Marco Van Basten

Marcel "Marco" van Basten (31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and former head coach of Eredivisie side AFC Ajax and the Dutch national team. Previously, he was a football player who played for Ajax and A.C. Milan in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is regarded as one of the finest forwards of all time and scored 277 goals in a career cut short by injury. Known for his strength on the ball, his tactical awareness and spectacular strikes and volleys, van Basten was named European Footballer of the Year three times (1988, '89 and '92) and FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992. Van Basten was voted eighth in a poll organised by the French weekly magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century.

Honours

 Club honours

Ajax

UEFA Cup Winners Cup

Winner (1): 1987

Dutch Championship

Winner (3): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85

Dutch Cup

Winner (3): 1983, 1986, 1987

Milan

European Cup (now called: UEFA Champions League)

Winner (2): 1989, 1990

Intercontinental Cup

Winner (2): 1989, 1990

European Supercup

Winner (2): 1989, 1990

Serie A

Winner (3): 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93

Italian Super Cup

Winner (3): 1988, 1992, 1993

International honours

UEFA European Championship

Winner (1): 1988

 Individual honours

FIFA World Player of the Year: 1992

World Soccer Player of the Year: 1988, 1992

UEFA Best Player of the Year: 1989, 1990, 1992

IFFHS Best Player of the Year: 1988, 1989, 1990

Onze d'Or: 1988, 1989

Onze d'Argent: 1987, 1992

Bravo Award: 1987

UEFA European Championship 1988 Top Scorer and Best Player with 5 goals

European Footballer of the Year: 1988, 1989, 1992

Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1984–85

FIFA 100 (List of the greatest living footballers picked by Pelé): 2004

European Golden Boot: 1985–86

European Silver Boot: 1983–84

European Cup Top Scorer: 1989

European Cup Silver Top Scorer: 1993

Dutch League Top Scorer: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87

Serie A Top Scorer: 1989–90, 1991–92

Serie A Silver Top Scorer: 1988–89

World Golden Boot: 1985–86

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo(Gary Lineker)

Gary Winston Lineker OBE (born 30 November 1960) is a retired English international football striker and is currently a sports broadcaster for the BBC and Eredivisie Live. He remains England's top scorer in the World Cup finals, with 10 goals.

Lineker began his football career at Leicester City and became known as a prolific goalscorer, finishing as the First Division's joint top goalscorer in 1984-85 and earning his first England cap. He moved to Everton where he remained a clinical finisher, scoring 38 goals in 52 games. His first team honours came at FC Barcelona where he won the Copa del Rey in 1988 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989. He returned to England in 1989, joining Tottenham Hotspur, and over three seasons he scored 67 goals in 105 games and won the FA Cup. Lineker's final club was Nagoya Grampus Eight and he retired in 1994 after two seasons at the Japanese side.

Lineker made his England debut in 1984 and over the following eight years earned 80 caps and scored 48 goals, finishing as England's all-time second highest scorer. His international goals-to-games ratio remains one of the best for the country and he is regarded as one of the all-time best English strikers. He was top scorer in the 1986 World Cup and received the Golden Shoe, the only time an Englishman has achieved this feat. He is also the only player to have won the English golden boot with 3 different clubs (Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur). During his professional career, Lineker is noted for never having been cautioned or sent off by a referee.

After his retirement from football he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. He moved in to broadcasting, working at the BBC, presenting Match of the Day among other programmes. He led a consortium that invested in his old club Leicester, saving it from bankruptcy, and was appointed honorary vice-president. Since 1994, Lineker has featured in several television commercials for Walkers Crisps. He has four sons with his ex-wife Michelle and is now married to model Danielle Bux.

Honours

FC Barcelona

Copa del Rey: 1988

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1989

Tottenham Hotspur

FA Cup: 1991

Individual

English league top scorer: 1985, 1986, 1990

FIFA World Cup - Golden Shoe: 1986 (Mexico)

Eddie Hapgood

Did Herbert Chapman ever make a more astute signing than Eddie Hapgood?

The defender was at lowly Kettering when the legendary manager signed him in 1927. Hapgood went on to captain Arsenal and England during periods of dominance for both teams, ending up with 393 League appearances, five titles, two FA Cups and 30 international caps.

Profile

Name Eddie Hapgood

Arsenal Career 1927 - 1945

Position: Defender

Appearances 440 (440 starts, 0 as a sub)

Goals 2

Fittingly, he led England out for the first time at his club ground for a 3-2 win over Italy in November 1934 which would be dubbed the 'Battle of Highbury'. Hapgood, who suffered a broken nose in the game, was one of seven Arsenal players on duty for England - a record club contribution which still stands to this day.

It was all so different in the mid-1920s when Hapgood was an amateur in Bristol, juggling his milk round with appearances for a local side. Kettering gave him his big break and then Chapman swooped. When trainer Tom Whittaker had finished with Hapgood, his slight frame had been replaced by a powerful physique.

That held Hapgood in good stead. He displaced regular left-back Horace Cope by early 1929 and did not relinquish his position until the outbreak of World War II. He was soon earning rave reviews for his assured displays in defence.

Hapgood played 32 or more matches in every season from 1929 to 1939 and succeeded Tom Parker as skipper in the early 1930s. He led the side to five League titles and one FA Cup, having already won the trophy under Parker's captaincy in 1930.

The War cut short Hapgood's playing career - he was only 30 when it began. But by the time the conflict had ended, Hapgood had cut his ties with Arsenal. He had made 440 appearances for the Club, scoring two goals.

Eddie died in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on Good Friday 1973. He was 64 years old.

WHAT THE FANS SAID:

I swear I saw him - just about - in the game against Moscow Dymamos in 1946. This was played in dense fog and Arsenal included, because of World War II, some other players like Ronnie Rooke (remember him?). In the end it was a stupid game and our Russian friends cheated but I saw Eddie as well as seeing the first Russian of my life, "Tiger" Komich the goalkeeper. The Russians won 4-3 but it was all a bit silly.

John Miller, Southwold, Suffolk

My late father, who watched Eddie Hapgood play many times during the 1930s, said that he was the complete footballer. He could tackle, dribble, fly kick (a difficult skill) and, when confronted by wingers such as Stanley Mathews, would bottle him up near the corner flag or touchline, leaving him with no place to go. He played for England with distinction, and in an era when players played a lot less internationals, he would today easily have earned 100 caps. He takes his place alongside James, Bastin, Jack and Herbie Roberts as the backbone of the all-conquering Arsenal of the 1930s.

Patrick Cooper, Bracknell, Berkshire

David Jack

When Herbert Chapman signed David Jack in October 1928, eyebrows were raised. Some thought the record transfer fee of £10,890 was obscene; others thought the 29-year-old was past his best. Not for the first or last time, Chapman was proved right.

Jack went on to play a major role in Arsenal's domination of the 1930s under Chapman and then George Allison. No wonder Chapman later described him as "one of the best bargains I ever made".

Profile

Name David Jack

Arsenal Career 1928 - 1934

Position: Striker

Appearances 208 (208 starts, 0 as a sub)

Goals 124

Jack was an instant hit at Highbury, finishing his first campaign as the Club's top scorer with 25 goals in 31 games. The title was beyond Arsenal that season and the next, but Chapman kept his promise to deliver a major trophy with the 1930 FA Cup.

Jack, who scored the first ever goal at Wembley Stadium when he represented Bolton in the 1923 Final, became the first player to win the Cup at Wembley with two different clubs as Huddersfield were beaten 2-0 seven years later.

In Chapman's W-M formation Jack was deployed as a forward alongside the likes of Jack Lambert and Cliff Bastin. As Arsenal grew in stature, the goals flowed. Jack registered his best tally in 1930/31, netting 34 times as Arsenal won their first League title.

Jack collected two more championship medals in 1932/33 and 1933/34, although his own influence had waned as the years caught up with him. Jack retired in May 1934 after scoring 124 goals in 208 matches for Arsenal. He won eight England caps during his career, scoring three times.

Jack immediately turned to management after hanging up his boots, taking charge of Southend for six years before stints at Middlesbrough and Shelbourne. He died in 1958, aged 59.