Curated category
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
- Michael OwenMichael Owen scored one of the most talked-about goals in England's football history at the age of eighteen. Running from near the halfway line against…
- Lionel MessiLionel Andrés Messi was born on the 24th of June 1987 in Rosario, a city in the Santa Fe Province of Argentina. By the time he was ten years old, doctors had…
- Sándor KocsisSándor Kocsis scored 11 goals at a single World Cup and left Switzerland in the summer of 1954 with a record that had never been matched.
- Didier DeschampsDidier Deschamps was once called "the water-carrier" by a former teammate, and it was not a compliment. Eric Cantona, the flamboyant Manchester United star…
- Luka ModrićLuka Modrić scored the only goal against Chelsea on the 21st of March 2009, a composed finish that silenced those who had called him a lightweight unfit for…
- Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima scored five goals for Cruzeiro in a single game against Bahia on the 7th of November 1993. He was 17 years old.
- Thibaut CourtoisThibaut Courtois made nine saves in the 2022 UEFA Champions League final, a record in the final since Opta began keeping records in 2003-04.
- Davor ŠukerDavor Šuker was born on the 1st of January 1968 to a Bosnian Croat family from Livno. He began playing football for his hometown club NK Osijek in 1984 at…
- Nicolás OtamendiNicolás Otamendi was born on the 12th of February 1988 in Buenos Aires, and by the time he lifted the FIFA World Cup in December 2022, he had done something…
- Tarek SalmanTarek Salman Suleiman Odeh was born on the 5th of December 1997, and started out in his hometown club, Al-Wakrah SC, playing as a striker.
- Cristiano RonaldoCristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on the 5th of February 1985 in the São Pedro parish of Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira.
- Kylian MbappéKylian Mbappé stood in a stadium of 80,000 people on the 16th of July 2024, wearing the number 9 shirt of Real Madrid. He was 25 years old.
- Andrés GuardadoJosé Andrés Guardado Hernández was born on the 28th of September 1986, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, to Andrés Manuel Guardado and Teresa Hernández.
- Diego MaradonaDiego Armando Maradona was born on the 30th of October 1960 in a polyclinic hospital in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province, and raised in Villa Fiorito, a…
- Zinedine ZidaneZinedine Zidane scored two goals in the 1998 World Cup Final, both headers, both from corners, in front of the entire world.
- Gary LinekerGary Lineker was born on the 30th of November 1960 in Leicester, and a teacher once wrote on his school report that he concentrated too much on football and…
- Emiliano MartínezEmiliano Martínez stood in goal at the Lusail Stadium on the 18th of December 2022, with the FIFA World Cup final against France locked at 3-3 after extra…
- Marc OvermarsMarc Overmars was born in Emst, Gelderland, on the 29th of March 1973. He grew up on a family farm where physical labor defined his childhood.
- RomárioRomário de Souza Faria was born on the 29th of January 1966 in Rio de Janeiro, and by the time he retired, the debate over whether he was the greatest…
- Diego ForlánDiego Forlán Corazo was born on the 19th of May 1979 in the Carrasco neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay. His family history is deeply rooted in professional…
- James RodríguezJames David Rodríguez Rubio was born on the 12th of July 1991 in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, and grew up in the city of Ibagué, Tolima.
- Hristo StoichkovHristo Stoichkov was born on the 8th of February 1966 in Plovdiv, a city in southern Bulgaria, and he would grow up to be named by Pele himself as one of the…
- Oleg SalenkoOleg Anatolyevich Salenko entered the world on the 25th of October 1969 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR. His father was Ukrainian and his mother was Russian.
- Rafael MárquezRafael Márquez Álvarez was born on the 13th of February 1979 in Mexico, and by the time he finished playing, he had done something no defender in the world…
- Robert ProsinečkiRobert Prosinečki arrived in the world on the 12th of January 1969 inside a small apartment in Schwenningen, West Germany.
- VaváVavá scored in two consecutive World Cup finals, a feat no other footballer managed for sixty years. Born Edvaldo Izidio Neto on the 12th of November 1934…