7. Franz Beckenbauer
At age 70, legend Franz Beckenbauer is still heavily involved in the football world. He led Germany’s successful bid to host the World Cup in 2006, he has a column for tabloid Bild and he’s a pundit for Sky Germany. Nicknamed Der Kaiser when he was in his prime because of his style and leadership on the field, Beckenbauer remained true to his hometown of Munich, playing the bulk of his football with Bayern Munich before crossing the ocean and playing with the New York Cosmos for a few years. Franz is also only one of two players to win the World Cup as a player, and later as a manager. As a central defender, there were none like him, and he’s credited with the invention of the sweeper role in modern day football.
6. Ronaldo
Time to talk about my favourite player ever, the one some people call “The Phenomenon” but I call the real Ronaldo (sorry I’m a Messi fan thick and thin). Ronaldo was a great strike – the best striker even – to ever play football. His first big Club was PSV for two seasons, where some bigger clubs quickly took notice of the young lad making waves in Holland. He quickly moved to Barcelona, where he scored an astounding 34 goals in 37 appearances. From there on to Madrid, to play for the historic Galacticos. He announced his retirement in 2011 having never played for an English Club.
But perhaps it isn’t too late. Even chubby Ronaldo at 39 years old could probably still do some serious damage in the Premier League, but we’d be more likely to see him play a season in the MLS perhaps.
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