Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Galatasaray All-Time Team for foreign players

This blogger Artur Yanturin of Russia copied many of my blog teams.  This blog was one of them.  It was my Russia All-Time Team here.  His team was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.   His Spartak Moscow All-Time team entry of was published in October 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2017.  His entry of the Dutch-German rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.  He also copied many many of my blog entries.

His Facebook and Instagram

Felipe Melo, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Ajax All-Time Team for Foreign players

Galatasaray is the most successful Turkish football club.  It is one of three teams to have participated in all seasons of the Süper Lig since 1959. Internationally, Galatasaray has won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000, becoming the first and only Turkish team to win a major UEFA competition. In the 1999–2000 season, the club achieved the rare feat of completing a quadruple by winning the Süper Lig, the Turkish Cup, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in a single season. Galatasaray is also the only Turkish club to have been ranked first on the IFFHS World Rankings.

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for Galatasaray's foreign players.  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.Since 2000, Galatasaray, accordingly, has parted ways with an average of 6 foreign players each season.  Gheorghe Hagi, Gheorghe Popescu, Capone and Claudio Taffarel started against Arsenal at the 2000 UEFA Cup Final.  


Team
GK: Claudio Taffarel (Brazil)
Claudio Taffarel earned over 100 caps.  He was the starting goalkeeper for the World Cup winning team in 1994. During an 18-year career, he played professionally for six clubs, including Parma, Internacional, Atlético Mineiro and Galatasaray. He won an UEFA Cup with Galatasaray, which was the first ever European trophy for a Turkish club team.

GK: Zoran Simovic (Yugoslavia)
In his professional career, Zoran Simović played for Napredak in Serbia, NK Hajduk Split in Croatia and Galatasaray in Turkey. He was named Yugoslav Footballer of the Year in 1983. He is best remembered as one of the most legendary goalkeepers of Galatasaray S.K., where he played between 1984-1990. He won two championships with Galatasaray in seasons of 1986-87 and 1987-88.  He played 10 times for Yugoslavia between 1983 and 1984.
 Zoran Simovic 
GK: Fernando Muslera (Uruguay)

Muslera began his career at Montevideo Wanderers and Nacional, moving to Lazio in 2007 where he won the 2009 Coppa Italia Final. In 2011, he was signed by Galatasaray.  For Uruguay, he earned 116 caps since 2009.  He went to three World Cup Finals.  He equaled the record of Ladislao Mazurkiewicz for the most World Cup appearances by Uruguayan footballer, with 13 such appearances.

RB: Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast)
Emmanuel Eboue played for  KSK Beveren, Arsenal, Sunderland and Galatasaray. He is best known for his stint with Arsenal between 2005 and 2011. Arsenal reached the Final of  the Champions League runner-up for the 2005–06 season. Eboué made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in 2004, eventually earning 79 caps by 2013. He was part of their squads at five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and two World Cups in 2006 and 2010. He was a fixture with the team.  

CB/RB: Ulrich van Gobbel (Netherlands)
In 1988, van Gobbel started with Willem II.  From 1990 to 1995, he played for Feyenoord.  Then, he also played for Galatasaray and Southampton before returning to Feyenoord and winning an UEFA Cup.  From 1993 to 1994, he was capped 8 times.  He went to the 1994 World Cup Finals.

CB/RB:  Rigobert Song (Cameroon)
Rigobert Song was a key player for Cameroon since making his debut as a teenager.  He has played at a record 8 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and served as captain in 5.  He went to 4 WC Finals from 1994 to 2010, missing the 2006.  He is Cameroon's cap record holder.  Song started his career with Metz. In 1998, he joined Salernitana. In 1999, he left Italy to start successive stints with Liverpool, West Ham United and 1. FC Köln, Lens, Galatasaray, and Trabzonspor.

CB: Gheorghe Popescu  (Romania)
Gheorghe Popescu was perhaps the most famous Romanian defender and the second most important player during Romania's Golden Generation in the 1990's.  He was Romanian Player of the Year 6 times.  He played for a string of European clubs in his career, including Barcelona where he was their captain and a four-year stint at PSV Eindhoven. In 2000, he helped Galatasaray to win the UEFA Cup, the first time ever for a Turkish club. 
Gheorghe Popescu 

CB: Tomáš Ujfaluši (Czech Republic)
Tomas Ujfalusi played 78 times for the Czech Republic, representing the nation at the 2006 World Cup and two European Championships.  He was a key player for the 2000s Golden Generation.   He played for Hamburg, Atlético Madrid, Galatasaray, Sigma Olomouc and Sparta Prague. He won the Europa League in 2010 with Atletico Madrid.

CB: Reinhard Stumpf (Germany)
Stumpf played in the lower divison in Germany until 1989 when he played for , 1. FC Kaiserslautern.  With them, he won the DFB-Pokal in 1990 and the German Championship in 1991. Then, he moved to Galatasaray in 1992.  In Turkey, he won the Double in 1993. Then, he played for  1. FC Köln, Japan's Brumell Sendai and Hannover 96.

CB: Capone (Brazil)
Carlos Alberto de Oliveira was better known as Capone. He played for a number of clubs in Brazil, Japan,Turkey and Israel.  Most of his spells did not last more than a season.   However, between 1999 and 2001, he played for Galatasaray in Turkey, where he won the UEFA Cup in 2000 and European Super Cup. It was also his longest stint anywhere in his career.

LB:  Yuto Nagatomo  (Japan)
Yuto Nagatomo played for Meiji University before he started his professional career with FC Tokyo in the J-League in 2007. He is known for his offensive skills.  He joined Italy's Cesena in 2010.  After less than a season, he joined Inter Milan where he became a starter throughout the 8 seasons he played there. He can also play as a rightback.  In 2018, he joined Galatasaray in Turkey.  He collected over 100 caps for Japan. He played in the World Cup Finals in 2010 2014, and 2018.  He won the Asian Cup in 2011.
Yuto Nagatomo 
DM: Batista/Mertol Karatay (Brazil) 
Born in Brazil, Batista started his career in Turkey with Gaziantepspor in 1996.   He then returned to Brazil and played for União São João until 2000. He played for Galatasaray between 2002 and 2004.  He also played for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and Konyaspor and Kasımpaşa SK.  Mertol Karatay is his Turkish name.

CM: Felipe Melo (Brazil)
Felipe Melo began his career in Brazil playing for Flamengo, Cruzeiro and Grêmio, before moving to Spain in 2005, where he played for Mallorca, Racing Santander and Almería. After one year at Fiorentina, he joined Juventus in 2009. Melo also spent four seasons at Galatasaray. He played in Inter Milan and Palmeiras. he had 22 caps for Brazil.  He played in the 2010 World Cup Finals.

CM: Flávio Conceição (Brazil)
Conceição began his career with Rio Branco Esporte Clube in 1992. He played for Palmeiras before making a name with Deportivo de La Coruña.  After an unsuccessful stinct with Real Madrid, he played for Galatasaray and  Panathinaikos F.C.  He had 44 caps.  He was part of the nation's 1997 and 1999 Copa América-winning sides.

SW/CM/AM: Falko Götz (East Germany) 
Götz began his career in East Germany with FC Vorwärts Berlin and later BFC Dynamo. In 1983, he escaped and fled to West Germany.  joining Bayer Leverkusen.  He then played 4 seasons with Bayer Leverkusen.  He later played for  Galatasaray (1992–1994), Saarbrücken (1994–1995) and Hertha BSC (1995–1997).  

LW: Xhevat Prekazi (Yugoslavia)
Of Kosovar Albanian descent, Xhevat Prekazi started his career with Partizan Belgrade in 1976.  He also played for Hajduk Split, but it was his career with Galatasaray that defined him.  He played for them between 1985 and 1991. He is considered one of the club's greatest player.  He led them to the semi-final of the European Cup in 1989. He only played youth international matches for Yugoslavia.
Xhevat Prekazi 
LW:  Harry Kewell (Australia)
In 2012, Kewell was voted the greatest ever Australian player.  At Leeds United, he won the PFA Young Player of the year in 1999-2000.  With Mark Viduka, the team reached the semifinal of the Champions' League in 2000-2001.  At liverpool, he won the Champions League in 2005, where he started the final match.  He became the first Australian-born player to win a Champions' League medal.

AM: Gheorghe Hagi (Romania)
Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", Gheorghe Hagi  was probably the best player in Romanian football history.  He was named Romanian Footballer of the Year seven times.  He had 124 caps. He led Romania to the quarter-final in the1994 World Cup Finals.  He scored one of the most memorable goals of that tournament.  Fir club football, he was best remembered for wining the UEFA Cup with Galatasaray, the first ever Euopean trophy by a Turkish club.
Gheorghe Hagi

AM: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
Sneijder emerged from the Ajax Academy before making to the first team in 2002.  He moved to Real Madrid in 2007, where he won a La Liga title in 2006-2007.  He also won a Champions' League title with Inter Milan in 2009-2010.  At the time of writing, he has 114 caps for Holland.  He was the star player for Holland as they reached the Final of South Africa 2010. He won the Silver Ball.  He moved to Galatasaray in 2013.

AM: Lincoln (Brazil)
Lincoln started his career with Atlético Mineiro.  In 2001, he headed to Germany, where he join Kaiserslautern.  He played for Schalke 04 between 2004 and 2007.  He was nominated as one of the five best players in Bundesliga 2006, by kicker.In 2007, he joined Galatasaray.  Later, he played for Palmeiras, Avai and Coritiba.  He only represented Brazil in the Under-23, largely due to playing at the same time as Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Juninho Pernambucano, etc.
Lincoln
FW: Abdul Kader Keïta (Ivory Coast)
Kieta started with Africa Sports at hime before playing with Tunisian Club Etoile du Sahel, Al Ain and Al Sadd. He moved to France with OSC Lille in 2005.  Then, he played for Lyon and then, Galatasaray.  For Ivory Coast, he went to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, 2010 FIFA World Cup and at four Africa Cup of Nations in 2002, 2008, 2010, and 2012, helping them finish runner-up in 2012.

ST: Milan Baroš (Czech Republic)
At home, Milan Baroš  played for Baník Ostrava before joining Liverpool in 2002.  He was a part of the team that won the 2005 Champions League. He later played for Lyon, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Galatasaray, etc.  He earned 90 caps and was a key player for Czech Republic's Golden Generation in 2000's.  He was the top scorer at UEFA Euro 2004.

ST: Kubilay Turkyilmaz (Switzerland)
Of Turkish descent, once Kubilay Turkyilmaz refused to play against Turkey because of his ethnic background.  He played with AC Bellinzona and Servette FC at home before he joined Bologna FC in 1990 and Galatasaray in 1993.  In 1995 he returned to Switzerland with Grasshopper Zurich, winning the league twice. Capped over 60 times.  He missed the 1994 World Cup Finals in USA through an injury. He played at the Euro 1996. He was at one point the all-time top-scorer for Switzerland. 

ST: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Didier Drogba was voted African Footballer of the Year twice: 2006 and 2009.  He is probably Ivory Coast's greatest ever player and probably among the greatest ever striker from Africa. The best part of his career was spent with Chelsea in England.  He won the Champions' League for 20011-12. He also finished the top scorer in the Premiership twice.  He also played in France, MLS and China. For his country, he led Ivory Coast to the World Cup Finals in 2006, 2010 and 2014. He was also their all-time leading scorer.

ST: Mario Jardel (Brazil)
During his prime, Mario Jardel  was one of the most prolific strikers in European football.  He scored 266 goals in 274 games.  He won the European Golden Boot for two years. His best years were with Porto, Galatasaray and Sporting CP. His national team career was limited due to playing with a golden generation of Brazil's good strikers.  He only had 10 caps for Brazil.  He only played in the 2001 Copa America.
Mario Jardel 

Honorable Mention
Boris Nikolov (Bulgaria), Johan Elmander (Sweden), Marcio Mixirica (Brazil), Iulian Filipescu (Romania), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Rüdiger Abramczik (Germany), Ryan Babel (Netherlands), Ryan Donk (Netherkands), Franck Ribery (France), Bafétimbi Gomis (France), Sofiane Feghouli  (Algeria), Aurélien Chedjou (Cameroon), Younès Belhanda (Morocco), Bruma (Portugal), Lucas Neill (Australia), Brad Friedel (USA), Aurélien Chedjou (Cameroon), Faryd Mondragón (Colombia).

Squad Explanation
-- Gheorghe Hagi, Zoran Simović, Claudio Taffarel, Gheorghe Popescu, Capone,  Xhevat Prekazi, Wesley Sneijder are on my Galatasaray Greatest All-Time team.
-- Gheorghe Hagi, Gheorghe Popescu, Capone and Claudio Taffarel started against Arsenal at the 2000 UEFA Cup Final.  
-- Boris Nikolov was one of Galatasaray's founder as well as the team's first player-manager, but much of him is unknown. He was believed to be Bulgarian.  He was believed to be one of the founders of PFC Slavia Sofia in Bulgaria too.  He was an important person in the history of the club.  
-- Gheorghe Hagi joined the club at the age of 31.  He was already known as the greatest Romanian player ever.  However, his club career outside Romania failed to live up expectations. With Galatasaray, he found his club successes. He captained the side that won the UEFA Cup in 2000.  He won the Turkish Footballer of the Year award three times: 1996, 1999, 2000.  He is probably the club's greatest player.  His brother-in-law and Romanian teammate Gheorghe Popescu was also one of the club's greatest foreign signings.
-- In 1984, Galatasaray hired German Manager Jupp Derwall as their manager.  His arrival helped to change the reputation of Turkish football. Under him, his foreign players included Rüdiger Abramczik, Zoran Simović, Xhevat Prekazi, etc.  The latter two players were on this team.
-- In 2020, Fernando Muslera has been appointed club's captain.  He is the first foreign captain since Boris Nikolov more than a 100 years ago. I selected him as my third goalkeeper ahead of Faryd Mondragón.  Both were long term goalkeepers for this team.   Faryd Mondragón's stint here was well-known throughout Europe, but Muslera has played longer with the club.
- On leftback, I selected Yuto Nagatomo, who was better known for his career with Inter Milan.   Emiliano Insúa was only on loan here.  Frank De Boer did not do much here.  I also came up with Lionel Carole (France) and Roger Ljung.
-- Tomáš Ujfaluši had only one good season, but was injured in his second year.  However, his name was often mentioned as one of Galatasaray's all-time great foreigners.
-- I never heard of Aurélien Chedjou (Cameroon) until I started my research.  I put him on honorable mention.
-- According to my research, Falko Götz played as a libero here, but I selected him as a midfielder.
-- Batista gained Turkish citizenship.  His Turkish name is Mertol Karatay. He was never capped by Turkey nor Brazil.  I retained his status as a foreigner even through he had Turkish citizenship.
-- Harry Kewell was a Leeds player when two of their fans were killed in clashes before a UEFA Cup semi-final against Galatasaray in Istanbul in April 2000.  His transfer to Leeds United was heavily criticised by fans of Leeds United.
-- Lincoln played well here, but he had issues with the management.  I still selected him.
-- The Galatasaray fans had high expectations of Flávio Conceição when he joined from Real Madrid.  He played only a single season here.  
-- I used the Albanian spelling of Xhevat Prekazi who was also known as Dževad Prekazi in Serbian and Cevat Prekazi in Turkish.
-- Franck Ribery left the club after a brief stint.  He did not do enough here.
-- Bafétimbi Gomis scored 29 goals in 33 games for the club.  He only made honorable mention.
-- The players I selected ahead of Shabani Nonda are more famous outside of Turkey.
-- Kubilay Türkyilmaz was born in Switzerland of Turkish heritage.
-- Mario Jardel won the European Golden Boot for two years, but he had stiff compeitation on the national team. He only had 10 caps. Adriano, Ronaldo, Romario, Edmundo, Bebeto, Sonny Anderson, Ricardo Oliveira, etc played during his prime.  He only had 10 caps between 1996 and 2001.

Formation








1 comment:

  1. Lincoln você postou um time de um desafio de draft no Big Soccer. Gostei muito do post. Poderia postar ele novamente

    ReplyDelete