Tons of kids retire from football early on to play secondary sports like Basketball, Athletics or Hockey in Europe. Because if you suck at sports you'll die in a football club whereas other sports communities are more lenient toward failure.
I was at the game at White Hart Lane when Fabrice Muamba had his cardiac arrest. There were so many things that occured that day that helped save Muamba's life: (1) There was a specialist cardiologist there attending the game as a (spurs) fan, who managed to convince the stewards to let him onto the pitch. (2) This specialist then gave Muamba the on-field care needed to get him into a state that transporting him would be feasible. (3) The medics had initially wanted to transfer Muamba to the closest hospital to White Hart Lane, which is North Middx. Hosptial (1 mile away). The specialist who ran onto the field happened to know that the fascilities at NMH wouldn't be able to accomodate Muamba, and so demanded they take him to London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, 6 miles away (i.e., an extra 20 mins away, in London traffic/roads). This might extra journey time might seem crazy, but having the facilities available at LCH meant they could save Muamba's life. In short, what occured that day was terrible to witness, but a testament to the community of Football and its fans: A fan for the opposing team ran onto the pitch and saved the life of an opposing player. Tottenham fans will always be kind to Muamba, and it is such a shame such a good player had to retire so young.
I was at the game as an 11 year old - sat in the upper tier of the north stand. Remember seeing him fall with no one around him and Modric instantly waving on the medical staff. So much respect for the fans in the stadium that day and everyone involved in saving that mans life - the cardiologist was a HERO.
Thanks Alfie for mentioning Adrian Doherty! He was from hometown of Strabane and is still very highly spoken of and fondly remembered, he was a fantastic talent from everyone's accounts. His father has written a book about him if anyone if interested, go check it out! Cheers Alfie, loving the content as always
For 24 I’d give an honourable mention to Michael Johnson. Incredible youth player at Man City, he was a regular in the first team by age 20; but injuries, mental health issues and other personal issues led to his inevitable retirement.
How about a video about the 36 year career of Kazuyoshi Miura, the world's oldest professional footballer who, at the age of 55, makes Sir Stanley Matthews look like a quitter 😂
Day 19: A detailed look at the state of Crotone would be nice, going from Serie A in 20/21 with a 20 goal a season striker (Simy) to Serie C by 22/23. Two relegations in a row, something surely has to be wrong at that club.
To be honest, no; it's pretty common in Italy. That has happened to a lot of clubs even in recent years. Novara, Cesena, and it might happen again this year.
Marcelo Bravo, a former Argentine football midfielder who retired at the age of 21 after discovering that he suffered from a cardiovascular hypertrophy. Bravo's illness is similar to the one that cost Antonio Puerta's life in 2007. He played 50 games with Vélez Sarsfield.
Hey Alfie, could you do a vid on FC Dinamo Bucharest, my local team. As 18-time Romanian champions, 13-time Romanian cup winners, and 1st time champions league semi-finalists among Romanian clubs, Dinamo is Romania's 2nd most successful club side, and yet we are suffering an unprecedented plight. we have just suffered the first relegation of our 74-year history. Was wondering if you could take a look into what on earth is going on at Dinamo (with or without the WOEIGO title)
@@LC337 It always seems to be when people talk about the best players. I hate it. I can't even name 3 defenders that have won the Ballon d'Or. Everyone is always looking at the offensive stats and nobody cares about defenders.
The best footballer to retire at age 25 was Raul Schiaffino. He could've been the best Uruguayan player of all time. Born on December 7th 1923 and having joined Peñarol in 1943 he began playing professionally at 20 years of age in 1944. He was everything his younger brother Juan Alberto (indeed the best Uruguayan olyer of all time) was but twice as good. In 1946 at age 23 he suffered a tear which didn't heal properly and that was practically the end of his carreer. He came back a couple of times after that but he effectively closed his carreer for good in 1949 months before his 26th birthday.
5:48 - The player you're looking for is Dener. The 22 year old Brazilian forward was considered one of the greatest wonderkids of the early 90's and was probably going to be part of the Brazilian National squad on the 1994 World Cup. He played for Portuguesa, Grêmio and Vasco da Gama in Brazil. Dener was a devilish dribbler, a provocative player, a typical Brazilian nº 10. He wouldn't score many goals, but would mesmerize everyone with his incredible driblling skills. In a 0-0 draw in a friendly between Vasco da Gama and Newells Old Boys in 1993, Maradona (playing for Newells at the time) said Dener was the sort of talent he hadn't seen for too long. Tragically, Dener died in a bizarre car crash in April 1994. He was traveling from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro when his friend fell asleep on the wheel. The car swerved and hit a tree. It wasn't a big crash, but Dener's seat was all the way back and his body was heavily inclined when the car crashed. This way the seatbelt that was supposed to be around his chest was at neck height instantly breaking his neck on impact. Dozens of fans surrounded the weird crash site: inside the car, Dener appeared to simply be asleep. In his face, not a worry in the world.
John Charles… severely underrated, so great to see him above such legends in this list. Wales at the 1958 World Cup probably deserves its own video in the lead up to Wales returning this year…
I would put Tostão at the place of Mario de Castro, tostão was a brazilian striker who at 26, retired with almost 300 goals, was considered at the time the best player at probably the greatest side ever assembled (The 1970 wc brazilian national team) and is still the greatest legend of my childhood club, Cruzeiro He was doubted the little king since he was suposed to be the successor of pele, but a eye condition forced him to retire soon after 26 yo Its complicated since tostão and Mario were legends from rival clubs and I am not the most impartial, but I believe he would be the best call
Deisler is a tragic story due to his depressions. He was such a brillant player and was one of the last german "streetfootballers". I liked to see him play when i was a kid
Notable mention for Wesley Sneijder who retired age 35 and Van der Vaart also age 35.. quite funny since they played quite some games together. Wim Kieft dutch striker who won the golden boot in 82 retired age 34.
Recommend the book "Forever Young" by Oliver Kay if you're interested in learning more about Adrian Doherty. Fantastic read and gives you an insight as to what an amazing person he was both on and off the pitch
If you include his titles with Leeds in 1991/92 and Montpellier in 1990/91, Cantona won six league titles in seven seasons with three different clubs, and the only one he didn't win was when he was suspended for half the season for that kung-fu kick. Utterly unreal.
5:50 If you want a case like that in South America, the best shot may be Mirko Saric who couldn't get over a DCL injury and did the worst thing he could have done to himself. He was 21 years old, and drew comparisons to Redondo due to his playstyle. He is pretty well documented, in case you're interested.
really glad that u have included sebastian Deisler. Such a shame that he could never get the full potential out of himself due to his injuries. I can only imagine what could have been possible for him. Btw his name is pronounced like this: "Dye" like the thing u do when u want to color ur hair and then u put a "sler" afterwards. So it should sound like "Dyesler". I hope u guys get what i mean :D have nice day!
At 27 I believe Dani Carvalho would be more reasonable than Sebastian Diesel. Dani played for Sporting, West Ham, Ajax, Benfica and Atlético Madrid. This guy came from the same Alcochete Academy(Sporting) which created players such as Futre, Figo, Simão, Paim, Nani, Quaresma and of course Cristiano. And he was the biggest young promise in Portugal since Figo. When he arrived at West Ham at just 20 years old, he had the young Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand cleaning his boots. The three were basically the same age, the difference was that Dani was a starter! In the same year he ended up leaving West Ham to sign with Ajax, coached at the time by Van Gaal and played alongside legends such as Van der Sar, Boer, Kluivert, Blind, Laudrup, McCarthy, Chivu and Van der Vaart. Then with 24 years old and having played 72 games for the Dutch team, Dani returned to Portugal to play for Benfica where he stayed for just a few months before deciding to take a break from football. The following season, at the age of 25, he signed for Atlético de Madrid and became champion of the Second Spanish Division and stayed at the club until in 2003 when he was already tired of football and retired definitively at the age of 27. To contextualize Dani's life, he was a young man who was not only talented but also very handsome, he had the English newspapers telling the citizens to 'lock their daughters at home', or the West Ham coach himself saying "He's so good-looking that I don't know whether to coach him or fuck him." It is known that Dani liked clubs, alcohol and women much more than playing football.
Cantana definitely retired much too early at the age of 31 at the end of the 1996/97 season had he stayed on for a few seasons longer he would have ended up winning a lot more and Man Utd would likely have won the league in 1997/98 season the season immediately after he had left rather than Arsenal winning the double in fact it was most likely down to his suspension in January 1995 after that famous kung fu kick on that Crystal Palace fan that Man Utd ended up finishing runners up to Blackburn at the end of that season as opposed to being champions when you think of it with a fully fit Eric Cantona at the helm Man Utd could very easily could have ended up winning at least 6 successive league titles which would have been a remarkable achievement.
I’d also consider Robin Friday who retired at 25. There’s a fabulous book about him called the greatest footballer you never saw and he probably merits a video of his own
I'd argue that Fabian O'Neill retired age 30 due to alcoholism deserves at least an honorable mention. Most people who watched him play here in Uruguay maintain that he was probably the most skilled player we ever had. He has a famous match playing for Cagliari in 1999 where he did THREE tunnels to a young Gattuso.
For 21 Duncan edwards would’ve been a good call, literally got in the top 3 for the ballon d’or in his career. Although I guess you could argue it doesn’t count as a retirement as he died.
@@AndromedaEleven He retired from international football, not from football altogether. From what I can find online, the league would have likely been on a winter break at the time, as there appears to have been a month to a month and a half between his last match and the resumption of the season (season records show a break between Dec 11th and Jan 29th, but other sources say he played on Boxing Day, so 1-1.5 months, and he died on the 23rd, 6 days before presumed season resumption). His retirement was his death.
Met Sir Bobby Charlton at old Trafford when I was a kid, such a nice guy, was so friendly and even got a photo with the guy. Also met David Beckhams dad that day, another very friendly guy.
That fact that de Castro was the first player not from sau Paulo or Rio to be called up to the Brazil squad is crazy, was it some sort of tradition or just coincidence?
Pure politics, actually. The Brazilian FA was only centered around those two states.for a long time. This only began to change in mid to late 1970's. Just as an example, SC Internacional had one of the most dominating teams during the 1970's in Brazil, winning the national championship in 75, 76 and 79. And yet only one player was called for the 1978 World Cup. To make things worse, it wasn't even their best player (Falcão).
@@MeuRefrigerador just wanted to add that during de Castro's time, I'm pretty sure the FA would only allow players players from those states to be called while in later years this was not forced, but a deliberate preference (for political reasons nonetheless)
Never ever expected to see an image of my home in The Hague in a RUclips video, and especially not in HITC Sevens' ... but yeah, amazing content it still is!
Alfie i do not remember if you did one, but i think it's high time that you do a video about what the hell i happening at Manchester United. From winning the league in 2012/13 with a squad filled with mediocre players and after Fergie's retirement to winning the Europa League with Mourinho and finishing second to 20'th place and two losses in their first two games scoring only one goal and conceding 6. It is a really fascinating downfall for a club of their size.
Liam Whelan for age 22. Top goal scorer for Manchester United in the 1956-57 season scoring 26 goals in the First Division and 33 in all competitions as United won their second successive league title and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup and FA Cup.
Muamba was ok, but lets not exaggarate. He wouldnt have been playing for Bolton if he was that good. At a time when sir Alex could just pick and choose the best player from any team in the league.
Video idea: players who are eligible to represent more than 2 nations and have represented 2 of those internationally, either at senior level or U-XX (e.g. Steven Caulker (England, Scotland, Sierra Leone) or Denzel Dumfries (Aruba, Netherlands, Suriname)) could be a good one.
Nakata was such a cheap and talented player to but in the "Master League" aka Career Mode in Winning Eleven 8 for the PS2, had no idea he retired so young!
Day 49 - The Fall and Rise of FK Velež Mostar From a Club that has beaten Borussia Dortmund, Twente, Derby County and many others to a club that was forced from their own stadium, reduced to nothing during the Bosnian War, becoming a mediocre top-level team in the 00s to nearly being forced into folding in 2016 to its amazing comeback to European competitions in 2021 seeing the early exit of Greek giants AEK Athens in a sensational win in Athens!
For me he is the greatest player of all time. I will never forget how how he destroyed us both at Wembley and the Nep. That Hungarian team was pure magic!
Two video Ideas mostly because I want to hear your input on the two subjects 1. What is going on at Man Utd, given their perfomance nose dived since last season. 2. What is going on at Arsenal(I think they've made considerable progress, and I'd like to hear what you think) Cheers for the excellent content, my favouritr place for football documentaries.
Amazing video as always, your research is without peer. Didn't know about Doherty and Muamba, was so sad hearing their tales, sometimes we forget about the otherside of football, at least, in the latter case, he was able to have a normal life. Day 8 asking for a video about Democracia Corinthiana.
I don't know if he would exactly qualify for this video, but perhaps Andrea Fortunato should've been included as the age 23 option (or earlier if decided based on last club appearance). He was a left back for Juventus during the early 90's, back in the golden serie a/football italia days, in the mould of Maldini or Torricelli, a regular starter for probably one of the top 5 teams in the world at the time, and pushing for a spot with the national team. An amazing player with few, if any, weaknesses and quality both on the ball and defending positionally. Tragically, he'd be diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia some time around '94, which he underwent treatment for multiple times with varying degrees of success, and died in 1995, aged 23, just as it seemed he would finally beat the disease for good, of pneumonia, having become more susceptible to disease following his ordeal. A really sad end to a promising career and the life of a wonderful and very young man.
I remember watching the game with Muambas cardiac arrest, awful, glad he lived through that. As i recal he was very good and could have gone on dominating english football but it wasnt to be.
Ritchie Pitt made his debut for Sunderland at 17 and played well over 100 games for the club including most famously the 1973 FA Cup Final win v Leeds. He them got a crutiate knee ligament injury and retired at 22.
It’s 80 degrees. Probably hot for the UK, but it’s not considered to be that hot pretty much anywhere in the US. Even the northernmost states (not Alaska) get to the eighties in the summer. The UK is further north though, keep that in mind.
It's quite difficult to understand just how unbelievably good R9 really was. His abilities were so natural, and his skill was almost secondary to these incredible natural talents. His speed was amazing, but what was even greater than this speed was his acceleration. And all this with the ball. That's the difference between a great player and a legendary player. Honestly, he was just incredible to watch
Still remember where I was when I saw what happened to Fabrice Muamba, the only plus thing to come out of that was that at pretty much ever football ground these days there is a defibrillator It has to be a high percentage these days. Marc-Vivien Foé and Fabrice were the 1st 2 I remember seeing in football.
Amazing video to say the least, all while using only a simple video concept to go by. I learned a lot about football. That man that died after celebrating in front of nazi higher ups deserves a whole video
When you said that there could be a more talented player retired at the same age in South America, but not well recorded, that actually could be the case for every early age. Not surprisingly all the early ages in this video are dominated by English players, because English players get that fame and hype at the young age.
Also, there are lots of English players on the video because he is indeed English. Maybe if this video was made by a Argentine or South Africa, the chosen players would have been very different
No disrespect to Mario de Castro, but Tostão deserves the spot at 26 years old. As Mario Castro, Tostão spent most of his career in Minas Gerais, Brazil, playing as an attacking midfielder at Cruzeiro. Leading the historic squad that rivaled Pele's Santos, he won the national title once, scored more than 300 goals from 63-70 and provided numerous assists (stats are lacking unfortunately). These performances secured him a spot in the 1966 WC, he played one match and scored one goal as a 19yo. In 1969, at the peak of his powers, he suffered a serious eye trauma that led to a retina detachment. Surgery allowed for a brief return and he joined the 1970 WC, scoring 2 goals, pioneering the false 9 role and winning the WC alongside Pele and an amazing squad. The problem unfortunately came back soon after and, after a brief stint at Vasco, he retired permanently in 1972. After retirement, he successfully transitioned to medicine, specializing in psychotherapy, while writing beloved weekly football op-eds.
No Big Dunc at 21? Duncan Edwards quoted as " who could pick Moore, Duncan was bigger quicker and more versitial" that's sir bobby Moore their talking about. Sir bobbdy Charlton also said hes was the only played that made him feel inferior. Worth an honourable mention at the very least.
I wouldn't have even mentioned the Welsh thug - and I certainly won't mention it by name - but the way you dealt with the matter I think was better than that. A dishonourable mention, just perfect.
I love your work. Would you do something on the most successful players to have come from non-league football? I'm an Oldham supporter so obviously I'm into non league now!
I think one for this video should be GYORGY ORTH, for many considered the best Hungarian player of all time, at his time better than Puskas would ever be later on. He suffered an effectively career-ending injury at 25. He returned, played a couple of games, then became a player-coach for a few years, but never played as well as before.
Please make a video on: The rise and fall of Bursaspor, who are 1 of 6 winners of the Turkish league, they are now playing in the 3rd division after being relegated.
Players on the cusp of reaching their respective league's 100 club would be an interesting video at the start of each new season. Last season would've been a great time to do a video like that with Mane, Salah, Sterling and Ronaldo all in that 90s-low 80s range in the premier league alone. This season, only Son looks likely in the prem, but I'm sure the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A or Ligue 1 must have players nearing major milestones like that. Harry Kane isn't far from 200 if that's something to be considered.
One of my biggest accomplishments would be as a footballer would be to feature on your videos or someone else like reymar or DDOF and yup Im putting the work in so it becomes a reality. Also how do you reserch football and footballers?
Ruben de la Red mustve been so heartbroken. Imagine watching Spain go on to dominate international football and win every trophy, while knowing you had the talent to be a starter in that squad. Ruben was really good.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
I was forced to retire at 11 years old when it was discovered that I was shite at football.
😂 😂 😂
Same
UNBELIEVABLE GEOFF!
Any chance you could come out of retirement to play for United ?
Tons of kids retire from football early on to play secondary sports like Basketball, Athletics or Hockey in Europe. Because if you suck at sports you'll die in a football club whereas other sports communities are more lenient toward failure.
I was at the game at White Hart Lane when Fabrice Muamba had his cardiac arrest. There were so many things that occured that day that helped save Muamba's life:
(1) There was a specialist cardiologist there attending the game as a (spurs) fan, who managed to convince the stewards to let him onto the pitch.
(2) This specialist then gave Muamba the on-field care needed to get him into a state that transporting him would be feasible.
(3) The medics had initially wanted to transfer Muamba to the closest hospital to White Hart Lane, which is North Middx. Hosptial (1 mile away). The specialist who ran onto the field happened to know that the fascilities at NMH wouldn't be able to accomodate Muamba, and so demanded they take him to London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, 6 miles away (i.e., an extra 20 mins away, in London traffic/roads). This might extra journey time might seem crazy, but having the facilities available at LCH meant they could save Muamba's life.
In short, what occured that day was terrible to witness, but a testament to the community of Football and its fans: A fan for the opposing team ran onto the pitch and saved the life of an opposing player. Tottenham fans will always be kind to Muamba, and it is such a shame such a good player had to retire so young.
Wow, I didn't knew the back story of how Muamba was saved. Somebody wanted that day Muamba to live and I'm glad his doing it till this day.
That’s incredible
Wow. Thanks for the detail, Sarah.
I was at the game as an 11 year old - sat in the upper tier of the north stand. Remember seeing him fall with no one around him and Modric instantly waving on the medical staff. So much respect for the fans in the stadium that day and everyone involved in saving that mans life - the cardiologist was a HERO.
@@TwigsterUK I was also in North Upper, as it happens.
Video idea : What on earth is going on at Man United
I would wait for the end of the transfer window to make a more complete video on that.
way too early in the season
I think either end of transfer window and mid season if they're 15th in the standings
i was just thinking about this earlier
They lose a match, so everybody thinks they're in the worst crisis any club has ever encountered, that's what's going on...it's nonsensical.
Thanks Alfie for mentioning Adrian Doherty! He was from hometown of Strabane and is still very highly spoken of and fondly remembered, he was a fantastic talent from everyone's accounts. His father has written a book about him if anyone if interested, go check it out! Cheers Alfie, loving the content as always
there is a really good tifo football video on him too !! very insightful.
@@Strangegloves yeah I remember watching that when it came out! Tifo is another good channel to follow, but Alfie is no.1 for me by far ha
Lies again? Euro Conference League French Toast
Ive got a great book on Adrian Doherty, although it's not written by his dad, but by Oliver Kay. Maybe worth checking out if you're interested
dogerty😁
For 24 I’d give an honourable mention to Michael Johnson. Incredible youth player at Man City, he was a regular in the first team by age 20; but injuries, mental health issues and other personal issues led to his inevitable retirement.
Underrated player and a true loss to the sport.
I'm not sure why I read that as Michael Jackson first.
@@TheChosenFailure same
@@TheChosenFailureI read Michael Jordan lol
He now owns a real estate company so he got a semi happy ending
How about a video about the 36 year career of Kazuyoshi Miura, the world's oldest professional footballer who, at the age of 55, makes Sir Stanley Matthews look like a quitter 😂
Day 19:
A detailed look at the state of Crotone would be nice, going from Serie A in 20/21 with a 20 goal a season striker (Simy) to Serie C by 22/23. Two relegations in a row, something surely has to be wrong at that club.
To be honest, no; it's pretty common in Italy. That has happened to a lot of clubs even in recent years. Novara, Cesena, and it might happen again this year.
Simy was getting offers from PL clubs but he insisted on staying in Italy. He definietly regrets it now.
@@drogba8722 I'd still try to get him tbh. It's no easy to score more than 15 in Seria A let alone with a trash team.
@@saeed_05
It is too depressing to get views. RUclips only get views for viewing the whole video.
@@WERTYUIO821 i commented that in the weong place🤣
Would love to hear some stories of lower league teams, Tranmere's giant killing League and FA cup runs around the turn of the century spring to mind
Marcelo Bravo, a former Argentine football midfielder who retired at the age of 21 after discovering that he suffered from a cardiovascular hypertrophy. Bravo's illness is similar to the one that cost Antonio Puerta's life in 2007. He played 50 games with Vélez Sarsfield.
Hey Alfie, could you do a vid on FC Dinamo Bucharest, my local team. As 18-time Romanian champions, 13-time Romanian cup winners, and 1st time champions league semi-finalists among Romanian clubs, Dinamo is Romania's 2nd most successful club side, and yet we are suffering an unprecedented plight. we have just suffered the first relegation of our 74-year history. Was wondering if you could take a look into what on earth is going on at Dinamo (with or without the WOEIGO title)
There you go. You've written it all
Not only West Ham (twice), but also Lyon.
Mate, to be honest I would of watched that video but you've just told us everything we need to know. So now there's no point.
ce faci trentrol :DDDDDDDD
@@BetoExpress1 te sparg te segmentez aaa go crazy go stupid
My man Lahm would have at least deserved to be mentioned at age 32
Oh wow I didn’t realise how young he was
Didn't he retire at 33? I guess he didn't score enough to be considered
@@ScottTrolls hes a defender why would scoring come into account ?
@@LC337 It always seems to be when people talk about the best players. I hate it. I can't even name 3 defenders that have won the Ballon d'Or. Everyone is always looking at the offensive stats and nobody cares about defenders.
@@ScottTrolls yeah that’s true
You should make the best player from every nation again mate! That video was great and I'd love to see how much it changes!
The best footballer to retire at age 25 was Raul Schiaffino. He could've been the best Uruguayan player of all time. Born on December 7th 1923 and having joined Peñarol in 1943 he began playing professionally at 20 years of age in 1944. He was everything his younger brother Juan Alberto (indeed the best Uruguayan olyer of all time) was but twice as good. In 1946 at age 23 he suffered a tear which didn't heal properly and that was practically the end of his carreer. He came back a couple of times after that but he effectively closed his carreer for good in 1949 months before his 26th birthday.
Geoff Bent says hi
@@davidshaw7404 That's a cheap move mate. The guy's career had the most unfair end I can think of. It was a tragedy, not life changing envent.
@@BurnRoddy Bent died ffs
5:48 - The player you're looking for is Dener. The 22 year old Brazilian forward was considered one of the greatest wonderkids of the early 90's and was probably going to be part of the Brazilian National squad on the 1994 World Cup. He played for Portuguesa, Grêmio and Vasco da Gama in Brazil.
Dener was a devilish dribbler, a provocative player, a typical Brazilian nº 10. He wouldn't score many goals, but would mesmerize everyone with his incredible driblling skills. In a 0-0 draw in a friendly between Vasco da Gama and Newells Old Boys in 1993, Maradona (playing for Newells at the time) said Dener was the sort of talent he hadn't seen for too long.
Tragically, Dener died in a bizarre car crash in April 1994. He was traveling from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro when his friend fell asleep on the wheel. The car swerved and hit a tree. It wasn't a big crash, but Dener's seat was all the way back and his body was heavily inclined when the car crashed. This way the seatbelt that was supposed to be around his chest was at neck height instantly breaking his neck on impact. Dozens of fans surrounded the weird crash site: inside the car, Dener appeared to simply be asleep. In his face, not a worry in the world.
7 most naturally gifted footballers of our generation
Maguire
Jones
Drinkwater
Aurier
Michael Smalling
Choupo-Moting
Goatwaithe
@@daarom3472 😂
@@daarom3472 should just be jones. take a pic of every iconic facial expression and make it as different ppl
Puskas was a genius .....his skill level was years ahead of his time .
John Charles… severely underrated, so great to see him above such legends in this list. Wales at the 1958 World Cup probably deserves its own video in the lead up to Wales returning this year…
I would put Tostão at the place of Mario de Castro, tostão was a brazilian striker who at 26, retired with almost 300 goals, was considered at the time the best player at probably the greatest side ever assembled (The 1970 wc brazilian national team) and is still the greatest legend of my childhood club, Cruzeiro
He was doubted the little king since he was suposed to be the successor of pele, but a eye condition forced him to retire soon after 26 yo
Its complicated since tostão and Mario were legends from rival clubs and I am not the most impartial, but I believe he would be the best call
Deisler is a tragic story due to his depressions. He was such a brillant player and was one of the last german "streetfootballers". I liked to see him play when i was a kid
Notable mention for Wesley Sneijder who retired age 35 and Van der Vaart also age 35.. quite funny since they played quite some games together. Wim Kieft dutch striker who won the golden boot in 82 retired age 34.
Love Nakata at 29! Was Brian Clough considered for the 29 range? He'd be happy to tell you of his 251 club goals in 271 appearances.
I feel bad for the younger players. Especially Doherty, retiring at 17! His career ended before it even begun! The fact he died later is even sadder.
Recommend the book "Forever Young" by Oliver Kay if you're interested in learning more about Adrian Doherty. Fantastic read and gives you an insight as to what an amazing person he was both on and off the pitch
Very good book. Very sad story
If you include his titles with Leeds in 1991/92 and Montpellier in 1990/91, Cantona won six league titles in seven seasons with three different clubs, and the only one he didn't win was when he was suspended for half the season for that kung-fu kick. Utterly unreal.
5:50 If you want a case like that in South America, the best shot may be Mirko Saric who couldn't get over a DCL injury and did the worst thing he could have done to himself. He was 21 years old, and drew comparisons to Redondo due to his playstyle. He is pretty well documented, in case you're interested.
Wikipedia implies a failed paternity test played a part, regardless what a tragedy. Just 21 :(
17:13 that was a good pun on André Schürrle. Surely it deserves more recognition
really glad that u have included sebastian Deisler. Such a shame that he could never get the full potential out of himself due to his injuries. I can only imagine what could have been possible for him. Btw his name is pronounced like this: "Dye" like the thing u do when u want to color ur hair and then u put a "sler" afterwards. So it should sound like "Dyesler". I hope u guys get what i mean :D have nice day!
I was so surprised when Nakata called it a day, had a brilliant loan a Bolton and I was excited to see if he would move permanently. He would not.
At 27 I believe Dani Carvalho would be more reasonable than Sebastian Diesel. Dani played for Sporting, West Ham, Ajax, Benfica and Atlético Madrid. This guy came from the same Alcochete Academy(Sporting) which created players such as Futre, Figo, Simão, Paim, Nani, Quaresma and of course Cristiano. And he was the biggest young promise in Portugal since Figo. When he arrived at West Ham at just 20 years old, he had the young Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand cleaning his boots. The three were basically the same age, the difference was that Dani was a starter! In the same year he ended up leaving West Ham to sign with Ajax, coached at the time by Van Gaal and played alongside legends such as Van der Sar, Boer, Kluivert, Blind, Laudrup, McCarthy, Chivu and Van der Vaart.
Then with 24 years old and having played 72 games for the Dutch team, Dani returned to Portugal to play for Benfica where he stayed for just a few months before deciding to take a break from football. The following season, at the age of 25, he signed for Atlético de Madrid and became champion of the Second Spanish Division and stayed at the club until in 2003 when he was already tired of football and retired definitively at the age of 27.
To contextualize Dani's life, he was a young man who was not only talented but also very handsome, he had the English newspapers telling the citizens to 'lock their daughters at home', or the West Ham coach himself saying "He's so good-looking that I don't know whether to coach him or fuck him." It is known that Dani liked clubs, alcohol and women much more than playing football.
Tostão should be there instead, of 1970 Brazil.
@@joaovguedes Lol
Cantana definitely retired much too early at the age of 31 at the end of the 1996/97 season had he stayed on for a few seasons longer he would have ended up winning a lot more and Man Utd would likely have won the league in 1997/98 season the season immediately after he had left rather than Arsenal winning the double in fact it was most likely down to his suspension in January 1995 after that famous kung fu kick on that Crystal Palace fan that Man Utd ended up finishing runners up to Blackburn at the end of that season as opposed to being champions when you think of it with a fully fit Eric Cantona at the helm Man Utd could very easily could have ended up winning at least 6 successive league titles which would have been a remarkable achievement.
I’d also consider Robin Friday who retired at 25. There’s a fabulous book about him called the greatest footballer you never saw and he probably merits a video of his own
I'd argue that Fabian O'Neill retired age 30 due to alcoholism deserves at least an honorable mention.
Most people who watched him play here in Uruguay maintain that he was probably the most skilled player we ever had.
He has a famous match playing for Cagliari in 1999 where he did THREE tunnels to a young Gattuso.
Totti, Baggio and Stoichkov don't get honorable mentions?
For 21 Duncan edwards would’ve been a good call, literally got in the top 3 for the ballon d’or in his career. Although I guess you could argue it doesn’t count as a retirement as he died.
Sindelar died as well and he was included
@@gabrieldimattia7388 Sindelar retired before dying.
@@AndromedaEleven He retired from international football, not from football altogether.
From what I can find online, the league would have likely been on a winter break at the time, as there appears to have been a month to a month and a half between his last match and the resumption of the season (season records show a break between Dec 11th and Jan 29th, but other sources say he played on Boxing Day, so 1-1.5 months, and he died on the 23rd, 6 days before presumed season resumption).
His retirement was his death.
Matthias Sammer at 31 would have been another worthwhile contender.
Met Sir Bobby Charlton at old Trafford when I was a kid, such a nice guy, was so friendly and even got a photo with the guy. Also met David Beckhams dad that day, another very friendly guy.
Picture of my local club legend Chris Wondolowski and MLS all time leading goal scorer !!!
That fact that de Castro was the first player not from sau Paulo or Rio to be called up to the Brazil squad is crazy, was it some sort of tradition or just coincidence?
Pure politics, actually. The Brazilian FA was only centered around those two states.for a long time.
This only began to change in mid to late 1970's. Just as an example, SC Internacional had one of the most dominating teams during the 1970's in Brazil, winning the national championship in 75, 76 and 79. And yet only one player was called for the 1978 World Cup. To make things worse, it wasn't even their best player (Falcão).
@@MeuRefrigerador just wanted to add that during de Castro's time, I'm pretty sure the FA would only allow players players from those states to be called while in later years this was not forced, but a deliberate preference (for political reasons nonetheless)
@@MeuRefrigerador changed in the 60s, in the 66 world cup there were players who played in other states of brazil
Never ever expected to see an image of my home in The Hague in a RUclips video, and especially not in HITC Sevens' ... but yeah, amazing content it still is!
That “Wright” before you started made me laugh 😂
Thats a constant theme in this show. It always makes me laugh. He has used ”Shaw” at times as well😂
And "Eddie Howe"
Alfie i do not remember if you did one, but i think it's high time that you do a video about what the hell i happening at Manchester United. From winning the league in 2012/13 with a squad filled with mediocre players and after Fergie's retirement to winning the Europa League with Mourinho and finishing second to 20'th place and two losses in their first two games scoring only one goal and conceding 6. It is a really fascinating downfall for a club of their size.
Thanks for doing my suggestion
Liam Whelan for age 22. Top goal scorer for Manchester United in the 1956-57 season scoring 26 goals in the First Division and 33 in all competitions as United won their second successive league title and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup and FA Cup.
He’s not doing players who died he’s doing players who made the decision to retire
@@tommyvinceze6249 adrian Doherty died
@@cosmo8874 he retired in 1994 and died in 2000
@@cosmo8874 use your Brian cosmo come on mate.
I love these kind of videos and this was another excellent one
I think Richard Sadlier is a solid honourable mention at age 24. He was going to go on to big things that lad.
Muamba was ok, but lets not exaggarate. He wouldnt have been playing for Bolton if he was that good. At a time when sir Alex could just pick and choose the best player from any team in the league.
Video idea: players who are eligible to represent more than 2 nations and have represented 2 of those internationally, either at senior level or U-XX (e.g. Steven Caulker (England, Scotland, Sierra Leone) or Denzel Dumfries (Aruba, Netherlands, Suriname)) could be a good one.
Nakata was such a cheap and talented player to but in the "Master League" aka Career Mode in Winning Eleven 8 for the PS2, had no idea he retired so young!
Can we have a video dedicated to Matteo Schindler please?? The player with the most integrity and balls of steel to match!
Honourable mention to Abdelhak Nouri who was forced to retire at age 20 after a heart attack
Day 49 - The Fall and Rise of FK Velež Mostar
From a Club that has beaten Borussia Dortmund, Twente, Derby County and many others to a club that was forced from their own stadium, reduced to nothing during the Bosnian War, becoming a mediocre top-level team in the 00s to nearly being forced into folding in 2016 to its amazing comeback to European competitions in 2021 seeing the early exit of Greek giants AEK Athens in a sensational win in Athens!
As a Hungarian hearing Puskas name feels so good. Most fans don't know how good he was. Elite talent. Ria Ria Hungaria 💪
For me he is the greatest player of all time. I will never forget how how he destroyed us both at Wembley and the Nep. That Hungarian team was pure magic!
Two video Ideas mostly because I want to hear your input on the two subjects
1. What is going on at Man Utd, given their perfomance nose dived since last season.
2. What is going on at Arsenal(I think they've made considerable progress, and I'd like to hear what you think)
Cheers for the excellent content, my favouritr place for football documentaries.
Amazing video as always, your research is without peer. Didn't know about Doherty and Muamba, was so sad hearing their tales, sometimes we forget about the otherside of football, at least, in the latter case, he was able to have a normal life. Day 8 asking for a video about Democracia Corinthiana.
Great vid. Doherty’s is such a sad story
Should’ve been Tostao at 27.
Hope this gets updated in about 15 years time when King Kazu finally hangs up his boots
At 24 now, it is probably Enock Mwepu, also due to a heart condition.
I don't know if he would exactly qualify for this video, but perhaps Andrea Fortunato should've been included as the age 23 option (or earlier if decided based on last club appearance).
He was a left back for Juventus during the early 90's, back in the golden serie a/football italia days, in the mould of Maldini or Torricelli, a regular starter for probably one of the top 5 teams in the world at the time, and pushing for a spot with the national team. An amazing player with few, if any, weaknesses and quality both on the ball and defending positionally.
Tragically, he'd be diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia some time around '94, which he underwent treatment for multiple times with varying degrees of success, and died in 1995, aged 23, just as it seemed he would finally beat the disease for good, of pneumonia, having become more susceptible to disease following his ordeal.
A really sad end to a promising career and the life of a wonderful and very young man.
You included pictures of two Cameroonian legends almost twice in a row. I smiled. 😁
Thanks for including Adrian. Heart breaking story documented in a beautifully written book by Oliver Kay
I remember watching the game with Muambas cardiac arrest, awful, glad he lived through that. As i recal he was very good and could have gone on dominating english football but it wasnt to be.
A dishonorable mention goes to Ryan Giggs 💀 💀
Why dishonorable?
absolutely love your videos.
Ritchie Pitt made his debut for Sunderland at 17 and played well over 100 games for the club including most famously the 1973 FA Cup Final win v Leeds. He them got a crutiate knee ligament injury and retired at 22.
Abdelhak Nouri (Ajax) ?
Dagfinn Enerly? One of the most horrific injuries in football?
Shoutout Daniel wells and North Melbourne at 5:16! Good form
Another consideration at 25 would have been Tony Green who is considered Newcastle’s best ever player
Your commitment is very admirable
These videos are long enough without me immediately looking up each footballer after each segment
Video idea: Best players to never score at a World Cup
I.e. Zlatan, Figo, Nedved, Lampard, Ramos, Lewa, Alves,
It would have to be limited to midfielders and forwards.
Diesler was great in one edition of pro evo, got the job done for me week in week out.
Nice to see the Just Fontaine honorable mention.
miura still going strong 👌
It’s 80 degrees. Probably hot for the UK, but it’s not considered to be that hot pretty much anywhere in the US. Even the northernmost states (not Alaska) get to the eighties in the summer. The UK is further north though, keep that in mind.
Romario best one on one finisher with the keeper I've ever seen .
Honourable mention of course being Sir Stanley Matthews at 50 and even he was only half-joking when he claimed he retired a few years too early.
It's quite difficult to understand just how unbelievably good R9 really was. His abilities were so natural, and his skill was almost secondary to these incredible natural talents. His speed was amazing, but what was even greater than this speed was his acceleration. And all this with the ball. That's the difference between a great player and a legendary player. Honestly, he was just incredible to watch
Class video!! I agree with basically every ranking (except Ronaldo instead of Zidane).
A full Cantona video is needed Alfie!
Still remember where I was when I saw what happened to Fabrice Muamba, the only plus thing to come out of that was that at pretty much ever football ground these days there is a defibrillator It has to be a high percentage these days. Marc-Vivien Foé and Fabrice were the 1st 2 I remember seeing in football.
What about Roger miller from Cameroon? Played and scored at WC USA 94 at age 42.
Amazing video to say the least, all while using only a simple video concept to go by. I learned a lot about football. That man that died after celebrating in front of nazi higher ups deserves a whole video
When you said that there could be a more talented player retired at the same age in South America, but not well recorded, that actually could be the case for every early age. Not surprisingly all the early ages in this video are dominated by English players, because English players get that fame and hype at the young age.
Also, there are lots of English players on the video because he is indeed English. Maybe if this video was made by a Argentine or South Africa, the chosen players would have been very different
No disrespect to Mario de Castro, but Tostão deserves the spot at 26 years old.
As Mario Castro, Tostão spent most of his career in Minas Gerais, Brazil, playing as an attacking midfielder at Cruzeiro. Leading the historic squad that rivaled Pele's Santos, he won the national title once, scored more than 300 goals from 63-70 and provided numerous assists (stats are lacking unfortunately). These performances secured him a spot in the 1966 WC, he played one match and scored one goal as a 19yo. In 1969, at the peak of his powers, he suffered a serious eye trauma that led to a retina detachment. Surgery allowed for a brief return and he joined the 1970 WC, scoring 2 goals, pioneering the false 9 role and winning the WC alongside Pele and an amazing squad. The problem unfortunately came back soon after and, after a brief stint at Vasco, he retired permanently in 1972. After retirement, he successfully transitioned to medicine, specializing in psychotherapy, while writing beloved weekly football op-eds.
No Big Dunc at 21? Duncan Edwards quoted as " who could pick Moore, Duncan was bigger quicker and more versitial" that's sir bobby Moore their talking about. Sir bobbdy Charlton also said hes was the only played that made him feel inferior. Worth an honourable mention at the very least.
Big Dunc didn't retire, he died without retiring
is alphie thinking of going solo?? there were quite a few plugs to his personal channel in this video and honestly im here for it
7:07 the musician is thogdan. Change my mind
I wouldn't have even mentioned the Welsh thug - and I certainly won't mention it by name - but the way you dealt with the matter I think was better than that. A dishonourable mention, just perfect.
At 27 there should be an honorary mention of Dani.
No way your used a north melbourne pic absolute legend, up the roos
Totti was a leader, legend and king 🤴 🙌 👏 🙏 ❤ 💙 🤴
I love your work. Would you do something on the most successful players to have come from non-league football? I'm an Oldham supporter so obviously I'm into non league now!
6:34 I was at that game. It was a friendly between Notts County and Ipswich. So sad that injury ruined his career.
Thanks for this video
I think one for this video should be GYORGY ORTH, for many considered the best Hungarian player of all time, at his time better than Puskas would ever be later on. He suffered an effectively career-ending injury at 25. He returned, played a couple of games, then became a player-coach for a few years, but never played as well as before.
Please make a video on: The rise and fall of Bursaspor, who are 1 of 6 winners of the Turkish league, they are now playing in the 3rd division after being relegated.
Just a slight correction, Ruben de la Red fainted while playing against Real Unión (a Spanish 3rd tier side) in a Copa del Rey match.
Players on the cusp of reaching their respective league's 100 club would be an interesting video at the start of each new season.
Last season would've been a great time to do a video like that with Mane, Salah, Sterling and Ronaldo all in that 90s-low 80s range in the premier league alone.
This season, only Son looks likely in the prem, but I'm sure the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A or Ligue 1 must have players nearing major milestones like that. Harry Kane isn't far from 200 if that's something to be considered.
One of my biggest accomplishments would be as a footballer would be to feature on your videos or someone else like reymar or DDOF and yup Im putting the work in so it becomes a reality.
Also how do you reserch football and footballers?
Ruben de la Red mustve been so heartbroken. Imagine watching Spain go on to dominate international football and win every trophy, while knowing you had the talent to be a starter in that squad. Ruben was really good.