How many countries in the world have a footballer as their best ever male sportsman?

[Brummie Clyde]

Sindelar probably is seen as Austria's too footballer. Think he would be regarded as better than Alaba. Possibly bumped off by the Nazis. Not their best sportsman anyway though.

Before my time, but for Australia, wasn't Rod Laber (Laver?) Pretty good too?

Hleb is the only one I can think of for Belarus.

[Miguel Sanchez]

I've actually just looked Rod Laver up, I can't believe I forgot him too. Might list him instead of Bradman since cricket is shite. Both miles better than their footballers, though.

[Marten]

3 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Aye, the tennis player was in the top 50 singles players for the best part of a decade as well, and a genuinely outstanding doubles player. As good as Hleb was, I’d go for Mirnyi.

Yeah, agreed too. Mirnyi is a class tennis player and wins it for Belarus imo.

[Brummie Clyde]

I would say Bradman should be ahead of Laber. Statistically Bradman isn't just the best batsman of all time, but he's miles clear of the second best.

Laber was obviously very good and dominated the 1960s, but not necessarily the greatest in his sport like Bradman.

Also, cricket is a bigger sport than tennis to most Aussies.

[Barry Ferguson's Hat]

Crikey.

[craigkillie]

For Armenia, even if you're ruling out Tigran Petrosian for chess, I think Levon Aronian has to be a strong shout instead. A genuine national celebrity, probably more so than Mkhitarian since chess is very much Armenia's national sport.

[Skyline Drifter]

13 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

I've actually just looked Rod Laver up, I can't believe I forgot him too. Might list him instead of Bradman since cricket is shite. Both miles better than their footballers, though.

You'd be wrong though. You can think cricket is shite if you like but Don Bradman is pretty much indisputably the best cricketer ever. The Pele of his sport in worldwide terms if you like except without the debate about whether Maradona was better. Laver was very, very good but he wasn't that dominant. Bradman's achievement level is way better.

1 hour ago, Brummie Clyde said:

I would say Bradman should be ahead of Laber. Statistically Bradman isn't just the best batsman of all time, but he's miles clear of the second best.

Laber was obviously very good and dominated the 1960s, but not necessarily the greatest in his sport like Bradman.

Also, cricket is a bigger sport than tennis to most Aussies.

Laver, his name is Laver!

Edited July 22, 2021 by Skyline Drifter

[DiegoDiego]

For Armenia, even if you're ruling out Tigran Petrosian for chess, I think Levon Aronian has to be a strong shout instead. A genuine national celebrity, probably more so than Mkhitarian since chess is very much Armenia's national sport.

If Petrosian is out for being Soviet then has Aronian not ruled himself out for P&B glory by being American?

[Miguel Sanchez]

3 hours ago, craigkillie said:

For Armenia, even if you're ruling out Tigran Petrosian for chess, I think Levon Aronian has to be a strong shout instead. A genuine national celebrity, probably more so than Mkhitarian since chess is very much Armenia's national sport.

 

1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:

3 hours ago, craigkillie said:

For Armenia, even if you're ruling out Tigran Petrosian for chess, I think Levon Aronian has to be a strong shout instead. A genuine national celebrity, probably more so than Mkhitarian since chess is very much Armenia's national sport.

If Petrosian is out for being Soviet then has Aronian not ruled himself out for P&B glory by being American?

Not sure how I missed this (or how people are casually throwing out Armenian chess player names like it's common knowledge) but he's a decent shout, and I think his recent switch to the US is... well, I don't know what I think it is. I'd still count him as Armenian, but I'm not completely sure why. I'm also not sure he beats Artur Aleksanyan - Wikipedia anyway, and now that I'm looking at him again I'm not sure Mkhitaryan beats him. 

[Arabdownunder]

Walter Lindrum, world billiards champion for 17 years in a row, 57 world records and they changed the rules to stop him has a case for Australia's best sportsman. Against this is the fact I couldn't immediately remember his name.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Belgium are currently in the most successful period of their existence. I think Eden Hazard - Wikipedia is an easy shout for their best player. Historically people like Bernard Voorhoof - Wikipedia, Jan Ceulemans - Wikipedia and Michel Preud'homme - Wikipedia look decent shouts but similar to Austria, I think Hazard's modern-day top level career is more impressive.

In spite of this, I think the non-footballer is going to win. Eddy Merckx - Wikipedia is the most successful cyclist of all time with 11 grand tour wins. Gaston Roelants - Wikipedia was Olympic champion in the 3000m steeplechase (and looked fucking spectacular) . Jacky Ickx - Wikipedia won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 6 times, and was runner-up in the F1 World Championship twice. Merckx and Ickx both have a shout for a win here if you ask me but it's hard to see past Merckx as the absolute best in his sport and better than the footballers as a result. 

Belize is very slim pickings for footballers. I'm voting Deon McCaulay - Wikipedia as their highest ever goal scorer and current captain. There's not a lot to go on outside of that.

It's not much better outside of football. Milt Palacio - Wikipedia played some seasons in the NBA. Verno Phillips - Wikipedia won some junior middleweight boxing titles. Phillips seems like the winner on both counts to me, unless anyone has inside knowledge about Belize.

Benin looks like an easy call for Stéphane Sessègnon - Wikipedia. He leads the national team in caps and goals, and has played at the highest level of any comparables.

On the non-football side I'm genuinely at a loss. Yémi Apithy - Wikipedia is a fencer who was their flag-bearer at the last Olympics. Easy win for Sessegnon.

Bermuda have someone I've heard of! Shaun Goater - Wikipedia! No contest.

For non-footballers I think it's Clarence Hill (boxer) - Wikipedia who won bronze in the 1978 Olympics, Bermuda's only Olympic medal. I think it's an easy win for Goater here though.

Bhutan is that country with a flag with a dragon on it. Their national stadium looks cool:

Chencho Gyeltshen - Wikipedia is called the Ronaldo of Bhutan and looks like he's setting records for his country that aren't going to be beaten, so it seems like a win for him. 

Outside of football it seems like archery is the national sport of Bhutan. Bhutan was also shut off from the world for most of the 20th century. Most of the best Bhutanese sportspeople outside of football seem to be female, so unless someone can find a name I haven't the footballer is winning this one by default. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Bermuda also have Nakhi Wells who’s played a wee bit in the EPL, and a fair amount in the Championship so Bermuda are doing really  well by the usual standards of diddy Caribbean islands. Goater still takes it though.

For Bhutan, and purely so we can name someone that isn’t a footballer, they have a boxer (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigyel_Phub) who won a silver medal in the south Asian games, which seems to be a more tangible achievement that finishing 87th in the Olympic archery or whatever. 

[Brummie Clyde]

Sure I heard that archery is massive in Bhutan

[AlbionMan]

56 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Bermuda also have Nakhi Wells who’s played a wee bit in the EPL, and a fair amount in the Championship so Bermuda are doing really  well by the usual standards of diddy Caribbean islands. Goater still takes it though.

 I can't believe you've both overlooked Clyde Best.

Hardly international but cricket lovers in Forfar won't forget Nigel 'Chopper' Hazel.

ps Bermuda may be diddy but it is a long way north of the Caribbean - about 1100 miles - mid Atlantic if you're going to look for it anywhere.

Edited July 22, 2021 by AlbionMan

[Miguel Sanchez]

Bolivia won the Copa America in 1963 (as host) and haven't done much else. Marcelo Martins Moreno - Wikipedia is their leading scorer, has played for footballing colossi such as Shakhtar Donetsk and Wigan Athletic, and seems likely to take his country's all-time cap record too. Marco Etcheverry - Wikipedia had a more distinguished MLS career. Erwin Sánchez - Wikipedia played in Portugal and was a key player in their run to the 1997 Copa America final. Their 1963 Copa squad doesn't have many of their all-time leaders. In fact most players from that time have single-figure cap totals. I'm genuinely stuck here, all three have a decent shot for top spot.

All three seem better than Bolivia's other sporting exports. This link contains Paulo Víctor Aguilera, a 5 time world champion BMX racer. Or Chavo Salvatierra, a world champion 450cc cross country motorbike racing. The footballer wins, but I don't know which. Whoever replies first gets to pick.

Bosnia and Herzegovina looks like a fight between https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edin_Džeko and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miralem_Pjanić. I'd say it's close, but Dzeko wins it for the time being. Historically Hasan Salihamidžić - Wikipedia is a decent shout too.

Outside of football, Mirza Teletović - Wikipedia played 6 seasons in the NBA. A few people from a while ago represented Yugoslavia and they fall in the same bracket as former Soviet sportsmen for me. They might run it close, but if Dzeko wins the footballer shout he's winning the overall contest too.

Botswana don't have much to offer. Joel Mogorosi - Wikipedia has the most appearances for the national team. Dipsy Selolwane - Wikipedia played in MLS Brazil for a bit. I'm going for Mogorosi here for what looks like a longer established career, even if all of it was in African club football. 

Nijel Amos - Wikipedia won Botswana's only Olympic medal, a silver in 2012 in the 800m. He won gold in this in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and has won an assortment of gold medals in the African Championships too. Seems like an easy win for Amos here.

Brazil's best player is Pele. You could probably list about 50 other Brazilians who'd win on the footballer side for several other countries. It's a shame, but it is what it is.

It's barely worth looking up what other sportsmen Brazil have, so I'm going to say Ayrton Senna and leave it at that.

British Virgin Islands have very little to show for themselves, but Wikipedia seems to say they have a few young kids who've made their international debut in the past 2/3 years, so there might be an easier win here in the future. Tyler Forbes (footballer, born 2002) - Wikipedia has 11 caps and is their 3rd highest goalscorer. Avondale Williams - Wikipedia has 15 caps and 5 goals. You could put these names on a dartboard and not be unhappy with whoever ended up winning, so let's stick with Williams and hope the non-footballer is an easy call. 

Dion Crabbe - Wikipedia won the 100 metres at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games which looks like an easy win on both counts. 

 

[pandarilla]

People who say Andy Murray is Scotland's best ever sportsman are arseholes.
Aye totally eh, its not like Stephen Hendry utterly dominated his sport for a decade in a way in which Murray never has.
Murray's achievements are excellent, but he's nowhere near Scotland's best ever sportsman. Kenny Dalglish was hands down best in the world at what he did at his peak, Murray has never been that.

But it isn't, so you can't. If it was Dalglish would be miles ahead of Murray.
And actually Dalglish has as good a claim as Murray, both were briefly the best in the world, neither the best of all time.

Just catching up with this thread and these horrific takes.

I love Hendry but ffs Murray is clearly ahead of him for this category. The type of sport has to be taken in as a factor.

[Bully Wee Villa]

On 21/07/2021 at 20:43, Miguel Sanchez said:

I've actually just looked Rod Laver up, I can't believe I forgot him too. Might list him instead of Bradman since cricket is shite. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Bermuda have been to a Cricket World Cup. They've never been near to getting to the football one. 

I remember a big fat bloke getting Tendulkar out with a brilliant catch then running round the pitch like a lunatic celebrating. He should be Bermuda's best ever sportsman, IMO. 

Edit: it wasn't Tendulkar, but anyway the bloke's name is Dwayne Leverock. Here's the catch..

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Bully Wee Villa

[Marten]

For Belgium, I agree that Eddy Merckx should win. No contest really IMO.

[Marshmallo]

Anderson Silva would be the best non-footballing Brazilian I'd say. Consensus top 4 or 5 of all time in MMA.