| 1. Pelé
Born in a ramshackle house in the poor neighborhood of Tres Coracoes on 23 October 1940, his first nickname, given by his parents, was Dico.
Though he worked as a shoe – polisher when he was 7, he always found the time to play a bit of soccer with his friends, and they formed a team and won their first tournament with him as the leading scorer
However, a soccer legend by the name of Vlademar de Brito, who coached his junior club, gave him an offer to join Santos.
An injury to a top player in the club gave him a chance as a 15 – year old. He soon started scoring consistently, and was in the reckoning for a place in the Brazil World Cup side for 1958, though it came as a shock when he got selected as a 17-year old. Brazil had never won a World Cup before, but there was an air of quite – confidence among the people that with this young prodigy, they had a good chance. The rest is history!
2. Maradona
Maradona is no doubt, one of the most colourful characters the game has ever seen, but, like Pelé, he didn’t have a privileged childhood. Born on 30th October, 1960 in Buenos Aires as one of 8 children who lived in a single room. He got his first football at the age of 3 from his uncle, and he’s said to have always played with it, and he even claims to have slept with it!
At the age of 9, he and his friends founded the Los Cebollitas (Little Onions) team, which was later taken over by the Argentinos Juniors because they played so well!
He was spotted by a talent scout when playing for his neighborhood club ‘Estrella Roja’, and played his first pro match when he was 16. Though he wasn’t selected in the 1978 World Cup despite his obvioius talent, he made his mark in June 1979 when scoring his first goal against Scotland, and the rest, I don’t have to talk about!
3. Lev Yashin
Yashin was born in October 22, 1929, to an industrialist family. He was sent to work at a military factory to help for the 2nd World War. He started playing soccer for the factory team, where he was spotted and invited to play for the Dynamo Moscow team. He didn’t exactly have the best of debuts, and only played 2 more games that season. This didn’t dent his resolve, and, at the same time, he played for the Dynamo ice hockey team, where he was a resounding success.
In 1954, Yashin got a call to the national team, where he played 78 games, playing in 3 World Cups, and won the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 European Championship.
4. Franz Beckenbauer
Born into post – war Munich in September 11, 1945 to a postal worker, he started playing the game at the age of 8 with the youth team of SC Munich ’06, despite his father’s distaste for the game. He was, originally, a center forward, and held Fritz Walter as his idol and was a hardcore supporter of 1860 Munich, despite their relegation from the top league.
He made his debut for Bayern in 1964, and won the German Cup in 1966/67 and the Cup Winner’s Cup in 1967. As he became captain during the 68/69, he experimented with the ‘sweeper’ position, which has become very famous in today’s game.
He went on to get 103 caps for Germany, and part of the 1974 World-Cup winning side. |
