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Legends Of Each Country


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1 minute ago, Cicero said:

Until he wins the Euros, Zidane has had a better international career. World Cup win against that Brazil team won him the Balon d'Or too. 

That makes sense, but to say it's not a debate is silly. Mbappe is on course to break every World Cup record having only played 2 tournaments and he's 25. I'm not doubting Zidane's career but Mbappe is very much in the discussion.

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7 minutes ago, Goku de la Boca said:

That makes sense, but to say it's not a debate is silly. Mbappe is on course to break every World Cup record having only played 2 tournaments and he's 25. I'm not doubting Zidane's career but Mbappe is very much in the discussion.

Zidane's international career is essentially why he is considered alongside the greatest of all time. Hence why people claim its not up for debate. 

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2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Zidane's international career is essentially why he is considered alongside the greatest of all time. Hence why people claim its not up for debate. 

Which is why I said wait til the end of Mbappe's career. I think he's good enough now to claim a debate but if he breaks every record like what's predicted, he will be compared to Pele at international level rather than Zidane. Mbappe has had 2 legendary World Cups already and has won one of them. If he manages to win a 2nd and god forbid a 3rd which is very possible, it will be tough to debate by that point.

And to clarify I am not comparing Mbappe to Pele in footballing ability, rather I am comparing the potential international career he could retire with.

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8 hours ago, Lucas said:

Got to say, I generslly try to think the first two players thst come to mind. Not always the best, but generslly good, probably more iconic.

When I think of Brazil, it's 100% Fat Ronaldo. Absolute phenominan. And that's even over Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. Pure magic. He'd always be my pick over Garrincha.

Chile for me has to contain one of either Marcelo Salas or Ivan Zamorano, maybe even both?

Germany would contain Jurgen Klinsmann or Lother Matthaus over Kroos, easy.

England would contain either Gary Lineker or Alan Shearer instead of Keegan for me.

France would be Zinedine Zidane over Mbappe, easily.

Italy I'd swap Baggio for Dino Zoff or Buffon I think, as much as I love Baggio. The other two are just more iconic, especially for the position they play too. 

 

A few I've not seen mentioned that spring to mind for me...

Belgium

Enzo Scifo and Kevin De Bruyne.

Czech Republic

Karel Poborsky and Paolo Nedved

Romania

Georghi Hagi and Gheorghe Popescu

Bulgaria

Hristo Stoichkov and Dimitar Berbatov

Denmark

Michael Laudrup and Peter Schmeichel

Sweden

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrick Larsson

Switzerland

Xerdhan Shaqiri and Stephane Chapuisat

Cameroon

Roger Milla and Samuel Eto'o

Senegal

El-Hadji Diouf and Papa Bouba Diop

Ghana

Tony Yeboah and Sammy Kuffour

 

I can't really argue too much with most of your selections here, apart from Karel Poborsky. He had a good Euro 96, but apart from that, he kind of had an up and down career. His time at Man Utd wasn't a great personal success, although he did have some decent seasons at other clubs. However, I'd say that players like Tomas Rosicky, Patrik Berger, Jan Koller, Pavel Kuka, Jiri Nemec, Vladimir Smicer, Milan Baros, Petr Cech, Tomas Skuhravy, Zdenek Nehoda and Antonin Panenka were all arguably better than Poborsky.

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4 hours ago, Cicero said:

Until he wins the Euros, Zidane has had a better international career. World Cup win against that Brazil team won him the Balon d'Or too. 

Zidane also stood out in quite literally one of the strongest international teams of all time with superstar world class players in every single position in an era of strong international football.

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On none English nations, I would say:

Germany: Matthaus, Beckenbauer

Holland: Gullit, Cruyff

Australia: Viduka, Kewell

Italy: Maldini, Baggio

France, Mbappe & Zidane

Sweden: Zlatan, Brolin

Denmark: Peter Schmeichel, Laudrup

Spain: Iniesta, Villa (for his goals, 1 tikka takka is enough for anyone, so Xavi misses out)

Argentina: Maradona & Messi (easiest of all nations!)

Portugal: Ronaldo & Figo (fairly easy too)

Brazil: Fat Ronaldo & Pele

Republic of Ireland: McGrath, Keane

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55 minutes ago, Reluctant Striker said:

On none English nations, I would say:

Germany: Matthaus, Beckenbauer

Holland: Gullit, Cruyff

Australia: Viduka, Kewell

Italy: Maldini, Baggio

France, Mbappe & Zidane

Sweden: Zlatan, Brolin

Denmark: Peter Schmeichel, Laudrup

Spain: Iniesta, Villa (for his goals, 1 tikka takka is enough for anyone, so Xavi misses out)

Argentina: Maradona & Messi (easiest of all nations!)

Portugal: Ronaldo & Figo (fairly easy too)

Brazil: Fat Ronaldo & Pele

Republic of Ireland: McGrath, Keane

Portugal it's clearly Ronaldo and Eusebio. Figo I don't think gets into that.

Also you can debate Zidane or Mbappe like I said but Platini is a no brainer. He pretty much was part of the start of when French football became relevant and apparently was better than everyone else who came after him. This is what my dad told me anyways.

Also I'd like to add that me adding Garrincha is based on pure talent. He is a bit forgotten because he is as told by locals that he may be the most talented Brazilian in history, even moreso than Pele.

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England: Bobby Charlton & Bobby Moore

Scotland: Kenny Dalglish & Denis Law

Northern Ireland: George Best & Pat Jennings

Wales: Ryan Giggs & Gareth Bale

Germany: Frans Beckenbauer & Lother Matthäus

Netherlands: Johan Cruijff & Marco Van Basten

Denmark: Peter Schmeichel & Michael Laudrup

Austria: Hans Krankl & David Alaba

Romania: Gheorghe Hagi & Gheorghe Popescu

Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic  & Henrik Larsson

France: Michel Platini & Zinedine Zidane

Spain: Xaviniesta & Luis Suárez

Portugal: Eusebio & C.Ronaldo

Italy: Paolo Maldini & Franco Baresi

Croatia: Luka Modric & Davor Suker

Turkey: Tugay & Hakan Sukur

USA: Clint Dempsey & Brad Friedel

México: Rafa Márquez & Hugo Sánchez

El Salvador: Mágico González

Argentina: Lionel Messi & Diego Maradona 

Brazil: Pelé & Zico

Perú: Teófico Cubillas & Héctor Chumpitaz

Colombia: Carlos Valderrama & Rene Higuita

Uruguay: Luis Suárez & Obdulio Varela

Chile: Alexis Sánchez & Arturo Vidal

Cameroon: Samuel Eto'o & Roger Milla

Ivory Coast: Didier Drogba & Yaya Toure

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43 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

Perú: Teófico Cubillas & Héctor Chumpitaz

Like I clarified in my original pick, these are THE 2 Peruvians to choose. Comfortably the best 2 players this country has ever produced, however we have such a glorious history that you have so much to choose from. Cesar Cueto, J.C Oblitas, Hugo Sotil from the golden generation, Paolo Guerrero and Claudio Pizarro from the modern day, Miguel Loayza and Juan Seminario from the team that beat England 4-1 but couldn't play in WCQ due to travel limitations back then (one played for Barcelona, the other for Boca), and my personal favourite, Valeriano Lopez who was Santiago Bernabeu's first choice at Real Madrid over Di Stefano. He rejected them due to wanting to be closer to family and they went for the Argentine instead. Imagine what could have been, the best aerial striker Peru's ever seen :( 

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50 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

England: Bobby Charlton & Bobby Moore

Austria: Hans Krankl & David Alaba

France: Michel Platini & Zinedine Zidane

Spain: Xaviniesta & Luis Suárez

Portugal: Eusebio & C.Ronaldo

USA: Clint Dempsey & Brad Friedel

Brazil: Pelé & Zico

Colombia: Carlos Valderrama & Rene Higuita

As for other picks, these are the ones I want to leave a comment on.

I will admit Bobby Moore passed my mind but England has so many players despite only having 1 World Cup. They are the pioneers of the sport after all. I think Moore, Hurst, Keegan, Lineker, Rooney all have a proper shot. I'm sure there are also many pre-50 footballers that I am not familiar with.

Hans Krankl! My dad told me great things about him and how he was a star for Austria.

Great choices for France. Platini NEEDS to be in all of them, but second choice is between Zinedine Zidane and Mbappe for me.

Spain is Xavi, Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Butragueño and Puyol I think.

Portugal is the easiest pick after Argentina.

Disagree with the USA ones. Friedel is worthy of a spot but I don't think Dempsey gets ahead of Donovan.

Zico is a superb pick and is forgotten because Brazil didn't win that World Cup, however that Brazil team is supposedly the best to never win and them not winning it changed their mindset for the rest of time. I think second choice could be Zico, Fat Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Garrincha. There is so much to pick from but those 4 are heads and shoulders above the rest. Neymar, Vava, Kaka, Tostao, Roberto Carlos, Marcelo and Cafu all have a say but I wouldn't call them different compared to the 4 I mentioned.

Disagree on Higuita. James, Falcao and Asprilla before him. Even Willington Ortiz I'd say.

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Also I'd like to retract my pick on Toni Kroos and add Manuel Neuer. Sure he still isn't a "legend" when you see how successful Germany are but I think at a world level he revolutionized the sweeper keeper role and was also the best goalkeeper I've personally seen. I wonder how bold of a take that one is

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Germany: Franz Beckenbauer & Gerd Müller

England: Bobby Moore & Bobby Charlton

Austria: Matthias Sindelar & Herbert Prohaska

Netherlands: Johan Cruyff & Ruud Gullit

Switzerland: Max Abegglen & Fredy Bickel

Ireland: Pat Bonner & Roy Keane

Portugal: Eusebio & C. Ronaldo

Spain: Luis Suarez & Xavi

Italy: Paolo Maldini & Gianni Rivera

Brazil: Pele & Garrincha

Argentina: Diego Maradona & Lionel Messi ( the easiest country of the lot)

Scotland: Kenny Dalglish & Graeme Souness

Uruguay: Jose Andrade & Juan Schiaffino

France: Zinedine Zidane & Michel Platini

Poland: Grzegorz Lato & Zbigniew Boniek

USSR: Lev Yashine & Oleg Blochine

Wales: Ian Rush & Ryan Giggs

 

 

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On 12/01/2024 at 14:04, Goku de la Boca said:

As for other picks, these are the ones I want to leave a comment on.

I will admit Bobby Moore passed my mind but England has so many players despite only having 1 World Cup. They are the pioneers of the sport after all. I think Moore, Hurst, Keegan, Lineker, Rooney all have a proper shot. I'm sure there are also many pre-50 footballers that I am not familiar with.

Hans Krankl! My dad told me great things about him and how he was a star for Austria.

Great choices for France. Platini NEEDS to be in all of them, but second choice is between Zinedine Zidane and Mbappe for me.

Spain is Xavi, Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Butragueño and Puyol I think.

Portugal is the easiest pick after Argentina.

Disagree with the USA ones. Friedel is worthy of a spot but I don't think Dempsey gets ahead of Donovan.

Zico is a superb pick and is forgotten because Brazil didn't win that World Cup, however that Brazil team is supposedly the best to never win and them not winning it changed their mindset for the rest of time. I think second choice could be Zico, Fat Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Garrincha. There is so much to pick from but those 4 are heads and shoulders above the rest. Neymar, Vava, Kaka, Tostao, Roberto Carlos, Marcelo and Cafu all have a say but I wouldn't call them different compared to the 4 I mentioned.

Disagree on Higuita. James, Falcao and Asprilla before him. Even Willington Ortiz I'd say.

I would put Rivaldo ahead of Ronaldinho for Brazil. Best player in their Copa América 1999 win and their best player, along with Ronaldo, in World Cup 2002. Also Romário practically won the World Cup himself in 1994.

To be honest, I agree with James, but due to him falling off at club level so quickly, I didn't like choosing him. For Colombia though, he's arguably their best.

The Colombia team of 94, which Valderrama and Higuita were part of, was class and should have done more. 

There is probably someone better than David Alaba as well. I just couldn't think. Most of the best Austrian players are from before my time. 

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On 11/01/2024 at 14:42, Carnivore Chris said:

Cuauhtémoc Blanco or Rafa Márquez over Chicharito.

IDK all the Mexicanos I know make fun of Rafa Marquez for being a cartel bitch. Ask America fans and Guillermo Ochoa is top of the list. 

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13 minutes ago, Spike said:

IDK all the Mexicanos I know make fun of Rafa Marquez for being a cartel bitch. Ask America fans and Guillermo Ochoa is top of the list. 

I actually forgot about him. But you're right, he is likely number one. México have had some top players but then some who could have become much more for them, especially Vela.

 

 

The greatest ever player from Central America is Mágico González.

 

@Goku de la Boca

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

I actually forgot about him. But you're right, he is likely number one. México have had some top players but then some who could have become much more for them, especially Vela.

 

 

The greatest ever player from Central America is Mágico González.

 

@Goku de la Boca

 

 

They are also critical of Hugo Sanchez for being a terrible and overpaid coach. Chivas fans hate Ochoa, they mock him by saying he closes his eyes when he catches the ball. Chicharito, I feel people are fond of, as well as Hector Herrera, and Andres Guadrado. An dark horse is Chucky Lozano, they love him.

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21 minutes ago, Spike said:

They are also critical of Hugo Sanchez for being a terrible and overpaid coach. Chivas fans hate Ochoa, they mock him by saying he closes his eyes when he catches the ball. Chicharito, I feel people are fond of, as well as Hector Herrera, and Andres Guadrado. An dark horse is Chucky Lozano, they love him.

I've heard alot of criticism for Hugo Sánchez. 

 

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On 13/01/2024 at 08:02, Carnivore Chris said:

I actually forgot about him. But you're right, he is likely number one. México have had some top players but then some who could have become much more for them, especially Vela.

 

 

The greatest ever player from Central America is Mágico González.

 

@Goku de la Boca

 

 

I am not as familiar with Central America compared to South America but I can confirm the El Salvador one. Costa Rica is Bryan Ruiz and Wanchope Abila, Guatemala is Carlos Ruiz, Panama is the Dely Valdes brothers and Luis Tejada, and Honduras I THINK is WIlson Palacios.

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  • 1 month later...

Pantheon is a project by MIT university to rank the most notable people in human history based on how much traffic the Wikipedia profile of the personality gets. In order to get in the database the person's Wiki page must be in at least 15 different language versions of Wikipedia then it applies a complex mathematical equation to assign an HPI (historical popularity index) to rank personalities.

https://pantheon.world/explore/rankings?show=people&years=-3501,2023

Based on that these are the most notable footballer figures player+coach born in each country (just born may not have actually played for that country).

The ones I already know about are bolded. Please bold the ones you already knew about

List A

Afghanistan: Zohaib Islam Amiri

Albania: Panajot Pano

Algeria: Rabah Madjer

Andorra: Oscar Sonejee

Angola: Fernando Peyroteo

Argentina: Diego Maradona

Armenia: Henrikh Mkhtitaryan

Australia: Graham Arnold

Austria: Josef Bican

Azerbaijan: Tofiq Bahramov

List B

Bahrain: A'ala Hubail

Belarus: Sergei Aleinikov

Belgium: Jean-Marrie Pffaf

Belize: Dean McCaulay

Benin: Stephane Sessegnon

Bermuda: Shaun Goater

Bhutan: Wangay Dorji

Bolivia: Ulises Saucedo

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Vahid Halilhodzic

Botswana: Dipsy Selolwane

Brazil: Pele

Bulgaria: Hristo Stiochkov

Burkina Faso: Jonathan Pitroipa

Burundi: Shabani Nonda

List C

Cambodia: Chan Vathanaka

Cameroon: Roger Milla

Canada: John Van't Schip

Cape Verde: Rolando

Central African Rep: Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

Chad: Japhet N'Doram

Chile: Ivan Zamorano

China: Lie Tie

Colombia: Rene Higuita

Congo DR: Claude Makelele

Congo Rep: Delvin N'Dinga

Costa Rica: Keylor Navas

Croatia: Davor Suker

Cuba: Jorge Romo

Cyprus: Michalis Konstantinou

Czech Republic: Josef Masopust

List D

Denmark: Peter Schmeichel

Dominican Republic: Junior Firpo

List E

Ecuador: Alberto Spencer

Egypt: Mohamad Salah

El Salvador: Jaime Rodriguez

England: Bobby Charlton

Estonia: Valeri Karpin

Eswatini: Bongani Khumalo

List F

Fiji: Roy Krishna

Finland: Jari Litmanen

France: Zinedine Zidane

List G

Gabon: Mario Lemina

Gambia: Omar Colley

Georgia: Murtaz Khurtsilava

Germany: Gerd Muller
Ghana: Abedi Pele

Greece: Theodoros Zagorakis

Guatemala: Carlos Ruiz
Guinea: Naby Keita

Guinea-Bissau: Ansu Fati

List H

Haiti: Emmanuel Sanon

Honduras: David Suazo

Hong Kong: Chan Siu Ki

Hungary: Ferenc Puskas
 

List I
Iceland: Eiour Guojohnsen

India: Sunil Chetri
Indonesia: Beb Bakhyus

Iran: Ali Daei
Iraq: Ahmed Radhi

Ireland: Roy Keane

Israel: Yochanan Vollach

Italy: Giuseppe Meazza

List J
Jamaica: Raheem Sterling

Japan: Kazuyoshi Miura (I knew he's the oldest player but didn't knew his name)

Jordan: Amer Shafi

List K

Kazakhstan: Serhiy Skachenko

Kenya: Michael Olunga

Kosovo: Xerdan Shaqiri

Kuwait: Faisal Al-Dakhil

Kyrgyzstan: Ilzat Akhmetov

List L

Laos: Visay Phaphouvanim

Latvia: Maris Verpakovskis

Lebanon: Yousef Mohamed

Liberia: George Weah

Libya: Claudio Gentile

Liechtenstein: Rainer Hasler

Lithuania: Arminas Narbekovas

Luxembourg: Louis Pilot

List M

Macedonia: Dragoslav Sekularac

Madagascar: Anicet Abel

Malawi: Russell Mwafulirwa

Malaysia: Mokhtar Dahari

Maldives: Ali Ashfaq

Mali: Salif Keita

Malta: Michael Mifsuda

Mauritania: Adama Ba

Mexico: Antonio Carbajal

Moldova: Itzhak Shum

Montenegro: Dejan Savicevic

Morocco: Just Fontaine

Mozambique: Eusebio

List N

Namibia: Collin Benjamin

Nepal: Rohit Chand

Netherlands: Johan Cruyff

New Zealand: Wynton Rufer

Nicaragua: Oscar Duarte

Niger: Moussa Maazou

Nigeria: Jay-Jay Okocha

North Korea: Lee Yoo-hyung

Northern Ireland: George Best

Norway: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

List O

Oman: Ali Al-Habsi

List P

Pakistan: Rubin Okotie

Panama: Jorge Dely Valdes

Paraguay: Jose Luis Chilavert

Peru: Teofillo Cubillas

Philippines: Paulino Alcantara

Poland: Udo Lattek

Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo

List Q

Qatar: Akram Afif

List R

Romania: Mircea Lucesu

Russia: Lev Yashin

List S

St Kitts & Nevis: Keith Gumbs

Saudi Arabia: Majed Abdullah

Scotland: Kenny Dalgish

Senegal: Jean-Pierre Adams

Serbia: Drajan Dzajic

Seirra Leone: Trevoh Chalobah

Singapore: Terry Butcher

Slovakia: Ferdinand Daucik

Slovenia: Branko Oblak

Somalia: Abdisalam Ibrahim

South Africa: Bruce Grobbelar

South Korea: Cha Bum-Kun

Spain: Santiago Bernabeu

Sudan: Almoez Ali

Suriname: Edgar Davids

Sweden: Gunnar Nordahl

Switzerland: Robert De Mattio

Syria: Mahmoud Dahoud

List T

Tajikistan: Rashid Rakhimov

Thailand: Kiatisuk Senamuang

Togo: Emmanuel Adebayor

Trinidad & Tobago: Dwight Yorke

Tunisia: Sadok Sassi

Turkey: Hakan Sukur

Turkmenistan: Rolan Gusev

List U

Uganda: Pione Sisto

Ukraine: Andriy Shevchenko

UAE: Adnan Al-Talyani

USA: Bert Petanaude

Uruguay: Jose Nasazzi

Uzbekistan: Vasilis Hatzipanagis

List V

Venezuela: Leonardo Jardim

Vietnam: La Cong Vinh

List W

Wales: Ryan Giggs

List Z

Zambia: Godfrey Chitalu

Zimbabwe: Benjani Mwaruwari

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