Cruyff turn Johan Cruyff debuted his turn at the 1974 World Cup against Sweden. The trick involves the player shaping to take a shot forward but instead using the instep to take the ball inwards in order to get away from his marker. The Dutch legend is synonymous with his exquisite skill which has since become quite common, being part ...

The outspoken and fearless Brian Clough remains one of the greatest managers in the history of football. He did endure setbacks, notably at Leeds United and the fact that he never landed the England job, but his achievements overshadow any blemishes. Tactics and man-management Most of Clough’s success can be attributed to his ability to find the right players for ...

Crystal Palace Palace may have the worst points rate across the top four divisions in England in 2016, but they can point to reaching their FA Cup final in twenty-six years back in May as a sign that it is not all doom and gloom at Selhurst Park. The same team who beat Palace in the 1990 final repeated the ...

Nottingham Forest Forest won two successive European Cups, in 1979 and 1980. And still remain the only side in history to have won more European Cups than their top flight domestic title – they became champions of England in 1978. It is testament to the managerial abilities of Brian Clough who took a provincial, nondescript side to the top of ...

Luciano Vieto is another hot and young prospect to emerge from Argentine football. He is currently making a name for himself in the Spanish top flight and is likely to be in contention for a spot in the Argentina national team for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Playing style Vietto is a well-rounded forward who is adept at dropping ...

Pele (1958, 1962 and 1970) Pele is regarded by many pundits as the greatest footballer of all time and the player himself never fails to assert his own greatness. There are many reasons for the former forward to be regarded as the greatest player in the history of the game, and his record at the World Cups is certainly one ...

Gabriel Batistuta – the sharpshooter Batistuta was a remarkable goalscrorer. The forward started his career at Newell’s Old Boys in his native Argentina and went on to achieve legendary status during the course of his close to a decade-long stay at Italian giants Fiorentina for whom he played from 1991 until 2000. He racked up 184 goals in 318 matches ...

Cristiano Ronaldo The Real Madrid forward is the face of many international brands. He endorses many things from football boots to shampoo. The Portuguese national team captain, however, has gone a step beyond endorsing brands of other people and has launched his own label. And yes, you guessed it right, it is called CR7. Ronaldo is the face of his ...

Josef Bican The Vienna-born forward was part of the legendary Austrian Wunderteam of the 1930s and scored goals for fun. Bican’s goal tally reads an astonishing 805 over the course of his career and that too at a scarcely-believable rate of 1.52 goals per game. It is no wonder then that the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) ...

Ernst Happel began his football career at the youth division of Rapid Wien in Austria and in 1942 progressed to the club’s senior side.Playing as a defender, Happel, over the course of the following 12 years, went on to make close to 200 league appearances for the Austrian giants and won five league titles as well as a domestic cup. ...