World’s most successful teams

Practically, it’s impossible to compare two or more football clubs, because of many facts. The country, the number of teams that are in their league, the number or type of trophies that they have won, the year in which they were founded, the number and the type of fans that support them and so on. For many, every one of these above can be the most important fact in the way that they see and love their team. Still, we can make a relatively objective top, of the more successful teams from the World.

How I will do that? Well, it doesn’t appear to be so though, but in reality it really is. The number of important trophies marks best the team’s successes, even tough, some squads have a huge number of distinctions, but few people heard of them. We will see this in the rows that continue my writing and also I would like to mention from the start that my top will only include teams that won at least 60 trophies (because they are exactly ten) and only clubs from Europe (because no club from outside managed to touch this number, despite Penarol Montevideo’s 48 league titles in Uruguay).

So, let the show begin and enjoy a few rows about the top ten club football teams from Europe.

1. Glasgow Rangers – 115 trophies

– It looks like an impressive number and it really is, because the Scotish giants are regarded as one of the most prestigious teams from Europe, even though they only manage to won one single international trophy, the Cup Winners Cup, in 1972, at exactly 100 years from the club’s birth date. Excepting this, Rangers only won internal trophies (54 titles – world record, 33 Cups and 27 League Cups). For the Romanians, Rangers is a name that brings joy, because in the last two decades three memorable things happened. First, in the mid ‘90s a superb goal from Daniel Prodan brought Steaua a 1-0 victory in the Champion’s League groups and the defender eventually went to play for the British side. Still, a couple of bad injuries forbid him from appearing a single minute. So, nearly 15 years had to pass until a Romanian would eventually play for the team from Glasgow: Dorin Goian, who joined the team in the summer of 2011, when he was bought from Italian squad Palermo. Also, in the autumn of 2009, Unirea Urziceni, the defunct Romanian champions, won on Ibrox Park with 4-1, in the Champions’ League group stage, marking one of the most successful matches of Romanian teams from all time.

2. Linfield Belfast – 103 trophies

– just like I said before, on the second position of this top lies a team about which few heard. No wonder, because outside the fact that Linfield comes from Northern Ireland, one of the poorest European countries, when we talk about football, they also have only a statute of a… semi-professional team. So, that explains why they don’t have and probably never have an international title. Still it is a performance to won so many national trophies, especially when you achieved so far 50 titles, 41 Cups, 9 League Cups and 3 Super Cups. But these are not all the trophies that the football club achieved, because Linfield won many other regional and local distinctions. I won’t insist on this fact, because I’ll treat it widely in a future text, but I only want to say that the club from Belfast has one a total of… 256 (!!!!) trophies, a number that surely transforms Linfield in the World’s most successful team, even though many people didn’t hear a single fact of the club founded in 1886.

3. Celtic Glasgow – 92 trophies

– the podium could only be completed by another British team. This time, a popular team, which is also Rangers’ biggest rival. Born in 1888, Celtic is the first squad from this top which won the European Champions Cup, in 1967. Still, that is the only international trophy and it’s collection is completed by 42 national titles, 35 domestic Cups and 14 League Cups. The great rivalry between Rangers and Celtic made them share most of the Scotish trophies, but also made the two to be bored about playing in their Championship. So, a couple of years ago, the two demanded to be allowed to take part in the English Premier League, a wish that was rejected by the board from the Albion.

4. FC Barcelona – 78 trophies

– on this spot lies probably one of the World’s biggest clubs. Only in the last three and a half years, Barcelona obtained 13 from a possible of 16 trophies! The Spanish club has an impressive total of 17 international trophies (4 European Cups, 4 Cup Winners’ Cup, 4 UEFA Super Cups, 3 Inter Cities , Fair Cups and 2 FIFA World Club Cups). Also, Barcelona won 21 league titles, 25 Spanish Cups, 13 Super Cups and 2 League Cups (a competition that took place only in the mid ‘80s). It looks like the Catalan side has more to go until can catch up with the teams above, but considering of its form – many say that this Barcelona is the greatest teams from all time – it is expected that more trophies will be added in the near future. Still, judging by the importance of the Cups, Barcelona definitely has the most valuable trophies from all the teams mentioned until now.

5. Real Madrid – 74 trophies

– the team from the capital is Barcelona’s biggest rival, and although they have four trophies fewer, the whites can be proud that are the squad with the most European Champions Cups/Leagues from all clubs: 9. Plus, Real Madrid has won the most number of Spanish titles: 31. Their problem is the internal Cup, which they won it only in 18 cases (fewer than Bilbao!) and the national Super Cup (9). Despite of this, the Spaniards won 1 League Cup, 2 UEFA Cups, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 3 Intercontinental Cups. Still, they can claim some excuses, because they are three years younger than Barcelona, which was founded in 1899. Real was born in 1902, but their problem stands in the last couple of years, when their rivals won 13 distinctions and they only achieved…one! So, if we have made this classification in the summer of 2008, we had seen a Real Madrid with 73 trophies and a Barcelona with just 65!

6. FC Porto – 70 trophies

– an identical situation like in Spain happens over this country’s borders, in Portugal. In the last 10 years the forces changed here dramatically. In 2000, Lisbon dominated Portuguese football thanks to Benfica, which won a total of 61 titles. Then, Porto had ‘only’ 46 (!), but during only 11 years, FC won another 24, just to reach 70! From all of those, four were international titles and the last one was won in 2011. In the first years of this decade, at Porto a legendary man was involved: Jose Mourinho. He constructed a powerful team that went on playing well many years after he left. In the last season another brilliant coach made great performances there, and his name is Andre Villas Boas, a man for who Chelsea pay a clause of 15 million Euros (!!!), to have him on its bench. In the last season Porto were unbeaten in the League and won the Europe League and part of those performances should be awarded to a Romanian: Cristian Săpunaru, the right defender about which Pep Guardiola said “that makes all Porto’s game”. A crazy guy, that after winning the Europe League appeared on the field with a scarf that had the official signs of Rapid, the team which he loves the most!

7. Benfica Lisbon – 68 trophies

– it is said that the Portuguese have more than 40 million fans all around the World. This doesn’t mean that Benfica is the most loved team in the World, but they surely have the most socios. Around 150.000 fans support the squad every year with different amounts of money, even though Benfica doesn’t have very good results in recent years. Despite all of these problems, Benfica still held two records: the most Championships won (32 times) and the most domestic Cups won (27 times). Also, the squad from the capital achieved three League Cups, a trophy that Porto didn’t take one single time. The big difference between the two teams is generated by the gap generated by the Portuguese Super Cup: Benfica only won it in four occasions, meanwhile Porto obtained the trophy 18 times!

8. Olympiacos Piraeus – 66 trophies

– founded in 1925, the Greeks didn’t manage to play at least a semifinal of a European competition, but they are the first team from their country to appear in Europe. Even though Panathinaikos played once in the European Cup final, Olympiacos remains the squad from Greece with the most matches in Europe. And to prove that they are really are the best from their country they won until today 38 titles, 24 Cups and 4 Super Cups. ‘Oly’ is a constant presence in the Champions’ League group stage and is known to be one of the teams with the badly luck when it comes to qualifying in the knock-out stages. They came out in the last minutes a few time, but the most well known moments happened in 2004, when Liverpool made it through, thanks to a goal scored by Gerrard and in 2011, when Marseille won at Dortmund in the last seconds, after being led 2-0 in the first half.

9. Ajax Amsterdam – 65 trophies

– the Dutch are surely one of the most powerful teams in all the World and we must be proud that at this club one Romanian is seen to be one of the most important players of all time. Cristian Chivu played at Ajax in the early 2000s and helped the club from Amsterdam to won a couple of trophies. In total, the Dutch side gathered 30 national titles (record), 18 domestic Cups (record) and 7 Super Cups. Alongside these 55 internal distinctions, Ajax brought also 10 international Cups, from which 4 European Cups (last in 1995), 2 UEFA Super Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups, 1 UEFA Cup and 1 Cup Winners’ Cup. With all these trophies brought since 1917 (the club was established in 1900), Ajax became the only team in Europe to win all the continental trophies at least once.

10. Manchester United – 60 trophies

– the gap of five seems to be enormous at this level, but I can’t complete a top without reminding something about Manchester United, or to be more precise about Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scotish coach trains the ‘Red Devils’ for 25 years now, period in which the club founded in 1878, won 37 Cups, which mean more than a half from its entire history! The 19th title achieved last year transformed United in the English team with the most national titles, one ahead of Liverpool, squad which didn’t tasted the success anymore, since 1990! Also, Manchester United holds the record of the most FA Cups won (11) as well as the most Super Cups achieved (19). Along these, ‘The Red Devils’ won 4 League Cups and 7 international trophies, from which the most important are the 3 European Champions Cup/League (two less than Liverpool). The table is complited by a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and a UEFA Super Cup, both in 1991 as well as an Intercontinental Cup in 1999 and a FIFA World Clubs Cup in 2008.

11. Shamrock Rovers – 60 trophies

– usually, when two teams have the same number of points, trophies or other such successes you should put them on the same spot, but now, to compare United with Shamrock may be taken as a blasphemy. Which of you heard of Rovers? Very few, I bet. Well, that doesn’t surprise me, because this is the second unknown team from the classification, after the second position Linfield. Shamrock comes from Dublin, the capital of Ireland, and it was founded in 1901. In 2011, after 110 years, they managed the biggest performance in Europe, from all Irish teams: Shamrock put out Partizan Beograd, with 2-1, after extra-time, in Europe League’s play-off and became the first team from the country to ever play in the group stage of any continental competition. Unfortunately, here, Rovers lost all six games. Considering all of these above, it’s easy to understand that Shamrock didn’t was even close to won a single international trophy, but manage however to obtain 17 league titles, 24 national cups, 18 Super Cups and 1 League Cup, numbers that permit them to complete this select top of important European squads.

Two colours support the biggest rivalry

In football, one of the most important distinguishing signs that a team can have is the colour. In fact, usually is all about two colours that start great rivalries between squads from a country. If you talk about blue and red in Romania, Dinamo fans go mad. If you dress in black and white in Istanbul, you might get beaten by Galatasaray or Fenerbahce’s fans. And if you drink a Coke in Buenos Aires, some of Boca Juniors’ supporters might think that you like River Plate and that’s no near a safe thing.

But what happens when colours can’t separate two or even three great rivals from one country? We don’t talk about just any country, but the one that invented football, as we know it in our days: England. Manchester United, FC Liverpool and Arsenal London are the most successful teams in the history of the Albion, but they all share the same colours: white and red. It’s true, they don’t come from the same town, as it happens in the examples above, but great rivalries in soccer don’t necessary have their roots in one single town. See the one between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the one between Lyon and Saint Etienne, the one between Milan and Juventus, or the one between Bayern Munich and Dortmund.

In the case about which I am writing, those three are real rivals, even though a clash like Liverpool – Everton, United – City or Arsenal – Tottenham, may attract as many fans. Nobody can deny that Manchester United – FC Liverpool is the absolute derby of English football, so I must tell you the story of every one of these teams. How did they end up having the same colours? It looks a bit ridiculous for many football fans from around the World, but in UK this doesn’t represent a problem.

So, because Manchester United is the top team of the last two decades and older comparing to Liverpool and Arsenal, I will start my story from here. Founded in 1878, under the name of Newton Heath, “The Red Devils” were at the beginning red-white shirts, but blue pants. Still, the first palpable sign of this was a picture from 1892. After a few changes that included even green and gold shirts (!), in 1902, when the team got the name under which it is distinguished in our days, the official colours were settled at red and white. It is true that the socks were black even now, but few can deny that Manchester United is best known thanks to its red and white colours.

FC Liverpool, the English team with most Champions’ Cups/Leagues won, five, is generally known to play at home in fully red equipment. But white is certainly the second colour of the team, especially in away matches. Initially the club played in the colours of… Everton, the local rivals, but from 1901 they adopted red as this also is the official colour of the city. Until 1964, Liverpool in red and white, but Bill Shankly decided to make an historical change: the kit turn all into red and only red, because this colour, inspired him anger, courage and force. Although Liverpool tried different combinations of colours for the away kits, most of the fans from all around the World know that in fact the “Liver Birds” can be distinguished by white, among the iconic red.

In the end, we mustn’t neglect Arsenal, the most red and white from the three squads. It all started in 1886, when The Dial Square, as the team was named then, receive life. Because it was a poor club, two of the founding members, former players at Nottingham Forest, managed to obtain a set of equipment from there which were of course, red and white. Starting then, Arsenal always played in red and white, in different shapes. The most remarkable change took place in 1933, when the legendary Herbert Chapman attached to the kit white sleeves. The origin of his idea is uncertain, but two popular stories regarding this, are circulating for decades. The first says that Chapman saw a supporter dressed with a red sweater with no sleeves, over a white shirt. The other ‘legend’ tells that his idea came from the clothes of one of the friends with whom he used to play golf: the cartoonist Tom Webster.

And to show once again why these two colours are the supreme ones in English football let’s just say, even though I reminded before, that also in red and white is playing another emblematic English club, like Nottingham Forest. The ‘Foresters’ won only a league in their history, but they managed to become a legend after achieving two European Club Cups’.

Gyula Zsengellér, in the shade of Puskas

Hungary 1954 is one of the most successful football teams of all time, but when many consider that, forgot automatically sensational players that also brought fame to this national team in other periods of time. Now, I choose to talk about Gyula Zsengeller, the man who guided Hungary in the ‘30’s. In fact, he played for his country between 1936 and 1947, in 39 games in which he scored 32 goals. Is for sure, that in those times such performances were often seen, but Gyula was the main player of Hungary that went on playing the final of the FIFA World Cup 1938. The first ever for our neighbors and the one which many said that was arranged for the Italians to win, because Mussolini said so…

Born on 27th of December 1915, in Cegled, Gyula signed in 1936, at 21 years, a professional contract with Ujpest Budapest, team at which he remained exactly the same number of years that he also played for the national football team: 11. So, he became one of the clubs’ legends, a mandatory fact if we consider his 368 goals in 303 matches!! (56 goals only in the 1938-1939, when he played 26 games…). In 1938, 1939, 1943, 1944 and 1945 he was top scorer of the national championship, but his goals helped Ujpest to achieve only two league titles: one in 1939 and one in 1945. Zsengeller also played against Rapid in the Mitropa Cup and scored four goals in the home game, that the squad from Budapest won, 4-1. But, miraculously, Rapid came from behind, and achieved the qualification at home after crushing the Magyars with 4-0!

At the World Cup mentioned above, Gyula managed to score six times, becoming the tournaments’ second top scorer, after the Brazilian Leonidas that netted seven. From all those, the more important were, incontestable, all three that he put in in the 5-1 semifinal against Sweden.

When he was 32 he choose to go and try the Italian league and where, until 35, the shirts of Rome (two seasons, in 34 games, with 6 goals scored) and after that, of Ancona, a squad at which, despite playing one single year, he appeared in 30 matches and netted 18 pieces. It was the time to retreat, but he couldn’t help himself to try an exotic experience: the Colombian League. So, between 1951 and 1953, Gyula played 37 times for Deportivo Samarios (a team founded in 1950 and now called Union Magdalena), scoring 23 goals.

After retiring, he decided to start and training and how else if not by trying different football cultures: first in Italy, at Cosenza, before being football-manager in Colombia and after in Cyprus, where he prepared, between 1953 and 1959 Pezoporikos Larnaca, APOEL and the national football team. Then, the return to Cosenza lasted two years before he went on with Salernitana and Ravenna. After, he returned in Cyprus, where he won his only league title as a coach, in 1954, with Pezoporikos, team that only achieved one more in the rest of its’ history. At the end of his training career he ‘visited’ Greece, where he remained for two years (1972-1974) at Olympiacos Volos. In 1979, he decide to quit his professional football career, even though he was only 63 and retired to live in the same Cyprus, at Nicosia, city in which he saw the day light for the last time, on 29th of March 1999.

Where does European football end?

Europe is not such a big continent, but UEFA is a permissive organization and so, countries like Israel, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbadjan or Kazahstan, are now allowed to take part in all European football competitions. Older than them, Russia and Turkey are still the biggest names from the list. With most part of their territory in Asia, these national teams remain ones of the most representative, Russia (former URSS) even managing to win the first ever European Nations Cup (now EURO), in 1960.

And because we are speaking of Russia, let’s get to the subject of this text and present a team that plays in a city that is much closer to Japan and China than to any other big Russian city! In fact, Vladivostok is only a few kilometers away from South Korea! The biggest port that Russia has at the Pacific Ocean has nearly 600 thousands inhabitants and also has a football team, which was even in the top flight between 2006 and 2008.

Luch-Energia was founded in 1958, but until 1993 they never gained the right to play in the first league. But even when they did, their performances were poor and relegated immediately. During the late 90’s and early 00’s, Energia played in the third tier, but in 2005 won their second promotion to Premier League. But now, major problems of Russian football would come up. For the other teams, it was a real nightmare to play in Vladivostok, because a flight, from Moscow, for example, took not less than 9 hours! Not to mention Sankt Petersburg.That was the moment when a question appeared: Shall this country’s championship be split in two half? But what was the use, when no other city was decently near of Vladivostok? After a 4-0 defeat, Igor Akinfeev, CSKA Moskow’s goalkeeper said: ‘They rather play in the Japanese League’, annoyed by the fact that he and his team mates were forced to fly seven hours for the game.

But was it that bad for the visitors? Maybe, but surely it wasn’t as bad as it was for Vladivostok’s team members. Matija Kristić, player at Energia since 2008, said: ‘It’s not as bad for other teams because they only need to travel this distance once a year whereas we have to do it for all away matches’. Still, for the away fans this can be a big problem, especially when they want to do whatever they want to support their team. This was the situation of three Zenit fans, which in October 2006, drove 15.000 kilometers and their car broke down after they arrived at Vladivostok. They returned with the Trans-Siberian and when they finally returned home, Zenits’ board rewarded them, with a new car!

Unfortunately or maybe not, these are the only kind of stories that we can tell about Luch-Energia, because no trophy was achieved so far, by them. Still, in 2006 the obtained a valuable 7th position in the top flight, that represents their best in the history and a quite notable achievement, considering that the Russian League was and remains very powerful in the last decade.

When they gained promotion, in 2005, Energia only lost 4 games and won 27 from a total of 42! An impressive treasure of 92 points and 81 goals scored, from which, Dmitri Smirnov managed 19, the first ever top scorer of the team in one season. And we must consider that he is not even a forward, but a midfielder measuring 1,97 meters, now playing in Ukraine, at Volyn Lutsk!

But at Vladivostok did also played footballers that at a moment appeared in Champions’ League, like is the case of Czech goalkeeper Marek Cech. We must admit that his participation in this year group stages of the most important European competition, with Viktoria Plzen is quite a big surprise. Cech played for Luch between 2007 and 2008 and gathered 43 matches in the Russian top division, before moving West to Lokomotiv Moscow and then more South to play at Soci, but in the second tier. Until this summer, when the surprisingly Czech Republic champions, Viktoria Plzen made him an offer which he could not refuse: to play in the UEFA Champions’ League. He accepted and now he faces Barcelona and AC Milan.

The Black Panther

Hungary 1954, what a great team and all thanks to brilliant players such were Puskas, Kocsis, Hidegkuti, Czibor, Bozsik and Grosics, the last one, being the goalkeeper of the legendary squad. A type of player that doesn’t come in front, but that has a key role in his teams’ success. Hungary didn’t win the World Cup in 1954, despite being certain favorites. In the last game, they lost the trophy in front of Germany, even though they beat the same opponent with 8-3 in the group stage. More importantly, Hungary had 2-0 after 10 minutes in the final, but until the end, the Germans came from behind and won 3-2. Gyula Grosics conceded a quite large number of goals during the tournament, but his parades were more appreciated as he was chosen in the best eleven of the World Cup played in Switzerland.

Gyula saw the day light on 4th of February 1926 in Dorog and started to play professionally at Dorogi FC, a team that in all its history only managed to play a Cup final, in 1954. Grosics played there from 1945 to 1947, before joining MATEOSZ Budapest, in the same year when he won his first cap for the national team of Hungary. Known as ‘The Black Panther’, Gyula remained the first choice goalkeeper until 1962, when he was 36. During this period he made it at three consecutive World Cups, starting with 1954 and continuing with 1958 and 1962. In the early ‘50’s, Hungary was a very powerful squad, that also managed to crush England in two matches. First, they gave a ‘light’ 6-3 on Wembley, in 1953 and a year after, before the World Cup, the Magyars stunned by giving seven and receiving only one in a home encounter and of course, Grosics played in both disputes.

In 15 years, the goalkeeper gathered 86 matches for his country and in all this time he tasted also the success at club level. In 1950, he signed with Honved Budapest, team with which he won four national championships (1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955). After 125 matches played for the team from the capital, in 1957 he decided to go and play for Tatabanya, side at which he stayed until the end of his career, in 1962. Gyula didn’t won here any trophy, but helped in the construction of a team, that managed to play the semifinal of the Intertoto Cup, in the following year, a competition that, in those days didn’t belong to UEFA, organization that took its prerogatives only in 1995.

In 2008, at 82 years, Gyula had the power to admit that he finished with football for good. Why is that? Well, because he received the opportunity to finally play for the team that is the closest to his heart: Ferencvaros. Nearly half a century ago, the communist party forbad him to sign with the great rivals of Honved, but in March 2008 he was invited to give the first kick of the friendly between Ferencvaros and Sheffield United. He received tremendous ovation for the local supporters from ‘Florian Albert’ Stadium and after he left the field to let in the ‘substitute’ goalkeeper. This was the perfect appreciation for a stunning career and a top goalkeeper.

He could have been the best

Hagi, Dobrin or Balaci? Who is the best from the history of Romanian football? The truth is that, if you didn’t see every one of them playing, it’s very hard to give a certain verdict. But even if there are people who admired them all, it’s unlikely that the same men managed to also see another legendary Romanian footballer: Iosif Petschovsky, or Peci oe Ciala, as he was known by his nick names. Some voices tell us that he was and still remains from far the most complete player from the history of Romania.

Iosif was born on 2nd of July 1921 at Timisoara and he started playing football in his native town in 1939, at the prestigious Chinezul, but which was in the second division at that time. After two years there, which were interrupted by a short period at CAM, he went on playing at CA Oradea, team at which he stood until 1944 under the name of Jozsef Perenyi and in his last season there he became champion of… Hungary, as that region was then ocupied by mMagyars. Finally, in 1946 he arrived at UTA Arad, the club where Iosif won his first Romanian titles: 1947, 1948 and 1950. He played 94 games and scored 34 goals in the first league in five seasons, facts that attracted CCA’s interest, a new founded team, the ancestor of Steaua Bucharest. In fact, he arrived here being forced, because he was oliged, at 31 years to fulfill his military service. In three years spent at CCA, he became twice Romanian champion and once runner up, but played only 50 games and netted in 19. So, in 1955 he returned to Arad, where he played until the end of his career, which meant 1961, when he was 40! He didn’t win any other trophies with UTA, but did score another 35 goals in 133 matches, numbers that arose him to a total of 279 games and 88 goals in the Romanian top flight.

Petschovsky’s first appearance in the first tier happened on 2nd of June 1940, when Chinezul beat 4-1 Rapid Bucharest. Also, when he was playing for Oradea, the uncertainty that dominated those years, made him choose to play for the national team of Hungary, because Oradea was playing in the Magyar league. Iosif made three appearances in 1942 and 1943, but didn’t score any goals. He did however score for Romania, country for which he chose to play since 1945, when he was 24 years old. The last of his 32 caps was in 1958, when he was 37!

Most of his celebrity was brought by his style of playing, because Iosif could play very well in every position of the field, without mattering if it is in attack, midfield or defense. Being a central midfielder originally, he even ended up once playing as a goalkeeper, despite measuring only 1.68 meters! Those were many of his good parts, but Petschovsky wasn’t perfect, because in 1947 he was suspended for three months, because before a friendly game between Romania and Poland he was caught betting on the opponents! But he did score 11 times for Romania and his popularity was so big in the ’40, that in 1946 a Magyar footballer stole his identity and that helped him to play at Strasbourg for a short while! After five years, Iosif also became the first Romanian football player to appear for a World Team, alongside with the biggest names from those times.

After retiring he trained UTA for only one season, 1962-1963, after which he quit football for good. Unfortunately, the fact that he had a very sportive life (besides football he also was an ace in table tennis, sport at which he was champion of Arad) didn’t help him too much, as if he died of cancer, in 1968, when he had only 47 years.

Gilmar, the most popular Brazilian goalkeeper

It is said that Brazil had and has the best offensive players in the history, but some people try to prove that the South-Americans also have great footballers in defense and especially between the posts. It’s impossible for you to not hear of goalkeepers such are Taffarel, Dida and now, Julio Cesar. All of them are good, but can’t measure their value with only one man: Gilmar dos Santos Neves, simply because he was World Champion twice.

He only played 94 games for Brazil, with seven less than Taffarel, but won two World Cups: in 1958 and in 1962, retiring from football with only one year before Selecao won its’ third title, in 1970. Born on 22nd of August 1930 in Santos, Gilmar didn’t begin playing at the powerful local club, but at the historical rivals from Sao Paolo: Corinthians, where he arrived in 1951, staying here exactly 10 years in which he gathered 486 matches! From Corinthians he got his first national cap in 1953 and by 1958 became first option in Brazils’ goal. Despite having just 1.81 meters he couldn’t be replace, helped of course by the fact that in those years very tall goalkeepers weren’t necessary popular. After he became in 1958 first time World champion, he repeated the performance four years later, in Chile and he is, until your days, the only goalkeeper that won twice the World Cup from the starting position.

Despite playing an impressive number of matches for Corinthians he didn’t win a single important trophy, so he decided to move to another club. And not just any club, but Santos, the team from his native town, that in those years became one of the most successful from the entire history. Santos won five national championships between 1961 and 1965, two Copa Libertadores in 1962 and 1963 and two Intercontinental Cups, in the same two seasons, all alongside with a famous team mate: the legendary Pele, with whom he also shared the performances from the national squad. Until the end of his spell here, he appeared in 266 games. The lack of results from the next years, cumulated with the more and more advanced age, determined Gilmar to retire from football in 1969, with only one year before Brazil won its third World Cup. Previously, the goalkeeper played in the same competition in 1966, but then, Brazil left the competition very early, from the group stage, forced a bit by Peles’ injury.

He doesn’t know how to miss!

Since Gaizka Mendieta was playing, I never so a player that can take penalties almost perfectly. Well, now I found him and luckily, he plays for Rapid Bucharest. Yes, his name is Ovidiu Herea and if you have serious doubts about what I am going to say, please read very attentive.

Herea was born in Bucharest, on 25th of March 1985 and played in the beginning of his professional career at Progresul Bucharest, until 2007. There, he made a good performance, by playing 76 matches and scoring six goals in four seasons. After, a change was mandatory in his life and he chose to go play for Rapid Bucharest, team at which he started his fifth season. In the first edition, he appeared in 26 games, but did not manage to write his name on the score board. Again, in the second stage, 2008-2009, the goal did not stick to his boot and suddenly many said that he was a bad transfer. But on 21th of March 2009, with only five days before his birthday, he opened the score against Otelul Galati, with a great back head kick. Yes, it happened in the game, in which Costin Lazar refused to fool the referee, who pointed to the spot, after a foul in the box, that in reality, wasn’t!

It was the breakthrough that Herea needed and he manage to score another goal in that season, also on Giulesti, in the last week day, when Rapid obtained only a 2-2 with Poli Iasi, result that forced them to watch the next years’ European competitions on TV. Surely, two goals in a season for a midfielder aren’t much, but sure are better than nothing. So, despite Rapid’s bad performance in the championship, Herea continued to make memorable matches in the shirt of this team. In the season 2009-2010 he scored eight goals, from which all in the first part of the competition! Nobody could explain why Ovidiu didn’t score a single goal in the second half of the season, but few realized a thing: Herea was becoming a penalty kick specialist.

At the beginning, he scored twice: first, against Otelul, in a 3-0 win. After, he brought Rapid a precious point from Bistrita, by transforming the spot kick in a 1-1 away draw. Poorly, his lack of performance during the rest part of the competition, forbid Rapid again to take part in European cups. A real blow for Rapid, this second year of bad results, but Herea continued on growing. The new 2010-2011 season started perfectly for him, scoring six goals in the first six game weeks, from which two from spot kicks. The same unique style, that sends the keeper in the exactly opposite corner, a technique which we don’t see very often in all world football. A brilliant start that was followed by another short period under shade, but Herea did eventually score another penalty. This time against Sportul and it was the fifth perfect kick of this kind. Until the winter break, Ovidiu scored two more goals, not from the spot, but that had a great importance, because they brought valuable points for Rapid. Nine goals so far, but Herea didn’t keep his form in the second part of the stage. He scored two goals and with a total of eleven, finally helped Rapid to a fourth place that brought the qualification in the Europe League.

Herea grew up to 21 goals for Rapid in the Romanian league, now a fine number for a midfielder. But Ovidiu also managed to score once in the Cup, goal that represented in fact, his first ever scored for Rapid, in a 3-0 win against International Curtea de Arges.

Now, season number five for Herea at Rapid is under way and the player has again a perfect start that brought him five goals. Four of them, in the national championship and 75 per cent of those were the result of penalties. So, another three and it results that Ovidiu scored eight goals from the spot, without missing a single one and gathering more than 30 % from his total number of nettings. And all started because Spadacio, missed two in a row. Maybe the Brazilian used to be at least such a better scorer, but the penalties weren’t his specialty.

The player has a total of 126 matches in Rapid’s shirt, in all competitions and he recently debuted also in the national football team, for which he scored the winner in a poor away friendly against San Marino (1-0).

So, if we consider that Herea took eight out of eight in a great style, we must admit that he is one of the best takers from history of Romanian football. And the comparison with Mendieta isn’t exaggerated. If you don’t believe this, then take a look at these videos:

Klos, the frustrated champion

Oliver Kahn, Andreas Kopke, Bodo Illgner or Jens Lehmann are a few names of great German goalkeepers that fought during the last two decades for a place between the national team’s posts. But this competition made also collateral victims, players which, despite having real qualities, did not make it ever to play in a single game for Germany.

It is the case of Stefan Klos, Borussia Dortmund’s goalkeeper in 1997, the year in which the yellows won their only Champions’ League. But this isn’t his only achievement in his entire career. Born on 16th of August 1971 in Dortmund, Klos begun playing for Borussia in 1990, and until 1998 he gathered here 254 matches, managing to win the Bundesliga in both times: 1995 and 1996. Despite measuring only 1,81 meters, Klos was offered to play in UK and in 1998 he signed a contract with Glasgow Rangers, team at which he played eight and a half years, until he retired from football, in 2007.

Here, he suffered a few injures, the worst happening in 2005, when he broke his knee ligaments. Still, until than he made a lot of astonishing matches, including one, in the 2000-2001, when his parades helped Rangers to win an away game, at Hearts, allthough thee played a significant part of the game in nine man, after the sending off suffered by Numan and Reyna.

His performances at Rangers weren’t few, as Stefan won four championships (1999, 2000, 2003 and 2005), three national cups (1999, 2002 and 2003) and two league cups (2002 and 2003). So, a career marked by 11 trophies wasn’t enough to bring Klos a single match in Germany’s national football team. And we must know that he did where the shirt of the U21 squad between 1991 and 1993, in 17 ocasions!

Still, he is a real big name in international football, even though few have heard of him. When you play a total of 552 matches at two of most successful European sides, it’s impossible to deny the reality. Klos played all Borussia’s 11 matches in the 1996-1997 Champions’ League campaign and despite conceding eight goals in the group stage, he kept two clean shits in the semifinals, where the side from Dortmund put of Manchester United after a double 1-0 win.

When alcohol and football go together

It is known that if you want to become a successful footballer you ought to not have something in common with cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. But what would you do if you play at a squad that has a name that breaks one of those rules above? It happened in North Ireland, where in 1880, Lisburn Distillery, a team from the suburb of Belfast, was established. Why did they receive this name you should ask. Well, that is quite simple, because the main founder, Robert Baxter, was helped by some employees of the nearby Royal Irish Distillery, to form, in the sumer of 1879, V.R. Distillery Cricket Club, the ancestor of the football team, which appeared one year later. Also, the headquarters of the team maintained on Distillery Streer until 1971.

A strange name for a football team which now has a semi-professional status. But Distillery isn’t an average team in its country, simply because they won six national titles during history. Five of them between 1895 and 1906, but that has less importance. Still, the last of them, came in 1963, but after the achievement, Distillery met its’ biggest performance in European football. Actually, in 1963 they marked their first ever participation in the continental competitions with a sensational 3-3 home draw against Benfica. Yes, that Benfica which won two Champions’ Cups in those years. A team at which Eusebio was playing and even scored the late equalizer in the 88th minute of the game I am talking about. But that score was no accident, despite Benfica won in the second leg with 5-0. Distillery was ahead in all three occasion tanks to Kennedy, Hamilton and Ellison, the first of them shocking by opening the score from the first minute.

And in that Irish team was playing Sir Tom Finney, who reentered on the football pitch, in 1963, just to taste the atmosphere of the most prestigious club competitions of all: The Champions’ Cup. He was 41 at the time and he left the field three years earlier after playing 15 years for Preston North End in 473 games in three competitions: first league, second league and FA Cup. He also scored here 210 goals, but without winning any trophy. He compensated this deficit by gathering 76 caps for English national team, in which he scored 30 goals, thanks to his capacities to control the ball as well with his right and left foot. And if you think that this result against Benfica isn’t so big, you have to reconsider your opinion when you will find out that Distillery played only once more in European competitions. In the first preliminary round of Europe League in 2009, when they were crushed by Georgian side Zestafoni with 5-1 and 6-0!

It isn’t one of the biggest football clubs in the world, but it used to be one of the greatest from Northern Ireland in the late 19th century and early 20th century, period marked also by 10 Irish Cups. Also, in 1889, Distillery managed a prestigious 2-1 victory in front of Newton Heat. I’m sure that this name doesn’t sounds familiar for you, but you should know that this was the former name of Manchester United, until 1902!

If you think that the story of this team isn’t interesting enough, imagine how would be for our first division to have a team called Distileria Bucuresti or something like Fabrica de Bere Bucuresti. And at such a team the players might have stipulated in their contracts not to drink alcohol…