Roberto Donadoni
italian



position: midfielder
dob: 09.09.1963
games: 390
goals: 23

Roberto Donadoni was a cornerstone of the powerhouse AC Milan teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of the pioneers of Major League Soccer, where he played two seasons for the MetroStars. He is currently the manager of Serie A side Livorno.

Donadoni started his career with Atalanta Bergamo in 1982. He transferred to Milan in 1986 and became a mainstay in the team. Usually playing a left midfield role, Donadoni was a vital cog in a team that won five Serie A titles, three European Cups, three European Super Cups, and two Intercontinental Cups. A member of the Italian national team, he played in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, helping Italy to third and second place finishes respectively.

The MetroStars of MLS made him a centerpiece of their franchise when they signed him in 1996. While with the Metros, he was recalled to the Italian national team and was widely considered their best player at Euro 96, at the age of 32. He came back to MLS, but in the league's first two formative years, Donadoni's class was often wasted. He still proved a spectacular performer, being named to the league Best XI in 1996. Unfortunately, Donadoni's genius could not bring the MetroStars any success as a club.

He went back to AC Milan after the 1997 MLS season, and promptly helped them to another Serie A title, his sixth. He ended his career by playing for a short time with Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia.

Never a big scorer, Donadoni scored just 21 goals for Milan and six for the MetroStars. He added five for Italy in 63 caps. After retiring as a player, he coached Italian clubs Lecco (2001-02), Livorno (2002-03) and Genoa (2003-04). In 2005, he returned to head Livorno in mid-season.

Gunnar Gren
swedish



position: midfielder
dob: 31.10.1920
games: 137
goals: 38

Considered one of Sweden's all-time greats, Gren won several trophies in his career, including the Swedish title with IFK Göteborg. He won the Guldbollen in 1946. In 1949, he joined AC Milan and became the 'Gre' part of the famous Gre-No-Li trio with his international teammates Gunnar Nordahl ('No') and Nils Liedholm ('Li').

Gren made his debut for Sweden on August 29, 1940 in the team's 3-2 win over Finland. His last cap for the team came on October 26, 1958 against Denmark in a 4-4 draw. At the time, Gren was an amazing 37 years, 360 days old. He was a member of the Sweden team that were runners-up in the 1958 World Cup. In all, Gren made 57 appearances for the national team, scoring 32 goals.

After retiring as a player, Gren managed IK Oddevold and GAIS.

Gren died the day after his 71st birthday and is buried in Västra Kyrkogården (Western Cemetery), Gothenburg, Västra Götaland, Sweden.

Ruud Dil Gullit
dutch



position: midfielder
dob: 01.09.1962
games: 171
goals: 56

Ruud Gullit was a Dutch star football player of the 80s and 90s. He was European Footballer of the Year in 1987, and World Soccer Player of the Year in 1987 and 1989.

He was born in Amsterdam and his career started with Haarlem before moving to Feyenoord and then PSV Eindhoven. He was taken to Italy by Silvio Berlusconi, who paid the then record fee of £6 million for him. Playing for the great A.C. Milan team of the late 1980s, which starred, among others, fellow countrymen Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, Italian world class players Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi, he helped Milan capture three Serie A titles and two European Cups (1989, 1990) during Milan's amazing five year reign from 1988-1992. He was well known for his heading and jumping ability, among his other creative talents as an outstanding offensive midfielder. Widely agreed to be one of the best and most creative players the Netherlands, or for that matter, the world has ever seen.

He was also one of the core group of players that led the Netherlands to the 1988 European Championship title, to date, the only international title the Netherlands has achieved.

He failed to convert his on-field magic to off-field management with any lasting success. As player-manager, Gullit took Chelsea to the F.A. Cup Final in his first post, but was released soon after.

He was appointed manager of Newcastle United in 1998 where success was initially promised, with an FA Cup Final appearance in his first season. The following season, however, results and fans began to turn against him, and a well-publicised contretemps with star striker and local hero Alan Shearer did his survival prospects no favours. He also fell out with Newcastle captain Robert Lee. Ruud Gullit resigned as manager of Newcastle United only 5 games into the 1999-2000 season, following a home defeat to local rivals Sunderland. Popular opinion had it that he resigned as manager before he was pushed out. He spent several years limited to occasional football punditry. Gullit became manager of Feynoord before the start of the 2004/2005 season. However he resigned at the end of the same season without winning any trophies.

Nils Leidholm
swedish



position: midfielder
dob: 08.10.1922
games: 394
goals: 89

Nils Liedholm was a Swedish footballer, famous for being part of Sweden's "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers along with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl. He is the only member of the three still living.

Liedholm joined his first club, IK Sleipner in 1942. In 1946, he joined IFK Norrköping, a bigger Swedish club with whom he won two Swedish league titles. During his time with Norrköping, he also earned 18 caps for the Swedish national team, winning an Olympic gold medal. This eventually gave him the chance to join Milan in 1949. He made his Serie A debut on September 11, 1949 in a 3-1 win against Sampdoria. In his first season with Milan, the midfielder played 37 games and scored 18 goals. In 1951, Liedholm won the first of his four scudetto titles. Another two titles followed in 1955 and 1957. A player with a club that was having the best spell of its life up to that point, Liedholm also won the Latin Cup in 1951 and 1956. Famously, it took two years playing for Milan until Liedholm misplaced even one pass. The rarity of this event apparently prompted an ovation that lasted five minutes.

Liedholm was also one of the first players to realise the importance of fitness to a good performance. Consequently, he put in many more hours of training than other players, saying himself that he did the 100 metres, 3000 metres, javelin, shot put and high jump twice a week.

In 1958, Liedholm, by then aged almost 36, helped Sweden to reach the World Cup Final, where the team lost out to a Brazil side led by the teenage Pelé. His club career would continue until he was almost 40.

After he finished playing, Liedholm enjoyed some time in the backrooms at Milan, before getting promotion for both Verona and then Varese. This brought him to the attention of Fiorentina and then Milan, where he finally took control of the first team. He guided them to their tenth league title in 1979 before moving to become the manager of Roma. He took them to their second league title ever in 1983 using the zonal marking system, which was unusual in Italy at the time. A year later, his Roma side lost on penalties to Liverpool in the European Cup Final. He also won the Coppa Italia three times with Roma, in 1981, 1983 and 1984.

As well as saying that the modern game is much more frantic and fast-paced than when he was involved, Liedholm, always a professional, also observed that "they [players] do not do much to avoid fouling players... It is too easy to stop a player by fouling him. Proper training teaches you how to win the ball without committing a foul, which is much more difficult."

After leaving the game (but still living in Italy), Liedholm ran a vineyard for a while. This enterprise is now run by his son. His opinions, however, still carry a lot of weight in Italian football.

Gunnar Nordahl
swedish



position: striker
dob: 19.06.1921
games: 268
goals: 221

Nordahl started out at Degerfors in Sweden before moving to IFK Norrköping. He won four Swedish championships with Norrkoping and once scored seven goals in one game.

Nordahl was first called-up to the Swedish national team in 1945. In 1948, he helped Sweden to win the Olympic football tournament, becoming the tournament's top scorer on the way.

In his time playing in Sweden, Nordahl scored 149 goals in 172 games before being transferred to AC Milan. He arrived at Milan on January 22, 1949. Later, he would team up with his national team strike partners, Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm, all of them forming the well-known Gre(n)-No(rdahl)-Li(edholm) trio.

Nordahl's transfer to Milan meant he had to retire from the national team, since there were strict rules against professionals playing in the Swedish team at the time. So, overall, he scored 44 goals in just 30 matched for Sweden, which is very nearly 1.5 goals per game. In his eight seasons with AC Milan, he was Serie A's top-scorer five times. After leaving Milan, Nordahl played for Roma for two seasons.

Nordahl is AC Milan's all-time top-scorer, with 210 league goals. He is still the second-highest Serie A goalscorer of all time, with 225 goals in 291 matches. Only Silvio Piola has scored more goals in that division.

Nordahl still holds the record for scoring incredible 35 goals in one season (49-50) for AC Milan.

Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard
dutch



position: midfielder
dob: 30.09.1962
games: 201
goals: 26

Frank Rijkaard is a former Dutch football player. He has been the manager of FC Barcelona since 2003. In one of his less glorious moments Frank spat at Rudi Völler during the match with Germany at the 1990 World Cup.

Frank Rijkaard made his professional debut for Ajax under coach Leo Beenhakker in the season 1980-81, immediately scoring for his team in the 4-2 victory over Go Ahead Eagles. He would play another 23 games for Ajax in his first season netting a total of 4 goals. In 1982 he would win his first National Championship with Ajax, and would defend that title a year later. In 1987, what would have been Rijkaard's fouth year under Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff as head coach, Rijkaard stormed off the training field and vowed never to play under him again. He was signed by Sporting Lisbon, but just too late and he was ineligible to play in any games. He was immediately loaned out to Spanish team Real Zaragoza and upon completing his first season after leaving Ajax was signed by Italian side AC Milan.

His 5 seasons at Milan nearly made him a legend himself. Alongside fellow country-men Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit, Milan won the European Cup twice and the scudetto twice. Finally after 5 incredible seasons Rijkaard returned to Ajax. In his last 2 seasons as a professinal footballer, he won the Dutch Championship twice and in his final game won the European Championship (which had been renamed as the Champions League) again, with a 1-0 victory over AC Milan in the final.

Rijkaard made his debut for Holland in 1981, alongside his childhood friend Ruud Gullit. He was part of the Dutch side that won the 1988 European Championship with a 2-0 win in the final over the Soviet Union, playing at center-back alongside Ronald Koeman. He won a total of 73 caps and scoring 10 goals. Rijkaard also played for the Netherlands during the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and at Euro 92. He made his final appearance for Holland in the 3-2 defeat against eventual winners Brazil in the quater-finals of the 1994 World Cup.

His coaching career started out of the blue with no experience or coaching training when he took the job of National Coach of Holland in 1998 with the goal of winning the 2000 European Championships, which were jointly hosted by Holland and Belgium. After the loss to Italy in the semi-finals Rijkaard quit shocking the press, fans and even players who would've have liked to see him stay.

He then took the job as the head coach of Sparta Rotterdam. After one season the club were relegated for the first time in their history.

Currently, Rijkaard is the Head Coach of Spanish giants FC Barcelona, which he has steered to its 17th Spanish League Championship (on May 14th, 2005) in just his second season as Head Coach, and is widely recognized as one of the best football managers in the world.

Rijkaard was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Gianni Rivera
italian



position: midfielder
dob: 18.08.1943
games: 658
goals: 164

Gianni Rivera was an Italian football player, the European Footballer of the Year in 1969.

He was nicknamed The Golden Boy of Italian football. He is the product of Alessandria's youth soccer academy. He debuted in Serie A for Alessandria against Internazionale. That was on June 2, 1959; he was only 15 years old. He only played for his first club 26 matches in which he scored six goals. After one year, he was bought by AC Milan with a record transfer fee for that time, $200,000, ahd he was only 16 years old. In 1962 he wins the first scudetto with AC Milan and on the May 13, 1962, at 18 years, he plays his first match for the Italian national team against West Germany at the World Cup in Chile, a game that finished with a goalless draw, 0-0.

Due to the win of the 1962 scudetto, AC Milan gets into the chase for the European Cup in 1962, a European Cup which they have finally won, beating Benfica 2-1 in the final with a Rivera in great form as he was awarded the second place in the famous Ballon d'or award, won by the Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin.

In the 1967/1968 season, Rivera won with AC Milan both the title and the Cup Winners' Cup. In 1968, he played for Italy as they won at the European Championship. Next season, Rivera takes AC Milan to win the Champions Cup as he finally gets the Ballon d'or award.

He played with the Squadra Azzurra (Italian national team) in the 1970 World Cup hosted by Mexico, where they reached the final, losing against Brazil, 4-1. He also played in the 1974 World Cup when the Italians were knocked-out by Poland, 2-1. That was the end of Rivera's career at the national team for which he played in 60 games scoring 14 goals.

Rivera took AC Milan in two Cup Winners' Cup finals, one in 1973 and another in 1974; the first one was won and the second one lost. He also won with the red-and-black team two consecutive Italian titles, in 1972 and 1973. AC Milan also won several Italian Cups in the 70's but without Rivera in most of them who was banned because of his statements against the Italian referees.

Rivera won his last scudetto of his career as a player in 1979 with AC Milan, this also being the 10th title for The Devils. Totally, he played for AC Milan in Serie A 501 matches and scored 122 goals.

After retirement, Rivera entered the Italian political life, being one of the members of the Italian Parliament. He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Dejan Savicevic
yugoslavian



position: midfielder
dob: 15.09.1966
games: 144
goals: 34

Red Star Belgrade succeeded Milan as Champions Of Europe in 1991 playing some wonderful football until nerves took hold in an insipid final decided by penalties. The team was decimated, Savicevic, scorer of the winning goal against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals, joined Milan.

After spending much of his first season on the bench, Savicevic forced his way into the team following a superb performance in a Champions League victory over Porto in 1993. Milan, desperately lacking a match winner following the enforced retirement of Van Basten, had found their saviour. He inspired Milan to a league and European Cup double. His performance in the European Cup final was arguably one of the finest individual displays seen in the completion. He created the opening goal for Massaro and scored the third in the club's infamous 4-0 victory, a spectacular 35 yard half volley from an acute angle. Despite the teams indifferent form the following season, Savicevic lead Milan to their third successive European Cup final but didn't play due to 'injury'. Milan, without their main creative threat, lost to Ajax.

Milan bounced back and won the scudetto the following season. Once again Savicevic played an integral part. It would prove to be his last successful season in Italy as injuries, which had plagued him throughout his Serie A career, took their toll.

It's fair to say Savicevic and Capello's relationship was strained. Had it not been for the intervention of club President Silvio Berlusconi, Savicevic would probably have been left to rot on the Milan bench. Capello controversially left Savicevic out of the 1993 Intercontinental Cup final claiming the player was 'tired' and even more controversially out of the 1995 European Cup final claiming Savicevic was injured, Savicevic insisted he was fit. To this day Milan supporters are convinced had Savicevic played Milan would have been victorious in both matches.

A player with tremendous close control and vision Savicevic was nicknamed Il Genio (The Genius) by Berlusconi, his biggest fan. He was often criticised by an Italian media obsessed with Baggio and Zola for his lack of effort against the 'smaller teams' but unlike Baggio and Zola, Savicevic was one of the finest big match players of the last decade (at club level). His contribution to Milan cannot be overstated. His window of greatness may have been small but while he remained relatively fit he was, in my opinion, the best player in the World. Unquestionably he was the most underrated.

Marco Van Basten
dutch



position: striker
dob: 31.10.1964
games: 201
goals: 124

Van Basten played very briefly for Elinkwijk before Ajax grabbed him. He played his first game for Ajax in April 1982 and was already proclaimed the new Johan Cruijff at that time.

In 1987 Silvio Berlusconi brought van Basten to Milan along with Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard joining them in 1988. In his first season Milan won their first scudetto (league championship) in eight years, but Van Basten played only eleven games and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury. Despite this, in Euro 88 van Basten had a dazzling run of form - including scoring three against England and a spectacular volley in the final against the Soviet Union.

Boosted by his form in international competition, van Basten had a great season in 1988-89, he was European Footballer of the Year and scored nineteen goals in Serie A as well as helping Milan demolish Steaua Bucharest to win the European Cup. In 1989-90 he was Capocannoniere (Serie A's leading goal scorer) and Milan defended their European Cup successfully. The Dutch national side had a very poor World Cup in 1990, finally going out to West Germany in the second round.

Milan's 1990-91 European season was ruined in the semi-final against Olympique Marseille, which led to the club receiving a year long ban from European football, Van Basten had been banned for four matches earlier in the competition following a cynical elbowing offense. Domestically the club disappointed as well, U.C. Sampdoria winning the scudetto. Van Basten clashed with manager Arrigo Sacchi and Berlusconi sacked Sacchi to placate him. Without European football in 1991-92 and under the leadership of Fabio Capello, Milan did not lose a single game in the league and won the championship, Van Basten scored 25 goals and was Capocannoniere again. Internationally the Dutch went out of Euro 92 to Denmark in a penalty shootout, van Basten missing one.

Milan however stretched their unbeaten run into the 1992-93 season, going 58 matches in total before they lost a game. Van Basten had some great games in the early part of the season and was voted European Player of the Year for a third time before a return of his troublesome ankle injury while playing Ancona. Van Basten underwent another in a series of operations and returned to Milan for the final few domestic games and to lose the Champions League final to Marseille. The final was van Basten's last game for Milan; despite efforts, he was unable to recover from his injuries.

George Weah
liberian



position: striker
dob: 01.10.1966
games: 133
goals: 53

In 1995, George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah earned FIFA World Player of the Year (he is the only African to have won this coveted title), European Footballer of the Year, and African Footballer of the Year. He is widely considered the best African player of all time.

On the club level, Weah has played for Invincible Eleven in his native Liberia, Tonnerre Yaoundé in Cameroon, Monaco, Paris Saint Germain, and Olympique Marseille in France, AC Milan in Italy, Chelsea and Manchester City in England and Al Jazeera in UAE. He won the French league with PSG in 1995 and the Italian league with Milan in 1996 and 1999.

As successful as he was at club level, Weah was not able to bring over that success to the Liberian national team. He has done everything with the squad from playing to coaching to financing it, but Liberia failed to make a single World Cup, falling just a point short in qualifying for the 2002 tournament.

Weah is a devoted humanitarian for his war-torn country. At the 2004 ESPY Awards, he won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for his efforts. Weah was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

In mid-November 2004, Weah announced his intention to stand in the October 2005 presidential election, having previously been the subject of a petition urging him to run; he received a hero's welcome upon his arrival in Monrovia in late November and is widely considered a favorite in the election.