10 great footballers who have never played at the World Cup

Playing in the World Cup representing your country could be the most prestigious moment in a footballer’s career. Every four years the football carnival is witnessed by millions all over the world and participating in a World Cup must be a huge moment for every player.Unfortunately, due to various reasons, many top players have never played on the biggest stage. We look at 10 great footballers who have never experienced the feeling of playing in a FIFA World Cup.

#10 Ian Rush (Wales)

Ian Rush is great footballer whose country could never make it to the World Cup finals. Rush tasted huge success with his club Liverpool scoring an all-time record tally of 346 goals in all competitions during his double stint.

Rush played for Wales from 1980 to 1996 scoring 28 goals in 78 appearances. However, Wales never made it to the World Cup finals; thereby preventing him from playing in one of the prestigious tournaments in football.

Truly sad for a player whose career spanned 23 seasons!

#9 Bernd Schuster (West Germany)

The robust German midfielder had a successful club career playing for clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. But he could never make his international career successful.

Schuster represented West Germany and won the 1980 European Championship and was also voted as the second-best player of the tournament. However, he fell out with the management and German officials after he refused to play in a match so he could go home to witness the birth of his second son.

Later, Schuster announced his international retirement at the age of 24 after just 21 caps and never represented Germany in the World Cup.

#8 Jari Litmanen (Finland)

Many consider Jari Litmanen to be the greatest Finnish player ever to play competitive football. Litmanen was a celebrated forward who consistently scored for Ajax and later for Inter Milan.

But, Litmanen was unlucky to represent a country that has never qualified for a World Cup. Litmanen played 137 games for Finland over his 21-year long international career but never played in a World Cup game.

#7 Eric Cantona (France)

The “King of Old Trafford” achieved enormous success with Manchester United, winning four league titles in five years. But his international career was a bitter experience with a number of controversies.

Earning his first French cap in the late 1980s, he had a fall out with the then manager Henri Michel which prevented him from playing regular matches for France. However, during his peak, France failed to qualify for both the 1990 and 1994 editions of the World Cup.

In his international career, he scored 20 goals in 45 appearances. He retired from international football in 1995 before the 1998 edition when Les Bleus triumphed on home soil.

#6 Ryan Giggs (Wales)

Ryan Giggs achieved pretty much everything with Manchester United in his long club career. In a 24-year career, Giggs won the Premier League 13 times, the Champions League twice and also won 4 FA Cups.

Unfortunately, Giggs played for Wales, a country which rarely had the fire-power to qualify for big tournaments like Euro and World Cup in his time.

During his 16-year international career between 1991 and 2007, he played 64 games for Wales scoring 12 goals. But never was he able to play in the World Cup as Wales never progressed beyond the play-off stages of the qualifiers.

However, he did manage to represent the United Kingdom in the 2012 Olympics.

#5 Duncan Edwards (England)

Perhaps the unluckiest of the lot is Duncan Edwards. He was one of “Busby’s babes” winning two English titles with Manchester United in 1956 and 1957 and was destined to become one of the greatest English players before tragedy struck.

At 21, Edwards was one of the eight players who died in the Munich air disaster. By the time of his death he had made 18 appearances for England in which he had scored 5 goals.

Sir Bobby Charlton, World Cup winner with England in 1966 and a former teammate at Old Trafford, once said, “Duncan Edwards was the only player that ever made me feel inferior.”

#4 Laszlo Kubala (Spain)

A Barcelona great, Kubala was a great forward known for his shot power and clinical finishing. He represented three different countries during his career but was never lucky enough to participate in a World Cup.

When he played for Czechoslovakia and Hungary, they did not qualify for the World Cup.

Later, he began playing for Spain and he was included in Spain’s 1962 World Cup squad. But an injury prevented him from making an appearance.

#3 George Weah (Liberia)

George Weah was an explosive striker who made his mark in Ligue 1 playing for AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain. Weah reached his peak while playing for Italian heavyweights AC Milan from 1995 to 2000.

He was also the first African player to win Ballon d’Or and was voted as the best African player thrice. But, the dream of playing in the World Cup never materialized for Weah as his national side Liberia was too weak to capture a slot in the World Cup.

During his 20-year long international career, he netted 22 goals in 60 appearances but never got to play in a World Cup tournament.

#2 George Best (Northern Ireland)

A legend who entertained the fans like never before, a man who was treated like their own son by many Manchester United fans, never got to play in the World Cup finals.

Described as the “greatest player ever to pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland”, he was capped 37 times for his country scoring 9 goals.

During his playing career, Northern Ireland never qualified for the World Cup in 1974 and 1978. But when Northern Ireland managed to get into the 1982 World Cup, Best was past his best due to his age and alcoholism and was not selected in the squad.

#1 Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina/Colombia/Spain)

Alfredo Di Stefano; a mere mention of this name would make Real Madrid fans nostalgic. Nicknamed the ‘blond arrow’, the Latin American man had humongous success in his club career.

Interestingly, his story is similar to Kubala as he could never play in the World Cup although he represented three different countries – Argentina, Colombia and Spain – in his international career.

Representing his birth nation Argentina, his side qualified for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Unfortunately, Argentina pulled out of the tournament citing security reasons.

In 1954, he was disqualified by FIFA as he had been capped by both Argentina and Colombia. After his move to Real Madrid, he decided to play for Spain and managed to obtain Spanish citizenship in time so that he could play in the World Cup. However, Di Stefano still could not play as Spain failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup.

In 1961, he helped Spain to qualify for the 1962 World Cup held in Chile. It was all set before the tragedy struck again as he was ruled out of the tournament due to a muscular injury.

Thereafter, he retired from his playing career without having played in a single World Cup.