https://www.iffhs.com/legends/155

Commonly known as Kaká or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Owing to his performances as a playmaker at Milan, Kaká is widely considered one of the best players of his generation. With success at club and international level, he is one of eight players to have won the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or. Kaká made his professional club debut at age 18 at S?o Paulo in Brazil in 2001. After being named to the Bola de Ouro as the best player in the 2002 Campeonato Brasileiro, he joined Serie A club Milan for a fee of €8.5 million in 2003. In Italy, Kaká won a league title and was named the Serie A Footballer of the Year twice. In 2005, Milan finished runners up in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final with Kaká as the top assist provider of the tournament, and named the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year. Two years later, he led Milan to win the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final and was the tournament's top goal scorer. Kaká's pace, creative passing, goal scoring and dribbles from midfield saw him win the FIFA World Player of the Year, the Ballon d'Or, the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker awards. After his success with Milan, Kaká joined Real Madrid for a transfer fee of €67 million. At the time, this was the second highest transfer fee (in euros) ever, behind only the €77.5 million (150 billion lire) fee for Zinedine Zidane. However, after four injury ravaged seasons in Spain, which saw his physical ability to dribble from midfield rapidly decline, he returned to Milan for a single season in 2013, prior to joining MLS expansion club Orlando City. He initially returned to his former club S?o Paulo on loan, before relocating to the United States in 2015, where he became a three time All-Star and won an MLS All-Star Game Most Valuable Player award prior to retiring in 2017. Kaká made his debut for the Brazil national team in 2002, and was selected for their victorious World Cup squad that year, as well as the 2006 and tournaments, leading the latter tournament in assists. He was also a member of Brazil's 2005 and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup -winning squads, winning the Golden Ball Award in 2009 as the tournament's best player.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/155/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/156

He is an English former football player and manager. A forward, he played for several clubs, including Newcastle United, Southampton, Liverpool and Hamburger SV. He went on to manage Newcastle United, Fulham and Manchester City, winning promotion as champions in his first full season at all three clubs, and also the England national team. As a player in the 1970s and 1980s, he has been described as "arguably the first superstar English player to attract the modern media spotlight". He began his playing career at Scunthorpe United in 1968, before moving to Liverpool in 1971. At Liverpool, Keegan won three First Division titles, the UEFA Cup twice, the FA Cup and the European Cup. He also gained his first England cap in 1972, and moved to West German club Hamburger SV in the summer of 1977. At Hamburg, he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1978 and 1979, won the Bundesliga title in 1978–79, and reached the European Cup final in 1980. Keegan moved to Southampton that summer, and spent two seasons at the club before a transfer to Newcastle United in the English second division in1982. He helped Newcastle to promotion in his second season, and retired from football in 1984, having been capped 63 times for England, scoring 21 goals.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/156/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/157

He is a Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. His father, Mario, also a footballer, inspired him to play from a young age. At the age of seven he began playing with a junior team and at fourteen, he joined the Talleres reserves. A prolific goalscorer, at club level he is best known for playing for Valencia, finishing as La Liga's top goalscorer twice, and amassing 116 goals in 184 league games for the club. At international level, Kempes was the focal point of Argentina's 1978 World Cup win where he scored twice in the final, and received the Golden Boot as top goalscorer. He also won the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament, making him one of only three players to have won all three awards at a single World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Paolo Rossi in 1982. Kempes won South American Footballer of the Year, Onze d'Or European footballer of the Year, and World Cup Golden Ball in 1978. In 2004, he was named as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/157/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/158

He is a German retired footballer who played as a striker. Klose is the coach of the U17 youth team at Bayern Munich. Klose is best known for his performances with the Germany national team. He was part of the German squad that won the 2014 FIFA World Cup, having previously finished second (2002) and third (2006,2010) in the competition, and as runner-up in UEFA Euro 2008 and joint-third place in UEFA Euro 2012. Klose is the men's top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup with 16 goals, having scored five goals in his debut World Cup in 2002 and having won the Golden Boot at the 2006 World Cup in Germany by again scoring five times, surpassed only by Marta. He also scored four times in the 2010 World Cup and twice at the 2014 World Cup, the latter tournament where he overtook Ronaldo's then-record of 15 goals to top the all-time list. Klose is also the top scorer of all time for Germany, which never lost a game in which Klose scored, and one of the very few players ever to have won gold, silver and bronze medals in the World Cup (bronze in 2006 and 2010, silver in 2002 and gold in 2014). He retired from Germany's national team on 11 August 2014 shortly after Germany's victory at the 2014 World Cup.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/158/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/159

He is a Dutch retired footballer who has been manager of the Netherlands national team since 2018. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was capable of playing both as a defender< and as a midfielder; he frequently played as a sweeper, although he was equally known for his goalscoring, long–range shooting, and accuracy from free kicks and penalties. He is the top scoring defender in world football. Born in Zaandam, Koeman began his career at FC Groningen before transferring to the Netherlands' most successful club Ajax, where he won the national Eredivise title in 1984–85. He then joined Ajax's rivals PSV, winning three consecutive Eredivisie titles (1986–87,1987–88, and1988–89) and the European Cup in 1988. Ronald Koeman is one of five European players to ever win a Treble with their club and a cup with their national team in the same year. The other four players are his teammates Hans van Breukelen, Berry van Aerle, Gerald Vanenburg, and Wim Kieft. In 1989, Koeman moved to Barcelona and became part of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team", helping the club win La Liga four years in a row between 1991 and 1994, and the European Cup, where he scored the winning goal of the final against Sampdoria in 1992. At international level, Koeman was one of the stars of the Netherlands national team, alongside Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, and Dennis Bergkamp. During his career with the Netherlands, Koeman won UEFA Euro 1988 and played at the UEFA Euro 1992,1990, and 1994 FIFA World Cups, captaining the team at the latter.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/159/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/160

He is a German retired professional footballer who played as a right back or defensive midfielder and spent much of his early career playing left back. He was the captain of Bayern Munich, having led them to numerous honours including the 2013 UEFA Champions League as part of the Treble. He is also a former captain of his national team, which he led to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup, before retiring from international football. Lahm is considered by many to be one of the best defenders of his generation and one of the greatest defenders of all time and was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006, 2010, and 2014, and the UEFA Team of the Tournament in 2008 and 2012 and in the UEFA Team of the Year 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Although Lahm is right-footed, he is able to play on both sides of the pitch, due to his tactical intelligence and versatility.He often cut from the flank to the inside of the pitch to either shoot and/or pass. In particular, he is renowned for his pace, technique, stamina, and precise tackling abilities, as well as his small stature, which earned him the nickname the "Magic Dwarf".

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/160/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/161

He is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation.&nbsp;He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup. During his playing career, Laudrup won league titles with Ajax, Barcelona Real Madrid and Juventus, playing mainly as an attacking midfielder, although he was also capable of playing in other offensive positions. A world class playmaker, he was a member of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" at Barcelona, where he won nine trophies, including four successive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994 and the European Cup in 1992.Laudrup moved to arch-rivals Real Madrid in 1994, with whom he won his fifth La Liga title in a row. Laudrup made his debut for the Denmark national team on his 18th birthday in 1982, and scored 37 goals in 104 appearances. He starred in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and from November 1994, he captained Denmark for a total of 28 matches, including the victorious 1995 Confederations Cup tournament. He played alongside his brother Brian in the Denmark team that reached the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup, and retired as an active player after the tournament. In 1999, Laudrup was voted the Best Foreign Player in Spanish Football over the preceding 25-year period&nbsp;and in April 2000 he was knighted, receiving the Order of the Dannebrog. In November 2003, to celebrate's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Denmark by the Danish Football Association, their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He was officially named the best Danish footballer of all time by the Danish Football Association (DBU) in November 2006. He was named by& Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players at a FIFA awards ceremony in 2004. In April 2013, he was named by Marca in the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history". He is by some considered the greatest Scandinavian footballer ever, ahead of the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovi?.

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/161/legend.mp4

https://www.iffhs.com/legends/162

He is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as a striker for the Iraq national football team and is currently the President of the Iraq Former Players Association. One of the country's greatest ever players, Mahmoud captained the team for ten straight years and became an icon of Asian football. He also played for a number of clubs including teams in Iraq, UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, breaking numerous records including becoming the first player in Qatar to score two hat-tricks in the same game. Mahmoud's first official international goal was an equaliser in the 89th minute of the final of the 2002 WAFF Championship, which Iraq then went on to win in extra-time. Three years later, Mahmoud scored in the final of the 2005 West Asian Games to lead his team to another tournament win, before becoming the national team captain a year later. In 2007, Mahmoud achieved the best honour of his career, leading his country to win the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, their first such success, scoring the winning goal in the final and also winning the Golden Boot and Most Valuable Player awards at the tournament.In the 2007 Ballon d'Or, Mahmoud finished in 29th place, becoming the only Iraqi player ever to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or. He continued to feature prominently for the national team until 2016, playing in all three of Iraq's 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup matches and becoming the most-capped player in Iraq's history as well as their third-highest goalscorer ever. He is also the only player in history to score in four different (and consecutive) AFC Asian Cup tournaments (one goal in 2004, four goals in 2007, one goal in 2011 and two goals in 2015).

Legend Video:?https://iffhs.de/images/legend-videos/162/legend.mp4