Today we’re going to be taking a look at ten former players will surely become FIFA icons in the future. Many former greats have already attained icon status in FIFA, from Pelé and Diego Maradona through to Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, but today we’ll specifically be looking at players yet to be recognised for their greatness.
With the first player on the list being the superb Spaniard, Iker Casillas.
After a long and successful career in Spain with Real Madrid; Casillas moved over to Portugal with Porto back in 2015 and even went on to win the Liga NOS title with them in 2018.
He won the World Cup with Spain in 2010, the Champions League multiple times throughout his career, and having officially retired around this time last year; there’s no doubt in my mind that the extremely talented and much decorated Spanish goalkeeper will at some point become an icon.
And quite how Cafu isn’t already an icon is genuinely baffling to me. With 142 caps to his name for Brazil; Cafu is the most capped Brazilian of all time, some distance ahead of Roberto Carlos.
He won the Champions League with AC Milan, the World Cup twice with Brazil, and that Brazilian team he was part of back in the 90s was just absolutely phenomenal. They were so good to watch, and Cafu himself was just incredible. He’s undoubtedly one of the greatest full backs of all time and really is an absolute legend of the game.
And John Terry is another extremely well decorated defender that seems all set to become a FIFA icon in the future.
He won a huge amount of silverware for Chelsea, picked up 78 caps for England, and was a captain for both club and country. He had fantastic leaderships qualities, definitely wasn’t afraid of a tackle, and had an incredible command and understanding of the beautiful game.
Ashley Cole and Petr Cech have already attained icon status, and John Terry surely needs to join them in the future.
Cambiasso meanwhile was hugely successful at club level with Real Madrid and more notably Inter, picked up 52 caps for Argentina, and even had a brief spell with Leicester City the year before they won the Premier League. He could have even been a part of that fairy-tale success in fact if he hadn’t turned down a contract extension and moved to the Greek Super League with Olympiakos… Where he did win two league titles with them to be fair.
Defensively sound, Cambiasso was also capable of chipping in with a few goals, and read the game extremely well as a commanding, hard working midfielder.
He was a key part of the dominant Inter team of the mid to late 2000s than won five consecutive Serie A titles between 2006 and 2010, and is another player that’s just absolutely iconic.
And then we’ve got Edgar Davids; a Champions League winner with Ajax that would later go on to play for the likes of Juventus, Spurs and Barcelona. He won league titles in both Italy and the Netherlands, went to the World Cup semi finals, and can now be found managing S.C. Olhanense in the third tier of Portuguese football.
Former Manchester City and Barcelona man Yaya Touré meanwhile is another extremely talented midfielder that very much deserves to attain icon status in FIFA.
His distribution was unreal, he was incredibly difficult to dispossess, and he was also more than capable of scoring his fair share of goals. He was an extremely well rounded and versatile player, won plenty of silverware throughout his career and at the peak of his powers was even named the African Footballer of the Year on four consecutive occasions between 2011 and 2014.
And one club man Francesco Totti also needs to receive an icon card in the future. The man spent 25 seasons with Roma, picking up 58 caps for Italy, and even securing World Cup glory in the process.
With Roma he won the Serie A once, the Coppa Italia twice, and he also lifted the Italian Super Cup with them on two separate occasions. He no doubt could have won even more had he gone elsewhere, but the man was incredibly loyal, stuck with his club through the good times and the bad, and gained a huge amount of love and respect in the process.
Wayne Rooney meanwhile only officially retired a few months back, but even if he’s not a newly added icon for FIFA 22 then I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t receive an icon card within the next few years.
He’s the most capped outfield player of all time for his country, the top scorer of all time for both Manchester United and England, and in 13 seasons with United he won pretty much everything that there is to win.
He was extremely hard working, scored some truly iconic goals, won trophies galore, and although he was definitely a little fiery at times; you certainly can’t say that he was ever lacking in passion. He fought hard every single week, and his dogged determination as a player will always be very fondly remembered.
David Villa is another player to have retired fairly recently, and much like Rooney; he’s also the top scorer of all time for his country, playing 98 times for Spain and scoring 59 times in the process.
With Spain he won both the Euros and the World Cup, and at club level he won pretty much every available trophy.
He was hugely successful with Valencia, enjoyed a very happy three seasons with Barcelona, and towards the end of his career had a successful stint in the MLS with New York City before finally hanging up his boots in the J league (where he once again teamed up with his former Barcelona teammate Andrés Iniesta).
Another great goalscorer well worthy of inclusion in this list is Gabriel Batistuta. He’s Argentina’s second top scorer of all time (behind only Lionel Messi), had a ridiculous record of 0.7 goals per game with 54 in 77, and his club career saw him spend some very happy years in Italy, achieving domestic glory with both Roma and Fiorentina.
He was incredibly prolific, capable of providing an insane amount of shot power, and whenever he was on the pitch he was always an absolute problem both in and around the box.
Batistuta very rightly has a place in the Italian hall of fame, and he also absolutely deserves icon status in FIFA.
What do you think of our list of future FIFA icons, and if you could choose any player (past or present) to be added as an icon in the future; who would you pick?
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
