20 Greatest Football Dads

One of the most notable football players Zinedine Zidane has called him the “jewel of French football”. Franck Ribery grew from being part of France under 21 team to the national team representing the World Cup. Despite being a serious player, he is known to be a “joker” off-field. He believes in having fun and possesses an overall positive attitude.

1. Franck Ribery

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Representing La Roja, David Villa will be going into the biggest football competition to be Spain’s top scorer again. It’s been reported that this 20th edition of the World Cup game would be his last before retirement.

2. David Villa

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The 27-year-old is the pride of Ghana and hope for Africa this World Cup. Despite the retirement from international play, Kevin-Prince Boateng will be representing his home country team this June.

3. Kevin-Prince Boateng

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Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon hopes to make his family and country proud in the World Cup tournament. Dubbed as “Superman”, the father of two is confident going up against Germany if the opportunity arises.

4. Gianluigi Buffon

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Steven Gerrard is the captain of the English national team and will be heading to Brazil with one goal in mind; bring home the World Cup. Unlike some footballers who are married, he prefers to have his family left behind for zero distractions during major tournaments such as this. His beautiful wife Alex Curran and three daughters will be supporting him in the comforts of their home in England.

5. Steven Gerrard

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Eden Hazard will be rocking the Belgian jersey come this World Cup. His display of fearless talent has been praised many times and compared to the likes of soccer greats like Lionel Messi.

6. Eden Hazard

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The Russian footballer plays defense and will be representing his native national team in the World Cup. Ignashevich has been listed as one of the best players in Russia since 2001.

7. Sergei Ignashevich

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Known most affectionately as Kaka, the Brazilian 32-year-old started his career when he was 8 and will now be playing on home field for the World Cup.

8. Ricardo Kaka

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The other notable English player is Frank Lampard who is Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer. Lampard will be part of the England World Cup squad.

9. Frank Lampard

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When Lionel Messi was 22, he won his first Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. This year, he’ll be rocking the Argentinian colours in the World Cup and as the official Maradona succesor (as said by the man himself), he will do his home country proud.

10. Lionel Messi

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Drawing comparison in ability to Brazil’s legendary footballer Pelé is Neymar. The young Brazilian has been ranked by The Guardian as the 6th best player in the world.

11. Neymar

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The young German player has scored and assisted many successful goals in his career, allowing Germany to have done well in the World Cup previously. He has also been awarded with FIFA World Cup Best Young Player in 2006.

12. Lukas Podolski

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You can’t talk about English football without mentioning this guy. At the age of 9, Wayne Rooney began to place his mark in the world of football. He is also England’s all-time top goalscorer.

13. Wayne Rooney

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Cristiano Ronaldo is the first Portugese player to have won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the best footballer in the world twice, in 2008 and 2013. He was also named the European Golden Shoe three times. He will be representing Portugal in the World Cup.

14. Cristiano Ronaldo

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Known as one of the best strikers in the world, Robin van Persie has been compared to Dutch legend Marco van Basten. Despite being encouraged to follow in his parents’ footsteps as an artist, he chose football and went on to be named the Dutch Football Talent of the Year in 2002.

15. Robin van Persie

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Representing Italy is Francesco Totti who has been declared as one of the greatest players of his generation and Roma’s very best. Totti has his name listed as one of the top footballers in the world by the legend himself, Pelé. His professional nicknames include Il Bimbo d’Oro (The Golden Boy) and Il Re di Roma (The king of Rome).

16. Francesco Totti

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Serbia will be proud to have Duško Tošić to represent them in the World Cup. The defender began his career in Serbia before moving to play in French club Sochaux for one season. He then moved on to transfer to other European clubs from Germany and England.

17. Duško Tošić

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As one of the household names of football, Fernando Torres made his debut as part of the Spanish national team in 2003 against Portugal. He is Spain’s third highest goalscorer.

18. Fernando Torres

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Part of Uruguay’s pride is Luis Suarez in the World Cup. Suarez was ranked by the Guardian as the 9th best player in the world in 2013.

19. Luis Suarez

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In the 2010 World Cup games, Wesley Sneijder was named “man of the match” for 6 out of 11 games. He started representing the Oranje since he was 18 and will be there in Brazil this year to do the same.

20. Wesley Sneijder

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