"result, he missed the beginning of the 1981 NASL soccer season, which ultimately led to Cruyff choosing to leave the team. Cruyff also loathed playing on artificial surfaces, which were common in the NASL at the time. In January 1981, Cruyff played three friendly matches for FC Dordrecht. Also in January 1981, manager Jock Wallace of English club Leicester City made an attempt to sign Cruyff, and despite negotiations lasting three weeks, in which Cruyff expressed his desire to play for the club, a deal could not be reached. Cruyff instead chose to sign with Spanish Segunda División side Levante."
"""There have been four kings of football – Di Stéfano, Pelé, Cruyff and Maradona – and the fifth has not yet appeared. We are awaiting the fifth, and it is sure to be Messi, but so far he is not among the kings. You can't give him the crown after five years."" Several notable figures in the world of football such as Arsène Wenger, Michel Platini, Eric Cantona, Marco van Basten, Michael Laudrup, Emilio Butragueño, Rafael Benítez, and Joan Laporta once revealed that they considered Cruyff as their ""childhood hero"", ""idol"", or ""inspiration"". Arrigo Sacchi, Arsène Wenger, Carlos Alberto Torres,"
"competition by FIFA, but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially resigned in 1982. Mexico was selected as the new host in May 1983. At the 1986 World Cup, four nations South American nations participated: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The tournament was won by Argentina (their second title, after also winning in 1978), captained by Maradona, who scored the infamous ""Hand of God goal"", and also a goal voted as ""Goal of the Century"", in the same quarter-final against England. These were two of the five goals that Maradona scored during the tournament;"
"Bulgaria, Greece, Japan, Ivory Coast, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland played its first time against Argentina.<br>France, Mexico, Chile, United States, Uruguay, Northern Ireland, Haiti, East Germany, Jamaica and Croatia played in its first world cup but after first game. Diego Maradona has captained the team in 16 matches. His total of 21 matches is only beaten by three other players. Argentina's game versus West Germany in 1958 featured a yellow jersey instead traditional's light blue and white colors or blue as alternate. This was beacause both teams wear white jerseys creating confusing. As South American side forgot to bring an"
"Netherlands, he put himself in the pantheon along with greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona, Ferenc Puskás, Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane. As coach at Ajax and Barcelona, he built thrilling sides, nurtured a remarkable number of genius players and influenced many of the most important teams in the world. The all-conquering Spain and Barcelona of Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, brilliant Bayern Munich and Germany of today, AC Milan of the late 1980s and many other memorable champions would have been unthinkable without Cruyff. Once radical and revolutionary, Cruyffian principles have become standard throughout the modern game. His blueprint for"
"Canada, Denmark and Iraq made their first finals. José Batista of Uruguay set a World Cup record being sent off after a mere 56 seconds into the game against Scotland. The quarterfinal match between England and Argentina is remembered for two remarkable Diego Maradona goals, later regarded as player of the tournament, the first, the controversial handball goal, and the second, considered to be the Goal of the Century, in which he dribbled half the length of the field past five English players before scoring. In the final, Argentina beat West Germany 3–2, inspired by Diego Maradona, who set up"
"trophy. Paul Breitner became only the third player in World Cup history to have scored in two separate finals, but only after the Italians had already taken a 3-0 lead after 81 minutes. With the highest attendance ever at a FIFA World Cup final, West Germany faced Argentina in Mexico City. Although the South Americans' star player Diego Maradona was closely guarded by the German team, he assisted the decisive 3-2 scored by Jorge Burruchaga, ensuring his country's second World Cup win. Late during the match, three yellow cards were given to Argentinians for time wasting. For this re-match of"
"15 titles (they were previously equal on 14 titles each during the 2011 Copa America). The continent has produced many of the most famous and most talented players including Alfredo Di Stéfano, Pelé, Alberto Spencer, Teófilo Cubillas, César Cueto, Enzo Francescoli, Arsenio Erico, Elías Figueroa, Diego Maradona, Carlos Valderrama, Iván Zamorano, Gabriel Batistuta, Ronaldo, Claudio Pizarro, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi. Basketball is particularly popular in South America. One of the most important achievements was the Argentina gold medal in Men's Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Argentina won the World Championship in 1950. In Brazil, basketball became"
"McDonald's, Budweiser, and MasterCard. Individual clubs may wear jerseys with advertising, even if such sponsors conflict with those of the FIFA Club World Cup. However, only one main sponsor is permitted per jersey in addition to that of the kit manufacturer. The tournament's current event sponsors and brands advertised (in ""italic"") are: FIFA Partners Event Sponsors Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos hold the shared record of four times champions of the FIFA Club World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record of being the overall top goalscorer in FIFA Club World Cup history with seven goals. Mohamed Aboutrika, Hossam Ashour and"
"the feat to have won the three most important men's football titles recognized by FIFA: the World Cup, the Confederations Cup, and the Olympic tournament. They also share with Spain a record of 35 consecutive matches undefeated. Brazil has notable rivalries with Argentina—known as the ""Superclássico das Américas"" in Portuguese—and Italy—known as the ""Clásico Mundial"" in Spanish or the ""World Derby"" in English. Brazil has also produced players considered as the best of the world at their time and among the best in history, such are the cases of Pelé, Garrincha, Zico, Romário, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Neymar."
"by some distance I might add"". French three time Balon D'or winner Michel Platini said; ""There's Pelé the man, and then Pelé the player. And to play like Pelé is to play like God."" Joint FIFA Player of the Century, Argentina's 1986 FIFA World Cup-winning captain Diego Maradona stated; ""It's too bad we never got along, but he was an awesome player"". Prolific Brazilian striker Romário, winner of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and player of the tournament; ""It's only inevitable I look up to Pelé. He's like a God to us"". Five-time FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo said:"
"Player of the Century. He was chosen on the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, and in 2004 was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. Considered to be one of the most influential figures in football history, Cruyff's style of play and his football philosophy has influenced managers and players, including the likes of Arrigo Sacchi, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger, Pep Guardiola, Frank Rijkaard, Michael Laudrup, Eric Cantona and Xavi. Ajax and Barcelona are among the clubs that have developed youth academies based"
"Maradona started his career with Argentinos Juniors, later playing for Boca Juniors, the Argentina national football team and others (most notably FC Barcelona in Spain and SSC Napoli in Italy). Argentina has been the home of world champions in professional boxing. Carlos Monzon was a hall of fame World Middleweight champion, and the current undisputed linear Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez hails from Argentina. Omar Narvaez, Lucas Matthysse, Carolina Duer, and Marcos Maidana are five modern-day world champions as well. Buenos Aires has been a candidate city for the Summer Olympic Games on three occasions: for the 1956 Games, which were"
"Agüero, Marco Reus, Cesc Fàbregas and Antoine Griezmann. The Puma King soccer cleat have been worn by legendary players such as Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona. In recent times, the most successful companies are Nike and Adidas, and their products enjoy great popularity among professional footballers; among Nike's endorsers are two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, aforementioned duo Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, striker Ronaldo, Wesley Sneijder, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and other popular players. Adidas, which has been providing football boots with screw-in studs to the German national side since the 1954 FIFA World Cup, have made"
"the World Cup. Like Maradona again in 1986, Messi was involved in the vast majority of Argentina's goals. New Maradona New Maradona or New Diego is a title given by the press and public to promising Argentine football players in reference (and reverence) to Diego Maradona as a benchmark. Since Maradona retired, people have been anticipating someone to lead the Argentine national team to a World Cup final, like Maradona did twice. As a consequence, very talented youngsters are quickly labeled as a ""New Maradona"" (for example Lionel Messi or Juan Román Riquelme), sometimes without any similarity in playing style"
"World Cup Trophy was designed and created in 1971 and since that time he has seen it pass through the hands of many famous football personalities. Franz Beckenbauer was the first to proudly present it to the world in 1974; an honour that was followed by Daniel Passarella in 1978, Dino Zoff in 1982, Diego Maradona in 1986, Lothar Matthaus in 1990, Dunga in 1994, Didier Deschamps in 1998, Cafu in 2002, Fabio Cannavaro in 2006, Iker Casillas in 2010, Philipp Lahm in 2014, and Hugo Lloris in 2018. After Brazil retained the right to keep the Rimet Cup as"
"a Maradona whose careers can be summed up with a series of vines and clips, mountains of goals and skills after another. With Cruyff, you have to think in order to be able to understand it. It doesn't simply happen before your eyes, but it's something altogether more thoughtful, and ultimately more rewarding."" One of very few players who actually have a dribbling move named after them, Cruyff also perfected and popularized a feint now known as the ""Cruyff Turn"" (or ""Cruijff Turn""). With its simplicity, effectiveness and unpredictability, the Cruyff Turn remains one of the most commonly used dribbling"
"to Colombia announcing in 1983 that they were not going to be available to organize the tournament. In this World Cup, Puebla played a bigger role than the previous one in 1970. This time, the defending champions Italy played at El Estadio Cuauhtémoc. Italy played against Argentina on July 5, 1986, where they tied 1–1 with a goal from the football legend Diego Armando Maradona. The second game was against the Korea Republic national football team, who Italy managed to defeat 3–2. In the round of 16 match, Argentina defeated Uruguay 1-0 in El Estadio Cuauhtémoc, which was played on"
"place, Platini a first and second place, and George Weah two players for fifth place. Pelé was named the greatest by 17 voters, receiving almost double the number of points earned by the runner-up, Diego Maradona. To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, ""France Football"" published a reevaluation of the awards presented before 1995, when only European players were eligible to win the award. 12 out of the 39 Ballons d'Or presented during this time period would have been awarded to South American players; in addition to Pelé and Diego Maradona, Garrincha, Mario Kempes, and"
"forwards, wingers, or attacking midfielders. Although still widely contested among Argentine football players, in recent times the title has been attached to FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, an assertion supported by Maradona himself. Maradona and Messi worked together as manager and player for Argentina's national side at the 2010 World Cup, the former thoroughly impressed with the latter's skills. On 18 April 2007, Messi scored a goal against Getafe CF which was very similar to Maradona's Goal of the Century, scored against England in the 1986 World Cup. The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press"
"with Brazil, Argentina and Italy, that World Cup history was made. In the opener, the ""Azzurri"" prevailed 2-1 over Diego Maradona's side in an ill-tempered game in which Italy defenders Gaetano Scirea and Claudio Gentile proved to be able to stop the Argentinian attack. Argentina now needed a win over Brazil on the second day, but they were no match. Although the Brazilians had the better of the play, Maradona's Argentina side continued pushing for an equaliser and had a clear penalty denied by the referee . After that, Brazil scored twice, and Maradona was sent off after he kicked"
"FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the """" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia. The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the"
"Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French former football player, manager and administrator. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from football, over ethics violations. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named ""Chevalier"" of the Legion of Honour in 1985 and became ""Officier"" in 1988. During his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus. Nicknamed"
"while he was an international. Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French former football player, manager and administrator. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from football, over ethics violations. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named ""Chevalier"" of the Legion of Honour in 1985 and became ""Officier"" in 1988. During his career, Platini played for the clubs"
"between Italy and Argentina. Considered to be the most intriguing match of that World Cup, Diego Maradona, who played for Naples's Italian 1st division team, asked for the Napoli fans to cheer for Argentina. The Napoli tifosi responded by hanging a flag in their ""curva"" of the stadium saying ""Maradona, Naples loves you, but Italy is our homeland"". It was touching for Maradona as Napoli was the only stadium during that World Cup that the Argentinian national anthem was not jeered. The match finished 1–1 after extra time. A penalty shoot out ensued with Maradona fittingly scoring the winning penalty"
"players from around the world, including Ronaldo, Eric Cantona, Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert and Jorge Campos, they defend ""the beautiful game"" against a team of demonic warriors, with Maldini stating, ""Maybe they're friendly?"" before he starts the move which culminates with Cantona striking the ball and ""destroying evil"". Maldini features in EA Sports' ""FIFA"" video game series; he was on the cover for the Italian edition of """", and was named in the Ultimate Team Legends in ""FIFA 14"". Maldini was born in Milan to Cesare Maldini and Maria Luisa De Mezzi. He has been married to Venezuelan former model"
"of the team of the tournament for his performances. Due to his pace, flair, creativity, influence, and technical ability, Conti was given the nickname ""Mara-Zico"" throughout the World Cup (a reference to the players Maradona and Zico); at the conclusion of the tournament, Pelé stated that he believed that Conti had been the best player of the tournament, and that he was one of the best players in the world. Conti continued to be an important member of the Italian squad throughout the 80s, although the team failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championship. Conti took part with Italy"
"FIFA World Cup Dream Team The FIFA World Cup Dream Team is an all-time FIFA World Cup all-star team published by FIFA in 2002 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a World Cup dream team. Diego Maradona of Argentina received the most votes. More than one-and-a-half million fans worldwide voted in the poll, conducted by the official FIFA website, www.FIFAworldcup.com, with Maradona receiving 111,035 votes. Brazil's Pelé, who played for three World Cup-winning teams, won 107,539 votes and Zinedine Zidane, who scored twice for France in their 1998 triumph, came in third with 80,527. It is an"
"Loren and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti conducting the draw alongside FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter. The draw show was FIFA's most ambitious yet with Pelé, Bobby Moore and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge appearing, as well as a performance of the Italian version of the tournament's official song ""To Be Number One"" by Giorgio Moroder, performed as ""Un'estate italiana"" by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini. The event also featured the official mascot of this World Cup, ""Ciao"", a stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolor body that formed the word ""ITALIA"" when deconstructed and reconstructed. Its name is a"
"FIFA World Cup champion Diego Maradona. Before the event, Maradona appeared in a video giving his support to Ottman Azaitar, whose brother is friends with the former footballer. The story came up in social media and the Argentinian fans got revolted with the support from the idol to a foreign athlete instead of his fellow countryman Kevin Koldobsky. The event was broadcast internationally online, through Brave's official website and Youtube channel, for free. In addition, the card was also broadcast in Bahrain through Bahrain TV, Middle East through OSN Sports, and Asia through ABS-CBN Sports and Action. Brave 2: Dynasty"
"Fernando Gago, Diego Maradona, Jorge Burruchaga, Javier Mascherano, Lionel Messi, Juan Román Riquelme, Oscar Ruggeri, Gabriel Calderón, Sergio Goycochea, Sergio Romero, Maxi Rodríguez, Luis Islas, Luciano Galletti, Juan Pablo Sorín, Franco Costanzo, Walter Samuel, Javier Saviola, Jorge Borelli, Leonardo Biagini, Diego Simeone, Carlos Tevez, Érik Lamela, Éver Banega, Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Piatti, among others. Argentina did not participate of the first youth championship held in Tunisia. The first appearance of a national team in an under-20 competition was two years later at the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Tokyo. The team, coached by Menotti with the help of"
"World Cup, with Maradona doing so in 1979 and 1986, while Messi managed the same feat in 2005 and in 2014. Like Maradona in 1986, Messi also made the most successful dribbling runs of any other player throughout the tournament, and knocked out Belgium on the way to the final, drawing further comparisons between the two players. During the tournament, Messi's passionate celebration after scoring the match winning goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina was compared to Maradona's famous goal celebration against Greece in 1994. Furthermore, images surfaced which compared the heavy marking both players faced by the opposition defence at"
"another record fee £6.9 million. He played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys during his club career, and is most famous for his time at Napoli and Barcelona where he won numerous accolades. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, including the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. In the 1986 World Cup quarter final, he"