 1948 brought fourteen wins and only one defeat. I am not so sure about 1924. The war hit English football hard, with four years’ absence of any development. Projecting pre-war trends to the 1920s falsely understates its weakness. The national team failed to win a home international championship outright during the entire decade and avoided the stronger developing European countries (because they had been wartime enemies). The British associations resigned twice from FIFA to keep control over the laws, protest against paying players in the Olympics, and to reinforce their isolation. Alex James played in the Scottish league as well as the English first and second divisions. He observed that there was more skill in Scotland and that the English game relied largely on brawn, the second division more that the first. There was no coaching. This seems to have been reflected in home international results, if not in the less important matches between the English and Scottish league representative elevens. The inability of defences to cope with the new offside law in 1925 provides further evidence of tactical naivety, made worse by the absence of any decent centre-halves of pre-1914 standard. England produced only one footballer in the 1920s whose reputation has survived the years: Dixie Dean. Uruguay’s football, on the other hand, had developed fully by the time of the 1924 Olympics, where her team, with full back-up staff, caused a sensation, combining real skill with the necessary steel. A Top 3 of Uruguayans would appear appropriate this year, with Nasazzi, Petrone or goalkeeper Mazali joining Andrade and Scarone.
Really? Most people put Zico in the top few players of the 1982 World Cup. Maybe the best after Rossi. Meanwhile I would struggle to see Butragueno or Altobelli as being markedly better.
I acknowledge that 'Nobody' is my terrific exaggeration, but I can't agree 'Most people' too. If my memory lane is correct, Kicker, El Grafico, Guerin didn't rate Zico highly. I think Falcao, Socates, Rummenigge, Conti, Boniek were better than Zico. maybe also Giresse and Litti. Anyway to return, IMO, many good forwards were in 86WC, I don't wanna put Careca on top-class forward. It just my view, so maybe I'm wrong.
I would have to say you're wrong, Careca was indeed rated very highly as one of the best players of the tournament. After the immense gap that follows Maradona, I would place Lineker, Platini, Socrates, Careca and Elkjaer as the best players of the tournament.
Some others that I would add for 1986, such a loaded year with many greats attaining superb performances, would be Lerby, Jesper Olsen, Bats, Gareca, Gallego, Funes, and of course Alonso, who should be in the 23 short list instead of Van Basten.
1987 Aguirre, Diego (Penarol, Uruguay) Allen, Clive (Tottenham, England) Bagni, Salvatore (Napoli, Italy) Baresi, Franco (AC Milan, Italy) Celso (Porto) Futre, Paulo (Porto Portugal) Gullit, Ruud (PSV, Netherlands) Koeman, Ronald (PSV, Netherlands) Lineker, Gary (Barcelona, England) Madjer, Rabah (Porto, Algeria) Maradona, Diego (Napoli, Argentina) Matthäus, Lothar (Bayern Munich, Germany) Pfaff, Jean-Marie (Bayern Munich, Belgium) Rahn, Uwe (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany) Ratcliffe, Kevin (Everton, Wales) Renato Gaúcho (Flamengo, Brazil) Romário (Vasco da Gama, Brazil) Rush, Ian (Liverpool, Wales) Sánchez, Hugo (Real Madrid) Southall, Neville (Everton, Wales) Valderrama, Carlos (Deportivo Cali, Colombia) Van Basten, Marco (Ajax, Netherlands) Zenga, Walter (Internazionale, Italy) Honorable Mention: Mazinho, Zico, Josimar, Müller, Darío Pereyra, Taffarel, Luizinho, Ricardo Rocha, Omar Palma, Néstor Fabbri, Hugo Gatti, Claudio Caniggia, Ricardo Guisti, Antonio Alzamendi, José Perdomo, Arnoldo Iguarán, Bernardo Redin, Roberto Cabañas, Roberto Rojas, Juan Carlos Letelier, João Pinto, Joszef Mlynarczyk, Paul McGrath, Gerald Vanenburg, Arnold Mühren, Frank Rijkaard, John Bosman, Glenn Hysen, Igor Belanov, Alexei Mikhailichenko, Rinat Dasaev, Oleh Protasov, Andreas Brehme, Rudi Völler, Jürgen Kohler, Pierre Littbarski, Míchel, Emilio Butragueño, Andoni Zubizarreta, Brain McClair, Tevor Steven, John Barnes, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Hansen, Terry Butcher, Toni Polster, Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli, Alessandro Altobelli, Ramon Diaz, Fernando de Napoli, Luigi De Agostini, Ciro Ferrara, Pietro Paolo Virdis, Daniel Passarella, Jean Tigana, Enzo Francescoli, Patrick Battiston, Alain Giresse, Arnor Gudjohnsen, Dragan Stojkovic, Enzo Scifo The final spot for the top three could have gone either way with Sanchez, Matthaus, or Futre. Was unsure of Valderrama's credentials and why he was voted relatively unanimously SAPOTY. Any input would be appreciated.
Primarily for his best player awarded to him at the Copa America event, with an unprecedented third place finish for Colombia.
Jaime Pizarro probably deserves a place in the 23 for his great performance at the Copa America and with Colo Colo in the league. I would also add as HM's Ivo Basay, Leonel Alvarez, Eduardo Pereira, and Pietro Vierchowod.
I just checked the decade of the 50's and one of the biggest surprises for me is the highly consideration of Julinho (Júlio Botelho), even when he played in Portuguesa (I didn't know much about the success of that team). I consider very well that in the final revision at the end of the decade has been added Ernst Ocwirk a couple of occasions more, his reputation seemed to be somewhat short. Named in the 50's: 8: DI STÉFANO, Alfredo (Argentina) 7: SCHIAFFINO, Juan Alberto (Uruguay) 6: JULINHO (Brazil) 6: PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungary) 5: BOZSIK, József (Hungary) 5: KOPA, Raymond (France) Named until 1959: 9: BICAN, Josef (Austria) 9: DI STÉFANO, Alfredo (Argentina) 9: MORENO, José Manuel (Argentina) 9: SASTRE, Antonio (Argentina) 8: PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungary) 8: SCHIAFFINO, Juan Alberto (Uruguay) 8: ZIZINHO (Brazil) 7: MATTHEWS, Stanley (England) 7: MEAZZA, Giuseppe (Italy) 7: MORTON, Alan (Scotland) 7: ORSI, Raimundo (Argentina) 7: PEDERNERA, Adolfo (Argentina) 7: SÁROSI, György (Hungary)
So, it took me a bit of time (combining it with various other activities) but I went back and looked at 1956 in more detail. I created this document which was a sort of mock-up to what the 1956 Ballon d'Or issue might have looked like, trying to consider each of the players nominated and what they had done across the year to deserve it. I'll see how I go in terms of doing the same for other years: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzQsnWHwNUzmOFRQdm5wcjFMUms
By the way, I remember this year as possibly the most heated battle for World's Best Player between Maradona and Gullit - much more contested than the pedantic Messi vs C Ronaldo rivalry. Who would you have as #1? @Tom Stevens
Tough call, Maradona playing in the Serie A vs the Dutch league helps him quite a bit, but I believe Gullit was better internationally.
For this year there are strong arguments for Maradona as #1 or podium at the very least (as lower limit), but often the same basic considerations are not applied for other years (by many). Gullit was disfavored big time with a long 6 matches European ban, which was incredibly harsh and wouldn't have happened with an Italian club or so (nor would they allow it to get screwed by Olympiakos or Bohemians Prague). I feel that Paolo Futre was really good around this period; as a pure attacker and forward he was more unstoppable than anyone (against the best club defenses, when it truly mattered). If he was brought into positions that he could show it; you can't let him run up and down. The names/records he played against in his own league are even less spectacular however (that said: 1986-87 Serie A was a transitional year with only two new foreign signings in the entire league and previous stars as Platini, Boniek etc. a shadow of their former self. Kieft was Serie A topscorer until he got injured). http://www.footballzz.com/edition_stats.php?v=jt1&id_edicao=96&ord=d It's by the way an interesting question whether this (1986-87) or 1984-85 was better. I'll give that a shot in the other thread, which would also place 1984-85 into a good and strong perspective.
In 1988, or at least in the 87-88 season, this seemed even more competitive given that both were directly competing h2h in the same league and generally viewed as the top two. Guerin Sportivo had it even up to the final rounds in the league, with Gullit pulling away by a hair in their final showdown. It was a fascinating time in football for those that followed Serie A at the time.
LOL, great pun Yes, I remember it as one of the most competitive face-offs in football history. Both had great arguments in favor, I guess AC Milan winning the league gave the advantage to Gullit.