Summary
The 10 best players to never deliver for their country have been revealed.
Three English stars are included but not Wayne Rooney.
Two Brazilian icons make the top five.
Love it or hate it, there is something unique about international football. The best players from every country banding together to represent their nation. Without having the weeks and months of training together, they have to rely more on talent than foolproof tactics to come out on top in major tournaments.
That being said, there is something about wearing the colours of your country that can weigh a player down. The hopes and dreams of a nation resting on their shoulders can be a burden that, for some, is too much to carry. And that can be said for some of the very best in the world.
Inevitably, that will lead to criticism and disappointment and a reputation that is very hard to shake off. And there are perhaps no greater examples of this than these ten players who never found the same success on the international stage as they did in club football.
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10 Paul Scholes
England
Largely considered to be one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, had Paul Scholes played for a team like Spain, there is every chance he would've been appreciated more and utilised correctly on the international stage.
The story of the Manchester United legend's England career is that far too often he was forced to play out of position to accommodate players that, at the time, weren't as good as him. The prime example of that was at Euro 2004.
Sven-Goran Eriksson had a squad that summer that was good enough to end the country's trophy drought. But the Swede insisted on playing a 4-4-2 where Scholes would play on the left while the budding Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard operated centrally. The fact that Scholes was never allowed to play where he would thrive is why he appears so low on this list, but it is one of the biggest what-ifs in the last 25 years of English international football.
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9 Paulo Dybala
Argentina
It may seem strange to have a World Cup winner make this list. But by the time the 2022 tournament rolled around, Paulo Dybala was not one of the prominent figures in Argentina's squad. By then, the likes of Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez had usurped him, and there was a growing sentiment surrounding the forward that he never quite became as good as he could've.
Part of that was his impact – or lack thereof – on the international stage. Dybala has missed multiple tournament squads, and his only start in a major competition came in the third-place play-off at the 2019 Copa America.
8 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Sweden
Arguably Sweden's greatest ever player – so why does he make this list? Well, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was undoubtedly a fantastic striker with memorable moments like the 35-yard bicycle kick against England, but in terms of how he performed as a team leader for his country? His results are questionable at best.
Ibrahimovic featured in six international tournaments. In the first three, Sweden qualified for the knockout stages, suffering two round of 16 and one quarter-final eliminations. In the following three, where Ibrahimovic was undoubtedly the established main man, he couldn't steer his country out of the group stage.
While Sweden may never have been expected to win a major tournament, the fact that the iconic number nine couldn't progress them further when the expectations solely lay on him is telling. And to make matters worse, the first tournament without him – the 2018 World Cup – saw Sweden return to the last eight.
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7 Trent Alexander-Arnold
England
He may be one of the best attacking full-backs to have ever played the game, but there is a case to be made that international success is more often founded on sturdy defences rather than technical brilliance going forward. Alas, Trent Alexander-Arnold has struggled to make any impact for England.
The Real Madrid man has often played second fiddle to the likes of Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier, who are more defensively savvy, and his undeniable quality on the ball led to a short-lived experiment where he played in midfield for the first two games of Euro 2024. Needless to say, it didn't work, and unless he can improve in one-on-one situations, it is hard to see how Thomas Tuchel will integrate him into his current Three Lions set-up.
6 Clarence Seedorf
Netherlands
ItIt's baffling to think that someone good enough to play for Real Madrid and AC Milan, win four Champions League titles, and be an all-time great midfielder couldn't pull it off for his country. But that is exactly the case with Clarence Seedorf.
Despite having an abundance of talent, when it came to major tournaments, Seedorf was in and out of the team. In fact, the only one where he started four games on the spin was his final one – Euro 2004. Other times, he was sat on the bench watching on, being drafted in to play certain fixtures, sometimes those being the less important ones. You’d have thought his winning mentality would translate, but it never clicked for Seedorf in orange.
5 Vinicius Junior
Brazil
It is not a stretch to say that had Vinicius Junior helped Brazil win the 2024 Copa America, he may have walked away with that year's Ballon d'Or. Having been pivotal in Real Madrid's league and Champions League double that season, the winger went into that summer's internationals as the heavy favourite for the golden ball.
It marked the third international tournament where the 24-year-old had failed to stand out, but this was the most disappointing, as he had earned superstar status at this point and was expected to be the driving force in a new era of Brazilian football. Instead, it was more of the same, and now he is even at risk of not helping his country qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
4 Phil Foden
England
There is still plenty of time for Phil Foden to turn his international career around. At only 25, he is yet to reach his peak years and under a new management regime, perhaps the Manchester City man will undergo a turn of fortunes. But as of now, his Three Lions tenure has been severely underwhelming.
In the three major tournaments he has appeared at, Foden has scored once and assisted twice, despite the fact that two of those runs saw him reach the final. The problem has often been that the playmaker can never seem to quite find the right position to play in, often being dragged into areas he's not as effective in to accommodate others. With that in mind, it isn't all the player's fault, but it is enough for him to earn a place on this list.
3 Eden Hazard
Belgium
Much is made of England's failed golden generation, but they aren't the only ones in recent times who have suffered such infamy. The Red Devils of Belgium also had a period where they had one of the most talented squads in the world, rising to number one in the FIFA rankings with stars such as Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and Thibaut Courtois.
At the forefront of that was Eden Hazard. At the time of the 2016 Euros, the winger was one of the most dangerous players on the planet. The same could be said of the 2018 World Cup too, as he had yet to make his ill-fated move to Real Madrid. Yet in both occasions where Belgium were among the favourites, they and their skipper left a lot on the table.
Toni Kroos has called out Hazard in the past for not making the most of his Real Madrid career, but there is argument the same can be said on the international stage too.
2 Karim Benzema
France
Karim Benzema's international career was tumultuous to say the least. The Ballon d'Or winner made his debut in 2007 and then did not travel with the squad for the 2010 World Cup after being named in an off-the-pitch scandal. He would return for Euro 2012 but failed to score in four games, and then, following the 2014 World Cup, he would go seven years without any international football as a result of another scandal.
He would not be a part of Les Bleus' 2018 success, returning in 2021 prior to his Ballon d'Or win. He went on to lead the line for France at that summer's delayed European Championships, but failed to become the magic ingredient to inspire Didier Deschamps' side to another victory as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
One of the finest strikers of his generation, but Benzema could not live up to what he achieved at club level when he wore the famous blue of France.
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1 Neymar
Brazil
This may be a controversial take, but context is king when it comes to Neymar and Brazil. Some would say that a player who is his country's all-time leading scorer has clearly delivered for the nation. But what was needed from the winger was so much more than goals.
Like Pele and Ronaldo Nazario before him, Neymar was the shining star tasked with leading Brazil to World Cup success. When the tournament came to Rio in 2014, it had been 12 years since they picked up their fifth crown, and Neymar was expected to create history once again.
But both he and Brazil disappointed. Neymar was injured in the quarter-final against Colombia, faltered in the knockout stages in comparison to the less important group games, and was also a letdown four years later at the 2018 World Cup. A lack of continental success either means that Neymar, in all likelihood, won't fulfil his international destiny. It is for that reason he sits at the top.