To celebrate the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s 50th anniversary in 2004, each of its member associations was asked by UEFA to choose one of its own players as the single most outstanding player of the past 50 years (1954–2003).
Award winners
editThe 52 players were known as the Golden Players. The list of players was released in November 2003, and were recognized at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon. Players active at the time of announcement are marked by (*).
Albania – Panajot Pano
Andorra – Koldo*
Armenia – Khoren Oganesian
Austria – Herbert Prohaska
Azerbaijan – Anatoliy Banishevskiy
Belarus – Sergei Aleinikov
Belgium – Paul Van Himst
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Safet Sušić
Bulgaria – Hristo Stoichkov
Croatia – Davor Šuker
Cyprus – Sotiris Kaiafas
Czech Republic – Josef Masopust
Denmark – Michael Laudrup
England – Bobby Moore
Estonia – Mart Poom*
Faroe Islands – Abraham Løkin
Finland – Jari Litmanen*
France – Just Fontaine
North Macedonia – Darko Pančev
Georgia – Murtaz Khurtsilava
Germany – Fritz Walter
Greece – Vasilis Hatzipanagis
Hungary – Ferenc Puskás
Iceland – Ásgeir Sigurvinsson
Republic of Ireland – Johnny Giles
Israel – Mordechai Spiegler
Italy – Dino Zoff
Kazakhstan – Sergey Kvochkin[1]
Latvia – Aleksandrs Starkovs
Liechtenstein – Rainer Hasler
Lithuania – Arminas Narbekovas*
Luxembourg – Louis Pilot
Malta – Carmel Busuttil
Moldova – Pavel Cebanu
Netherlands – Johan Cruyff
Northern Ireland – George Best[1]
Norway – Rune Bratseth
Poland – Włodzimierz Lubański
Portugal – Eusébio
Romania – Gheorghe Hagi
Russia – Lev Yashin
San Marino – Massimo Bonini
Scotland – Denis Law
Serbia and Montenegro – Dragan Džajić
Slovakia – Ján Popluhár
Slovenia – Branko Oblak
Spain – Alfredo di Stéfano
Sweden – Henrik Larsson*
Switzerland – Stéphane Chapuisat*
Turkey – Hakan Şükür*
Ukraine – Oleg Blokhin
Wales – John Charles
References
edit- ^ a b In the press release on 29 November 2003, Sergey Kvochkin and Pat Jennings were listed as the Golden Players of Kazakhstan and Northern Ireland respectively [1]. However, in the player profiles posted by UEFA.com in 2004, Evgeni Jarovenko [2] and George Best [3] were listed instead. The reasons for the discrepancies are not clear.
External links
edit- "UEFA officially launches its Golden Jubilee Year" (PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 29 November 2003. pp. 1–3.
- RSSSF.com UEFA Awards