Now it's the moment to cast your votes to defend your favourite players in the playoffs of the long, long, long competition...

The 24 of the greates players from the past and present, voted by you, and some of them selected by our OleOle team of football gurus were batched in groups of three for this quarterfinals. 

Each group contains players from different countries and only one in each group will qualify for the semifinals.

Here is the chart:(Click on it to ENLARGE)

You can vote once on each one of the quarterfinals by clicking on the player picture bellow to access the poll. 

So here it is. The task is tough. Invite your friends to vote too!!!  

GROUP 1:

  VS    VS  

George Best (N. Ireland)                                           Lothar Mathäus (Germany)                    Zinedine Zidane (France)

GROUP 2:

  VS    VS  

Paolo Maldini (Italy)                            Ronaldo (Brazil)                                      Lionel Messi (Argentina)

GROUP 3:

  VS   VS  

Maradona (Argentina)                        Ryan Giggs (Wales)                                        Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

GROUP 4:

  VS   VS  

Johan Cruijff (Holland)                      Del Piero (Italy)                                   Garrincha (Brazil)

GROUP 5:

  VS   VS  

Beckenbauer (Germany)                     Franco Baresi (Italy)                               Eric Cantona (France)

GROUP 6:

  VS    VS  

Pelé (Brasil)                                                   Raul (Spain)                                      Marco VanBasten (Holland)

GROUP 7:

  VS   VS  

Eusébio (Portugal)                            Oliver Kahn (Germany)                                      Bergkamp (Holland)

GROUP 8:

  VS VS  

Michel Platini (France)                          Di Stefano (Argentina)                               Johnny Hayes (England)

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE TOO!!!

 

 

 

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CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

The big competition to elect the best footballer of all times is getting close to is final phase. Two more posts before we go to the final rounds.

The qualified players so far are: 

Brazil: Pelé, Garrincha

Argentina: DiStefano, Maradona

France: Platini, Zidane

Germany: Beckenbauer, Kahn

Holland: Cruijff, Van Basten

Italy: Maldini, Del Piero

England: George Best

The first category of these two final posts of the "group stage" includes footballers from Spain, Portugal and Latin America (except Brazil and Argentina obviously).

REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE VOTING FOR THE BEST OF ALL TIMES. NOT THE BEST OF THE MOMENT.

 

So here is the list of nominees:

(you can access the poll by clicking on the player's name or picture)

 

Carlos Valderrama (Colombia)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico)

David Villa (Spain)

Emilio Butragueño (Spain)

Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay)

Eusebio (Portugal)

Hugo Sanchez (Mexico)

Raul (Spain)

Rui Costa (Portugal)

 

 

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CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

David Beckham is almost 33 years old. (The same alleged age of Jesus Christ when he died). He's playing at AC Milan right now but has a contract that will end in the end of March and he gave his word to MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy that he would return to fulfill his commitment with the North-American team. 

  Not many people (including myself) thought that Becks would fit well with the Rossonero midfield filled with stars like Ronaldinho, Kaká, Pirlo and Seedorf. However the former England's National Team captain adapted really well and managed to force Milan's Carlo Ancelotti to bench Ronaldinho a give Becks more playing time. And it's been working.

 Beckham's ultimate goal is to secure a spot in the England squad in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and with Fabio Capello  praising his performance in the Serie A it might be tempting to reject the millions of dollars from the Galaxy and stay with AC Milan. 

Will he be killing his chances of another shot at the World Cup if he goes back to the USA? 

ESPN's analyst Allen Hopkins on an interview to the podcast Goalmouth Scramble shares his view on the Million dollar question: Will Beckham stay or go. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE INTERVIEW.

Go check it out and leave your vote on their poll: Is Beckham staying at AC Milan? 

Now I leave you with my favourite The Clash song that fits properly with this blog post:

Finally. This is the moment I've been personally been waiting for. The election of the BEST BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER OF ALL TIMES. And your vote will decide it.

In a quick recap, last time I posted I gave you 8 names to choose the Best Dutch Footballer.  Marco Van Vasten took an early lead but Arsenal fans soon started sending some votes for Denis Bergkamp but in the end, when more Dutch fans started voting, Johann Cruijff came from third place to sweep the title leaving Van Basten in second place. So here are all the results so far:

ARGENTINA: Alfredo DiStefano + Diego Maradona

FRANCE: Michel Platini + Zinedine Zidane

UNITED KINGDOM: George Best

GERMANY: Franz Beckenbauer + Oliver Kahn

ITALY: Paolo Maldini + Alessandro Del Piero

HOLLAND: Johan Cruijff + Marco Van Basten

Now for the BEST BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER I expect more than 100 votes. To help you guys decide I added some information and in some cases a video showing a little bit of that player.

Ademir da Guia - O Divino [The Divine] . The son of great Brazilian defender Domingos da Guia, Ademir is the biggest idol of SE Palmeiras history. A player of extreme class. He was part of the starting line-up for 16 straight years. Didn't get capped for the National team as much as he deserved.

Carlos Alberto Torres - O Capitão do Tri [The Captain]. If nowadays we have right and left backs that move up to the attack - the so-called wings - Carlos Alberto was the pioneer. And he did the task with extreme efficiency when playing for Botafogo FR and the amazing 1970 Brazilian National Team.

Didi - O Príncipe Etíope [The Ethiopian Prince]. Two-time World Champion with the Brazilian National Team in 58 and 62 and the creator of the Folha Seca [the Dry Leaf kick] , a free kick in which he would hit the ball with the outside of the foot and in a way that the ball would take an effect and suddenly drop as if it was a dry leaf falling from a tree. Talented midfielder that played with Di Stefano and Puskas at Real Madrid but achieved glory wearing the Botafogo strip.

Falcão - O Rei de Roma [The King of Rome] . Falcão never looked like a defensive midfielder. Tall, too skiny, extremely talented, calm and didn not make many fouls. Every time I watched Falcão playing he reminded me of Franz Beckenbauer. He was definetily the Brazilian version of the Kaiser.

                                              Garrincha - The Bow-Legged Angel [Anjo das Pernas Tortas in Portuguese] does not need any introductions. Ronaldinho, Robinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and all the other tricksters of football owe Garrincha for creating entertaining football. To close my case I'll just say that to some Garrincha was even better than Pelé.

Leonidas - O Diamante Negro [The Black Diamond]. He invented (or improved) the bicycle kick. He was a star playing for Botafogo, Flamengo, São Paulo and for the National Team. He was the top scorer of the 1938 FIFA World Cup with 7 gols.

Pelé - O Rei do Futebol [The King] . Unquestionably one of the greatest athletes of the history of any sport. Pelé participated in four world Cups, I mean, three and a half, because in 66 he was hunted on the pitch by the Portuguese defenders and ended up out of the competition with an injury. But Pelé is unique and I'm still to see another one like him being born. Just like Garrincha, Pelé's talent is still a huge influence in the football stars we see all over the world.

Reinaldo - O Rei do Galo [The King of Galo]. He could have been the best striker of Brazilian football of all times if it weren't for the violence of the unpunished defenders in the 1980's. Reinaldo scored 28 goals in 18 matches in the 1977 Brazilian Championship, a record that lasted in numbers until 1997 but his goal average of 1.55 is still unbeaten.

 
Romario - O Baixinho [Shorty]. Romário played until the age of 41 in pursuit of his goal number 1,000. To reach that number he played for small clubs such as Miami FC (in the second tier of football in the USA) and Adelaide United (from the Australian League). But what is in the history of football is that Romario scored 71 goals for the National Team and led the team to the fourth World Cup title in 1994. He also shone and humiliated defenders in Europe playing in Holland for PSV and in Spain for Barcelona.

Ronaldinho - In 1997 Ronaldinho as still called Ronaldinho Gaucho when he scored an incredible goal for the Brazilian National Team against Venezuela. Not to mention that he also humilliated the now Brazilian coach Dunga during a Gre-Nal derby (Gremio v. Internacional is the biggest club rivalry in ronaldinho home state Rio Grande do Sul). just by seeing that weird looking buck-toothed kid playing one could alreay tell that he would become one of the best footballers of the planet.

Ronaldo - O Fenômeno [The Phenomenon]. He's the player I had the chance to watch from the begining of his carreer when he arrived to play for Cruzeiro of Belo Horizonte and since then he scored (many) incredible goals for all teams he played for: PSV, Barcelona, Inter milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan and National Team. Ronaldo had and has many problems on his knees but when healthy and in shape I don't believe there is a striker at the same level as Ronaldo.

Zico -  Fantastic. A showman. Zico is the greatest idol of the history of Flamengo. Directly reponsible for making the team from Rio de Janeiro one of the most famous in the world. In 1981 Zico proved the superiority of Brazilian football when he led Flamengo to beat Liverpool in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo. He is also the player that most influenced my short carreer in football. A refined touch, perfect free kicks and extreme intelligence. Zico is with no doubts one of the best players in the world to wear a number 10 shirt.

--------------

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CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

 Get your orange paraphernalia out and vote for the BEST DUTCH FOOTBALLER EVER! 

On the previous episode of the long contest we saw a very tough competition between Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Del Piero for the Best italian Footballer and both qualified for the final round. After 73 votes here are the final results:

1 -> Paolo Maldini: 30 votes

2 -> Alessandro Del Piero: 26 votes

3 -> Roberto Baggio: 5 votes

4 -> Gianfranco Zola: 4 votes

5-> Giuseppe Meazza: 2 votes

6 -> Luigi Riva

       Dino Zoff

       Fabio Cannavaro

       Franco Baresi

       Francesco Totti

       Gianluigi Buffon: 1 vote

--------------------------------------------------------

Now for the DUTCH NOMINEES

 

Dennis Bergkamp

 

Frank Rijkaard

 

Johan Cruijff

 

Johan Neeskens

 

Marco van Basten

 

Rob Rensenbrink

 

Ruud Gullit

 

Robin van Persie

 

 

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A RETRO FOOTBALL REPLICA SHIRT

* IF YOU'RE NOT DUTCH OR IF YOU SIMPLY DON'T KNOW SOME OF THE NOMINEES ABOVE JUST SEARCH FOR INFO ABOUT THEM ON THE INTERNET AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO JUDGE BETTER... 

 

You can vote on the POLL WIDGET on top left side of this post. And don't forget to leave your comments if you want to enter the draw for a REPLICA RETRO FOOTBALL STRIP!

 

 

 

CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

Hello folks,

So far we have 7 players qualified for the next round:

ARGENTINA: Alfredo DiStefano + Diego Maradona

FRANCE: Michel Platini + Zinedine Zidane

UNITED KINGDOM: George Best

GERMANY: Franz Beckenbauer + Oliver Kahn

Our next stop is ITALY. Here are the nominees for BEST ITALIAN FOOTBALLER OF ALL TIMES. (vote on the pool on the left side of this post)

Alessandro Del Piero

 

Dino Zoff

 

 

Fabio Cannavaro

 

 

Franco Baresi

 

 

Gianfranco Zola

 

 

Gianni Rivera

 

 

Giuseppe Meazza

 

 

Luigi Riva

 

 

Paolo Maldini

 

 

Valentino Mazzola

 

 

 

* IF YOU'RE NOT ITALIAN OR IF YOU SIMPLY DON'T KNOW SOME OF THE NOMINEES ABOVE JUST SEARCH FOR INFO ABOUT THEM ON THE INTERNET AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO JUDGE BETTER... IT'S FUN TO KNOW ABOUT THIS SH*T TOO

 

You can vote on the POLL WIDGET on top left side of this post. And don't forget to leave your comments if you want to enter the draw for a REPLICA RETRO FOOTBALL STRIP!

 

 

 

CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 week to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

Football.

Football is not only a game. It became over the years much more important than religion or one could say that it became a religion itself.

This series of videos, promoted by Carlsberg (because beer is the Holy Water of this religion), show different aspects that make this sport the most incredible in the world.

VIDEO 1 is pure ADRENALINE. It shows the emotions that we feel during a football match. It's going from crying to celebrating, from deep frustration to anxiety to intense bliss and words are just not necessary in this one.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT IN THE OLEOLE VIDEO SECTION

But so many emotions can only bring the worst in us. And that's PURE PASSION. Fans forget social rules and politeness in a desperate attempt to control thing on and off the pitch. They go to extremes to show their disgust, their dissatisfaction. Frequently we see acts of violence and racism which are stains in the beautiful game and serve as a reminder of the things we still need to improve as a society.

VIDEO 2 tells you about this EXTREME (sometimes evil) PASSION

CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT IN THE OLEOLE VIDEO SECTION

 

 

Diego Maradona, the new manager of the Argentina Nationall Football Team, will make his debut in Great Britain when the Argies play a friendly against Scotland in Glasgow on November 19. Messi, Aguero and Riquelme will be certain names in coach Maradona's list.

No, it's not just a rumour anymore. Maradona is the new coach of Argentina. I myself decided to wait until today to write about it because I know how Don Diego is; he's got a big mouth and constantly talks more than he should. And he was the one telling every news outlet about how happy he was to be taking over the National Team.

Maradona...

Arguably the best footballer ever. Possibly the best Argentine footballer ever. Certainly a God in his own home country. And I don't know how many times I have to tell the story of a 10-year old Mano Gil so mesmerized by his electrifying performance in the 1986 World Cup that I took a piece of paper, draw a AFA crest and a white number 10 and glued it to a dark blue t-shirt to pretend that I was Maradona.

Maradona...

The man who inspired Messis, Ronaldinhos, Agueros, and many, many other great footballers of this generation...

Maradona...

The man who won a World Cup by himself and gave Napoli their two only serie A titles and a UEFA Cup.

But this same man is the one who has an ego the size of a small big planet and at a certain time of his life he weighted as much as one. Maradona was banned from the sport for using drugs and admitted his addiction to cocaine. In Italy he was involved with people you would never want tosee your kid hanging out with.

 

He was certainly an inspiration on the field. But can he bring balance to the Argie Team?

Argentina has certainly one of the most talented squads in the world. With an offensive line that can dismantle any defence but they haven't been able to play to their fullest potential lately.

I just can't see Maradona, a still very unstable man, leading this team to a World Cup title. Can you?

Maybe he'll get a hand from God...

Hello Everyone,

Not a lot of participation from the Brits in selecting their best football player of all times (only 10 votes while 40 people voted on the Argentinian and 42 voted on the French)

George Best was elected the best Brittish footballer and will move to the final tournament.

Now it's time to choose the best German Football Player Of All Times. Here are the nominees:

Michael Ballack

 

Franz Beckenbauer

 

Oliver Kahn

 

 

Jurgen Klinsmann

 

Sepp Maier

 

Lothar Matthaus

 

 

Gerd Müller

 

 

You can vote on the POLL WIDGET on top left side of this post. And don't forget to leave your comments if you want to enter the draw for a REPLICA RETRO FOOTBALL STRIP!

 

 

RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 week to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

 

 

Hello my friends, Last year, in October, I started a quite interesting series of blogs to choose the Best Football Player in your opinion. But after two weeks of success I was warned by a former employee of OleOle not to do it anymore because of the external links... Well, a lot has changed in the company. Including the fact that I now work for OleOle.

The first two polls were to select THE BEST ARGENTINE PLAYER EVER and THE BEST FRENCH PLAYER EVER. The results can be seen bellow:

So here are the rules for these POLLS: (extracted from the October 3, 2007 post)

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 week to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

TODAY THE CATEGORY IS THE GREAT BRITAIN:

I normally add only 5 footballers per category but for the British it became an impossible task so the list brings 10 options and you can also add your own by voting on OTHER.

So...

WHO IS THE BEST BRITISH FOOTBALLER EVER? (vote on the poll on the right bar at the HOME OF THE BLOG or by CLICKING AT THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE)

Alan Shearer

Bobby Charlton

Bobby Moore

David Beckham

Gary Lineker

Geoff Hurst

George Best

Gordon Banks

Paul Gascoine

Stanley Matthews

NOW IT'S UP TO YOU!!!

VOTE & COMMENT

WHO'S THE BEST BRITISH FOOTBALLER EVER?
( polls)