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Take a walk down the lane of soccer history and you will discover a most delightful fact. Over the years the beautiful game of soccer has witnessed a number of hugely talented and colorful characters. These players past and present-have added a lot of style and grace to world soccer.
They include, but are not restricted to the ones discussed below:

1. Pele:

His full name is Edison Arantes Do Nascimento but you simply cannot stick such a mouthful on a soccer Jersey. So, this great soccer star is simply known as Pele. He is easily the most influential soccer player of all time. He won the world cup with Brazil a record three times. These days, he is very popular as a soccer ambassador.

2. Tostao:

In most cases, soccer does not blend very well with great intellectual pursuits. But Tostao is the exception. This young man won the world cup with Brazil in 1970. After the world cup, he studied medicine and became a medical doctor. He practiced Medicine for a while then he studied Journalism. Now, he is one of the most influential soccer journalists in his native Brazil.

3. Sir Bobby Charlton:

It is not very easy to get knighted by the Queen of England simply because you play football. But then Sir Bobby Charlton is not your average English footballer. He played an important role in the world cup success of 1966 and had a great career at Manchester United where he played an incredible 759 matches. These days, Sir Carlton is a director of Manchester United football club and remains one of the most respected soccer figures in England and in the United Kingdom.

4. Diego Armando Maradonna:

This guy is a colorful but controversial character. Like a king or a god, he refers to himself in the third person. He led Argentina to world cup glory in 1986 and remains an iconic figure in Latin American soccer circles.
At present, he is the coach of Argentina's national soccer team.

5. Gary Lineker:

You can call him Mr. Clean or Mr. Fair Play. Gary Lineker played club football for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, and Tottenham Hotspurs. He also played for the English national team and had a final spell in Japan where he picked some good money before his retirement. He scored a total of 244 goals from 462 games and he never received a yellow card. He was awarded the OBE for his contributions to soccer and he also has the record as the top scorer in the 1986 world cup. Unlike most soccer greats, Lineker lives a quiet life and does not court the media.

6. Zinedine Zidane:

Forget the red card he was given in the final match of the 2006 world cup.
Zidane remains a soccer hero anytime, anywhere. Arab soccer fans call Zidane Al Mu'alim', which means the teacher. And well they might! From Bordeaux to Juventus, then Real Madrid and the French national team, Zidane's game was a soccer master class.
He is retired now but his son Enzo Zidane is on the verge of doing great things in Real Madrid's junior soccer team.

7. David Beckham:

Apart from sublime crosses, telegraphic passes and incredible free kicks, David Beckham is a hot property in his own right. He is the most famous English footballer of all time and the richest by far. He is still a player of L.A. Galaxy but he is on loan to the Italian giants A.C. Milan. He is still part of the English national team and after over a hundred caps, he is still going strong.

Pat and present, these are some of the most influential players in the history of soccer.

Learn more about this author, Emmanuel Osondu.
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