https://www.iffhs.com/legends/26

Juan Alberto "Pepe" Schiaffino Villano (Italian pronunciation: [skjaf?fi?no]; 28 July 1925 – 13 November 2002)was an Italian-Uruguayan football player who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. A highly skilful and creative playmaker, at club level, he played for CA Pe?arol in Uruguay, and for A.C. Milan, and Roma in Italy. At international level, he won the 1950 FIFA World Cup with the Uruguayan national team, and also took part at the 1954 FIFA World Cup; he later also represented the Italy national football team.?He was ranked as the best Uruguayan footballer of all time by an IFFHS poll, and the 17th greatest player of the twentieth century.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/26/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/29

Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing football, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards. Matthews' nicknames included "The Wizard of the Dribble" and "The Magician".?Matthews kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old. Matthews was also the oldest player ever to play in England's top football division (50 years and 5 days) and the oldest player ever to represent the country (42 years and 104 days). He was also an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 to honour his contribution to the English game.?He spent 19 years with Stoke City, playing for the Potters from 1932 to 1947, and again from 1961 to 1965. He helped Stoke to the Second Division title in 1932–33 and 1962–63. Between his two spells at Stoke he spent 14 years with Blackpool, where, after being on the losing side in the 1948 and 1951 FA Cup finals, he helped Blackpool to win the cup with a formidable personal performance in the "Matthews Final" of 1953. In 1956, he was named the winner of the inaugural Ballon d'Or, a prize given to the best European footballer each year. Between 1934 and 1957, he won 54 caps for England, playing in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and 1954, and winning nine British Home Championship titles. Following an unsuccessful stint as Port Vale's general manager between 1965 and 1968, he travelled around the world, coaching enthusiastic amateurs. The most notable of his coaching experiences came in 1975 in South Africa, where in spite of the harsh apartheid laws of the time he established an all-black team in Soweto known as "Stan's Men".

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/29/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/30

David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE[4] (UK: /?b?k?m/;[5] born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president & co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City.[6] He played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain and the England national team, for which he held the appearance record for an outfield player until 2016. He is the first English player to win league titles in four countries: England, Spain, the United States and France. He retired in May 2013 after a 20-year career, during which he won 19 major trophies.[7][8] Beckham's professional club career began with Manchester United, where he made his first-team debut in 1992 at age 17.[9] With United, he won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999.[9] He then played four seasons with Real Madrid,[10] winning the La Liga championship in his final season with the club.[11] In July 2007, Beckham signed a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy.[12] While a Galaxy player, he spent two loan spells in Italy with Milan in 2009 and 2010. He was the first British footballer to play 100 UEFA Champions League games.[9] In international football, Beckham made his England debut on 1 September 1996 at the age of 21. He was captain for six years, earning 58 caps during his tenure.[13][14] He made 115 career appearances in total, appearing at three FIFA World Cup tournaments, in 1998, 2002 and 2006, and two UEFA European Championship tournaments, in 2000 and 2004. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending free-kicks as a right winger, Beckham has been hailed as one of the greatest and most recognisable midfielders of his generation, as well as one of the best set-piece specialists of all time.[15][16] He was runner-up in the Ballon d'Or in 1999, twice runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year and in 2004 was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.[17][18][19] He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008. A global ambassador for the sport, Beckham is regarded as a British cultural icon.[20][21] Beckham has consistently ranked among the highest earners in football, and in 2013 was listed as the highest-paid player in the world, having earned over $50 million in the previous 12 months.[22] He has been married to Victoria Beckham since 1999 and they have four children.[23] He has been a UNICEF UK ambassador since 2005, and in 2015 he launched 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund.[24] In 2014, MLS announced that Beckham and a group of investors would own Inter Miami CF, which began play in 2020.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/30/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/31

Sir Robert Charlton CBE (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time,?and was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the year he also won the Ballon d'Or. He played almost all of his club football at Manchester United, where he became renowned for his attacking instincts, his passing abilities from midfield and his ferocious long-range shot, as well as his fitness and stamina. He was cautioned only twice in his career; once against Argentina in the 1966 World Cup, and once in a league match against Chelsea. His elder brother Jack, who was also in the World Cup-winning team, was a former defender for Leeds United and international manager. Born in Ashington, Northumberland, Charlton made his debut for the Manchester United first-team in 1956, and over the next two seasons gained a regular place in the team, during which time he survived the Munich air disaster of 1958 after being rescued by Harry Gregg. After helping United to win the Football League First Division in 1965, he won another First Division title with United in 1967. In 1968, he captained the Manchester United team that won the European Cup, scoring two goals in the final to help them become the first English club to win the competition. Charlton was both Manchester United and England's long-time record goalscorer, and United's long-time record appearance maker, as well as briefly England's, until Bobby Moore overtook his 106 caps in 1973. His appearance record of 758 for United took until 2008 to be beaten, when Ryan Giggs did so in that year's Champions League final. With 249 goals, he is currently United's second all-time leading goalscorer, after his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2017. He is also the second highest goalscorer for England, after his record of 49 goals which was held until 2015 was again surpassed by Rooney. He was named in the England squad for four World Cups (1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970), though did not play in the first. At the time of his retirement from the England team in 1970, he was the nation's most capped player, having turned out 106 times at the highest level. This record has since been surpassed by six players (as of November 2019). He left Manchester United to become manager of Preston North End for the 1973–74 season. He changed to player-manager the following season. He next accepted a post as a director with Wigan Athletic, then became a member of Manchester United's board of directors in 1984 and remains one as of the 2018–19 season.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/31/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/32

Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin (Ukrainian: Оле?г Володи?мирович Блох??н, Russian: Оле?г Влади?мирович Блохи?н; born 5 November 1952) is a former Ukrainian football player and manager. Blokhin was formerly a standout striker for Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet Union. He holds the all-time top goalscorer record for both Dynamo Kyiv (266 goals) and the Soviet Union national team (42 goals), as well as being the overall top goalscorer in the history of the Soviet Top League (211 goals). He is also the only player to have been capped over 100 times for the Soviet Union and holds Dynamo's appearance record with 582 appearances during his 18-year spell at the club. With Dynamo, Blokhin won eight Soviet league titles, five national cups and two European Cup Winners' Cups. He also competed for the Soviet Union at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games and 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups. During his playing career he won the Soviet Footballer of the Year award three times and the Ukrainian Footballer of the Year award nine times (both records). In 1975, he was named European Footballer of the Year, winning the Ballon d'Or, becoming the second Soviet and the first Ukrainian player to achieve such a feat. As a coach, he has had two spells in charge of the Ukrainian national team, managing the team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012. In 2011, Blokhin, together with Igor Belanov and Vitaliy Starukhin were named as "the legends of Ukrainian football" at the Victory of Football awards.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/32/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/33

Tanju ?olak (born 10 November 1963 in Samsun) is a retired Turkish footballer, who played as a striker.He made his debut for Samsun Yolspor. From there he was transferred to Samsunspor in 1981 where he was the top scorer in both the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. ?olak then moved to Galatasaray in the end of 1986–87 season. He was the top scorer in Europe with 39 goals in the 1987–88 season. At the same time, he was awarded the European Golden Boot given by France Football. He is the only Turkish footballer to date to win this award. ?olak became the top scorer again in the 1991–92 season, and transferred to Fenerbah?e at the end of the season.He had a lifetime total of 240 goals and took over the title of top goal scorer in the Turkish Super League by breaking the legendary record of Metin Oktay. He had scored the most goal with 240 goals at only 9 seasons, which were 1982–83 and between the 1985–93 seasons.?His record was broken by Hakan ?ükür in 2007–08 season after 17 seasons.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/33/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/37

Francisco Gento López (born 21 October 1933) is a former Spanish football player, who played as a left winger. Gento began his career at Racing Santander in 1952 and moved to Real Madrid the following season. He appeared in a joint record eight European Cup finals, winning a record six, as well as winning 12 La Liga titles. In a 14-year international career, Gento earned 43 caps for Spain, playing at the World Cup in 1962 and 1966. Following the death of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Gento was appointed as the Honorary President of Real Madrid. He débuted in the Primera División with Racing Santander in the 1952–53 season. In the following year, he signed with Real Madrid and became a legendary player of that club, wearing the number 11 shirt. La Galerna del Cantábrico (The Gale of the Cantabrian Sea), as he was known, played outside-left and was noted for his skills with the ball and his scoring prowess from the midfield position. He captained a young side, known in Spain as Ye-yé, because of the popularity of The Beatles at that time. He is regarded as one of Spain's greatest players. Among other honors, Gento won the European Cup a record 6 times with Real Madrid (an unmatched record), scoring 30 goals in 89 European Cup career matches. He also played for Spain from 1955 to 1969, winning 43 caps and scoring 5 times. Gento played in eight European Cup finals (6–2 record) (with a ninth European final appearance in the 1970–1971 Cup Winners' Cup final that Real Madrid lost to Chelsea). He holds this record jointly with Milan's Paolo Maldini (with an inferior 5–3 record). Gento's legendary Real Madrid teammate, Alfredo Di Stéfano (5–2 record) comes third with 7. After he retired from football in 1971, he decided to take up coaching. He took charge of various lower-league teams, such as Castilla, Castellón, Palencia, and Granada. In the end, he accepted a post working as an ambassador for Real Madrid throughout Europe. Gento's two younger brothers, Julio (1939–2016) and Antonio (born 1940) also played football professionally; the latter played for Real Madrid, too, but they were not as successful as their older brother Francisco. With the death of Michel Hidalgo on 26 March 2020, Gento and Reims's Robert Siatka are the only living starters from the inaugural European Cup final.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/37/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/38

Majed Ahmed Abdullah (Arabic: ???? ???? ??? ?????; born 11 January 1959) is a Saudi Arabian former footballer who played for Al-Nassr and the Saudi national team. Abdullah is the all-time leading goalscorer for Saudi Arabia with 72 goals in 117 games. At club level, he is the record goalscorer for Al-Nassr and is the all-time top scorer of the Saudi Professional League. He was often referred to by his nickname "Arabian Jewel". Majed Abdullah is regarded as one of the greatest Western Asian strikers of all time. He was nominated for IFFHS Asia's Player of the Century, finishing third place.?He spent his entire club career at Al-Nassr, and scored 189 league goals in a twenty-one-year career. During this time, Al-Nassr established themselves as one of the dominant forces in Saudi and Asian football. With Majed Abdullah leading the attack, Al-Nassr won five League titles and four King Cup titles as well as the 1997–98 Asian Cup Winners' Cup. Majed Abdullah also finished as the Saudi League top scorer six times throughout his career. Majed Abdullah retired from football in 1998, after Al-Nassr's Asian Cup Winners' Cup Final victory over Suwon Samsung Bluewings. His success was not limited to the domestic stage, in 1984 Saudi Arabia qualified for their first-ever global international tournament at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Abdullah scored their only goal as Saudi Arabia lost all three group games. International success did come in 1984, however, in the Asian Cup in Singapore. Saudi Arabia beat China 2–0 in the final to take the title for the first time, with Abdullah scoring the second goal. Four years later in 1988, he would score twice in the tournament in Qatar as the Saudi team retained the title by beating South Korea on penalties.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/38/legend.mp4