'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Injuries are part and parcel of a contact sport like football. While many footballers keep themselves in optimum physical condition to prevent niggles, the possibility of injury can never be ruled out completely.
Most top clubs have large rosters to mitigate the loss of a key player to injury, especially at the tail end of a season when titles are on the line. Of course, game management also comes into play to ensure the top footballers can compete in most of the 'big' games.
Nonetheless, injuries can still occur, and when it happens to a key player, it can have a debilitating effect on the team, and an entire season could get derailed. An example in this regard is Virgil van Dijk, who suffered a season-ending injury early in the 2020-21 Premier League season. Liverpool struggled in their defensive talisman's absence before the reigning champions staged a late rally to finish a distant third.
However, injuries can also derail promising careers, something that is exacerbated by poor lifestyles, unprofessionalism and a lack of dedication. On that note, here's a look at five legendary footballers, in no particular order, whose careers ended prematurely because of injury:
#5 Just Fontaine
Just Fontaine of France is one of the best footballers who never won the FIFA World Cup.
The Frenchman scored a stunning 13 goals in just six games at Sweden 1958, a record for most goals in a single edition of the quadrennial competition, which stands to this day. His four-goal haul against eventual champions West Germany remains the only instance of a quadruple in World Cup history. He also scored in all six games of that tournament, which is another record.
Fontaine had a decent club football career, playing nearly 250 games. But it was cut short at the age of 28, just four years after his World Cup exploits, due to a recurring leg injury.
Despite his early retirement, Brazilian legend Pele, in 2004, named Fontaine as one of the greatest living footballers.
#4 Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup, one of the key players in Denmark's improbable Euro 1992 triumph, may not be a legend of the game in the strictest sense of the term. But the former Danish midfielder, younger brother of the more famous Michael Laudrup, was a versatile player and regarded as one of the best of his generation.
The now 52-year-old had an impressive resume in club football too, winning league titles in three different countries and scoring 84 goals. But a persistent injury forced him to retire at the age of 31.
Laudrup suffered a chronic cruciate ligament injury in 1991, which apparently got worse after the 1998 FIFA World Cup. It forced him to call it quits three years later. He said after his retirement:
"The last six months, it's been really bad. I've been taking all sorts of tablets and trying all sorts of treatments, but unfortunately the problem was not to go away. I've been thinking about an operation, but specialists in Holland and Denmark couldn't give me any guarantees the problem would be solved, so I thought it was about time to call it a day."
However, he fondly looked back at his career without regrets, saying:
"You have to look over the 14 years you've had, and it's been tremendous."
#3 Luc Nilis
Luc Nilis might be the least famous of the footballers on this list. But he enjoyed a fairly successful stint with Anderlecht and PSV, scoring at least 100 goals for each club.
However, his career was cut short soon after he embarked on a new challenge and arrived at Premier League club Aston Villa. In only his third game for his new team in 2000, the striker injured his shin in a nasty collision with Ipswich Town goalkeeper Richard Wright.
It was be the last time Nilis would feature as on the football field. Such was the extent of his injury that even amputation was considered at one point.
Years later, Nilis' voice trembled when recollecting that injury and its aftermath:
“I was in a dark place, a deep black hole. It was trauma. Some days, simply getting out of bed would be a struggle. It was not a messy split, but, yes, it came as a follow-up from the mental rollercoaster I had been on. When football was taken away from me, I missed it so much that I fell into the black gap. It was mental torture. Every day for a very long time.”
#2 Marco van Basten
Marco van Basten is one of the best strikers to have ever graced the game of football. A brilliant goal-scorer, van Basten was part of the star-studded AC Milan lineup in the late eighties. The Dutch footballer scored one of the most stunning goals in European Championship history in the 1988 final against the Soviet Union.
However, the three-time Serie A and Eredivisie winner suffered from a progressively worsening ankle injury, which multiple surgeries failed to rectify. Van Basten even took two years off from football and attempted an unsuccessful comeback in 1995.
The three-time Ballon d'Or winner (1988, 1989, 1992), who was at the peak of his career when he was injured, later recalled those dark days, saying:
“It was very difficult because I went from the highest level in football down to the lowest level of personal unhappiness,. It was a very big fall and a really dark time. Everything went down. There was a lot of pain and problems. You could say that in those five years I had my whole international career. After a lot of problems with operations I was limping. I couldn’t do anything without pain. I was really handicapped and the doctors couldn’t help me. I was a little afraid.”
After fearing the worst, Van Basten eventually called it quits at the age of 30. Commenting on his decision to retire from football, he said:
“It had gone from bad to worse. After many operations, and seeing doctors from all over the world, I had tried everything, but we couldn’t find the solution."
#1 Ronaldo Nazario
Ronaldo Nazario is widely renowned as one of the most lethal strikers to have ever graced football.
The youngest-ever Ballon d'Or winner announced himself on the European stage with a dazzling 35-goal season for PSV Eindhoven in 1994-95. For the precocious teenager, there would be no looking back from there.
Blessed with blistering pace and trickery on the ball, he would go on to play for some of the biggest clubs in the world, including Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan. Ronaldo scored many goals and won many big titles. His stunning 47-goal season in his lone campaign at Barca in 1996-97 being the best of the lot.
However, persistent knee injuries began to slow down the 2002 FIFA World Cup winner as he approached his thirties. In 2008, Milan were forced to release the footballer. Ronaldo was never the same player again as he called time on his legendary career three years later at Corinthians.
Luis Enrique, who played with the Brazilian at Camp Nou, said of Ronaldo:
“He’s the most spectacular player I’ve ever seen. He did things I’d never seen before. We’re now used to seeing Messi dribble past six players, but not then. He was strong, a beast.”
Ronaldo was almost 35 by the time he retired. But he could have achieved so much more if not for his injury woes.
