Over the years, individuals have often been the catalyst for progress and change in football. These individuals have been footballers. It is their acts, achievements and lives that have been revolutionary. With all kinds of revolution, it can play out in different ways. Yet the revolutionary should not be confused with the most controversial footballers.
Of course, sometimes revolution can be controversial, but at its core, it is about fundamental change. Sir Stanley Matthews is one of the greatest English players of all time. He also completely altered how people thought about football and age, as he played on until he was 50 and was one of few British players to win the Ballon d'Or.
Ranking the 10 most revolutionary players in football history takes in players from a variety of countries, for a variety of different reasons. One aspect sets them apart: they were all involved in something groundbreaking.
Ranking factors
Legacy - how that player has impacted the world of football.
Change - what transformations in football did the player inspire.
Radical - how a player's behaviour or play was radical.
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10 Trevor Francis
Britain's first million-pound player
Trevor Francis celebrates after scoring in the 1982 World Cup
Trevor Francis had a long and successful career for both club and country. He is best known for two things. Firstly, scoring Nottingham Forest’s winning goal against Malmo in the 1979 European Cup Final. Also, he became Britain’s first million-pound footballer when Nottingham Forest paid seven figures to Birmingham City for the striker.
To put the transfer into context, two years before Francis’s move, Hamburg paid Liverpool £500k for Kevin Keegan. Francis scored more than 100 goals for Birmingham over the best part of a decade before the move. He’d made his professional debut in 1970, aged only 16. Looking back, it is perhaps equally shocking that it was Nottingham Forest, and not Manchester United or Liverpool, who broke the transfer record.
Yet Forest would go on to become back-to-back European Cup winners with Francis in the side. He played for England and was in the side that went to the 1982 World Cup in Spain. After this million-pound move, British transfers began to rapidly rise. Within a decade, Marseille paid Spurs more than £4m for Chris Waddle.
9 Manuel Neuer
Football's first sweeper keeper
Manuel Neuer
Although the back pass rule was introduced in 1992, it took goalkeepers a long time to adapt to using their feet. Even well into the twenty-first century, many goalkeepers had difficulty dealing with back passes- German world-cup winning goalkeeper Manuel Neuer changed the position, and effectively invented the idea of a sweeper keeper.
Neuer is now seen as one of the greatest goalkeepers of the twenty-first century. It isn't just his agility and reflexes, it is how he is able to deal with the ball in possession and begin attacks for both Germany and Bayern Munich. He has also had the ability to be quick off of his line, often leaving his penalty area to deal with issues and take hold of possession.
8 Claude Makelele
Reinventing the defensive midfield position
Claude Makelele
Claude Makelele cut a very unassuming figure while a player at Real Madrid. In a squad full of Galacticos, some were often led scratching their heads at what the Frenchman brought to the side. Although he played in Madrid’s 2001 Champions League-winning team, it was after his move to Chelsea that people fully began to appreciate his influence.
Effectively, Makelele was the glue that held his side together. Playing in front of the back four, he had an uncanny knack of reading opponents and winning the ball when it appeared all was lost. His success at Stamford Bridge caused people to call a defensive midfielder the Makelele position. Today, he is regarded as one of the Premier League’s greatest defensive midfielders.
7 Antonin Panenka
Inventing a new penalty technique
Imagine the glory of scoring the penalty that wins your country the Euros. Then imagine that doing so also involved creating a new and daring penalty technique. This is exactly what Antonin Panenka did for Czechoslovakia in the final of Euro ’76. The Czechs had beaten the Netherlands 3-1 in the semi-final. Their opponents in the final were the much fancied West Germany.
The Czechs went into a 2-0 lead, but Germany came back to 2-2 a minute before the final whistle. With extra time providing no goals, the final went to penalties. After Germany missed the fourth spot kick, Panenka had the opportunity to win the final for the Czechs. His attempt is now famous and has been copied by stars the world over. Running up to the ball appearing to attempt a powerful strike, Panenka chipped the ball gently down the middle to score.
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6 Stanley Matthews
Playing until he was 50
Stanley Matthews in action on the wing
Sir Stanley Matthews was known as the Wizard of Dribble. With the ability to drop his shoulder and cut inside, he created many goals. One of his most famous performances was in the 1953 FA Cup Final. The game is often referred to as the Matthews Final.
Having been a runner-up twice for Blackpool in 1948 and 1951, he finally won the competition in his third final of the club. This after they scored two goals in the last two minutes of the game. By that time, Matthews was a veteran at 38. Incredibly, he played on until 1965, when he was 50.
5 Viv Anderson
First black player to get an England cap
Viv Anderson
Viv Anderson played at right-back for some of England’s biggest clubs. He was also part of the Nottingham Forest side that won the English title and back-to-back European Cups. In 1978, he became the first black player for England’s senior team.
Leeds United full-back Paul Reaney played for England in 1968, although then he wasn’t widely recognised as being mixed race. This was a time when the nuance of race was discussed less. Although even by Anderson’s debut, there were still issues with football and racism. Anderson’s debut was at Wembley against Czechoslovakia, which saw England win 1-0 through a goal by Manchester United’s Steve Coppell.
4 Justin Fashanu
First footballer to come out as gay
Justin Fashanu was an enigmatic and very talented footballer. In 1980, he was named the winner of the Goal of Season Award, for an audacious strike for Norwich City against Liverpool at Carrow Road. Sadly, for the late Fashanu, too many were fixated on his private life than on his ability as a footballer.
Fashanu struggled to find his place in football, playing for more than 10 British clubs. In 1990, he became the first footballer to come out as gay. It appeared that he had come under pressure from the tabloid media to do so. Although this was groundbreaking, Fashanu has not inspired others to follow suit. In the world of English professional football, it is only Blackpool’s Jake Daniels, who has come out since.
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3 Jean-Marc Bosman
Transformed how free transfers work
Jean-Marc Bosman may not be the most famous footballer for what he did on the pitch, but he was the focal point of a huge revolution in football transfers. In 1990, the Belgium midfielder was offered a new contract at Standard Liege, but it was worth four times less than his previous one. Yet when he tried to leave, Liege demanded a price worth four times more than what they bought Bosman for.
With his potential new club, Dunkerque, not prepared to pay that, Bosman was stranded. He had a massive pay cut and was not in the first team. He took his case to the European Court of Justice and sued. In 1995, the court ruled that EU footballers were given the right to a free transfer when their contract ends. This has had huge influence on the game, with there being some very large free transfers since the Bosman ruling.
2 Diego Maradona
Controversial but brilliant figure
Argentinian forward Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona is one of the greatest footballers of all time. There was no shortage of controversy during the Argentine’s career. But the all-time great always acted upon his own terms. His Hand of God goal against England in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup remains one of the game’s most controversial incidents.
That he was able and so quickly prepared to grasp the narrative around it was revolutionary. Instead of allowing people to call him a cheater, he described the goal as coming a little from the head of Maradona and a bit from the Hand of God. Maradona went on to captain Argentina to victory in that World Cup. He also shocked the football world by leaving Barcelona to join unfancied Napoli. There, he led the club to their first-ever Serie A title.
1 Johan Cruyff
Revolutionary throughout his career
Johan Cruyff was an incredibly slight figure when he burst onto the scene at Ajax. He effectively became the central part of Total Football, the Dutch way of football unleashed on the world in the 1970s. He inspired Ajax to win the European Cup three times in a row, steadily proving himself to be a legend in the making.
Yet it was his performances for the Netherlands that really grabbed the world. In the end, they lost the 1974 World Cup Final to West Germany. But they influenced the world with how they played football, with Cruyff as their leader.
He even created his own piece of skill, when during that World Cup, he left a Brazilian defender standing. He did so by using the inside of his foot to move the ball behind his standing leg in one fluid moment. That move is known throughout the world as the Cruyff turn. The Dutchman was a genius and revolutionary on and off the field throughout his life.