I voted for Stoichkov Also, I'm not even sure if Suker was let alone the best player to come from Croatia (I think Prosinecki and Boban were probably better).
Mihajlovic has probably one of the best free kicks in world, but would be pretty undeserving to be on a poll like this. He is a very frustrating player, and has cost some of his teams dearly with his on-field behavior (esp. the NT, that stupid Red Card vs Slovenia comes to mind in Euro 2000, or the spitting incident when he was with Lazio--can't remember who that was against) He has done more to hurt the NT than help. Piksi (Dragan Stojkovic would be a better option from SCG), but realisticly only Savicevic should be the only SCG player on the list---from my perspective as a fan of SCG.
Adrian Mutu, of Chelsea in the shameful 0-4 reverse at Stadio Olimpico... Awful Mihajlovic, great freekick, horrible person!!!
You' ve forgotten that he openly supported Serbian war criminals. And it doesn't matter that he has a great freekick. He's in the first place a defender, and is terrible at it.
The olympics isn't really much. I don't know how it was back before I was born but the olympics now mean sh!t. U-23's i believe and no one really gives a fvck.
Did you read my post? I said he was a good FK taker but that's about it and he shouldn't be considered on this list--I was responding to another person's suggestion...And, as backward as his political views may be, it really has nothing to do with the subject of best players in the decade, so save it.
You mentioned the spitting incidents and all, someone then wrote that he was a horrible person, so I just wanted to add this. But it's true, it has nothing to do with his football skills (or in his case, skill).
Can’t really say E. Europe produced great players in the last 15 years. Russia, Poland and Ukraine with the combined population of 250 mil. have produced one great player in the period. Croatia, the Czech republic (I hate that the name of a country is a possessive adjective so you always have to add the ¨republic¨), Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria have produced great players. Stoichkov is #1 with Boban , Savićević and Šuker close behind. Mihajlović, no matter how much of an ass he is, was a very good defender. Lazio had the best defense in Italy and you can’t have that if you have a hole in your team.
LAZIO defensively had little to be thankful for Mihajlovic for.... Alessandro Nesta, worlds best CB... Luca Marchageani, outstanding GK Guiseppe Pancaro, Paolo Negro and Guiseppe Favalli were at the peak of their powers and were incredible!!! Didn't hurt when you had players like Nedved and Veron who seemed to have the ball tied to their feet, teams can't score if they don't have the ball.... Also Romania only made Quarters of WC1994, Bulgaria made Semis... But Gheorghe Hagi was a player and a half, magical strike versus Colombia in their opening tilt at WC1994.
Man, I will very obietive here. Not that I am Romanian, but HAGI was the king! And not one time he was voted the best Eastern player from all times. He conquered the European Supercup with Steaua, another CL final with Steaua, he played at Real Madrid and Barcelona and he practically bought the UEFA Cup and the Supercup of Europe at Istanbul when he played at Galatasaray. He was and he is an idol for Turks, look how many messages were sended by Turks on youtube. He was a King in Turkey and he was voted the best foreign player and the best player who played in Turkish Superleague! So HAGI was the best from miles' he scored from every position from 60 m to 11 m, he was the king .. I LOVE U HAGI!
I will say Robert Prosinecki. The man is a true Red Star Belgrade player. Loved him, still do. Savicevic, Suker, and Stoichkov are all brilliant. Kinda hard to measure really, but personally Robert is my favourite. He was silky smooth on the ball. In terms of titles, Savicevic is the most accomplished of all the ones listed. Won Champions League three times I believe? A couple of Calcio's.
i would say zvone boban..prosinecki probably had more talent then all of the guys mentioned but never had a great career due to injuries and his lack of fitness..well im sure smoking 2 packs of cigs a day had something to due with his fitness.
Yes, I love Hagi. I remember as a little kid before communism ended watching him on a little black and white TV. I forgot most of the games, but not the goals. After Hagi, my favorite may be either Prosinecki or Stoitchkov because he played his last year at my club. And Piotr Nowak and Sinisa Mihajlovic should be on the list before Suker. Suker was just a boring finisher, but no real creative skills.
What about Shevchenko? I know, he played half his career in the 2000s, but his body of work in 1997-2000 for Dynamo Kyiv is more than impressive.
There were many good players in Eastern Europe. However, only 3 of them were trurly geniuses, that type of player that I'd like to see more of today: 1. Hagi 2. Stoichkov 3. Savicevic I'd say Hagi was the best, since he was both a creator and a finisher, excellent at free kicks and set pieces and a true team leader. He played for both Real and Barcelona and it was the fact that he loved the ball more than tactics that put him on the bench at Barca. He was the one responsible for the successes of the Romanian NT and for the development of Turkish football. He was also a man with heart, choosing to leave Real only to play under his former coach at the modest Brescia and continuing to play for them in Serie B. Even the fact that a team like Barcelona chose its new playmaker in 1994 from a Serie B team shows how great that player was. Edit: in the poll results above, Suker is atm ranked higher than Savicevic. Imo, while Suker was a great player as well, he was no genius like Savicevic was.
In my opinion Poborsky was the best eastern European player in the 90s closely followed by Suker, Stoichkov and Prosinecki.
(1970's)---- DZAKIJIC(Yug), DEYNA(Pol), LATO(Pol), BLOKHIN(Ussr), + maybe 1 Czech player from 1976 Euro Championship Team. (1980's)----BONIEK(Pol), BELANOV(Ussr), BELODEDICI(Rum), PROTASOV(Ussr) (1990's)---STOICHKOV(Bul), HAGI(Rum), BOBAN(Cro), SUKER(Cro), MIJATOVIC(Yug), SAVICEVIC(Yug), BALAKOV(Bul) (2000)---NEDVED(Czech), SHEVCHENKO(Ukr), CZECH(Czech). *** 1970's and 1990's produced the most amount of talented players.