The 5 Most Prestigious Footballers

Football has seen a vast amount of legends over the years. Ranging from the best goal scorers to robust defenders. However, prestigious footballers can often be overlooked so here's my top 5!

1. Ryan Giggs

Who else to start with but Ryan Giggs. Over 950 appearances with Manchester United winning 13 Premier League titles. Coming through the youth system with the famous Class of 96' team, Giggs has seen it all. 2 Champions League medals, 4 FA Cups, 3 League Cups and 9 Community Shields. Now being Louis Van Gaal's assistant manager he has stuck with the club for over 20 years and has often been linked with taking full control of United. No doubt the Manchester faithful would love to see him become their manager, but would he live up to the expectation required at Old Trafford?


2. Xavi Hernandez

With 25 trophies Xavi Hernandez holds the record for the most trophies by any Barcelona player. 767 appearances for Barcelona is also the highest by any player, and like Giggs, Xavi progressed through the youth system. Over 90,000 people stayed to watch Xavi's farewell at the Nou Camp following his last La Liga game for Barcelona. During that season, he went on to win the Copa Del Ray and the Champions League capping off a fantastic last season with the Catalan giants.


3. Javier Zanetti 

The ex-captain played 858 games for Inter Milan winning 5 Serie A titles, 4 Coppa Italia and a Champions League medal. He is also the only captain to win the treble with an Italian team. Zanetti not only achieved the highest amount of caps for Inter, he also has the most caps for Argentina too. Zanetti's career with Inter Milan lasted 19 seasons. He won a total of 19 trophies, to which he captained the team for 18 of them. A remarkable footballer.  

4. Iker Casillas 

Spanish legend Iker Casillas has earned himself 165 caps for the national side along with 725 appearances for Real Madrid. During his spell, he won 5 La Liga titles, 2 Copa Del Rey, 4 Supercopa titles, 3 Champions League's 2 UEFA Super Cups, and, of course, a World Cup. An emotional goodbye during an interview showed how much Iker Casillas loved Real Madrid and it was clear the fans loved him back. Named the best keeper in the world a numerous amount of times demonstrated how great he is. 

5. Gianluigi Buffon

Like Casillas, Buffon has won a vast amount during his long career as a goalkeeper. 154 caps for the Italian national side and a 2006 World Cup winners medal, is only the beginning. Having played his career in Italy, he has won 6 Serie A titles, 6 Supercoppa titles, 2 Coppa Italia title and 1 UEFA Cup. His total appearances for Parma and Juventus add up to 791. Still going strong at the age of 38, Buffon shows no signs of retiring from the game, especially because of how well Juventus are doing in the Serie A.