Inside forwards John Goodall Vivian Woodward William Gillespie Clem Stephenson John Duncan Peter Doherty Wilf Mannion Steve Bloomer Joe Smith Bob Whittingham Bobby Charlton Nuts Cobbold RE Foster Tom McInally Len Shackleton Alex James Harold Fleming Roy Bentley Stan Mortenson Charles Buchan George Holley Tommy Walker Jimmy Hagan David Jack Joe Bache James Howie Billy Walker Andrew Cunningham Fred Tilson Raich Carter Walter Fielding Juan Schiaffino Didi Syd Puddefoot Gordon Hodgson Joe Bradford Willie Hall Jackie Sewell Patsy Gallagher Alec Stevenson
Centre forwards Alf Common Pongo Waring Gunnar Nordahl Jackie Milburn Tommy Lawton Dixie Dean Jimmy McGrory Sandy Turnbull Nat Lofthouse John Charles Hughie Gallacher George Hilsden George Camsell Jack Rowley Bert Freeman Harry Stapley Albert Sheppard GO Smith RS McColl Len Davies Jimmy Hampson George Hunt Jimmy Quinn Harry Hampton Ted Drake Derek Dooley Trevor Ford
Quite a British (and particularly Anglo) centric list but some interesting names there that I'm not that familiar with.
Some summaries for the whole decade. Rankings, I will rank at minimum the top 3 players that year and will add others in certain years that I flet more than three had a good enough resume. 1920 1) Fred Morris 2) Karel Pešek 3) Ángel Romano 1921 1) Karel Pešek 2) György Orth 3) Arthur Friedenreich 4) Josef Uridil 1922 1) Andy Wilson 2) Paulino Alcántara 3) Manuel Seoane 1923 1) Charles Buchan 2) Héctor Scarone 3) Jozsef Braun 1924 1) Jose Leonadro Andrade 2) Pedro Petrone 3) Billy Walker 4) Héctor Scarone 5) Clem Stephenson 6) Sven Rydell 7) Max Abegglen 1925 1) Hughie Gallacher 2) Héctor Scarone 3) Jose Samitier 4) Ricardo Zamora 5) Manuel Seoane 6) Alan Morton 1926 1) Alex Jackson 2) Jose Leonadro Andrade 3) Ferenc Hirzer 4) Héctor Scarone 5) Manuel Seoane 1927 1) Hughie Gallacher 2) Dixie Dean 3) Karel Pešek 4) Jimmy McGrory 5) Josef Silny 6) Alfredo Carricaberry 1928 1) Dixie Dean 2) Alex Jackson 3) Adolfo Baloncieri 4) József Takacs 5) Anton Schall 6) Alan Morton 7) Héctor Scarone 1929 1) Alan Morton 2) Ricardo Zamora 3) Manuel Ferreira
All star teams for each of the three areas the way I broke things down in my head, British, Continental, South American. The number of times a player was on the 23 man list + a bonus point for each time he was in a final ranking. The tiebreaker for guys with the same number of points was basically how many times I considered them but they did not quite make a list. British 1920s all stars: 6 Scotland, 4 England, 1 Ireland Morton (10)-----------Gallacher (6)------------Jackson (5) -------------Buchan (6)-------------Walker (6) ----McMullan (1)-----Meiklejohn (2)-----Hill (1) -------------McStay (2)-------------Goodall (2) ---------------------------Scott (2) Continental all stars 1920s: 4 Hungary, 2 Italian, 2 Spain, 2 Czech, 1 Sweden Konrad (4)-----------Rydell (3)------------Braun (4) ---------Baloncieri (3)-------------Orth (6) ----Kolenatý (2)-----Pesek (9)-----Samiter (6) ---------De Vecchi (2)-------------Fogl (1) ---------------------Zamora (6) South American all stars 1920s: Orsi (2)-----------Petrone (4)------------Carricaberry (3) -------Scarone (11)-------------Seoane (7) ---Amilcar (2)-----Monti (1)-----Andrade (6) ------Nasazzi (3)-------------Bidoglio (1) -------------------Tesoriere (6) Most points overall 1920s Scarone (11) Morton (10) Pesek (9) Seoane (7) Andrade (6) Orth (6) Samiter (6) Zamora (6) Buchan (6) Walker (6) Gallacher (6) Jackson (5) McGory (5) Petrone (4) Friedenreich (4) Braun (4) Konrad (4) Dean (4)
Hi Tom, Thanks for the updated lists. In 1928 you left out the last 3 players, they are probably (based on you old list) Takács, József (Ferencvaros, Hungary) Turay, József (Ferencvaros, Hungary) Wesely, Ferinand (Rapid Vienna, Austria). In 1929 I could count only 5 Scottish players in your Top 23, but 3 from England (as opposed your 6 to 2 ratio). Or was one of the Englishman actually a Scot?
You are right about the final three. Also tried to make a couple edits that did not go through. Samiter in for Calomoni in 1920. Bidoglio for Tarasconi in 1927.
Overall team of the decade Morton (10)-----------Gallacher (6)------------Jackson (5) ----------Scarone (11)-------------Seoane (7) -------Samiter (6)-----Pesek (9)-----Andrade (6) ----------Nasazzi (3)-------------Goodall (2) -----------------------Zamora (6)
2nd team of the decade Konrad (4)-----------McGory (5)------------Braun (4) ----------Buchan (6)-------------Walker (6) -------Kolenatý (2)-----Orth (6)-----Meiklejohn (2) ----------McStay (2)-------------De Vecchi (2) -----------------------Scott (2)
Some candidates from 3rd/4th tier countries to be considered (tentative years) with further research: Brazil: Heitor Domingues - an HM at 1926 Russinho & Fausto - an HM at 1929 Chile: Manuel Guerrero - an HM arguably at 1920 Ulises Poirier - an HM at 1926 Paraguay: Fleitas Solich - an HM arguably at 1924 or 1926. After signed by Boca Jrs USA: Archie Stark - an HM arguably at 1925
Other candidates from 3rd/4th tier countries to be considered (tentative years) with further research: Germany: "King" Richard Hofmann - could had an HM at 1928 or 1929 Belgium: Jan De Bie - an HM but not sure which year Oscar Verbeeck - an HM at 1920 Denmark: Poul "Tist" Nielsen - an HM at 1922 or 1924 Pauli Jorgensen - an HM 1928 or 1929 Michael Rohde - an HM at 1923 or 1926 or 1927 Fritz Tarp - an HM at 1927 Arguably (Carl Hansen, Laursen) France: Pierre Chayrigues - an HM at 1923 Jules Dewaquez - an HM at 1921 or 1926 Francois Hughes - an HM at 1921 or 1923 Paul Nicolas - an HM at 1922 or 1928 Netherlands: Ber Groosjohan - an HM at 1920 "Puck" van Heel - an HM at 1928 Sweden: Herbert Carlsson - an HM at 1920
Now to the 1930s, probably my favorite decade for European football. England and Scotland repeatedly test themselves against the top European sides, with England, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary all have great sides that were very competitive with one another for the best team in Europe. Spain, Germany, and Scotland are right there as well. It is a very slow first half of the decade for South America, but it picks up in a major way in the later part of the decade with the arrivals of great new generations of (players (Leonidas, da Guia, Erico, Moreno, Pedernera, Sastre, Fernandez, Garcia, Porta).
Re 1929, I think Puc and Planicka good shouts for top ten, Puc was Czech top scorer and had a good Mitropa cup scoring 5 goals (reaching final with Slavia) and scored 3 goals for Czechoslovkia in the CE Champs. Puc also had a shout for 1927 top ten, breakthrough year for country with six international goals in five games including goals agaisnt powerhouses Italy, Austria and Hungary and was Czech league top scorer. You had Silny and Pesek so I think there is a case for there Czechs in top ten in 1927 with a strong International year and Sparta Prague winning the Mitropa Cup and Slavia making the last four (admittedly with a smaller field as the event was in its infancy).
1930 Avar, István (Ujpest, Hungary) Bambrick, Joe (Linfield, Northern Ireland) Blenkinsop, Ernie (Sheffield Wednesday, England) Cea, Pedro (Nacional, Uruguay) Cherro, Roberto (Boca Juniors, Argentina) Crooks, Sammy (Derby County, England) Ferreira, Manuel (Estudiantes, Argentina) Gallacher, Hughie (Newcastle, Scotland) Hoffman, Richard (Dresdner, Grermany) Jack, David (Arsenal, England) Jørgensen, Pauli (Frem, Denmark) Junek, František (Slavia Prague, Czechoslovakia) Meazza, Giuseppe (Internazionale, Italy) Meikljohn, David (Rangers, Scotland) Morton, Alan (Rangers, Scotland) Nasazzi, José (Bella Vista, Uruguay) Rimmer, Ellis (Sheffield Wednesday, England) Smistik, Josef (Rapid Vienna, Austria) Stabile, Guillermo (Huracan, Argentina) Svoboda, František (Slavia Prague, Czechoslovakia) Takács, József (Frenencvaros, Hungary) Watson, Vic (West Ham, England) Weselik, Franz (Rapid Vienna, Austria) Honorable Mention: Ferdinand Wesely, Antonín Puč, František Plánička, Josef Košťálek, Karel Pesek, Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Allemandi, Alfred Strange, Alex Jackson, Roy Goodall, George Camsell, Guillermo Gorostiza, Luis Regueiro, Jose Leonadro Andrade, Héctor Scarone By Country: England (5), Argentina (3), Scotland (3), Austria (2), Czechoslovakia (2), Uruguay (2), Hungary (2), Italy (1), Denmark (1), Ireland (1), Germany (1) By League: England (6), Argentina (3), Scotland (2), Austria (2), Czechoslovakia (2), Uruguay (2), Hungary (2), Italy (1), Denmark (1), Ireland (1), Germany (1) England broke through in 1930 sweeping through the Home Championship with ease winning all three games and capping the tournament off with a 5-2 home victory over Scotland. Things finally seemed to be clicking for the underachieving giants. After the Home Championship England challenged themselves by playing two strong continental sides away from home in Germany and Austria, both games ended in draws. Sheffield Wednesday won their second consecutive title, this one in decisive fashion, and Arsenal won the FA Cup, its first trophy of many to come in the decade. Scotland, outside of the loss to England had a very successful year. They won the other two Home Championship games handily and beat France in France, with Gallacher scoring braces in all three of there victories. Rangers had a historic year domestically winning all three major domestic competitions. One the continent Italy secured the first Central European Cup with an impressive 5-0 final day victory over Hungary in Hungary. Road victories were rare in this competition and Italy had to win to take home the title. This game also announced the arrival of two of the biggest stars of the decade in European football, Raimundo Orsi and Giuseppe Meazza, who tore Hungary apart. Meazza was also Italy's top scorer for Inter and led them to the title. In the Mitropa Cup Rapid Vienna finally won the title after finishing runner up twice. They also won the domestic league. France held a Cup of Nations that was meant to be a European answer for the World Cup. It was played by club sides and was basically a slightly expanded version of the Mitropa Cup adding Spanish, French and Swiss teams among others. Ujpest won the tournament, their second consecutive major international tournament after surprisingly winning the Mitrpoa Cup the year before. They were now also champions of Hungary. Both Sparta and Slavia had good domestic years with both teams finishing runners up in major international competitions (Sparta Mitropa Cup, Slavia Cup of Nations) and Slavia winning the domestic title. In South America the World Cup was the main attraction, although in reality it was not much more than another edition of the South American Championship, as no quality European sides joined in. Uruguay won the title led by Nasazzi and Cea, and getting important contributions from aging stars Scarone and Andrade. The one certainty in the final three was Meazza. He was the top scorer in Italy with 31 goals in 33 games leading Inter to the title. He was also the top scorer in the Mitropa Cup with 7 goals in 6 games, as Inter knocked out defending champions Ujpest in a four match first round tie. For Italy he scored 6 goals in 5 games, including a hat trick in Budapest to deliver the inaugural Central European Cup to Italy. Avar has a good case as well leading Ujpest to their second consecutive high profile international trophy and won the domestic league. Avar was yet to make a major impression in the national team though, as Takacs was stilled preferred. Jack has a decent case as well, leading Arsenal to the FA Cup title, and leading England to the 5-2 demolition of their previous decades overlord, Scotland. He also captained the team on its European tour. He scored in both the games vs Scotland and Germany. There did not seem to be a good South American Candidate this year. Cea, Nassizi, and Stabile had the best Wolrd Cups, but Uruguay did not even play a domestic season and Stabile's Huracan finished in 14th place in Argentina. Cherro had the best domestic season, scoring a fantastic 37 goals in 32 games for decisive champions Boca. He was slated to be the center piece of Argentina's World Cup team but he had some type of illness of nervous breakdown and was only able to play one games of the tournament, Stabile took his place and starred. There was no one outside the top three that I was really disappointed not to get in.
Agree with Puc being excellent in the late 20s. I wonder if he was a center or inside forward at this point, as he is repeatedly top scorer for club and country. If I were try to rank all 23 we would be close behind the finalists in the years you mentioned.
Just out of interest, how many of these are you ready to put up? Have you gone all the way to the modern day in the back ground or are you part of the way through?
This is a very interesting one. I was expecting to see the rankings dominated by World Cup performances. Are you going to similarly rebase some of the later tournaments which were heavily influenced by the WC at the expense of club football? Certainly I think at a minimum the likes of Milutin Ivkovic, Luis Monti, Bert Patenaude, Alvaro Gestido would be among the honourable mentions. Monti I would have expected in the top 23 along with Andrade.
This is the only year the world cup will have this little influence on the voting. If you compare the 1930 World Cup to the 1928 Olympics I would say the Olympics had a better field of teams. Monti should be at least an honorable mention, although San Lorenzo was well behind Boca and Estudientes. There are some cases where I will probably differ in voting significantly where the World Cup dominated existing Balon d'Or voting. For example in 1958 Di Stefano did not get any votes for Balon d'Or. I do not really understand that to this day, because four years later in 1962 a non world cup participant in Eusebio almost won the award, and I would say that Di Stefano's club season in 1958 was better than Eusebio's in 1962. Overall in its first year with no major European support I do not expect the World Cup to sway votes on a world wide basis, it is just another tournament at this point, without the prestige it would later attain.
1931 Avar, István (Ujpest, Hungary) Bastin, Cliff (Arsenal, England) Blum, Josef (First Vienna, Austria) Cherro, Roberto (Boca Juniors, Argentina) Combi, Gianpiero (Juventus, Italy) Crooks, Sammy (Derby County, England) Ferrari, Giovanni (Juventus , Italy) Ferraris, Attilio (Roma, Italy) Ferreira, Manuel (Estudiantes) Gschweidl, Fritz (First Vienna, Austria) Jack, David (Arsenal) James, Alex (Arsenal) McGrory, Jimmy (Celtic, Scotland) Meazza, Giuseppe (Internazionale, Italy) Orsi, Raimundo (Juventus, Italy) Schall, Anton (Admira Vienna, Austria) Scopelli, Alejandro (Estudiantes) Sindelar, Matthias (FK Austria, Austria) Smistik, Josef (Rapid Vienna, Austria) Svoboda, František (Slavia Prague, Czechoslovakia) Varallo, Francisco (Boca Junior) Waring, Thomas (Aston Villa , England) Zozaya, Alberto (Estudiantes) Honorable Mention: Karl Zischek, Rudolf Hiden, Heinrich Hiltl, Karl Rainer, František Plánička, Rodolfo Volk, Umberto Caligaris, Renato Cesarini, Joe Hulme, Jack Lambert, Billy Walker, Jimmy Gibson, Ernie Blenkinsop, Eddie Hapgood, Feitiço, Roberto Figueroa, Enrique Guaita By Country: Argentina (5), Italy (5), Austria (5), England (4), Scotland (2), Czechoslovakia (1), Hungary (1) By League: Argentina (5), Italy (5), Austria (5), England (5), Scotland (1), Czechoslovakia (1), Hungary (1) No major standout events internationally for the British. England and Scotland split the home championship and both took heavy losses to continental sides (Scotland appeared to not take their best team on the continental tour where they took beatings from Austria and Italy), although England handed out some one sided beatings as well. Domestically two high scoring English sides dominated the landscape, champions Arsenal and runners up Aston Villa. Villa set the record for goals scored in a season with 128, while Arsenal's mark of 127 is second best all time. Continentally two great national teams emerged. Italy, after winning the first Central European Cup followed up by going undefeated in 8 games (5-3-0). The Italian national side was dominated by players from Juventus, that season champion and the dominant force in Italy for the rest of the decade. Orsi was the star of both teams, scoring a very impressive 20 goals in 33 games for Juventus from the wing, and 4 more in 8 games for Italy. The other major happening was the emergence of the Wunderteam. The addition of Sindelar to an already sound Austria side took the team to a new level, issuing devastating defeats to multiple opponents. In addition First Vienna won both the league and Mitropa Cup titles, led by Josef Blum and Fritz Gschweidl. In South America it was quite on the international front. Uruguayan international Roberto Figueroa led the unfancied Wanderers side to a suprise title in Uruguay. In Argentina Boca won a second straight title and Estudientes had a great season, led by their legendary front line scoring 103 goals in only 34 games. It was really tough leaving some of these players out of the top 23, especially Zischek, Volk, Gibson, Figueroa, and Guaita I gave serious consideration to putting Gschweidl in the top three, possibly even at the expense of Sindelar. Gschweidl played 8 games in 1931 while Sindelar played only 5, both scored 5 times. Gschweidl also had the amazing club season where Sindelar did not. But then I looked a little closer at Austria's matches and the difference Sindelar's introduction made is amazing. Austria played 9 games that year, Sindelar played in 5 of those. In the 4 games Sindelar did not play Austria scored 5 times (1.25 goals per game vs Italy, Czech, Hungary, and Switzerland). In the 5 games Sindelar did play Austria scored 26 goals (5.2 goals per game vs Scotland, Germany, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland). Orsi had a great year and from what I gather was the best player in the Italian League in the early 30s, as well as the star of the national team. Alex James is another no brainer for me. The passing wizard pulled the trigger for one of the greatest scoring teams ever. It must have been one of the greatest assisting seasons ever, and the front line, outside of James himself scored at a very well balanced rate (All competitions: Bastin left wing 45(29), James left inside forward 43(5), Lambert center forward 36(39), Jack right inside forward 38(33), Hulme right wing 35(16)).
1932 Blenkinsop, Ernie (Sheffield Wednesday, England) Braine, Raymond (Sparta Prague) Cesarini, Renato (Juventus, Italy) Cresswell, Warney (Everton) Crooks, Sammy (Derby County, England) Cuello, Alberto (River Plate) Dean, Dixie (Everton, England) Fedullo, Francisco (Bologna, Italy) Ferreyra, Bernabe (River Plate) Macfadyen, Willie (Motherwell) Monzeglio, Eraldo (Bologna, Italy) Nausch, Walter (FK Austria, Austria) Nejedlý, Oldřich (Sparta Prague, Czechoslovakia) Orsi, Raimundo (Juventus, Italy) Peucelle, Carlos (River Plate) Petrone, Pedro (Fiorentina) Schall, Anton (Admira Vienna, Austria) Schiavio, Angelo (Bologna, Italy) Sindelar, Matthias (FK Austria, Austria) Takács, József (Frenencvaros) Toldi, Geza (Frenencvaros, Hungary) Turay, József (Frenencvaros, Hungary) Zischek, Karl (Wacker Vienna, Austria) Honorable Mention: Adi Vogl, Gyula Lázár, Giuseppe Meazza, Giovanni Ferrari, Raffaele Sansone, Luis, Monti, Eddie Hapgood, Roy Goodall, David Jack, George Stevenson, Oskar Rohr, Jacinto Quincoces, Ricardo Zamora, Roberto Porta, Manuel Seoane, Antonio Sastre By Country: Italy (5), Austria (4), England (4), Argentina (3), Hungary (3), Czechoslovakia (1), Scotland (1), Uruguay (1), Belgium (1) By League: Italy (6), Austria (4), England (4), Argentina (3), Hungary (3), Czechoslovakia (2), Scotland (1) England had another strong year internationally, sweeping the home championship with ease and defeating Austria at home in a hard fought famous contest. Domestically Arsenal lost its playmaker Alex James but still challenged for both league and cup titles, finishing runner up in both. A resurgent Everton led again by top scorer Dixie Dean won the league after having been in the second division since their last title in 1928. In Scotland a surprise winner in Motherwell emerged, led by their star offensive duo Macfadyen and Stevenson. Austria continued its amazing run securing the 31-32 edition of the Central European Cup and seriously threatening to be the first continental team to beat England in England. The Czechs, Italians, and Hungarians all had middling international seasons, trading wins and losses behind Austria. The Mitropa Cup was a disappointment with no final played after two semifinalists, Juventus and Slavia were disqualified. Bologna were awarded the title, and did beat two very good teams in the previous rounds in Sparta and First Vienna. In Italy two teams stood far above the rest with Juventus and Bologna vying for the title. Juventus edged Bologna and were again led by Orsi, who was also excellent in the Mitropa Cup before the disqualification. In South America River Plate and Independiente finished tied on points with River Plate winning a playoff to be named champions. They were paced by a legendary season from Bernabe Ferreyra, who scored 44 times in 33 games. There was little activity internationally in South America. Two of the final three were shoe ins in Sindelar and Ferreyra. I felt less strong this season about Orsi as I did last season. Although he was great for Juventus, Italy did not preform as well as they did the year before. He also had strong competition in Anton Schall (won Austrian League, top scorer, also scored 10 in 7 for Austria), Josef Takacs (led Ferencvaros to an undefeated championship season scoring 42 in 22), and Dixie Dean (led Everton to English title scoring 45 in 42).
To mark the new year of 1933 the Budapest newspaper Pesti Napló published rankings of European football nations. Super Class 1 Austria 2 Scotland 3 England 4 Italy Second Class 1 Hungary 2 Switzerland 3 Czechoslovakia 4 Spain 5= Germany, Netherlands 7 France 8= Belgium, Denmark, Sweden There was also a Third Class. Wales and the Irish teams were not included. The fact that Hungary was not listed in the Super Class suggests an attempt at objectivity. Uruguay introduced professionalism in 1931, Argentina in 1932 and Brazil in 1933.