Extraordinary players, yet mostly regional Icons not that well known Worldwide

I can't imagine too many people in other countries know of Robbie fowler
 
Big Ben Foster said:
Roberto Dinamite possibly? Not completely unknown but doesn't have the same level of recognition and fame outside of South America.
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Totally, yet at the same time like Renato Gaucho, they had that little frustrated stage in Europe to totally fit the bill. Yet certainly massive players both in Brazil and time making them pretty much unknown in Europe today.

Also let's remember that for instance in the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's for every Sivori/Di Stefano/Altafini that took going to Europe seriously and as a goal and even sometimes being punished by their Federations for playing abroad, in many of those periods, many players never felt the urge of going to Europe like nowadays for various reasons happen.
Many players like Brindisi went older to places like Las Palmas and he was a gem of a player, they took it almost as a close to retirement experience in many cases, while also there were more rules and restrictions that would make that when certain players, phenoms like Zico for instance falling in teams like Udinese, or Socrates in Fiore, etc.
 
Karpin from celta vigo. Mostovoi got a lot of the plaudits that people often forget about Valery. I believe @harms could confirm if Karpin belongs in this thread.
 
FriedClams said:
Karpin from celta vigo. Mostovoi got a lot of the plaudits that people often forget about Valery. I believe @harms could confirm if Karpin belongs in this thread.
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People appreciate magical number 10 more than an almost equally brilliant Beckham-esque wide midfielder. But yeah, they were both great and very important to that side.

The more interesting thing is how well he’s remembered in Spain, I’m not sure. But good shout!
 
harms said:
People appreciate magical number 10 more than an almost equally brilliant Beckham-esque wide midfielder. But yeah, they were both great and very important to that side.

The more interesting thing is how well he’s remembered in Spain, I’m not sure. But good shout!
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Yes in their case it's the respect and fame in Spain what made them idols in their homeland, they do not quite fit the bill, yet on the other hand playing with Celta didn't gave the platform for a bigger audience, entertaining as fvck both


PD: Anyway I realize that Bochini specially is some sort of Unicorn, a player that had the praise of Iniesta among every argie club (and in South America as a whole) no matter rivalry, that obtained so many Libertadores and domestic titles for so long with such talent and barely participate in the NT and play just 3 minutes in the 86 WC might not be the best starting point to try to fit other players in more or less same situation. It's like if Di Stefano was only famous in Spain with is carreer in Spain while winning 5 CLs.
Reinaldo that I absolute admire as a player was the closest I instantly think of.
Maybe Rivelino, Jairzinho, Garrincha and to some extent Socrates or Zico would have been the same case as Bochini if they didn win the WC or had that scenario to show themselves and at least in some cases some period in Europe.
 
Obviously Jay-Jay Okocha, but also Stoichkov and Georgi Hagi. That's when ballers were ballers!
 
Yugoslavian born player Dejan Petković is a huge idol in Brazil, not that well known outside.
 
One of my favorite skillful players that isn't as well know is Davide Moscardelli who played. Not sure if he qualifies or not.
 
Paddy McCourt.

Was like George Best at times but struggled with consistency, injuries and off the pitch issues. Joy to watch
 
Peter van der Gea said:
Obviously Jay-Jay Okocha, but also Stoichkov and Georgi Hagi. That's when ballers were ballers!
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Stoichkov was runner-up for the Fifa World Player award in 1992 and 1994 and received the Ballon D'Or in 1994. Hagi was also super know world wide mainly due to his performances in the World Cup.
 
GatoLoco said:
Stoichkov was runner-up for the Fifa World Player award in 1992 and 1994 and received the Ballon D'Or in 1994. Hagi was also super know world wide mainly due to his performances in the World Cup.
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Yeah, but we only know that cos we're old.
 
Darko Pančev. During the 80s he was considered as one of the best CFs around in Europe, played most of his career in his hometown for FK Vardar and then went on to play for Red Star which at the time where a pretty good team, he was part of the team who won the CL(on pens vs Marseille I think it was) and Intercontinental Cup (3-0 against Colo-Colo). He also won the European top scorer in 91, with 34 goals, but didn't officially get it until 2006.

He did go on to play for Inter (was also sought after by Barcelona, RM and Milan). Sadly for Pančev, Inter changed managers after getting him and the new manager wasn't his biggest fan, so he only got to play like 19 matches and after that his career wasn't the best. But in his prime, he was easily a WC CF. Talked to my older family members about him plenty of times, they always talked about him with high praise.
 
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Shame on me that I forget about Guillermo Barros Schelotto, he fits the bill perfectly, multiple winner, great talent, never played in Europe and only as an old fart went to the USA to gain some extra bucks and start some bizzness.

Very peculiar guy, already quite wealthy before football from a mid upper class family that never was in a rush to save his arse in Europe and it's said just once was close to go to Bayern.
Not easy to handle, he got injured pretty regularly at some point of his carreer, yet a player that deserved to be at least more or less known like a Diego Milito, Lisandro Lopez, Piojo Lopez or Kily Gonzalez from more or less his period. A very talented classic winger, very vintage style a gem of a player.





PD: seems most of these players only have shitty quality vids
 
Would be shocked, if Dariusz Wosz was well known outside of Germany. He was certainly skillful and a joy to watch.
 
do.omb said:
Would be shocked, if Dariusz Wosz was well known outside of Germany. He was certainly skillful and a joy to watch.
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I don't know him, so I'll seek some vid. Anyway he was also very succcesful? or just a very skill fella without a great carreer?
 
From Japan Yasuhito Endo was probably the best midfielder of his generation and I would say the Japnese player with the most refined skillset. However he never left Japan.

He had excellent vision, passing ability and control of the game along with freekicks.
 
Rogério Ceni probably falls into this category. Relatively unknown to most casual European fans. An absolute legend in Brazil and as highly regarded as any keeper in their history. Over 1200 games and over 20 major titles.

The cards never fell for him to be the main man for Brazil at a major tournament, but his shot stopping and set pieces (with over 100 goals!) made him a legend in his home country, widely respected and admired by even São Paulo’s biggest rivals.
 
Maluco said:
Rogério Ceni probably falls into this category. Relatively unknown to most casual European fans. An absolute legend in Brazil and as highly regarded as any keeper in their history. Over 1200 games and over 20 major titles.

The cards never fell for him to be the main man for Brazil at a major tournament, but his shot stopping and set pieces (with over 100 goals!) made him a legend in his home country, widely respected and admired by even São Paulo’s biggest rivals.
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I think he still has some name in Europe, yet indeed not in terms with his achivements. Maybe in some way he is sthg like Chilavert in terms of fame in Europe? dunno
 
Does Darjo Srna count?
Very high-level right-back that could have probably played in any top team in Europe but stayed at Shaktar for 15 years instead

You could argue if it weren't for the lasting impact he had for many due to his ability on a computer game very few people outside of Ukraine or Croatia would know who he was despite probably being one of the best full-backs in the world at one point
 
GatoLoco said:
Stoichkov was runner-up for the Fifa World Player award in 1992 and 1994 and received the Ballon D'Or in 1994. Hagi was also super know world wide mainly due to his performances in the World Cup.
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Yeah, Stoichkov is the opposite of a regional icon. He was Barcelona's star player, took Bulgaria to a World Cup semi, won loads of leagues and cup, was a Ballon d'Or winner and had about 20 red cards. Literally one of the best known global stars of his generation.
 
Fobal said:
I don't know him, so I'll seek some vid. Anyway he was also very succcesful? or just a very skill fella without a great carreer?
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The latter. He played for Hertha and Bochum and spend about a quarter of his career on the second league.

But nonetheless he added skill and flair to these teams battling relegation and made them worth watching. Was even good enough to get some caps for Germany, but never really established himself on that level.
 
Swordsman said:
Javier Saviola ?
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Nope, he played for Barcelona, Madrid, even places like Monaco...he did quite great in Benfica too.

Like I've said before perhaps Bochini is an extreme example (and Schelotto, Ceni mentioned later too) of players not only being great and talented, but winning a LOT. Bochini might still be the King of Libertadores like once Di Stefano was with European Cups, to be that unknown in Europe is bizarre.

Saviola might become forgotten, but at some point he was well known.

PD: there are worse cases of players not properly be remembered, like someone as special as Sivori (it's insane how his status has decrease in time, he was of the most used barometers for any trully special talent during their thing Italy even in the 80's), Garrincha not even being mentioned among the best Brazilians ever in some recent social media posts, or fellas like Puskas not be mentioned among the best ever or at least as a hell of a prolific goalscorer, so you can imagine that a Saviola would be even more forgotten in time.
 
Seems that since I search some vid from Schellotto, now all of a sudden I have tons of recomendations, fvck how I miss him, what a player:

 
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