16th November – Mustapha Hadji

Mustapha Hadji is quite well known but some fans may be surprised to find that he was named the 50^th greatest African player of all time.

Hadji is currently the assistant manager of Morocco and is hoping his experiences and ability can translate to some of their players. Being named the 50^th best ever is an honour especially when you consider the amount of talent that has came out of the continent and made their mark in Europe.

The midfielder moved to France at a young age and signed his first contract at Nancy. He broke into their first team in 1991 and was a regular goalscorer from a deeper position over the next five years. In total he played 243 league games, scoring 98 times and was quickly starting to attract attention from other teams. He first move away was to Portuguese side Sporting.

He only spent one year in Portugal before moving to Spanish side Deportivo. Again it was only a short spell and after just 31 league games in two years he was on the move and was signed by Coventry City. His time at the club was helped as national teammate Youssef Chippo joined at a similar time. While at Coventry he delighted the fans with great pace and skill but unfortunately he could not stop the club getting relegated in 2001.

Aston Villa signed the midfielder after this relegation and this was probably down to the fact that he scored three times against them in the previous season. His move to Villa Park did not quite work out and was never a regular. He struggled for game time in his three years at the club and he only ended up with 35 league appearances, scoring against Southampton and Everton. He also added a goal in the UEFA Cup against Varteks but at the end of his contract he was released.

Hadji returned to Spain, signing for Espanyol. After one season he left again and went to the UAE for a year, scoring five times in 15 games for Al Ain before returning to Europe. He signed for German side Saarbrucken in the German Second Division. The manager that signed him was sacked very early into his season and it was a worry that he would be left out in the cold again but new manager Rudi Bommer persisted with the Moroccan. In his two years he scored 10 league goals in 54 games which wasn’t a bad record for an ageing midfielder.

His final career move was to Fola Esch in Luxembourg, where even at his age, he was a class above and looked a different quality to his opponents. His 25 goals in just 44 games shows this and in July 2010 he decided to call time on his career and retire.

The final word can go to African football expert Ed Dove. “Hadji was an agile, innovative attacking midfielder who excelled with the ball at his feet and a defence ahead of him.”

5th February – Cristiano Ronaldo

5^th February is a day that all football fans will be thankful for as many great players in this generation were born today, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Neymar. This is a pretty special list as it stands but it is backed up even more by the quality of Giovanni Van Bronckhorst and Vedran Corluka who are also big names in the game. Going even further down the list of birthdays today, you will find other recognisable names such as Jesper Blomqvist and Jordan Rhodes. For those of an older generation they can remember Gheorghe Hagi who was in his own right and incredible player.

So it is very difficult to choose who to write about on this day but the one that stands out from that list still is Cristiano Ronaldo who has been one of the best players ever to step foot on the football pitch. There will always be a debate about who the best in the world is but Ronaldo has earned every plaudit and is very deserving of all the praise he gets.

Ronaldo started his career at Sporting and his talents saw his rise very quickly as he became the first player to play for their under 16, under 17, under 18, B team and the first team all within one season. To make this rise even more impressive he scored twice on his league debut against Moreirense. After being linked with moves to Arsenal and Liverpool, Ronaldo eventually joined Manchester United in 2003.

A lot of people seem to forget that in his early days at Old Trafford he was criticised and many felt that he wasn’t quite ready for the Premier League. In his first three seasons he scored just 18 goals but every year he improved and was determined to get better. Then in the 2006-07 season his career really took off and he began showing everyone that he could turn his potential into real quality and in the following three seasons he scored 88 goals in all competitions. During his time at the club he won the Premier League three times, the FA Cup, the League Cup twice and also the Champions League.

On the 26^th June 2009 it was confirmed that Ronaldo would be joining Real Madrid for a world record fee of £80 million. Since being at the club he has got even better and his goalscoring is just incredible and he has actually scored more goals than he has played for the Spanish giants which even by their standard is incredible. 288 goals is good enough for most strikers in the world during their whole career but he has done it in just 277 games. This season so far he has just been unstoppable with 28 league goals in 18 games.

Unfortunately for him though, it doesn’t matter how good he is or how impressive his performances are, he will probably never achieve anything on the international stage with Portugal.

The final word can go to Alex Ferguson. “I have nothing but praise for the boy. He is easily the best player in the world. His contribution as a goal threat is unbelievable. His stats are incredible. Strikes at goal, attempts on goal, raids into the penalty box, headers. It is all there. Absolutely astounding.”