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Roger Milla
Old age is when you begin to say: "I've never felt so
young". The Jules Renard adage could have been written
for Roger Milla. The Cameroon striker, a figurehead of
African football, exploded onto the international scene
at the ripe old age of 38. A fine technician with remarkable
vision, Milla carried his team practically single-handed
to the quarter-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup ItalyTM.
Incredibly, he also played four years later in the USA. |
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Paolo Rossi
Some players control games, some are capable of outstanding
pieces of skill, while others impose themselves through
sheer physical strength. Paolo Rossi didn't fit into any
of these categories. He was quite simply a born goalscorer.
At the 1978 FIFA World Cup ArgentinaTM and even more so
at Spain 1982, the Italian allied economy of movement,
perfect positioning and innate opportunism to become one
of the finest strikers on planet football. |
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Mario Kempes
With the exception of Diego Maradona, nobody shines brighter
than Mario Kempes in Argentina's star-studded football
firmament. "El Matador" was born in C�rdoba (Argentina)
on 15 July 1954. His father, who had been an amateur footballer
in his youth, encouraged the young Kempes to start playing
when he was 9 years old. Seven years later he led his
local team to the regional championship as leading goalscorer.
He made his first division debut on 5 October 1973 for
Instituto de C�rdoba in a game against Newell's Old Boys,
finishing on the losing side (0-1). |
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Johan Cruyff
Very few players have earned the right to be mentioned
in the same breath as Pele, Beckenbauer and Diego Maradona.
Although he never won an international title at country
level and played in only one World Cup, Johan Cruyff is
one of them. Such was his natural talent, the Dutch Master
enjoys an undisputed reputation as one of the game’s
all-time greats. |
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Dino Zoff
A rock, a workaholic, a perfectionist: Dino Zoff is one
of the greatest goalkeepers the world has known. The facts
speak for themselves: he played in the FIFA World Cup™ three times, winning in 1982, won 112 caps and holds the
record of 1,142 minutes without conceding a goal. |
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Bobby Charlton
A survivor of the Munich air disaster, a FIFA World Cup™
winner, a Knight of the British Empire but above all,
a great and an honest player. Bobby Charlton is one of
football’s true ambassadors. |
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Maradona
Some things never lose currency in Argentina - beef, women
and dulce de leche (a caramel dessert) among them. Football
is another source of comfort for the masses, and one player
in particular has provided more than his share of tender
loving care - Diego Armando Maradona. The former national
team captain headed the queue when the football muses
visited the republic. And in a land which looks to the
game for its daily bread, he is considered nothing short
of divine. |
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Pele
Pele. The God of football. "O Rei". Whatever the name,
the memory is the same - of a world-beating superstar
- a record-breaking footballing icon. Above and beyond
his unequalled achievement in winning three FIFA World
Cups™, Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, or Pele, was
a genius who was constantly reinventing the game of football |
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Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Beckenbauer is without doubt one of the greatest
players and managers of all time. He redefined the role
of 'libero', lifted the FIFA World Cup™ as captain
in 1974, before repeating the feat as a manager in 1990. |
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Michel Platini
Michel Platini never did win the FIFA World Cup ™,
the ultimate prize for a footballer. In fact, it is the
only trophy missing from his impressive trophy cabinet,
but that surely does not detract from his status as a
footballing legend. His technical ability, reading of
the game and amazing ruthlessness in front of goal made
him one of the game's all-time greats. |
