Yashin

" The Black Spider "

1963

Lev Yashin was a goalkeeper ahead of his time. His nickname was "The Black Spider" because of the black uniform he always wore, and often seemed to have 8 arms and legs. He was also the organizer of his teams' defense, always actively adjusting their positions facing their adversaries (in a time where the common team scheme was 3-2-5, the popular "WM").
He played 20 years for one only club (Dinamo Moscow), was selected in the USSR squad for 4 World Cups (1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 - didn't play any game on this last one), won the Gold Medal in the 1956 Summer Olympics and also the 1960 European Championship, for a total of 74 caps.
It is said that he saved more than 150 penalties throughout his career and, one time while playing Italy, he saved a penalty shot from Sandro Mazzola which lead the italian to say, during the post-game interview that "Lev is a better footballer than I am."
In 1971, a tribute match was held in Moscow to bid a farewell to his career and more than 100,000 people attended, including special fans Eusébio, Pelé and Beckenbauer.

(last reviewed: 2013.January.4th)

Maradona

1986
1990

Pelé

1958
1962
1970

Eusébio

1961

1968
1966 (FIFA)
1973

Johan Cruijff

1970
1971
1972

Johan Cruijff is the personification of "total football", the style that Rinus Michels implemented while coaching Holland in the seventies (then dubbed "Clockwork Orange" alluding to Stanley Kubrick's film).

Despite playing as forward, he would often run the pitch and take other responsabilities under his belt, such as "10" or wingman. His main skills were vision, speed and ball control, which made him a lethal weapon while he played for Ajax, Barcelona and also his national team.

It was after recovering from a groin injury that he started wearing number 14 (as a starter, even in an era when 1 to 11 was mandatory) because he didn't want to deprive a colleague from wearing "his" number 9 after his absence. He is the first football idol which number is not between 1 and 11.

His best year was 1972, when he won the national title with Ajax, was the domestic leading scorer (25 goals), won the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente (from Argentina), won the European Champions Cup against Inter (from Italy) in what was called "the death of catenaccio" and also led Holland to the World Cup final, where they lost 1-2 against the host nation (West Germany) after a remarkable tournament, where they "demoralised" all teams that crossed their path, Argentina (4-0) and Brazil (2-0) among them.
After being dismissed by Ajax in his second sting there (1964-74, 1981-83), he joined arch-rivals Feyenoord and won the national title the immediate year, something that the Rotterdam team hadn't achieved in some 10 years.
Always a strong personality, he made a natural transition to the coaching spot, where he had a successful career with Ajax (1985-88) and Barcelona (1988-96). He coaches the Catalunia team since 2009.

Futre

Paulo Futre was the first outstanding player that rose in Portugal after Eusebio. A product of the Sporting Lisbon academy, he won everything as a youth player.
After his first year playing for Sporting's main squad, he didn't reach an agreement with the management and left for Porto where he enjoyed great success, earning two Championships and one European Champions Cup (2-1 vs Bayern Munich, where he was Man of the Match).
He then joined Atletico Madrid and was widely considered one of the best players of Europe, with his trademark left foot dribbling (little use of his right foot was a trademark as well) and notable speed; he had a "love and hate" relationship with President Jesus Gil y Gil but was always a fan's favourite, as a truly passionate and "give 110%" type of player; the high point of his career there was the 1992 Copa del Rey played at Santiago Bernabeu where defending winners Atletico demoralised Real with a 2-0 class win and with Futre scoring a remarkable second goal.
He had the dream of playing in Italy and, after a 1 year stint with Benfica (where he won the Cup) and another half season at Marseille (where he met his friend Rui Barros again), his dream came through, when he joined low ranked Reggiana in hope to avoid relegation from Serie A; he then carried the team on his shoulders and his performances earned him a contract offer from giants AC Milan (he would only play a single game there due to successive knees injuries).
The waning of his career was spent with West Ham, a brief return to Atletico Madrid and japanese side Yokohama Flügels.
While playing for Portugal's national team, after the Saltillo affair in 1986, he spent most time carrying a mostly unskilled team on his back, even as a winger, but without success; in the end of his career, he still had time to play with Portugal's then-upcoming "Golden Generation" of Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa and Fernando Couto, who would then rise the nation to new successes.

Zidane

1998

2001

1998

Bobby Charlton

1966

1966

1966

1966