Best Players Never To Appear in a Major Tournament Finals

[Satchmo Distel]

Best and Di Stefano are the obvious ones. Lower down the quality chain: Giggs,

A possible outlier is Vasovic, who scored in two European Cup finals but whose career coincided with a fallow period for Yugoslavia (1961-66). Others?

[elguapo4]

Liam Brady, Alan Simonsons ten minutes before he broke his leg at euro 84 makes him an honoury member of the club

[EIM]

Me.

[Wouter D]

Jari Litmanen.

[Sean of the Shed]

Frank Lampard [/wingco]

[ursus arctos]

Vasovic fell afoul of Yugoslavia's then-policy of not picking players with overseas clubs, never being capped after he moved to Ajax in 1966.

One wonders if he would have made a difference in the 1968 Euros, where they lost the final to hosts Italy after a replay.

[Artificial Hipster]

Grant Holt.

[Flynnie]

I'm calling bullshit on the 1996 African Cup of Nations being a major tournament, with its risible attendance outside of South Africa's games, so George Weah's paltry two games for Liberia in that tournament don't count.

Seriously, he played those two games in front of 8,000. Combined.

Edit: ah, bosh, forgot he made it into the 2002 squad. OK. nevermind then.

[Sam]

Alfredo Di Stéfano played all six of his matches for Argentina in the 1947 Campeonato Sudamericano (which is what the Copa América was called before the 1970s). He scored six goals in it, to help Argentina to the title. So he very much appeared in a major tournament finals.

[blameless]

Ian Rush - Like Giggs, played for Wales before they qualified for things like Euros.
Peter Dubovský - too young to play for Czechoslovakia at Italia 90, then Slovakia were rubbish during his best years. Died tragically young aged 28.
Duncan Edwards - would doubtless have played for England in a few world cups had he not been killed in the Munich disaster.
Billy McNeill - too young in 1958, too old in 1974.


Honourable mention for Giovane Élber, whose only major finals for Brazil was a tournament they had no bloody business being in (they were guests at the 1998 Gold Cup, a continental championship for a continent that does not include Brazil).

[Patrick Thistle]

Neville Southall, Mark Hughes, Kevin Ratcliffe, Gary Speed

[Patrick Thistle]

Steve Bruce would be a contender for best English player never to play at a tournament.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Giggs might have helped Wales get to one had he turned up now and again. Liam Brady must be a good shout for Ireland's.

[Satchmo Distel]

Alfredo Di Stéfano played all six of his matches for Argentina in the 1947 Campeonato Sudamericano (which is what the Copa América was called before the 1970s). He scored six goals in it, to help Argentina to the title. So he very much appeared in a major tournament finals.

Thanks for the correction. Di Stefano was a genius and deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Pele, Maradona and Messi.

[Arturo]

Liam Brady, Alan Simonsons ten minutes before he broke his leg at euro 84 makes him an honoury member of the club

He made a brief appearance in Mexico 86 as well (against West Germany) but think the game and group were long decided by then.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Matt Le Tissier springs to mind (would have been at least good for penalty kicks...)

[Patrick Thistle]

Eric Cantona never played in a World Cup. He played in the 1992 Euros but France didn't win a game.

[Patrick Thistle]

David Rocastle only played 14 times for England - 7 wins and 7 draws. None were in major tournaments.

[Satchmo Distel]

David Ginola, although it was apparently his own error that cost him a trip to USA 94.