A brief history of professional football
Posted May 17th, 2023 by rishabmalangi
in Victoria
May 17th, 2023
The History Of Professional Football
In this book I will explain the greatest players of each era so basically the greatest players in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s. I will also talk about major events such as the World Cup winners.
Chapter 1
The 1950’s
These ten years was when very good players started emerging. Some of the amazing players included Pelé, Di Stefano, Papi, Puskas, Walter, Kubala and many many more. The first ever ballon d’or was given to Stanley Matthews in 1956 after incredible performances against many teams. In 1957 Alfredo Di Stefano was given the ballon d’or after outstanding performances I would say he deserved it. Next in line was Raymond Kopa, he played for a team named “ Real Madrid “ which is one of the greatest teams in football history, he also played with Alfredo Di Stefano. In 1959 the astonishing Alfredo Di Stefano won the ballon d’or yet again! He is unstoppable and when you are in Real Madrid and have a team with Raymond Kopa, Alfredo Di Stefano and Farenc Puskas you are literally and truly unstoppable. Now we move on to the World Cup. It happens every 4 years and 32 countries compete until one of them pulls through and wins it all. By the way I am skipping a few World Cup winners. Please don’t yell at me. The winner of the World Cup in 1950 was Uruguay, they beat Brazil 2-1 it was an extremely close game. Uruguay secured their 2nd World Cup (they won the other one in 1930). In 1954 Germany secured the World Cup after beating Hungary 3-2, it was intense but Germany managed to win barely. The 1958 World Cup final in my opinion was not even close, the reason I say that is because Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 to secure their 2nd World Cup.
Chapter 2
The 1960’s
Now in the 1960’s there were some very talented players, some of them include Eusebio, Suarez, Yashin, Pelè, Bobby Charlton and Garrincha. Now to start off we have to talk about the ballon d’or. In 1960 the amazing Luis Suarez won his first Ballon D’or after an amazing year for Barcelona. In 1961 Omar Sivori won this prestigious award after having a very successful year. In 1962 Josef Masopuf won the Ballon D’or after having an alright year ( I don’t really think he deserved it). In 1963 Lev Yashin won the ballon D’or and he is still the only person to have a ballon d’or as a goalkeeper which is very impressive. In 1964 Denis Law from Manchester United won the ballon d’or after his good performance in many games. In 1965 Eusebio from the club Benfica won this award and I have to say this but he is one of my favourite players ever. In 1966 Bobby Charlton won the ballon d’or after winning the World Cup and having a fantastic year. Also in 1967 Florian Albert won the ballon d’or after a very good year and some amazing plays. In 1968 one of the greatest players of all time George Best got a ballon d’or after having some outstanding performances. In 1969 Gianni Rivera from AC Milan won the ballon d’or after scoring some amazing goals for his club. Now we look at the wonderful World Cup winners. In 1962 Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1, Brazil and Pele won their 3rd World Cup. In 1966 The country that is crazy about football won it. It’s England and boy oh boy were they happy. Bobby Charlton was the best player in my opinion on that team. England beat Germany 4-2 After an entertaining game. This was a crazy decade.
Chapter 3
The 1970’s
This was a very talented era and a lot of amazing players played back then. These include Cryuff, Muller, Moore, Rica and Beckenbauer. We obviously have to talk about one of the greatest trophies first, the Ballon D’or. In 1970 the winner of the Ballon D’or was Gerd Muller who was one of the best players at the time and one of the best German players of all time. In 1971 the winner of the award was Johan Cryuff who is definitely one of the greatest players of all time and he was also one of the best Dutch players. Also he was arguably the best player in the 1970’s. In 1972 also arguably the greatest player at the time Frenz Beckenbauer won the Ballon d’or. He is a German like Muller and those two were some of the best players at the time. In 1973 and 1974 Johan Cryuff won the Ballon d’or yet again but not once but TWICE in a row. He was an amazing player and was the most advanced player in that era. In 1975 Oleg Blokhin from Ukraine won the ballon d’or after some entertaining performances. In 1976 Franz Beckenbauer won the Ballon d’or yet again, he now has 2 Ballon d’or and he has also made himself very loved. In 1977 Allen Simonsen from Denmark won the Ballon d’or after scoring goal after goal after goal. In 1978 and 1979 Kevin Keegan from England won the Ballon d’or back to back. He was overall an amazing player and I am not surprised he won the valuable trophy. Now we talk about the World Cup winners, the world cups in this era were very nice to watch. In 1970 Brazil won against Italy 4-1 after some outstanding performances and memorable matches. In 1974 Germany won the World Cup after beating Holland 2-1. Germany had an amazing team and it paid off because they won the World Cup. Finally in 1978 Argentina won the World Cup after facing Holland and beating them 3-1. Maradona played in that and he is now considered one of the all time greats. This era was very memorable and was crazier than the 60’s.
Chapter 4
The 1980’s
This decade made history. It contained some insane players such as Maradona, Rummenigge, Platini, Baresi, Mathaus, Gullit and Van Basten. Like all the other chapters we have to start off with the Ballon d’or winners. Now in 1980 and 1981 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge won the Ballon d’or twice in a row. He was a very good player but not many people know him sadly. In 1982 Paolo Rossi won the ballon d’or. He was a talented player and I understand that he won the award. In 1983, 1984 and 1985 the marvellous Micheal Platini won the trophy three times in a row. He was an amazing defender in fact he is probably one of the best defenders ever. In 1986 Igor Belanov from the Soviet Union won the trophy after an amazing year with Dynamo Kyiv. In 1987 Ruud Gullit from the Netherlands won the Ballon d’or after an amazing season with AC Milan. in 1988 and 1989 Marco van Basten from the Netherlands won the Ballon d’or twice in a row. It’s almost like everyone is winning the trophy twice or even three times in a row. Now the World Cup. In 1982 Italy beat Germany 3-1 and it was indeed an extraordinarily close and entertaining game to watch. In 1986 Argentina beat Germany 3-2. Germany lost 2 World Cup finals in a row which is very sad. This was an amazing, fun, entertaining time for football and we witnessed the introduction of many fantastic players.
Chapter 5
The 1990’s
These 10 years really showed how good and talented players can be. A lot of insane players played in the 1990’s. Some of these players include Maradona, Hierro, Ronaldo Nazario, Zidane and Rivaldo. You know the drill, we will start with the Ballon d’or. In 1990 Lothar Matthäus from Germany won the Ballon d’or after having a very very very good season. In 1991 Jean-Peare Papin won the trophy after some good goals. In 1992 Marco van Basten won his third Ballon d’or after having some insane and amazing seasons, he deserved the trophy. In 1993 Roberto Baggio from Italy won the Ballon d’or after some outstanding performances with his club Juventus. In 1994 Hristo Stoichkov from Bulgaria won the trophy after a good season with his club Barcelona. In 1995 George Weah from Liberia won the Ballon d’or after a perfect season with his club Milan. In 1996 Matthias Sammer from Germany won the Ballon d’or with his club Borussia Dortmund, he was a very good player and he is one of my favourite players. In 1997 Ronaldo Nazario from Brazil won the Ballon d’or, he is easily one of the greatest players of all time and he even played for some very good clubs. In 1998 Zinedine Zidane from France was one of the best players ever and it was not surprising he won the trophy. In 1999 Rivaldo from Brazil won the Ballon d’or and he also plays for my second favourite team Barcelona. Now we talk about the World Cup. These World Cups were memorable and were also amazing. In 1990 Germany won the World Cup after beating Argentina 1-0. It was a very close game. In 1994 Brazil won the World Cup 3-2 against Italy, they won because of penalties. Brazil had one of the best teams so I wasn’t surprised that they won. In 1998 France beat Brazil 3-0. France also had an amazing team so I was not really surprised. This block of ten years was very talented and made many good players.
Chapter 6
The 2000’s
We are finally out of the 1900’s. Now we are moving on to the 2000’s. This was the beginning of two legendary careers. Also there were many insane players such as Ronaldo, Messi, Ronaldo Nazario, Kaka, Zidane, Henry, Ronaldinho and Cannavaro. Now like all the other chapters we have to start off with the Ballon d’or. In the year 2000 Luis Figo from Portugal had an amazing year with his club Real Madrid and in return he received a Ballon d’or. In 2001 Micheal Owen from England won the trophy after an equally good year as Figo. In 2002 Ronaldo Nazario won the Ballon d’or for the second time making him one of a kind. In 2003 Pavel Nedved from Czechia won his Ballon d’or after an amazing season with Juventus. In 2004 Andriy Schevchenko from Ukraine won the trophy after a terrific year. In 2005 Ronaldinho from Brazil won the Ballon d’or after an amazing year with Barcelona. Also I really like him because he is one of my favourite players ever. In 2006 Fabio Canavaro won his Ballon d’or after he won the World Cup with Italy. In 2007 Ricardo Kaka from Brazil won his Ballon d’or after an amazing year. Now remember when I said this era created some legends? Yes? We’ll get ready because they will be winning the trophy a bit too much. In 2008 Ronaldo won his first of many Ballon d’ors after having an amazing year with Manchester United. This is where it gets pretty repetitive. Messi won the Ballon d’or in 2009. In the next chapter you will see Messi and Ronaldo receive 9 out of 10 Ballon d’ors. Anyway we have to talk about the World Cup now. I mean you know the drill. In 2002 Brazil won the World Cup 2-0 against Germany. Brazil also has the most World Cups ever. Anyway in 2006 I mentioned it before but Italy won the World Cup 1-1 and they won 5-3 in penalties. Also a very controversial headbut came when Zidane hebutted a person who played for France. I said it once but I will say it again, this era gave birth to two legendary players Messi and Ronaldo.
Chapter 7
The 2010’s
These ten years were very repetitive, especially the Ballon d’or. The best players in this era were Ronaldo, Messi, Modric, Lewandowski, Neymar, Suarez and Ramos. You already know what is first. In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Messi won the ballon d’or 4 times. This is insane and he had amazing teammates like Xavi and Iniesta. In 2013 and 2014 Ronaldo won the Ballon d’or back to back, he and Messi were making a name for themselves. In 2015 Messi won his 5th Ballon d’or and was still playing for Barcelona. In 2016 and 2017 Ronaldo was in his prime and he was as amazing as Messi in 2009. In 2018 there was finally a change and Luka Modric won his Ballon d’or. In 2019 Messi won his 6th Ballon d’or. In 2020 the award was not awarded but in my opinion Robert Lewandowski would have won it. In 2021 not a surprise but Messi won again. He has 7 ballon d’ors now. Finally in 2022 Karim Benzema won his Ballon d’or. It’s the same thing, we will talk about the World Cup. In 2010 Spain won the World Cup 1-0 against the Netherlands. In 2014 Germany won the World Cup 1-0 against Argentina. In 2018 France won the World Cup 4-2 against Croatia. Finally in 2022 Argentina won the World Cup 3-3 they won on pens against France. The book is now finished. I hope you enjoyed it.
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The way you wrote this was really interesting, even though I'm not a football/soccer person. (Yes, I do live in America.)
Honestly, that was really good, in my opinion!
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