Page 112 - Soccer360 Issue 107

spotlight
Virgil van Dijk (July 8 - 33, Liverpool, Netherlands)
Virgil van Dijk has been hailed as one of the finest defenders on the planet, particularly during the Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool. With Liverpool, Van Dijk reached back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, winning the latter. He was also named PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season in his first full season. Van Dijk later won the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, and helped end the club’s 30-year league title drought by winning
the 2019–20 Premier League. He is the only defender to win the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award, and has finished runner-up for both the Ballon d’Or and Best FIFA Men’s Player, all in 2019.
Vivianne Miedema (July 15 - 28, Manchester City, Netherlands)
Regularly cited as one of the greatest strikers in modern women’s football, Vivianne Miedema is the all-time leading scorer in the FA WSL and has scored more goals at the international level for the Netherlands than any other player, across both the women’s and men’s teams. She won the UEFA Women’s Euro in 2017 with the Dutch national team, two consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga
titles with Bayern Munich in 2015 and 2016, and the 2018–19 FA WSL title with Arsenal. In 2019, she led the Netherlands to a second-place finish at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Erling Haaland (July 21 - 24, Man. City, Norway)
Erling Haaland has won several individual awards during his career, including the 2020 Golden Boy award, while in 2021 he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season, in addition to his inclusion in the FIFA FIFPro World11
for 2021, 2022 and 2023. He has also broken multiple Premier League records, including most goals scored
in a season, the quickest individual to score two, three, four and five hat-tricks, and the first in league history
to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home games.
In 2023, he won the Premier League Golden Boot, the European Golden Shoe and the Gerd Müller Trophy for his goalscoring success.
Harry Kane (July 28 - 31, Bayern Munich, England)
A prolific goalscorer with strong link play, Kane
regularly finds himself in the best players in the world conversation and is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation. He is both Tottenham Hotspur’s and England’s all-time highest goalscorer, as well as being the second-highest all-time goalscorer in the Premier League. Kane has scored over 400 goals for club and country. His goalscoring form has remained the same after moving to Bayern Munich in the 2023/24 season.
Robert Lewandowski (August 21 - 36, Barcelona, Poland)
Robert Lewandowski is one of the most successful players in Bundesliga and Bayern Munich history. He has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country. In 2020, Lewandowski won the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award (retained in 2021) and the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award. He has been named to the UEFA Team of the Year twice. He is the third-highest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League.
WOW - A SHIRT
Seven-time Super Bowl champion and Fox NFL broadcaster Tom Brady joined David Beckham and Lionel Messi in the stands at Chase Stadium as Inter Miami beat FC Cincinnati 2-0. Before the game kicked off, Brady and Beckham made their way down to the field where they posed side by side for snaps. There, Beckham - who is a part owner of Inter Miami - gifted Brady a custom No. 12 jersey.
HE’S BAAAAACK
Thiago Alcantara has reportedly returned to Liverpool after leaving Barcelona. At the end of the 23/24 season, Spaniard Thiago left the club upon the expiration of his contract and retired as a footballer. Thiago then joined Hansi Flick’s backroom staff at Barcelona but then left his role after just one month. As reported by Spanish news outlet Marca, Thiago has returned to Liverpool as he’s required to reside in the UK for the remainder of this year due to tax issues relating to the termination of his contract with the Reds.
Featuring players, both past & present, with upcoming birthdays...
LEO GETS THE NOD AS GOAT
The debate of who is football’s GOAT between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
is an intriguing one which will likely rage on forever - but Chelsea’s Cole Palmer has made it clear which side of the argument he is on. Palmer undertook a knockout with GOAL, where he named Kevin De Bruyne as the best player he has played with, Messi as who he wanted to be when he was growing up, Kylian Mbappe as the current best player in the world, and Wayne Rooney as the best English player of all time. Palmer also picked himself as the one to take a penalty if his life depended on it, Toni Kroos as the best passer, Neymar as the best dribbler, and CR7 as football’s best all-time finisher. Palmer then went on to do a knockout between the eight players he named, and when it came down to choosing between Messi and Ronaldo at the end, the England star opted for the Argentine.
Including c6aretakers, Jamie Vardy has scored in his first Premier League game under six different managers (Ranieri, Shakespeare, Puel, Stowell, Rodgers, Cooper); only Darren Bent has ever scored in his first appearance under more managers (seven).
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