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

[GordonS]

2 minutes ago, Karpaty Lviv said:

The Klitschko brothers are the obvious competition to Sheva for Ukraine. Oleh Blokhin won the Ballon d’Or in 1975 as well.

Surely it's this fella. Broke the world record 35 times - his indoor record stood for 21 years, his outdoor record for 26 years. Six consecutive world championships and an Olympic gold.

It's a niche sport, sure, but he's the greatest of all time and transcended it to be one of the legends of track and field. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Horseless jousting is probably a bit too niche

[Miguel Sanchez]

I started a post then read new ones and it's gone again, so believe me when say that Croatia's best footballer is Luka Modric who's better than the handball player Ivano Balić - Wikipedia

Cuba are an interesting one. They reached the World Cup quarter finals in 1938 but there's very little information on any of the players from then. Onel Hernández - Wikipedia was born in Cuba and represents them, currently playing at Norwich and apparently a big fan of Argos. I honestly think he wins this, the high appearance and goal numbers from Cubans are mostly guys playing in their domestic league which I'm guessing isn't great. 

Outside of football Javier Sotomayor - Wikipedia is the current world record holder in the high jump and has Olympic and world championship golds. Iván Pedroso - Wikipedia Had an even more dominant long jump career. Félix Savón - Wikipedia won three Olympic golds in boxing and is considered one of the best amateur boxers of all time, so is Teófilo Stevenson - Wikipedia. Mijaín López - Wikipedia has multiple world and Olympic championships in Greco-Roman wrestling. Pedro Luis Lazo - Wikipedia is a multiple Olympic and world cup champion in baseball. Pretty much any of these guys are more impressive than their footballers, but if anyone has a preference then go for it.

Curacao looks like another one for @Marten to offer some advice on. Leandro Bacuna - Wikipedia looks like the best option (of the ones I've heard of) but we'll see if anyone compares. 

Jurickson Profar - Wikipedia looks like their best non-footballer, with an eight year and counting MLB career. This one definitely seems like a toss-up.

Cyprus round out the letter C with very slim pickings. Sotiris Kaiafas - Wikipedia won the golden boot in the 70s and spent his whole career in Cyprus. Ioannis Okkas - Wikipedia looks like their best option from the modern era with a career mostly in Cypriot and Greek football, with some time in Spain too. As usual I'm happy to defer to the older player here though. 

Outside of football it's interesting. Georgios Achilleos - Wikipedia is a very successful skeet shooter. Marcos Baghdatis - Wikipedia made it to the final of the Australian Open once in tennis. Pavlos Kontides - Wikipedia won the first ever Olympic medal for Cyprus with a silver for sailing in 2012, and seems to be in the medal hunt at the 2020 games too. Any thoughts on these? I'm inclined to say the footballer for Cyprus, but I think it could go either way.

[Marshmallo]

Definitely Stevenson for Cuba. Guillermo Rigondeaux would be in the mix too.

[Bully Wee Villa]

There must be some brilliant Cypriot from the Ancient Olympics. Come on Miguel, this is shoddy research. Tsk.

I'd be tempted to say getting to a Grand Slam tennis final is a better achievement than any of their jobbing footballers.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Bully Wee Villa

[Miguel Sanchez]

40 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

There must be some brilliant Cypriot from the Ancient Olympics. Come on Miguel, this is shoddy research. Tsk.

I'd be tempted to say getting to a Grand Slam tennis final is a better achievement than any of their jobbing footballers.

Yon boaty boy in the current Olympics is their best option. Maybe Greece claimed all the Cypriots from the olden days.

I'm also more surprised you didn't take the opportunity to talk up an Aston Villa player for Curacao.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Miguel Sanchez

[Bully Wee Villa]

He was only ever "alright" at best, with a penchant for scoring a few free kicks. Having played at Premier League and Championship level though, I reckon he's a good bet for their best player.

I feel like that if ever Curaçao did produce a genuine superstar, he would end up playing for the Netherlands instead. I think that Dumfries turned down Aruba to play for them, in similar circumstances.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Bully Wee Villa

[Miguel Sanchez]

I've also just realised I didn't actually finish off the Cs. Czech Republic is another country that suffers from a historic split in recent times. Historically their best option is Josef Masopust - Wikipedia for Czechoslovakia, while the modern version is Pavel Nedvěd - Wikipedia. Should we count Masopust?

Outside of football, I'm going to assume the best options are Dominik Hašek - Wikipedia and Jaromír Jágr - Wikipedia, and I've vote Hasek because his play as a goalie was so much more unique than Jagr's as a forward. Roman Šebrle - Wikipedia is one of the best decathletes ever, while Jan Železný - Wikipedia is the best javelin thrower ever. Emil Zátopek - Wikipedia is an astonishingly good long-distance runner from Czechoslovakian times, and seems to have been from the Czech part rather than the Slovakian. 

Any thoughts?

[Bully Wee Villa]

Hard to compare Masopust, as in those days the best players in Communist countries tended to play their entire career behind the Iron Curtain. No idea if he could have played for, say, Juventus, like Nedved did.

He did seem to lead them to a World Cup Final, though, so would give him the edge.

I reckon Zatopek beats any Czech footballer, though... he was the greatest runner of all time. Not my words, Miguel, the words of "Runners' World Magazine".

Edited July 30, 2021 by Bully Wee Villa

[David W]

2 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

I started a post then read new ones and it's gone again, so believe me when say that Croatia's best footballer is Luka Modric who's better than the handball player Ivano Balić - Wikipedia

Cuba are an interesting one. They reached the World Cup quarter finals in 1938 but there's very little information on any of the players from then. Onel Hernández - Wikipedia was born in Cuba and represents them, currently playing at Norwich and apparently a big fan of Argos. I honestly think he wins this, the high appearance and goal numbers from Cubans are mostly guys playing in their domestic league which I'm guessing isn't great. 

Outside of football Javier Sotomayor - Wikipedia is the current world record holder in the high jump and has Olympic and world championship golds. Iván Pedroso - Wikipedia Had an even more dominant long jump career. Félix Savón - Wikipedia won three Olympic golds in boxing and is considered one of the best amateur boxers of all time, so is Teófilo Stevenson - Wikipedia. Mijaín López - Wikipedia has multiple world and Olympic championships in Greco-Roman wrestling. Pedro Luis Lazo - Wikipedia is a multiple Olympic and world cup champion in baseball. Pretty much any of these guys are more impressive than their footballers, but if anyone has a preference then go for it.

Curacao looks like another one for @Marten to offer some advice on. Leandro Bacuna - Wikipedia looks like the best option (of the ones I've heard of) but we'll see if anyone compares. 

Jurickson Profar - Wikipedia looks like their best non-footballer, with an eight year and counting MLB career. This one definitely seems like a toss-up.

Cyprus round out the letter C with very slim pickings. Sotiris Kaiafas - Wikipedia won the golden boot in the 70s and spent his whole career in Cyprus. Ioannis Okkas - Wikipedia looks like their best option from the modern era with a career mostly in Cypriot and Greek football, with some time in Spain too. As usual I'm happy to defer to the older player here though. 

Outside of football it's interesting. Georgios Achilleos - Wikipedia is a very successful skeet shooter. Marcos Baghdatis - Wikipedia made it to the final of the Australian Open once in tennis. Pavlos Kontides - Wikipedia won the first ever Olympic medal for Cyprus with a silver for sailing in 2012, and seems to be in the medal hunt at the 2020 games too. Any thoughts on these? I'm inclined to say the footballer for Cyprus, but I think it could go either way.

I'd say there are a number of baseball players who would be considered ahead of Jurickson Profar. Probably Andruw Jones would be considered the best.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I've also just realised I didn't actually finish off the Cs. Czech Republic is another country that suffers from a historic split in recent times. Historically their best option is Josef Masopust - Wikipedia for Czechoslovakia, while the modern version is Pavel Nedvěd - Wikipedia. Should we count Masopust?
Outside of football, I'm going to assume the best options are Dominik Hašek - Wikipedia and Jaromír Jágr - Wikipedia, and I've vote Hasek because his play as a goalie was so much more unique than Jagr's as a forward. Roman Šebrle - Wikipedia is one of the best decathletes ever, while Jan Železný - Wikipedia is the best javelin thrower ever. Emil Zátopek - Wikipedia is an astonishingly good long-distance runner from Czechoslovakian times, and seems to have been from the Czech part rather than the Slovakian. 
Any thoughts?

Zatopek - the only person to win the 5,000 metres (24 July 1952), 10,000 metres (20 July 1952) and Marathon (27 July 1952), in the same Olympic Games.

His wife Dana Zátopková (born the same day and year as her husband) won a gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1952 Olympics, only a few moments after Emil's victory in the 5,000 m; she finished second at the 1960 Olympics.

An example of the playful relationship between husband and wife came when Emil attempted to take some credit for his wife's Olympic victory at her press conference, claiming that it was his victory in the 5,000 m that had "inspired" her. Dana's indignant response was, "Really? Okay, go inspire some other girl and see if she throws a javelin fifty metres!"

[Marshmallo]

Just reading the opening list again - I'd nominate Joel Embiid for Cameroon. He's a top 5 basketball player in the world just now. Ngannou is a decent shout as well tbf. I could see either of them passing Eto'o over the next 5 years.

[Marten]

19 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Curacao looks like another one for @Marten to offer some advice on. Leandro Bacuna - Wikipedia looks like the best option (of the ones I've heard of) but we'll see if anyone compares. 

Jurickson Profar - Wikipedia looks like their best non-footballer, with an eight year and counting MLB career. This one definitely seems like a toss-up.

 

I'd agree with Profar, definitely one of their best, also better than the football player.

[A_Veitch]

Switzerland best ever football player would have to be Josef Hugi who lead the national team in the 1950s to the World Cup Quarter Finals and scored 20+ goals in about 30 appearances for the Nati. All time Swiss club football top goalscorer with 200+ goals but i don't think he comes close to anything like what Roger Federer has achieved in Tennis.

Edited July 31, 2021 by A_Veitch

[Miguel Sanchez]

I've no idea how I missed Embiid for Cameroon. He's in, though I don't think he'll be second to Eto'o for long. Andruw Jones does seem like the best baseballer from Curacao and as much as Zatopek probably is the best Czech sportsman ever I can't pick him based on the eligibility we (well, I) have used for previous countries. I also think Hasek is better than Nedved anyway, so he wins it for me. Since Marshmallo knows boxing I'll take his word for Cuba, and I'm voting Baghdatis for Cyprus, but not as good as Kaiafas.

Denmark have this handy entry on their wikipedia page:

Quote

 

Best players of all time[edit]

In November 2006, the DBU nominated eight Danish national team footballers for the "Best Danish Footballer of All Time" award. The nominated players were Morten Olsen, Henning Jensen, Allan Simonsen, Preben Elkjær, Michael Laudrup, Brian Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel and Jon Dahl Tomasson. The winner of the award was decided by a public vote arranged by the broadcasting channel TV2, which ended with Michael Laudrup as a clear winner, with 58% of the votes.[76]

 

I've also discovered that their leading scorer is Poul Nielsen - Wikipedia with 52 goals in 38 matches. I didn't mix that up. Even with all that in mind it seems hard to look past Michael Laudrup - Wikipedia

They've got some good non-footballing options. Eskild Ebbesen - Wikipedia has three gold and two bronze medals from Olympic rowing. Wilson Kipketer - Wikipedia is the second best 800m runner ever. Tom Kristensen - Wikipedia holds the record for most 24 Hours of Le Mans wins with 9 and several notable racing series wins. Viggo Jensen - Wikipedia was the first Danish Olympic champion and competed in four different sports. Bjarne Riis - Wikipedia won the Tour de France in 1996. Mikkel Hansen - Wikipedia is one of the best handball players in the world with Olympic, world and European championship wins, and numerous league titles with PSG. Any thoughts on this? There are lots of good options on both sides and I'm not sure if any of these guys beats Laudrup. 

Djibouti don't seem up to much. All of their most recent squad play in their domestic league. Their most capped player doesn't have a wikipedia page. The figures for caps and goals all seem to be wrong too, the numbers are different on the player/team pages and transfermarkt is wrong too. 

Hussein Ahmed Salah - Wikipedia won bronze in the Olympics and two world championship silvers in the marathon, he gets an easy win here.

Dominica have very little to offer. Their current captain and most capped player is a school teacher: Glenson Prince - Wikipedia. Briel Thomas - Wikipedia is young and has a lot of caps but I'll give this one to Prince for the time being. 

Outside of football, Jérôme Romain - Wikipedia won bronze in the triple jump in the 1995 world championship. Dominica is apparently part of the West Indies cricket team, but I'm not seeing many notable cricketers from there. Either way, Romain beats what footballers they have to offer.

The Dominican Republic don't have much either. Tano Bonnín - Wikipedia has spent his career in Spanish lower league football and that's about the highest level anyone's managed. 

Football is second fiddle to a lot of sports here. They've produced an assortment of baseball players I've heard of. We seem to have some baseball fans here so I'll let anyone who knows pick a name here. Félix Sánchez (hurdler) - Wikipedia has two Olympic titles in the 400m hurdles. They also have a lot of good boxers with Joan Guzmán - Wikipedia being the top result when I googled "best dominican republic boxers" so I'll vote him unless there are any objections. Whichever boxer and baseball player get decided on here I think all three names are easily better than their footballer, so if someone wants to make a case for someone here then have at it.

[N5 Spur]

On 24/07/2021 at 13:59, 8MileBU said:

Had to Google who that even was but immediately recognised the nickname of “The Flying Finn”.

Forgot about Hakkinen.

Bumping this but given it's relevant at the moment, what about Lassi Virén?  4 Olympic golds at 5,000m and 10,000m over 2 Olympics. I recall him from growing up days in the 70s - he only showed up every 4 years but to some effect.

[David W]

42 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

I've no idea how I missed Embiid for Cameroon. He's in, though I don't think he'll be second to Eto'o for long. Andruw Jones does seem like the best baseballer from Curacao and as much as Zatopek probably is the best Czech sportsman ever I can't pick him based on the eligibility we (well, I) have used for previous countries. I also think Hasek is better than Nedved anyway, so he wins it for me. Since Marshmallo knows boxing I'll take his word for Cuba, and I'm voting Baghdatis for Cyprus, but not as good as Kaiafas.

Denmark have this handy entry on their wikipedia page:

I've also discovered that their leading scorer is Poul Nielsen - Wikipedia with 52 goals in 38 matches. I didn't mix that up. Even with all that in mind it seems hard to look past Michael Laudrup - Wikipedia

They've got some good non-footballing options. Eskild Ebbesen - Wikipedia has three gold and two bronze medals from Olympic rowing. Wilson Kipketer - Wikipedia is the second best 800m runner ever. Tom Kristensen - Wikipedia holds the record for most 24 Hours of Le Mans wins with 9 and several notable racing series wins. Viggo Jensen - Wikipedia was the first Danish Olympic champion and competed in four different sports. Bjarne Riis - Wikipedia won the Tour de France in 1996. Mikkel Hansen - Wikipedia is one of the best handball players in the world with Olympic, world and European championship wins, and numerous league titles with PSG. Any thoughts on this? There are lots of good options on both sides and I'm not sure if any of these guys beats Laudrup. 

Djibouti don't seem up to much. All of their most recent squad play in their domestic league. Their most capped player doesn't have a wikipedia page. The figures for caps and goals all seem to be wrong too, the numbers are different on the player/team pages and transfermarkt is wrong too. 

Hussein Ahmed Salah - Wikipedia won bronze in the Olympics and two world championship silvers in the marathon, he gets an easy win here.

Dominica have very little to offer. Their current captain and most capped player is a school teacher: Glenson Prince - Wikipedia. Briel Thomas - Wikipedia is young and has a lot of caps but I'll give this one to Prince for the time being. 

Outside of football, Jérôme Romain - Wikipedia won bronze in the triple jump in the 1995 world championship. Dominica is apparently part of the West Indies cricket team, but I'm not seeing many notable cricketers from there. Either way, Romain beats what footballers they have to offer.

The Dominican Republic don't have much either. Tano Bonnín - Wikipedia has spent his career in Spanish lower league football and that's about the highest level anyone's managed. 

Football is second fiddle to a lot of sports here. They've produced an assortment of baseball players I've heard of. We seem to have some baseball fans here so I'll let anyone who knows pick a name here. Félix Sánchez (hurdler) - Wikipedia has two Olympic titles in the 400m hurdles. They also have a lot of good boxers with Joan Guzmán - Wikipedia being the top result when I googled "best dominican republic boxers" so I'll vote him unless there are any objections. Whichever boxer and baseball player get decided on here I think all three names are easily better than their footballer, so if someone wants to make a case for someone here then have at it.

I think Dominican Republic is the most common nationality in the MLB, outside of the obvious. Albert Pujols or Pedro Martinez... I would edge towards Martinez. He would be in the discussion for best pitcher of all time.

Edited July 31, 2021 by David W

[Mark Connolly]

On 30/07/2021 at 15:43, Miguel Sanchez said:

I think Tommy Hayes looks like the best option here, he's definitely better than the footballer at least so it seems fairly easy.

I don't really want to count him for them since going by the usual footballing nationality rules we wouldn't consider him Congolese, but it's a strange case here since he lived there until he was 17 and played while he was there, so it's not like his development had nothing to do with his country. It's a difficult one.

Stan Wright would be above Tommy Hayes for the Cook Islands, I reckon. Two time Heineken Cup winner with Leinster.

As entertaining as Tommy Hayes was, he wasn't the most reliable, mainly due to his style making Gregor Townsend and Finn Russell look conservative. He was very popular with the fans though, and would often be found letting them buy drinks for him, which also occasionally got him in a bit of trouble

[DiegoDiego]

Mikkel Hansen is the best handball player this century, astoundingly good. Whether that puts him above some extremely good footballers is another question.

I think most Danes would concede Hansen is the better sportsman, especially as he was excellent throughout their run to the gold in 2016 (crucial goal against Qatar). That said 1992 is considered a greater achievement (2016 is more a question of why it took them so many attempts to win gold) so Laudrup might be regarded more fondly.

I'd also have Jagr over Hašek. Mainly down to the longevity of his career, playing NHL hockey well into his forties and setting tons of records.

[Miguel Sanchez]

5 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

Mikkel Hansen is the best handball player this century, astoundingly good. Whether that puts him above some extremely good footballers is another question.

I think most Danes would concede Hansen is the better sportsman, especially as he was excellent throughout their run to the gold in 2016 (crucial goal against Qatar). That said 1992 is considered a greater achievement (2016 is more a question of why it took them so many attempts to win gold) so Laudrup might be regarded more fondly.

I'd also have Jagr over Hašek. Mainly down to the longevity of his career, playing NHL hockey well into his forties and setting tons of records.
 

Hasek was a better goalie than Jagr was a forward. Anyone can job about playing favourable minutes on shite teams, that part of his career wasn't comparable to the early years. 

I think the two Danish options might genuinely be a tie.