Great Soccer Players who never won the World Cup

If you are a winner the World Cup is a beautiful tournament but if you are a loser, sometimes you can be airbrushed out of history and this is a shame as some of the world’s greatest soccer players have never won a World Cup. Some, like George Best or Ryan Giggs, have never even made it to the World Cup finals with their nation but others have managed to light up the stage without ever walking away with the big prize. So whilst the winners celebrate with the golden trophy knowing the next time they play, their international soccer jerseys will be adorned with an extra star, the losers have to trudge away thinking of what might have been.

One such great player is Michel Platini of France, who in 1982 and 1986 came so close to achieving something really memorable at the World Cup. In between these tournaments, Platini led France to success in the 1984 European Champions where the classic attacking play was as iconic as the soccer kit and small soccer shorts that France wore whilst impressing the world. In 1982 in Spain, France were defeated in the semi-final stage on penalties, in a match overshadowed by the brutal challenge by West German goalkeeper Harold Schumacher which left Battiston needing serious medical attention. The sight of the German keeper launching himself and the red goalkeeping jersey flying at the French player has lived long n the memory of those who witnessed it and France were knocked off their stride after that moment.

In 1986, Platini was on fire in Mexico helping his nation defeat Italy and Brazil in the knock-out stages and again, wowing the crowd with an exciting attacking style. Sadly, West Germany once again stood in the way of France and again, the French and Platini lost out at the semi-final stages leaving Platini with not even a World Cup final appearance at the end of his career.

Another world class player who lit up a World Cup was Johann Cruyff who was part of the 1974 Holland team who lost to West Germany. Cruyff stood out because of his modified soccer kit , where he had removed one stripe from the Dutch national kit due to a personal sportswear deal he had but he was soon to be noticed for pure footballing reasons. One of the most iconic pieces of footage you will see about Cruyff is the Cruyff turn and he executed this at the World Cup, leaving a defender for dead and a world of children and adults imitating his move whenever they could. Cruyff appeared in the 1974 World Cup final and within a minute had earned his team a penalty. Holland took a very early lead in the final but West Germany bounced back and triumphed 2-1 leaving Cruyff and Holland disappointed.

Holland again made it to the final of the 1978 World Cup, giving soccer fans all over the world further reason to fall in love with the iconic national soccer strips of the country but did so without Cruyff. The star had played a major part in the qualifying campaign but a number of reasons caused him to pull out of the squad and the world was denied the pleasure of seeing Cruyff torment defences in Argentina.

Some of the other great names without a World Cup winners medal include Eusebio, Dalglish, Socrates, Raul and Larsson but all of these players are still adored by their fans for what they did. Soccer fans the world over will proudly wear their soccer kits with these names emblazoned on the back but none of them knew the joy of winning the World Cup.