successful football team captains in world history

              
Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich/ West Germany): At the top of the list is obviously the top captain in football history. His greatness can be proved by this fact that as a captain, Franz Beckenbauer won every trophy and title going at both club and international level.
His elegance and ability as a player were good enough but his steely determination and ferocious will to win were most glaringly made apparent at the 1970 World Cup. In that World Cup he played on with his shoulder dislocated and his arm in a sling, as Germany were defeated 4-3 by Italy in ‘The Game of the Century.’ He was great as a captain and also best as a football player. No other person in football history could be compared to him in his greatness and performance as a footballer.
He was really a man of honour and he was truly honoured by the people as much as he deserved.

Paolo Maldini (AC Milan/Italy): Maldini is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time having played as a left-back and centre- back for two and a half decades for his only career club AC Milan and Italy national football team and was captain both at club level and national team making him the second best captain in the short list of players.
He won over 26 titles with his Italian club AC Milan and scored seven goals in all of his 126 caps for the Azzuri and he is the top player with the most appearances in all competitions for AC Milan. Paolo Maldini is the top player with 168, the most UEFA Champions League appearances and he holds the record of playing the most minutes in the World Cups.


Roy Keane (Manchester United/ Ireland):Shockingly in spite of facing 11 red cards in his career time, he is top football captains in history. Some may think Roy Keane lacked the discipline that is required to make a great captain. Although anyone with such opinion never saw him captain either Manchester United or Ireland. His services for his team are remarkable and really good enough. He was a player who played aggressively but only for the victory of his team.

His effort was richly rewarded when Manchester United won seven Premier League titles and they also won four FA Cups and one Champions League trophy.
In his career time, we find his finest and best performance in 2001 against Juventus when Keane silenced the talents of Edgar Davids and Zinedine Zidane. He perfectly controlled the midfield for Manchester United. He was an interesting dual personality who was appreciated and also criticized equally. He is the third successful football captain in the history.


Carles Puyol (Barcelona): The fourth player in our list of the 12 best captains in football is the UEFA Club Best Defender of the Year 2006 and World Cup winner in 2010, former Spain national team and Barcelona defender Carles Puyol who was captain for his only career club F.C Barcelona right from the end of the 2003- 04 season when he was named the club captain after the retirement of team mate Luis Enrique spending ten years as the club captain in his 15-year career with the club and he is the second player after Xavi in Barca’s alltime league appearance table.

When Puyol retired, a great debate about analysis of his footballing career and contribution to the great Spain and Barcelona sides of his era began.
He retired after 15 years of first team football at Barcelona and as club captain. He played 392 games for Barca in his career time, in which he won six La Liga titles, he also won two Copa del Rey, six Spanish Supercopas, three Champions Leagues and also 2 European Supercups. These are no doubt big achievements of his career.


Bobby Moore (West Ham United/England):Geoff Hurst said about him: “He was not a ranter or a raver or a fist-pumping captain.” Bobby Moore did not need to be. Moore’s authority on the football pitch or ground was assumed without any need to introduction. Many legends of football of modern era and also of his time quoted him as the best ever football player and captain in history.

He was the youngest England captain ever in history who was handed the armband at the age of just 22. Moore had great pressure put upon him when he had to lead English national team.


The fans of the country focused their eyes on the performance of their national team captain.

They had a lot of expectations on him, and amazingly and remarkably he served more than people’s expectations. The legend Bobby Charlton described Moore as “The Natural Captain,” and Pele declared Moore the greatest opponent he ever faced after England’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil in 1970. His leadership qualities were amazing and one cannot forget him easily. He is second most successful and greatest football captain in the history of football.


Diego Maradona (Napoli/ Argentina): Diego Armando Maradona, he is regarded as the greatest football player of all time. He was joint FIFA Player of the 20th Century with Pelé.An advanced playmaker who operated in the classic number 10 position, Maradona is the first player in football history to set the world record transfer fee twice, first when he transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5 million, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9 million.

He played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys during his club career, and is most famous for his time at Napoli, where he won numerous accolades. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals.

Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, including the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. Maradona became coach of Argentina in November 2008.
He was in charge of the team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa before leaving at the end of the tournament.

Francesco Totti (Roma): Totti remains top active goalscorer in the Italian Serie A and the second highest scorer of all time in league history with 243 goals. Totti has played for Italian club Roma throughout his senior career he started way back in 1992 till now and he has been Roma’s captain for several years and he is another player on our list of the Best Captains in Football.



Francesco Baresi (AC Milan): One of the seven players to have achieved the rare feat of winning gold, silver and bronze World Cup medals, Franco Baresi is another player who gets to our list of the Best Captains in Football as he was captain of both AC Milan and Italy a honour he got after replacing Guiseppe Bergomi as captain for the 1994 World Cup under his former manager at Milan, Arrigo Sacchi, And at the age of 34, when he retired from international football, he passed the captain’s armband to his Milan team-mate Maldini.

Baresi was a defender and also captained his only career club AC Milan for over 15 seasons and on retirement he again passed his club armband to Paolo Maldini.


Patrick Vieira (Arsenal/ France): Scoring six in his 107 caps for France, he was appointed France’s national team Captain following Zinedine Zidane‘s retirement. Though himself and other team-mates convinced Zidane to end his career so he could help the team to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Vieira later handed back the captaincy of the team to their well-known play maker Zidane.

Though, later in June 2006 Vieira took the captains armband for the match where Zidane was suspended. Patrick Vieira was also captain of English club, Arsenal Football Club from 2002 till 2005 when he left the club for Italian club, Juventus. Vieira was first made club’s vicecaptain to ensure he would succeed the then captain Tony Adams. Later in May 2002, he became the Gunners’ captain following Adam’s retirement.


Carlos Alberto Torres (Brazil): Carlos Alberto “Capita” Torres also known as “O Capitão do Tri,” was widely regarded as one of the best defenders of all time. He captained the Brazil national team to victory in the 1970 World Cup, scoring the fourth goal in the final, considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the tournament.

Carlos Alberto was a member of the World Team of the 20th Century, and in 2004 was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players. In 1966, he moved to Santos, where he became Pelé’s teammate. In 1974, he returned to Fluminense and helped the team capture two consecutive Campeonato Carioca championships.

In 1977, he moved to Fluminense’s arch-rivals Flamengo. From 1964 to 1977, Carlos Alberto was capped 53 times and scored 8 goals.

He was included in the 44-man training squad for the 1966 FIFA World Cup but did not make the final 22.

As it turned out, Brazil were knocked out at the Group stage in England, and when João Sal danha was tasked with restoring pride and passion to the seleção, he recognised the leadership ability that Carlos Alberto was consistently demonstrating at Santos, and made him national captain.
Thus, Carlos Alberto is remembered holding aloft the Jules Rimet trophy after Brazil secured the cup for good after an impressive victory over Italy in the final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.


Ruud Gullit (Netherlands) Ruud Gullit, was the captain of the Netherlands national team that was victorious at UEFA Euro 1988 and was also a member of the squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup and Euro 1992. At club level, in 1987 he moved from PSV to Milan for a world record transfer fee.
Easily recognizable with his distinctive dreadlocks, he was part of the famed Dutch trio at Milan which included Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.

Gullit won three Serie A titles and two European Cups with Milan. In 1996, he signed for Chelsea and a year later was appointed the club’s player-manager.

In his debut season, he led Chelsea to FA Cup success, the club’s first major title for 26 years, and in so doing became the first overseas manager to win the FA Cup. Gullit won the Ballon d’Or in 1987 and was named the World Soccer Player of the Year in 1987 and 1989.


Normally an attacking midifielder, he was a versatile player, playing in numerous positions during his career. In 2004 he was named one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA’s 100th anniversary celebration.


Michel Platini (France): Michel François Platini, nicknamed Le Roi (The King) for his ability and leadership is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Platini won the Ballon d’Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985.

During his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, SaintÉtienne, and Juventus.

Despite primarily serving as an advanced midfield playmaker, he was a prolific goalscorer; he won the Serie A capocannoniere award three consecutive times between 1983 and 1985, and was the top scorer of Juventus’s victorious 1984–85 European Cup campaign.

Platini was a key player of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top scorer and best player, and reached the semifinals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

Platini was his country’s record goalscorer until 2007, and holds the record for most goals (9) scored in the European Championship despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition.