Curated category
Men's association football forwards
- 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.
- 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.
- Oldřich NejedlýOn the 11th of June 1990, Oldřich Nejedlý died at the age of 80, just as that year's World Cup kicked off in Italy. Italy had also hosted the World Cup back…
- Gerd MüllerGerd Müller scored 68 goals in 62 international appearances for West Germany. That is not a misprint. Most top-level strikers celebrate if they average a…
- 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…
- Helmut RahnHelmut Rahn had six minutes left, and a nation's fragile self-belief riding on his boots. It was the final of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, West Germany against…
- 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.
- Dražan JerkovićDražan Jerković was born in Šibenik on the 6th of August 1936, when the town still sat inside the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
- Miroslav KloseMiroslav Klose scored 16 goals in the FIFA World Cup across four tournaments, a record no player has matched. He was born on the 9th of June 1978 in Opole, a…
- Thomas MüllerThomas Müller was born on the 13th of September 1989 in Weilheim in Oberbayern, Bavaria, and grew up in the nearby village of Pähl.
- 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…
- 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…
- Landon DonovanLandon Donovan scored the only goal of the match in the dying seconds against Algeria at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, off a rebound from a Clint Dempsey attempt…
- Paolo RossiPaolo Rossi was born on the 23rd of September 1956 in Prato, Tuscany, in the area of Santa Lucia. Twenty-six years later, he stood at the centre of one of…
- Leonel SánchezLeonel Guillermo Sánchez Lineros was born on the 25th of April 1936 in Chile, the son of a professional boxer. That detail matters.
- Arnold HillsArnold Frank Hills played just once for England, in a 5-4 win over Scotland on the 5th of April 1879 at the Kennington Oval.
- PeléEdson Arantes do Nascimento was born on the 23rd of October 1940 in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and he died on the 29th of December 2022 at the age…
- EusébioEusébio da Silva Ferreira grew up barefoot in the Mafalala neighbourhood of Lourenço Marques, kicking balls made of socks stuffed with newspapers rolled into…
- GarrinchaGarrincha was born with one leg six centimetres shorter than the other, with his left leg turning outwards and his right turning inwards.
- Just FontaineJust Fontaine scored thirteen goals at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Not across a tournament run that stretched years or multiple competitions.
- Mário ZagalloMário Zagallo was standing on the pitch at the Maracanã Stadium as a young soldier in 1950, watching Uruguay defeat Brazil in one of the most painful moments…
- 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…
- Flórián AlbertFlórián Albert stood on a pitch in England in 1966, and made a crowd forget about Pelé. That is not a small claim. Hungary were facing Brazil in a must-win…
- 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.
- Jürgen KlinsmannJürgen Klinsmann scored sixteen goals in a single football match at the age of eight. He was playing for an amateur club in the small town of Gingen an der…
- Lukas PodolskiLukas Podolski scored a goal after just nine seconds in May 2013 against Ecuador. Not nine minutes. Nine seconds. It was the fastest goal in the history of…
- Salvatore SchillaciSalvatore Schillaci was born on the 1st of December 1964 in Palermo, Italy. He grew up in a poor family within that Sicilian city.
- Gabriel BatistutaGabriel Omar Batistuta was born on the 1st of February 1969 in the Argentine town of Avellaneda, to a slaughterhouse worker and a school secretary.
- 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…
- Guillermo StábileGuillermo Stábile arrived at the 1930 FIFA World Cup as a last-minute replacement, stepping onto the pitch only because the first-choice striker suffered an…
- Harry KaneHarry Kane was born on the 28th of July 1993 at Whipps Cross University Hospital in Leytonstone, London, and he grew up fifteen minutes from Tottenham…
- Leônidas (footballer, born 1913)Leônidas da Silva began his professional journey at the São Cristóvão club in Rio de Janeiro. He moved to Sírio e Libanez under coach Gentil Cardoso.
- Mario KempesMario Alberto Kempes Chiodi arrived in the world on the 15th of July 1954 within Bell Ville, Córdoba. His father Mario Quemp carried German heritage while…
- 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.
- 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…
- Jesús FerreiraJesús Ferreira came off the bench in the 71st minute for FC Dallas on the 3rd of June 2017, against Real Salt Lake. Eighteen minutes later, in the 89th…