Here are the top 5 footballers who never made it to the World Cup and it is incredible what world football missed with their absence.
Currently, Qatar, the host country, has a small population of three million people. The bulk of those people are apparently foreign workers. They are a small nation, even smaller than England itself and have no prior experience of football. They have poured billions into this year’s tournament to place their name on the map.
The World Cup is no stranger to controversies, as stated before, the 1934 World Cup was hosted in fascist Italy, and apparently, it was held in Russia before. Furthermore, in 1978 the cup was held in Argentina, which was ruled by a murderous leader.
We have always assumed with strong grounds that the World Cup is always played by the best of the best in football. The likes of Pele, Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo have all proven the point of being the best on the field and in the World Cup as well.
Unfortunately, as stated in another Sportsry article, there are current potential legends in the Premier League that has also not been able to join the World Cup. The list goes on and on about which players are accepted in the tournament and who isn’t.
The list is done by BleachReport, and they have a longer rank list but we are going to focus on the top five players who did not join the World Cup.
Number five, Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs is a footballer from Wales. He has won a number of awards for Premier League club Manchester United but he never had the best team around him for the world’s stage. He appeared for Wales in 64 teams and scored 12 goals.
The 48-year-old footballer is now regarded as one of the best footballers in history. He helped United win 13 medals for the Premier League and was briefly their interim manager during the sacking of David Moyes.
Number four, George Weah
The Liberian born footballer has done a number of achievements in the realm of football. He is regarded as one of the greatest African footballers of all time. The irony of this all is that he won the best FIFA Player of all time.
Unfortunately, his country, Liberia, has never been in the World Cup while he is playing, and it is unclear if they will make the cut in the next tournament. For him personally, he is now the 25th President of Liberia, and he has never been as popular as he is now.
Not bad for a former Manchester City and Chelsea player. He also spent 14 years in the Premier League clubs.
Number three, Duncan Edwards
Duncan Edwards was one of the original “Busby Babes” who died as a result of injuries sustained during the Munich air disaster all the way back in 1958. That incident ended his and other players’ careers, but he had made 18 England appearances before.
He passed at the tender age of 21-years-old, with his whole life ahead of him. For all we know, he could’ve been one of England’s legendary World Cup players. Today, his home town has a statue of him, commemorating his contribution to English football.
Number two, George Best
George Best’s feet were certainly magical, but he was unable to lead Northern Ireland to the World Cup at any point in his career. The Manchester United legend was in ranks with other legendary players of his era, but most of them managed to represent their countries.
The footballer was one of the earliest “football celebrities” with his Beatles haircut and handsome face. His nickname in the 1970s was “El-Beatle” by the Portuguese media at the time. He faced several controversies outside of the field due to his lifestyle, but he will still be remembered as one of the greatest.
Number one, Alfredo Di Stéfano
Alfredo Di Stephano, the Spaniard who Pele referred to as the greatest ever. The star player who engineered a fantastic era for Real Madrid played for three different teams in international competition—Spain, Colombia, and Argentina—but never made it to the World Cup finals.
Argentina did not compete in the 1950 World Cup, and he was ruled ineligible for the 1954 World Cup despite having represented both Argentina and Colombia. He looked similar to James Dean and unfortunately has sadly passed away at 88-years-old in 2014.
Will today’s footballers have more luck than them?
It is unclear if they might be given more chances to join the World Cup, as for players like Erling Haaland, who is a legendary footballer at such a young age, his country Norway failed to qualify.
Furthermore, these legendary players would need a team that works well with them, some of them might not get along with the other players in their national team.
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