Skip to content
Curated playlist

Expatriate men's footballers in England

  • Didier DeschampsDidier Deschamps is one of only three men to win the World Cup as both player and manager.
  • Luka ModrićLuka Modrić grew up in a hotel car park after his grandfather was killed. He later won the 2018 Ballon d'Or.
  • Thibaut CourtoisThibaut Courtois began as a left back before coaches turned him into a goalkeeper.
  • Davor ŠukerDavor Šuker won the 1998 World Cup Golden Boot in Croatia's first World Cup. He scored six goals in seven matches.
  • Nicolás OtamendiNicolás Otamendi played every minute of Argentina's 2022 World Cup campaign. He also gave away France's opening penalty.
  • Thierry HenryThierry Henry was thirteen years old in 1990 when a Monaco scout named Arnold Catalano went to watch him play. Henry's team won 6-0, and Henry scored every one of the six goals. Catalano did not ask for a trial. He asked the boy to join…
  • Romelu LukakuRomelu Lukaku was a schoolboy in 2009 when television cameras followed his class from Brussels to London. Standing inside Stamford Bridge, the teenager looked around and said, "What a stadium. If one day in my life I will cry, it will be…
  • Cristiano RonaldoCristiano Ronaldo's mother wanted to abort him, but her doctor refused. He became football's top goalscorer.
  • Moisés CaicedoA local coach paid for Moisés Caicedo's boots, travel and food when he was a child. Caicedo now plays for Chelsea.
  • Xabi AlonsoXabi Alonso stood over a penalty in a Champions League final in Istanbul and watched Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Dida save it. The ball came back out to him. Alonso fired the rebound into the roof of the net. Afterwards he said, "This is…
  • Landon DonovanLandon Donovan scored in the dying seconds to beat Algeria at the 2010 World Cup.
  • Emiliano MartínezEmiliano Martínez tossed the ball away before a World Cup final shootout. He made France's Tchouaméni walk to fetch it.
  • Marc OvermarsMarc Overmars once pulled potatoes from the ground by running with a rope tied around his waist.
  • Luis SuárezLuis Suárez, the Uruguayan striker born on the 24th of January 1987, was sent off at the 2010 World Cup and still found a way to watch the penalty that followed. Late in extra time against Ghana, he had used his hands to stop a header that…
  • Diego ForlánDiego Forlán was 45 years old when he received a wildcard into the main doubles draw of the 2024 Uruguay Open in Montevideo. It was his first professional ATP tournament. The man walking onto the court had spent two decades as one of the…
  • James RodríguezJames Rodríguez chested down a high ball and volleyed it in at the 2014 World Cup. It won the FIFA Puskás Award.
  • Jürgen KlinsmannJürgen Klinsmann scored sixteen goals in one match at age eight. He later lifted a World Cup with West Germany.
  • Lukas PodolskiLukas Podolski bought control of Gornik Zabrze, the club he had always supported. He retired the next day.
  • Mohamed SalahMohamed Salah walked off the pitch in tears during the 2018 Champions League final. In the 30th minute against Real Madrid, a challenge from the defender Sergio Ramos wrenched his left shoulder. He tried to carry on, went to the ground a…
  • Enzo FernándezEnzo Fernández scored for Argentina at the World Cup, then put the ball in his own net.
  • Fabien BarthezGoalkeeper Fabien Barthez once refused to defend a penalty until an official forced him back into goal.
  • Paul PogbaManchester United paid a then-record €105 million for footballer Paul Pogba in 2016.
  • Robert ProsinečkiRobert Prosinečki is the only player to score World Cup goals for two national teams.
  • Erling HaalandErling Haaland scored nine goals in a single match at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Lublin, Poland, where Norway beat Honduras 12-0. No player had ever scored so many in one game at that tournament. The result was also the biggest win by…
  • Christian PulisicChristian Pulisic is an American soccer player whom fans and other players call Captain America. At the age of 25 he matched Landon Donovan's record of four U.S. Soccer Player of the Year awards. He was born in 1998, and he has since…
  • Zlatan IbrahimovićIn March 2018, the Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović paid for a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times. It carried his signature and a single short message: 'Dear Los Angeles, you're welcome.' He had just signed for LA Galaxy,…

Queue