mbulelo smpofu
TODAY we continue with players ranked between 31-40 who are considered by si.com as having been among the best 50.
This is from the time people started gathering statistics.
40. Gunnar Nordahl
Peak: 1950-55
Major Achievements: Olympic gold medal, five-time Capocannoniere, two Scudetti.
There’s one thing that defines Gunnar Nordahl’s career: goals.
Gunnar Nordahl scored goals. A lot of them.
The Swedish forward scored so many goals between 1950 and 1955 that he won the Capocannoniere in four of these seasons, and became AC Milan’s all-time record goalscorer.
He also held the record for most goals scored in a single Serie A season for 66 years… untill a certain Gonzalo Higuain came along.
39. Kevin Keegan
Peak: 1977-79
Major Achievements: 1978 & 1979 Ballon d’Or, 1981/82 PFA Players’ Player of the Year, three Football League First Division titles, one FA Cup, one European Cup, two Uefa Cup titles, one Bundesliga.
“I tell ya, honestly, I’d love it if we beat them! Love it!”
When you read Kevin Keegan’s name that interview is what came to mind isn’t it?
But if you can, just for a moment, put aside the aforementioned rage induced rant and the subsequent bottling of the Premier League title race, you’ll see just how incredible a footballer Keegan really was.
In fact, Kevin Keegan was one of the greatest English footballers of all time.
He won the Ballon d’Or twice. Twice.
Keegan also became English soccer’s undisputed greatest ever export during his time a Hamburger SV; where he was lauded as a “savior” for winning the Bundesliga title in 1979.
38. Hristo Stoichkov
Peak: 1990-94
Major Achievements: 1994 Ballon d’Or, 1990 European Golden Shoe, five-time Bulgarian Footballer of the Year, one Uefa Champions League, five La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey.
Scoring six goals in the the 1994 FIFA World Cup, including one in each of the knockout rounds, Stoichkov came within touching distance of taking an eternally unfancied Bulgarian outfit to the final; earning himself the Ballon d’Or in the process.
On top of this incredible international achievement, Stoichkov, particularly between 1990 and 1994, enjoyed a pretty impressive club career too.
Teaming up with Romario at Barcelona in his prime, Stoichkov became one of the most feared forwards in Europe, and helped the ‘Dream Team’ to a Uefa Champions League triumph in 1992.
37. Gianluigi Buffon
Peak: 2002-06
Major Achievements: 2006 Ballon d’Or runner-up, 2006 Fifa World Cup, 12-time Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year, 2002/03 Uefa Club Footballer of the Year, two-time Pallone Azzurro, 2016/17 Serie A Footballer of the Year, 11 Scudetti, five Coppa Italia titles, one Uefa Cup.
The greatest goalkeeper of all time? Yeah, probably.
Put simply, no goalkeeper has ever been better for longer than Gianluigi Buffon. And no one ever will.
At his best, he would only concede two goals (one a freak Cristian Zaccardo own goal, the other a Zinedine Zidane penalty) on route to a World Cup triumph, at his worst he was one of the top three goalkeepers in Europe.
There will never be another Gianluigi Buffon.
36. Johan Neeskens
Peak: 1971-78
Major Achievements: 1974 & 1978 Fifa World Cup runner-up, 1974 Fifa World Cup Silver Boot, three European Cups, two Eredivisie, two KNVB Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, one Copa del Rey.
The ‘two guard’ for the great Netherlands, Ajax and Barcelona teams of the 1970s, Johan Neeskens may have always been in the shadow of Johan Cruyff, but his talent cannot be underestimated.
Neeskens was the brutally hard working ying to Cruyff’s beautifully artistic yang, and it’s more than fair to say that without one Johan, there couldn’t have been the other.
35. Xavi Hernandez
Peak: 2008-12
Major Achievements: 2010 Fifa World Cup, 2008 & 2012 Uefa European Championship, 2008 Uefa European Championship Player of the Tournament, 2005 La Liga Spanish Player of the Year, four Uefa
Champions Leagues, eight La Liga titles, three Copa del Rey.
The fulcrum of two of the greatest football teams of all time.
A winner of literally every single trophy that has ever existed.
A player that ‘changed football’.
34. Luis Suarez
Peak: 1960-65
Major Achievements: 1960 Ballon d’Or, two European Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, three Scudetti, two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey.
This isn’t the Uruguayan Luis Suarez who tore up La Liga with Lionel Messi and Barcelona, the Premier League with Liverpool, or… MLS with Lionel Messi again.
This is the Spanish Luis Suarez who, during the first half of the 1960s, dominated European football with a revolutionary Inter side.
In this fruitful period Suarez won the Ballon d’Or, three Scudetti and two consecutive European Cups.
33. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Peak: 1979-84
Major Achievements: 1980 & 1981 Ballon d’Or, 1980 German Footballer of the Year, three-time Torjägerkanone, 1980 UEFA European Championship, two European Cups, two Bundesliga titles, two DFB-Pokal.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge may better known as one of the members of the Bayern Munich board to younger readers of this article; to the older readers however, the German is remembered for being one of the most fearsome forwards of the 1980s.
Always the bridesmaid and never the bride at the World Cup, he was a beaten finalist on two occasions but a winner in literally every other competition he ever played in.
32. Andres Iniesta
Peak: 2008-12
Major Achievements: 2010 Fifa World Cup, 2008 & 2012 Uefa European Championships, four Uefa Champions Leagues, nine La Liga titles, six Copa del Rey, 2012 Uefa Men’s Player of the Year Award.
Is Andres Iniesta the most likeable footballer on this list?
Yes, yes he is.
Is he also the most successful footballer on this list?
Well, he’s certainly right up there.
He did with style too, as one of the most skilful footballers of his generation in fact.
31. Rivelino
Peak: 1968-74
Major Achievements: 1970 Fifa World Cup, 1970 Fifa World Cup All-Star Team, two Campeonato Carioca titles.
If you take the time to watch some YouTube highlights of Rivelino or find some full game tapes from the 1970 Fifa World Cup, you’ll understand just what ‘Joga Bonito’ really is.
It’s the beautiful game; something that no one has ever personified quite like Rivelino did. — si.com.
