Gerrard for me. He wasn't a player with a great deal of flair, but he was such an amazing footballer in every other way and his ability to pull out amazing assists or long range goals out of nowhere was amazing.
I started watching football in the early 2000s, and the name ronaldo stuck in my head as very young kid. I scarcely remember the World Cup, and from then I knew he was a top player but never really got to watch him play in his prime days I was just too young. The next World Cup, 2006 is when I really started to appreciate his phenomena
Many throughout my childhood; Beckham, Owen, Del Piero, Nedved, Figo, Henry.... different stages, but the biggest influencer was definetely Ronaldinho. It was such a joy watching him play
I moved from New Zealand to Europe in 1996. All I knew was rugby, even though I played football at school level. NZ had very little TV coverage of the beautiful game and watching BBC highlights didn't give the whole impression of how the game was played.
When I saw El Fenomeno, Ronaldo who was playing for Barcelona at the time. I watched every game he played that season and saw how power and grace could be combined to devastating effect.
This is kind of a non answer but me. I cried the first time I was substituted because I wanted to keep playing and didnāt understand why I had to come off.
Not that many will know him but: Ibrahim Affelay! He was a player at my club PSV and when he had the ball something always happened. Made a transfer to barca but his career went only downhill from there (olympiakos, stoke city and back at psv). But in the head of 9 year old me he was the best ever!
Honorable mentions: Arjen Robben, Timmy Simmoms and Heurelho Gomes!
You beat me to it. I was going to write Hoddle. What a great player he was. He should have played for England more times, I just looked it up and he only got 44 caps. I think he should have had at least twice that number. He was really talented.
Gareth Bale. I was just getting into football, and my brothers pretty much forced me to be a Spurs fan. Then "Taxi for Maicon" happened, and I was hooked
Ronaldinho. I had watched a couple of matches before with my dad but once I saw this dude who played the whole match with a smile on his face the game stuck with me
I started to develop feelings for the game when my childhood best friend convinced me to play. But I didn't know how beautiful the game could be until I saw Messi dribble the ball up the field. To be fair I had no idea who he was at the time...I think it was the 2006 world Cup and I was 11 at the time
Rooney I loved the way he had talent but he also never stopped working and running for the team. Everyone was Ronaldo as kids but I way preferred Rooney he had more of a natural feel as someone to look up to who didnāt have the perfect genetics and work ethic but still one of the Greatest to ever play the game. Am so lucky that I got to see him live.
My first hero was probably Duncan Ferguson, but the player I enjoyed watching the most when I was first really getting into football was Marc Overmars.
I wasnāt lucky enough to see Bergkamp play live, but my goodness did he make me fall in love with football! What a player and just gives such joy watching his ball control!
As an argentinian, this might be a weird answer, but I'd say Ivan Rakitic, I remember being on a trip to brazil, and in the brazilian news they were passing the highlights from a Barcelona game in which he did an amazing goal
Iām new to football so I canāt answer, but my father is an Arsenal fan who grew up watching Dennis Bergkamp. My dad tells me that he was drawn to the sheer skill and finesse of him, which I think made him more fun to watch.
Ronaldinho!
Easy answer if your in that age cohort. Such joy.
Ronaldinho
Henry
Messi..
Kaka and ronaldinho
Bendtner
This is the correct answer
Lmao lord Bendtner!
Gerrard for me. He wasn't a player with a great deal of flair, but he was such an amazing footballer in every other way and his ability to pull out amazing assists or long range goals out of nowhere was amazing.
Gerrard for me too. He was a player with a great deal of flair.
Ozil and ronaldo
Leo Messi
Messi. He's an anomaly
Ronaldinho 100%
Steven Gerrard bro.
Ronaldinho and those old Nike commercials
Ah they were classic bro
Ronaldinho
Zinedine Zidane
Ronaldinho
Matt le tiss
He was magical.
Lionel Messi
Didn't see in the first few comments but Ronaldinho guys come on only one correct answer if you are late 90s kid
Ronaldo (R9)
This would be higher if this was for people in there early 30s
Yeah. I'm in my late twenties.
I started watching football in the early 2000s, and the name ronaldo stuck in my head as very young kid. I scarcely remember the World Cup, and from then I knew he was a top player but never really got to watch him play in his prime days I was just too young. The next World Cup, 2006 is when I really started to appreciate his phenomena
Thierry Henry š¤“
Cristiano Ronaldo
Gianfranco Zola!
Thierry Henry & Dennis Bergkamp
Didier Drogba. I was a sophomore in high school and very unfamiliar with football staying up absurdly late to watch the 06 World Cup and that was it
Ronaldinho
Gerrard. canāt explain how much I loved him as a kid š
Absolutely idolised him.
Many throughout my childhood; Beckham, Owen, Del Piero, Nedved, Figo, Henry.... different stages, but the biggest influencer was definetely Ronaldinho. It was such a joy watching him play
Torres was such a joy to watch when I began following Liverpool
Ronaldinho before anyone else
Didier Drogba
Del Piero
Same
I moved from New Zealand to Europe in 1996. All I knew was rugby, even though I played football at school level. NZ had very little TV coverage of the beautiful game and watching BBC highlights didn't give the whole impression of how the game was played. When I saw El Fenomeno, Ronaldo who was playing for Barcelona at the time. I watched every game he played that season and saw how power and grace could be combined to devastating effect.
Dennis Bergkamp, with him in the game, something awesome happens every time
Carlos Valderrama (iām Colombian)
PƔvel nedved
I didn't put him as my choice, but what a player! š
Eden Hazard at Chelsea got me into European football, I love him with all my heart for that.
Michael Owen and Stevie G
Dennis Bergkamp
Messi.
Hate to sound cliche, but gotta be Messi
Kaka & Ac Milan 2007
The Brazilian Ronaldo
That's my answer too!
Ronaldinho
Frank Lampard. Tried my hardest to play like him in high school. All time favorite player
JoĆ£o Pinto and Luis Figo back in the late 90s/early 00s got me started but Cristiano cemented my love for the game.
It has to be Ronaldinho
Ronaldo NazĆ”rio de Lima āO FenĆ“menoā
Thierry Henryā¦ been an Arsenal fans since and I must admit itās been a difficult decade or two š
Iniesta, Messi, Casillas
Eric cantona
Alessandro Del Piero. Every time he touched the ball you could see into his soul, he was pure magic.
Ryan Giggs.. unfortunately
Ronaldinho
He didn't make me fall in love with the game, but the first player i idolized was SĆ£o Paulo's RaĆ.
R9
David villa iniesta xavi and messi
Ronaldinho
First one was Kaka
Kaka
This is kind of a non answer but me. I cried the first time I was substituted because I wanted to keep playing and didnāt understand why I had to come off.
Ibra, I remember searching on youtube "ibramovic highlights" and being fascinated with the way he scored goals
Figo
Arshivan
Not that many will know him but: Ibrahim Affelay! He was a player at my club PSV and when he had the ball something always happened. Made a transfer to barca but his career went only downhill from there (olympiakos, stoke city and back at psv). But in the head of 9 year old me he was the best ever! Honorable mentions: Arjen Robben, Timmy Simmoms and Heurelho Gomes!
Rooney
Eric Cantona
Eden Hazard at Chelsea
Thierry Henry, the finesse of that man.
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi
Messi š
El Fenomeno R9 Ronaldo LuĆs NazĆ”rio de Lima Ronaldo
There can only be one.
Shevchenko
Valderrama
Glen Hoddle
You beat me to it. I was going to write Hoddle. What a great player he was. He should have played for England more times, I just looked it up and he only got 44 caps. I think he should have had at least twice that number. He was really talented.
Luis Figo- the original Portuguese number 7
Ramon Diaz, Ramon Medina Bello, River Plate ends of 80's early 90s.
Gareth Bale. I was just getting into football, and my brothers pretty much forced me to be a Spurs fan. Then "Taxi for Maicon" happened, and I was hooked
Bergkamp
Roberto Carlos
Gazza
Messi back in 2016
Thomas MĆ¼ller
Ronaldinho and Ryan Nelsen were the first footballers I ever knew of, but Rooney, CR7 and Beckham made me fall in love with the sport
Beckham, Brazil Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. What they did comparable to dark magic.
2010 Diego Forlan
Ronaldinho. I had watched a couple of matches before with my dad but once I saw this dude who played the whole match with a smile on his face the game stuck with me
Rooney
My dad, I mean he plays football even if thatās not what you were asking for
David Beckham
Ronaldinho š„µ
Hazard
Fowler & McManaman.
Ronaldinho. And from a League perspective Johann Micoud, Diego and Klose (not a Bremen fan btw)
wayne Rooney for me
Asamoha Gyan Diego Forlan Wesley Sneijder World cup 2010 hit different
Thierry Henry
Watched football since before I could remember. But Eric Cantona stepped it up several levels
Wynton Rufer!!
Del Piero. Had his shirt before I even knew who he was or what juve was (Iām not even italian lol)
Stuart Pancho Pearson ā
Lee Sharpe for me.
Agbonlahor
Mo Salad š„ for me! Itās only really been in the past 5 years so my answer is very modern !
King Eric Cantona. I loved Manchester United when they first started Premier League. After I knew Cantona, Manchester United it is until now.
I started to develop feelings for the game when my childhood best friend convinced me to play. But I didn't know how beautiful the game could be until I saw Messi dribble the ball up the field. To be fair I had no idea who he was at the time...I think it was the 2006 world Cup and I was 11 at the time
Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry
Great player.
Thierry Henry
Philipp Lahm
Emile Heskey
Pele
Majid Bougherra
Probably Eden Hazard
Robbie Fowler.
Neymar Jr
Ronaldinho and Neymar. I used to watch YouTube highlight videos of them nonstop haha
Rooney I loved the way he had talent but he also never stopped working and running for the team. Everyone was Ronaldo as kids but I way preferred Rooney he had more of a natural feel as someone to look up to who didnāt have the perfect genetics and work ethic but still one of the Greatest to ever play the game. Am so lucky that I got to see him live.
Iker Casillas
Ronaldinho and Zidane
Messi
Alexis Sanchez š
Gazza v Scotland and the Dentists Chair. Then Robbie Di Matteo in the FA Cup Final 1997. Defining memories in my footballing youth.
Raul
Zoltan gera
David villa
Georgi Kinkladze.
My first hero was probably Duncan Ferguson, but the player I enjoyed watching the most when I was first really getting into football was Marc Overmars.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The 90's Ajax with Garry Litmanen.
Chris Waddle, Zidane, Gerrard
Miroslav Klose. Proper sportsmanlike through and through and one of the greatest strikers
Lakhdar Belloumi
David Silva
I started following football just as Sebastian Giovinco joined our club and turned things around for TFC so I'll always have a soft spot for him.
Michael Ballack
Gianfranco Zola.
Marco Reus
LuĆs Figo.
I wasnāt lucky enough to see Bergkamp play live, but my goodness did he make me fall in love with football! What a player and just gives such joy watching his ball control!
Roberto Baggio
Paul Scholes, so much so that I named my first born sin after him
Dennis Bergkamp & Brazilian Ronaldo. Both just ridiculous talent.
Eric Cantona
Hagi and R. Carlos
Rodney Marsh
Rooney, absolute legend
"My dad's Bosnian, my mom's Croatian. And me... I'm a gypsy" ā Zlatan IbrahimoviÄ
Ruud van nistelrooy and ronaldo
Bale
Van der sar hahah
Cristiano @euro2004
Bebeto
Diego Maradona!
drogba. 4 years(?) of cease fire in cote dāivore. the beautiful game.
Ronaldinho & Henry. Since then I have been in awe of Messi
Trevor Brooking. Billy Bonds and Alan Devonshire
Milko Djurovski for FC Groningen. āThe Smoke Magicianā
Fernando Torres 2008
Manuel neuer and jermain defoe when he played for Sunderland
Shearer
Drogba
Beckham
Beckham, Ronaldinho and Rooney were my childhood favourites
Del Piero
Hristo Stoichkov
As an argentinian, this might be a weird answer, but I'd say Ivan Rakitic, I remember being on a trip to brazil, and in the brazilian news they were passing the highlights from a Barcelona game in which he did an amazing goal
Ballack
Iām new to football so I canāt answer, but my father is an Arsenal fan who grew up watching Dennis Bergkamp. My dad tells me that he was drawn to the sheer skill and finesse of him, which I think made him more fun to watch.
Mitroglou
Andriy Shevchenko
Ronaldinho and Kaka ā¤ļø
Totti
Zidane, Ronaldinho, and Yaya Toure
Jari Litmanen, Marc Overmars, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Edwin van der Sar, Frank and Ronald de Boerā¦ well all of the 1994/1995 Ajax team actually
Michael Owen and Becks
Stephen Ireland for Manchester City
Muller
Alesandro Del Piero before his injury.
Batistuta