With all due respect to other sports, football has always been and will always be something special. After all, it is not the most popular sport on the planet without a good reason. You’ll see kids playing this simple game with improvised balls anywhere from the poor districts of Nairobi to the famous Rio de Janeiro favelas.
The best time to experience football as a sport is during the World Cup. While you may argue the quality of the games is better in club football, the national teams draw special emotions from players, including the very biggest stars of the game. Just look at how Lionel Messi (the man who has conquered everything in this sport) celebrated the victory with his Argentina at the World Cup 2022 in Qatar and you will see what we are talking about here.
Now, to honor the World Cup as a competition, we have decided to recall some of the biggest legends this competition has ever yielded. Spoiler alert, you may get emotional while reading.
Ferenc Puskas
‘Ferenc was the captain of the mighty Hungarian team, the one that dominated world football back in the 1950s’ as remembered by John Pentin, football expert at bettingTips4you.com. Puskas had 8t5 caps for the national side, scoring as many as 84 goals in the process. To best describe the Hungarian dominance back at the time, we’ll just say they have lost just a single game in the whole decade. It was the 1954 World Cup final defeat.
Jimmy Greaves
Jimmy Greaves is one of the most loved players ever in England. Football fans over there even liked him more than the legendary Bobby Moore who has a statue in front of Wembley. Jimmy was a part of the team that won England's lone World Cup title in 1966. He still tops the country's hat-trick charts with as many as six in his beloved Three Lions shirt.
Miroslav Klose
You will rarely win rewards for being a good guy. You’ll have much greater chances by actually scoring goals in the big games. Miroslav Klose ticks both boxes. He is still the record-holder with his 16 goals at the World Cups. However, we will also remember him for his extraordinary behavior both on and off the pitch. He once refused to take a penalty kick because the referee made a mistake by pointing to the spot. He won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with Germany.
Franz Beckenbauer
Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer is one of just three men who have managed to lift the World Cup trophy both as players and managers (alongside Mario Zagallo and Didier Deschamps). Although he was a defender, Franz managed to score 14 goals in 103 appearances for West Germany. The captained the 1974 winning team. We will never forget Beckenbauer’s revenge on England after losing the final in 1966. He bagged the decisive goal to eliminate the Three Lions from the quarterfinal of the following World Cup edition.
Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff may have never won the World Cup but his influence on football as a game will never be forgotten. Cruyff is the father of the so-called “total football”. He completely changed the philosophy of the game, taking it to the next level with his brilliant ideas. The creative midfielder led the Dutch national team like an orchestra. The Netherlands have never lost a game in which he scored, and he did bag 33 goals in 48 appearances. Cruyff was the closest to the throne in 1974 when he completed a brace against Argentina and eliminated defending champions Brazil on the way to the final against Germany. His tiki-taka football has led both Barcelona and Ajax to huge successes.
Diego Maradona
The whole world considers Lionel Messi the best player to have ever played this beautiful game, especially after his title in Qatar 2022. However, if you ask the Argentineans, Leo can only be level with Diego Armando Maradona at best. Maradona has created so many mouth-watering moments such as the dribble past five English players in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal or his popular “God’s hand”. These two moments probably best describe Maradona as a player and as a person. He was the blend of raw talent and arrogant genius who did not care at all about the rules. Diego became immortal after leading his country to the trophy in 1986.
Pele
Is there a more appropriate way to finish the article? Have you ever seen a greater icon than Pele? With all due respect to everyone else, Pele is still (and will probably always be) the biggest World Cup legend. If nothing, the numbers speak for themselves. And they are by far on Pele's side. Pele has won the World Cup three times. He scored 77 goals in 92 appearances for Brazil. He was an amazing scorer but never a selfish player. Up to this date, there is nobody who comes close to him when it comes to World Cup glory.
