The Top 10 Football (Soccer) Players in the World

It is all about technique, stamina and passion to outsmart your opponent. Football, no doubt, is very popular sport all over the world. The documented proof of this sport can be traced back between the 1st and 3rd century BC. It was found in a Chinese military manual called Zhan Guo Ce. The practice was called ‘cuju’ (蹴鞠) which meant kicking a leather ball through a small hole. Anyways, it was just a brief history of this great sport and let us now move on to the modern era news. Football is very much popular in European and Western countries and thousands of people come to football stadiums to watch their favorite teams/players dribbling the ball and making moves to score a goal. This sport is full of very good players but there are some who really perform great and are distinguished from others.

 

10.Fernando Torres

He was born on 20 March 1984 and is a Spanish football player. He plays for Chelsea at club level and at the national level for the Spanish team as a striker. He was in Liverpool before getting attached to Chelsea. When in Liverpool, he was the fastest player in Liverpool’s history to score 50 league goals. When he switched to Chelsea, another history was recorded as the transfer fee of £50 million made him the most expensive Spanish player in history. Some of the individual honors earned by this magnificent player are Nike Cup top scorer (1999), Algarve Tournament top scorer (2001), UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship top scorer (2002) and Premier League Player of the Month (February 2008 and September 2009).

9. Frank James Lampard

He was born on 20 June 1978 and is an English football player. The number nine footballer shares the same club as Fernando Torres and plays as an attacking midfielder for Chelsea. He began his career from at West Ham United and moved to Chelsea in the year 2001 for a fee of £11 million. After moving to Chelsea formally, he made it a point to win the heart of the club and its supporters by being a three-time Chelsea Player Of The Year. Moreover, Frank James Lampard is a distinguished midfielder of the club with over 100 League goals. Lampard extends the same level of performance to the national level as he is a resplendent penalty taker with seven goals, hence outsmarting the previous record holders, Ron Flowers and Alan Shearer.

8. Andrés Iniesta Luján

He was born on 11 May 1984 and is a Spanish football player. At a young age of 16, he was an important figure in FC Barcelona and plays at the position of central midfielder. By his phenomenal performance, he was able to impress the member of the Barcelona Youth Academy and later on joined that academy. For Iniesta, it was a really travail to leave his parents as he was so much attached to them and felt shy in a new atmosphere. He has been dating Anna Ortiz since 2008 and in 2010; he enunciated that she was pregnant with his baby-girl.  He has led the national team to victory numerous times and he holds individual titles also. Some of the titles are; Euro 2008 Man Of The Match Vs Russia, UEFA Best Player in Europe AwardLa Liga’s Best Attacking Midfielder: 2009, 2011 and La Liga Spanish Player of the Year: 2009.

7. Xavi Hernandez

Xavi is the teammate of Iniesta as he plays for FC Barcelona too at a position of central midfield. He was born on 25 January 1980 in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia. He actually owns his club in real sense as he gave his 15-year career to it. Xavi made his debut in the year 1998 and since then has scored more than 70 goals. He competed with Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or award and secured third place in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Some of the awards won by this legendary player are;   FIFA Club World Cup Silver Ball: 2011,   UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match: 2009,   UEFA Euro Player of the Tournament: 2008 and   World Soccer Player of the Year: 2010.

6. Kaka

His real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite but for the convenience of themselves, his fans have nicknamed him Kaka. He was born on 22 April 1982 in Brasília. Kaka is an attacking midfielder who plays for a Spanish club Real Madrid. We couldn’t witness such a great player on the field if he hadn’t recovered from his spinal injury after a swimming pool accident. It was really a miracle and since then he decided to donate a reasonable amount of his income to his local church. At the age of eight, he started his club career with São Paulo and then gradually gained the attention of big clubs. The lucky girl to whom he married on 23 December 2005 was his childhood love Caroline Celico. Three cheers for the lovely couple. Some of the honors achieved by this great player are; FIFA World Cup Top Assister : 2010, Marca Leyenda: 2009, FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2007 and FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2007.

5. Samuel Eto’o

This magnificent African footballer was born on 10 March 1981 in Nkon, Cameroon and is the most resplendent African footballer world has ever seen. He has secured more than 10 goals while playing with Barcelona in five seasons. In the context of African Nations Cup, Samuel Eto’o is the highest goal scorer with over 18 goals. In the year 2010, he became the first one to win two European Continental Trebles. He also holds the captaincy of the Cameroon national team and has displayed a superb game throughout his national career. Being an African, he faced many racial abuses but unfortunately the then referee didn’t take notice of this fact in his match report. Some of the individual honors earned by Samuel Eto’o are; 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year Third, African Cup of Nations All-Time Top Scorer and La Liga Top Scorer: 2006

4. Steven Gerrard

He was born on 30 May 1980 in Whiston, Merseyside. Steven Gerrard is the captain of Liverpool and plays at the position of central midfielder. Every footballer is famous for one or the other thing, and the specialty of this great English footballer is long-range kicks. In the year 2000, he entered the international arena of football and displayed his resplendent performance in many matches. In the 2006 World Cup, he was the top goal-scorer of his team with two goals.  A very famous British national daily newspaper, The Guardian, in 2008 named Gerrard in its World XI team which included the greatest footballers of all time in one squad. Some of the individual honors earned by Steven Gerrard are; FWA Footballer of the Year: 2009, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2005 and PFA Fans’ Player of the Year: 2001, 2009.

3.Zlatan Ibrahimovic

He was born on 3 October, 1981 in Malmö, Sweden. He is a Swedish professional football player who plays for AC Milan. He started his career in the late 1990’s at Malmo FF. In the year 2009, he made his move to Barcelona with a 2nd highest transfer fee in the football history of €69 million. Some of the individual honors earned by this great player Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year, Swedish Male Athlete of the Year and Serie A Footballer of the Year.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro

He is commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo and was born on 5 February 1985. The Portuguese footballer plays for Real Madrid as a winger and sometimes as a striker. He is also the captain of the Portuguese national team. Some historic records have been made by Cristiano one of which was when he moved to Real Madrid from Manchester United. The transfer deal was worth £80 million. He is also one of the highest paid footballers as he is paid €12 million per year. At the age of 18, Mr. Alex Ferguson came to realize the extra ordinary talent and skill of Ronaldo and picked him up in the squad from Sporting Clube de Portugal.  After becoming the part of Real Madrid, Ronaldo broke the previous record by Ferenc Puskás of scoring the most goals in a season. Cristiano hit a figure of 53 goals in comparison to the previous 49. The Portuguese footballer has contributed a lot towards its national team uplift but has also earned numerous individual honors some of which are;   La Liga top scorer : 2010–11,   Copa del Rey top goalscorer : 2010–11,   FIFA World Player of the Year : 2008 and   UEFA Champions League Topscorer : 2007–08.

1.Lionel Andrés Messi

This Argentinean footballer was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province. He plays for the Barcelona club as a forward and also captains the Argentina national team. He had a growth hormone deficiency problem since his childhood and Barcelona offered the treatment for it. It seems like Messi is very well paying off his debt to the club in terms of brilliant performance. A former Argentine footballer Diego Armando Maradona termed Messi as his successor. It is worth mentioning here that at international level, Messia has scored 22 goals in 67 games. Some of the individual honors secured by this legendary footballer are; Male Best Athlete in Latin America (2011), UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (2009), UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match (2011) and LFP Best Forward (2009, 2010,2011).

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